If you’ve just bought a house or if you’re about to, you’re probably looking to get a head start by finding all the mistakes that other homeowners have discovered through trial and error. Not to worry, we’ve compiled a list of frequent mistakes so that you don’t have to make them.
Going Cheap When Renovating
When you’ve just bought your first home, you’re probably eager to make plenty of changes to it to make it your own. All of these renovations might look impossibly expensive to get done, so you’re tempted to go for the cheapest options available. This isn’t going to work in your favor. If the handywork or the materials used are of poor quality, which they likely will be at that price, they’re not going to last very long, and replacing them will cost you even more money. Your house might also end up looking worse than you’d thought. If you struggle to pay for home renovations, it’s better to take out a home equity line of credit to finance it instead of cheapening out. Before you go cheap, review a guide on how to take out this kind of credit and see if it’s right for you.
Not Having Insurance
Yes, insurance might not be that fun to pay for. It’s also most often at the bottom of your to-do list when you’re moving into a new home. You might think you’ll do it later, but that’s often a slippery slope to never doing it at all. And the longer the wait, the bigger the risk that something will happen in the meantime. Without homeowner’s insurance, a fire, break-in, flood or other natural disaster can become extremely costly. Depending on your financial situation, it might even lead to complete ruin. And if something has happened to your house, that’s the last thing you want to be thinking about anyway. Do yourself a favor and get your house and its amenities fully insured as soon as possible.
Too Much DIY
Just like if you buy the cheapest alternatives, doing everything yourself isn’t always the best idea. If you know what you’re doing, by all means go ahead. But trying to build furniture or put up wallpaper without the proper tools and skillset might make your house end up looking pretty bad. Even worse is trying to repair things yourself. If you don’t know how the white goods or the plumbing work, don’t try your hand at fixing it. You’re likely to do more damage than good, and you’ll end up needing to call in a professional and pay for it anyway. If you’ve made the situation worse, that might take even longer and cost you even more.
Not Maintaining the Exterior
You might not be seeing it as must as the interior, but the exterior of your house is important too. Don’t forget to maintain and clean the walls, roof, windows and possible chimneys. A house requires more maintenance than an apartment, so it’s important to take that into consideration if you don’t have the money or ability to upkeep it before you go ahead and buy. If you already have a house, don’t ignore the things on the outside. That can lead to serious damage being caused to your home and the value of it being lowered, apart from also being an eyesore to you and your neighbors.
