If you currently own a home, or have ever owned a home in the past, you know that home maintenance costs can kill your monthly budget. They are usually unexpected costs which arise at the worst time, leaving you cursing your home and bad fortune. And because things with your home (think roof, foundation, windows, rot), generally need to be taken care of immediately, you can’t always wait for your next bonus check (or even paycheck, at times).

So when I sit down with my clients, especially first time home buyers, I like to get a true understanding of their financial situation to be sure they can afford everything that goes with a mortgage. And the reason I do this is to be sure that when the unexpected comes up my clients can afford it and will not have to skip paying bills or rack up unnecessary credit debt.

As a rule of thumb, I like to consider 1% of your home’s value a good estimate for what you will pay per year in home maintenance costs. Now, this will obviously be adjusted based upon the age and size of your home (a $500,000 house in Southfield will probably be 3 times the size of a $500,000 in Northville, and thus have higher maintenance costs), but making sure there are reserves in place of around 1% will ensure you can properly maintain your home, which is important to anyone buying a new house.

If you have any questions about how home maintenance costs might impact your new mortgage, please contact me. And if you have anything to add about managing home maintenance costs, please leave a comment.