The True Cost of Owning a Home

If you've owned a home for more than five minutes you know that paying the mortgage is only the beginning to a long list of expenses we all incur when we own a home. Since I've never listed those other expenses in one place here at Free Money Finance, I thought I would today by highlighting a recent Kiplinger's piece on the true cost of owning a home. Here are the other costs they list as being part of home ownership:

• Insurance
• Property Taxes
• Utilities
• Appliances
• Furniture
• House Repair and maintenance
• Yard care
• Pest control
• Remodeling

So how much does all this add up to? Here's what the author found out:

Add this all up and -- brace yourself -- we've spent $43,555 over four years. That breaks down to an average of about $10,900 a year for Alex and me to be homeowners, and that doesn't include mortgage payments. The regular costs such as taxes, insurance and utilities are fairly easy to anticipate, depending on the home's size and location. It's your home's start-up costs and life's little surprises that you need to watch out for.

Once you've been in a home for awhile, you won't have start-up costs, but the others will be with you as long as you own a place. I've never added up all these costs (I track them in Quicken -- just never added all of them up) but it would be an interesting number to know.

If you'd like some tips on how to SAVE on home ownership costs, check out these posts:

• Save Money by Planning Your Home Improvements in the Off-Season

• Save Money and Increase Your Home's Value with a Carpet Steam Cleaner

• Getting Homeowner's Insurance (And Saving Money Too)

Comments

[cory]

Let's all take note that they spent a ton of money " -- brace yourself -- we've spent $43,555 over four years. That breaks down to an average of about $10,900" on living in TWO houses, their "starter home" being 2,600 sq ft. and their current home being SIX THOUSAND.

ZOMG!!! Owning a mansion is expensive? WHO KNEW!

[Lord]

Sounds like a tale of how much they could spend rather than how much it costs. Eventually it is cheaper than rent, which must, after all, still cover all these costs directly or indirectly (or at least the minimally reasonable ones).

[BradM]

I've been thinking about moving from an apartment to a house and this thought has crossed my mind a lot. Assuming you live in an apartment and all the appliances are furnished. Your initial investment would be a thousand or so, just to start out. What we would need to move into a home:
Washer, Dryer, Refrigerator, Lawn Mower and other lawn equipment. Right now we want a new bed frame.
Sounds like she bought everything new from the store and on a much larger scale than I would want in a house. (I'm thinking about a 1500 sqft, not 2600 and I would go to yard sales)
So for now I'll stay in my apartment until my fiance and I have a few thousand in the bank, and know what we want in a house.