Sometimes buyers perceive the difference between condos and homes like this: with a condo you have to pay (someone else) X amount a month to take care of things like landscaping, roofs, etc., and with a home it's "free".
Not true!
Homes take care and maintenance too, and big ticket items can creep up on us all, unless we sock away just a little each month so once those big expenditures become inevitable, which they will, you'll have the money ready and available.
During the past year, both my refrigerator and dishwasher bit the dust. After purchase, installation and a partial rework of the old cloggged cast iron piping, the total bill ran over $1500. Since I only recently started taking my own advice :), I had to kick in a few extra hundred.
I've been told my roof has already exceeded its life expectancy, but that I can probably squeeze out another 3-5 years. Since I have a larger home, I've decided that my homeowner's fix-it fund will be $200 a month... so now I feel secure knowing I'll have the money ready for the roof, and probably some solar updates at the same time.
Just for fun, calculate how much you'd have in your own fix-it fund if you'd set aside $100-$200 a month since you moved in. For me, that would have been $50,400... which pretty much would have covered all the necessary repairs over the years, plus a few extra enhancements.
I'm getting very strict with myself lately, and have set a new rule that I have to do a "boring" repair first (like replace the old warped, smelly floorboards under the sink and the non GFCI electric) before I can add the pretty blue sink. And waiting and saving makes the end result all the sweeter!
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