Hidden cost of home ownership

By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS / The Dallas Morning News

 

NATALIE CAUDILL/DMN "Renting is easy," says Lakewood Heights homeowner Holland Smith, 34. "Living in an apartment, if anything needed to be done, taken care of, you just call the landlord."

Don't feel like renting anymore?

Well, before you rush out and put money down on a two-bedroom Tudor in the M Streets, a suburban starter or a downtown condo, you need to think about the hidden costs of homeownership.

"First-time homeowners are often startled by the hidden costs of owning a home," says finance expert Eric Tyson, co-author of Home Buying for Dummies. "There are a lot of ancillary costs that most don't think of. You can budget all you want, but things pop up."

You can plan out your mortgage payment, maybe even your supplemental insurance and utility bills. But maintenance, repairs, home improvements and decorating can cost you thousands of dollars a year more than you expect.

You need to take those costs into account when deciding what kind of home to buy and how much to spend.

"The amount of work that goes into a house is too much for me right now," says Eric Hovan, a 28-year-old who opted to purchase a condo in Dallas a year ago. "I can't even take care of plants, let alone a house."

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Graphic: The hidden costs (By Dean Hollingsworth/DMN)

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"I don't think most people budget for this type of stuff," Mr. Tyson says. "Homes are typically larger than apartments."