Expenses of Home Ownership

Hopefully all goes smoothly when you purchase your home. In your anxiousness to become an owner it may not have crossed your mind and no one tells you, your'e not done spending money on this transaction. It may not be soon and it may not be much, but you will need to have a comfortable income above your expenses.

Why didn't they tell you? Shouldn't a good real estate agent prepare you for everything they can think of, neighborhood analysis, schools, crime, child molesters, stigmas...? All of us who have been out here in the business have seen it too many times. Too many buyers spend what they are qualified for and many times that is too much. They may not have thought about buying a car in a couple of years, or how much it costs to raise children, how much furniture is going to cost....

The best thing to do is not buy the most expensive house you can afford. Secondly, hire a reputable home inspector. Ask around, call different agents for suggestions. A good home inspection will turn up so many things on an average house that it would startle almost everyone. Most things are minor and some aren't even worthy of mention, but if an inspector quickly walks through the house and says it's fine, chances are you got the wrong guy. Keep in mind if you contract the service,(you can request the fee be paid by the seller in your written agreement) the inspector has no reason to deceive you. However many times an agent will use the same company repeatedly who doesn't present any problems.

Don't expect problems but be prepared for them. Things do happen. Water heaters break, usually dumping out all the water in the tank. Plumbing gets stopped up and leaks. Appliances fail. Carpet, padding, vinyl, paint and roofs wear out. Even slate roofs need repairs and that is heavy on the wallet. A good idea is to have money only for your emergency home expenses, not for the wants. That comes out of checking or your pocket.

Suzie is a licensed real estate broker and residential real estate appraiser with twenty years experience. Other professionals in the industry have contributed as well, including agents, brokers, appraisers and educators. http://www.freewebs.com/realestatenews

MORE RESOURCES:

Real estate bust: Toledo wins at Big House - San Francisco Chronicle

Great Food, Good Drinks and Luxury Real Estate on Main Street - Eastside Business Journal

BIZ DATA: Boulder real estate foreclosures - Daily Camera

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Real estate growth strategies in focus - Gulf Daily News

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Making fortunes from real estate investment - The Punch

Bushnell looks at life and real estate in the Village - eTaiwan News

Hypo Real Estate Denies Report It Withheld Data on Liquidity - Bloomberg

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Real-estate agents, mortgage brokers hurting - Bolingbrook Sun

Real estate in Acadiana and Wall Street - The Daily Advertiser

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8i-0fd=Rurl=http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_meltdown_mortgages.htmlcid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNEqJQ3ippD6nzDmldY8Sx0XvyXDEQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=UJvYrGkOy-gJimgurl=seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/aponline/53032.57McCain-2008.sff.jpg width=53 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Seattle Post Intelligencer/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article%3FAID%3D/20081012/BUSINESS/810120335/1046cid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNEzn3APAHTjc7Fz21qIJ3Uv6GzrtgbReal estate/b in Acadiana and Wall Street/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Daily Advertiser,nbsp;LAnbsp;-/font nobr18 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Fortunately, the Acadiana breal estate/b market is still strong because we did not have the speculation that was seen in other parts of the country. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DBAdIBCGcEo8cid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNGSZ9aTgZa3L8xo5Oo_rKTjj03tBwVideo: Obama: #39;Taxpayers Shouldn#39;t Pick Up Tab#39;/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrAssociatedPress/nobr/fontobject width=448 height=356param name=movie value=http://www.youtube.com/v/BAdIBCGcEo8/paramparam name=wmode value=transparent/paramembed src=http://www.youtube.com/v/BAdIBCGcEo8type=application/x-shockwave-flashwmode=transparentwidth=448height=356/embed/objectbr/fontfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122351316270117559.html%3Fmod%3Dgooglenews_wsjcid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNEo_ahh3l22vSnclCdJHcDf-tDhxAMcCain Reshuffles Rescue Deal/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWall Street Journal/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/10/mccain-s-messy-mortgage-buyout-digging-holes-and-filling-them-incid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNHX1qhjB67Ydmrc-uqDFxSWaQanzQMcCain#39;s Messy Mortgage Buyout: Digging Holes and Filling Them In/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrClusterstock/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-4fd=Rurl=http://blog.ira-401k-realestate.com/2008/10/06/the-great-bank-bailout/cid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNHv1W-BSCRCYHUaxMvFU_OY1riiTgnobrBoomers-Bank/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-5fd=Rurl=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news%3Fpid%3D20601087%26sid%3DacLuJmJz0roc%26refer%3Dhomecid=1255319735ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNFq_uT3uzbySQxcNKw_sjUUsO0cCAnobrBloomberg/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255319735hl=ennobrall 1,104 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Sunday Real Estate Round-Up, 10/12/08 - Luxist

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.luxist.com/2008/10/12/sunday-real-estate-round-up-10-12-08/cid=1256615524ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNGSSsfWQIe7Kru_Ummg3cIPtklUtASunday bReal Estate/b Round-Up, 10/12/08/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fLuxist,nbsp;CAnbsp;-/font nobr12 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1--More Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner breal estate/b rumors, this time it is said that they have put their home in Brentwood on the market for around $8 b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-1fd=Rurl=http://www.dailyherald.com/story/%3Fid%3D241072cid=1256615524ei=Qq_ySJiKKYnK8AS2n-3DBwusg=AFQjCNEQ_AY9w7USNFpOouxcvIzWyqAJYgDC, estate listed for $49 million/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrChicago Daily Herald/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1256615524hl=ennobrall 3 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Real-Estate - Google News

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