How much?

dgrassey6502 · August 2015

Curious question for everyone and I know this will vary-
How much in addition to having a down payment, closing costs and an emergency fund - did you have saved for furnishings/painting/repairs when you purchased your home?

We are very close to buying our first home but want to make sure we aren't hanging ourselves when we do!

TIA!

als1982 · August 2015

Honestly, I didn't do any repairs, painting or buy additional furniture or decor upon move in. Most of this is all wants, not needs. Heck, six years later we're just now starting to do this stuff. My first year, I had a home warranty that covered any major issues. I used this for a pretty major plumbing blow out and a few minor things like when the disposal and dryer went out. I paid a few hundred in deductibles and that's it. That said, I'm unusual and don't really care about having bare walls, thrift store furniture and the same color rooms as the previous owner. I'd rather be debt free and travel.

I have heard though that you should estimate 10% of the cost of the home for furnishings.

AprilZ81 · August 2015

If you are coming from an apartment without any of the "tools" needed for a house I would budget at least $1,000 for the basics (not including any appliances you may need to buy).

Paint is about $35 a gallon for good paint, plus the supplies. A lawnmower will be about $200 for a low end gas self propelled model. Trimmer about $75, a ladder anywhere from $20-$200 depending on big you need. Garden hoses, cleaning supplies, curtains/blinds, etc.

If you need appliances or furniture I would add a bunch of money, the good news is that you can easily find cost estimates for those items online.

Mustard76 · August 2015

Our first house was new construction where we lived with white walls for three years. We painted the year before we moved. H and I each had furniture by the time we moved in together. Nothing matched, so we bought a few slip covers and called it even.

We kept all the colors in our second house from the previous owners. It was significantly bigger than our pervious place, so we spent about $1000 on a few new appliances, lawncare items, yard tools, etc.

Furnishing a new house is as expensive as you make it. We're one room at a time kind of people. We want to buy quality pieces, but don't want to go into debt. So we decide on one room to furnish at a time. We've moved a lot in the last four years, which has helped us to not accumulate a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Xstatic3333 · August 2015

We only budgeted around $1000, but we already had enough furniture to fill the house, asked for the lawnmower in our offer, and were moving into a house that didn't need much immediate work. Sure, our wallpaper and countertops are out of date, but they do the job and we'll update them eventually. We actually only spent around $600 of that. We had the unusual situation of owing a couple of thousand less at closing than we anticipated, so we were able to cash flow that $600. One thing you may not realize is that if you're moving from renting to buying, and you put down last month's rent when you moved in, you may go as much as two months without making a housing payment since mortgage is paid in arrears. This was an awesome surprise when we figured it out!

In addition, we budgeted $1,500 to hire real movers. Many people skip this, and power to them, but we knew from the get-go that this was ESSENTIAL for us and worth every penny. We consider it an investment in our happy marriage :-)

In the first year in our house, our number one expense has been landscaping stuff. Fertilizer, shovels, rakes, mulch, etc. add up much faster than you'd think. We've cash flowed this as we go, however.

formerlyGDaisy09 · August 2015

we had about $2000 in our e-fund, and we budgeted to put $200-300 into a savings account every month.

things to think about that you might need: ladder, basic tools, lawn mower, weed whacker, shovel, rake, garden hose, shop vac...depending on the size of your lawn other yard tools like a spreader. if you have a dog, budget for some kind of fencing (invisible is inexpensive, but can lead to behavior problems if not installed in a thoughtful way). depending on where you live/how long your driveway is, you might consider investing in a snowblower.

We have only a postage stamp lot, so we were able to get away with a reel lawn mower and electric weed whacker, which are significantly less expensive than the gas powered versions.

Our refrigerator died exactly 2 months after we moved into our house, we dipped into our e-fund to buy a new one (I mean what else were we going to do). Also budget for things like paint and minor upgrades as you run into little things about your home that you don't like. We made two minor changes within days of moving in; Our doors didn't have deadbolts, we felt more secure installing a deadbolts on exterior doors, we also upgraded to a programable thermostat

As far as the movers that @Xstatic3333 mentioned, we moved ourselves, and I've since decided that we will never move ourselves again.

hoffse · August 2015

First, up your estimate of closing costs. Lots of reports on this board and others that the good faith estimate from the bank came back low. I've never heard of one coming in high (though I'm sure it does happen... sometimes). Ours came in about $3K low because my mortgage guy didn't estimate the escrow for taxes correctly. I found out we owed another $3K the day before closing. I managed to not have a panic attack, but it was close.

Other than that, it's going to depend on the house and your tolerance level for stuff the previous owners didn't fix. The house we bought had the most disgusting carpet you can imagine in the bedrooms. Literally, there were enormous rust-red stains that looked like somebody had bled out and died right where the bed was supposed to go. So that carpet came out before we even moved in, and we had hardwoods installed. The rooms are big, and we did real hardwoods - $4K for that. We could have done cheapo carpet for a lot less, but H has allergies, and we have pets. The hardwoods have been wonderful to own/maintain, and we still talk about how much we love them a year later. We feel like they were worth every penny.

We also spent about $750 on paint and paint supplies for the interior, because the colors were terrible and needed a full overhaul, including ceilings and trim. There were teenage girls that lived here before us, and their bedrooms were hot pink and aqua... it was eye-wateringly bright. We literally had to squint to look at it.

The hall bath was really sad, so we spent about $1K doing a DIY fix for the sink, toilet, etc. That was 3 months after we moved in when the vanity started to collapse and was literally pulling free from the wall. It had to come out because we were afraid it would tear away completely, so we revamped a couple other things in there while the bathroom was out of commission anyway.

Our other (highly necessary) projects include insulating the attic after our first winter, replacing the water heater when it died and leaked all over the garage, regrading some of the yard near our crawlspace (poor H) to stop the flooding in our basement, and replacing some wiring in the attic when we were told it was hot and it was a miracle the house hadn't burned down. These are all maintenance type things that really needed to be done for the safety and comfort of living in our home. Together they were probably $2K or so?

We have bought relatively little furniture or decor, but we did have to buy quite a bit of lawn and garden stuff because we moved from an apartment, and this house has a huge lawn. That was maybe $500-$700 for a mower, weed eater, hedger, blower, rake, shovel, basic gardening tools, gas can, extension cords, etc. We still haven't bought a wheelbarrow, but we really need one. That's probably going to happen in the fall when it's time to do leaves again.

We did get a nice coffee/side table and couch for the living room because we had no furniture for it at all. We've probably spent a couple grand on furniture, decor, rugs, etc over the last year, and the house is still really empty. Granted, we went from a 2 bed/2 bath apartment to a 4 bed/3 bath house with a separate living room, family room, and finished basement. We more than doubled our living space, and filling it is just going to take time. Our furniture buying has also been kind of spontaneous. Example: last Wednesday we spent $300 on chairs for our breakfast room because we didn't have any, and people are coming over in a couple weeks.

So it's hard to know what to tell you. I guess be prepared for several grand in upfront costs if the house you buy needs a quick fix. That nasty carpet wasn't a deal-breaker for the house as a whole, but it was not tolerable for us and had to be removed ASAP. Also maybe set aside a few grand for maintenance type things that happen over the course of the first year, just to be safe. Hopefully you won't need it, but odds are you'll find some non-emergency items that really need to be handled sooner rather than later.

Then what happens is your spending goes way up when it's like, "Oh but people are coming over, and I don't have chairs for them to sit in while I'm cooking. Guess we finally need to buy breakfast room chairs." Expect this to happen a lot for at least the first year. Maybe the first two years. I don't know... we just passed our first anniversary in our house, and it hasn't seemed to slow down one bit. The only real perk to it is we've landed some pretty sweet free travel because I have been signing up for new CC's and getting lots of sign up bonuses. Hitting the spending minimums sure hasn't been a problem this last year!

Owning a house is one of those things where people tell you it costs a ton of money, but you don't really appreciate it until you're doing it. I know I didn't. I have a feeling parenting is a similar thing... you don't really appreciate what it's like until you're doing it.

The good news: being a homeowner is great, and you couldn't pay me to go back to an apartment. Even with all the work, money, time, etc.... making a space your own is a real joy. You just have to be able to roll with the punches.

hoffse · August 2015

Oh yeah, +1 on the movers. We moved ourselves too. Never. ever. again. And it still cost more than we thought it would for the Uhaul. We should have just paid somebody to do it for us. I think it's cheaper than couple's therapy!

Also +1 on changing the locks. Our doors couldn't be re-keyed, so we had to buy new locks. I don't remember what that cost, but I remember feeling like it was way too much.

One caveat to my story - we bought a fixer upper and knew we were doing it. The house was really ugly, but we liked the layout, and it was in our ideal neighborhood. We got a fantastic price on it, and the mortgage is low enough that we can afford to live on just one income. That was hugely valuable to us, especially since we didn't have to compromise on location for it. Anyway, we saw great bones, and we were willing to put some real money into it from the very beginning. There were a lot of people that passed on this house, but we're so glad we didn't. We just finished the last of the big remodeling (the kitchen), and we now have a much more valuable house than before, but our mortgage payment doesn't reflect it.

Fixer-uppers definitely aren't for everyone. If you decide to only look seriously at houses that are in decent cosmetic shape with neutral colors, then you probably won't put the kind of upfront money into it that we did. If you buy a house with peptobismol pink walls though... I challenge any adult to keep that wall color vs. spending $100 to paint the room a color you can actually look at. Just saying.

We have spent real money on furniture for the few pieces we've bought, and that's been our choice. My perspective: 1) we buy real, adult furniture when adding or replacing our crappy college stuff and 2) we can take it with us to the next house. It's not a permanent fixture, so I'm not constantly weighing cost vs. resale value. We buy what we like, as long as we can cash-flow it. We haven't pulled any money from savings for our furniture.

bmo88 · August 2015

We spent about $100 in painting supplies. Our home was a new build, so we just painted 6 accent walls. Then, we bought a new couch/love seat/chair set (we kept our other 6 year old couch for our family room) and that was $2,000. It wasn't "necessary," but we budgeted for it.

We then spent about $150 in moving expenses (truck rental, mileage and boxes), but we only moved across town. We moved ourselves (along with a few friends helping). Every time we have moved (4 times in the past 6 years), we swear we won't do it ourselves again...but we did. We just didn't want to spend the $700+ all the local companies were quoting. It was stressful, but we got through it.

We were lucky to have accumulated art work, decorations and furniture over the years through sales. So we didn't buy any large pieces of furniture other than the couch set.

Erikan73 · August 2015

I think it depends on the condition of the home you are buying. We didn't leave any money for that because the home we bought had just been repainted (the whole interior) a light tan and all new carpet, the windows were news and it came with mini blinds. So we didn't need to leave money for that kind of stuff. But what we did need money for was that we went from a one bathroom house to a 3 full bathroom house. So we need to buy more shower curtains, trash cans, toliet bowl cleaners (I wasn't about to carry one from bathroom to bathroom through the house).

dragonstarjk · August 2015

We didn't actually budget anything for repairs, painting, etc. because at the time we purchase our home, we didn't want to put it off in order to have extra money saved. We had to have the electrical panel replaced and some GFCI outlets installed before we could close, so that was an extra $2000 that we were able to tack on to the loan. We also purchased a new (small) refrigerator because the one that was in our house was a lovely olive green model from the 50's.

We did a few minor paint projects right when we moved in that we cash flowed, but for the most part we've just slowly tackled things and purchased items as we need them or as we can afford it. A lot of things that people consider 'needs' aren't really necessities for us. I would probably feel differently if we had kids because over the years, we've had several 'in progress' projects that wouldn't be safe for children to be around.

Our home is very old and needs a LOT of work, but it's livable and slowly getting better and better, and we have tons of equity because we didn't have a lot of up front costs. For us, paint, flooring, furniture, lighting, etc. have all been 'optional' things that we've done as we could afford.

All that being said, I'd say we spent well under $1,000 when we first moved in, including the new refrigerator, paint, outlet covers, lawn care items, etc.

jessica490 · August 2015

dragonstarjk said:

We didn't actually budget anything for repairs, painting, etc. because at the time we purchase our home, we didn't want to put it off in order to have extra money saved. We had to have the electrical panel replaced and some GFCI outlets installed before we could close, so that was an extra $2000 that we were able to tack on to the loan. We also purchased a new (small) refrigerator because the one that was in our house was a lovely olive green model from the 50's.
We did a few minor paint projects right when we moved in that we cash flowed, but for the most part we've just slowly tackled things and purchased items as we need them or as we can afford it. A lot of things that people consider 'needs' aren't really necessities for us. I would probably feel differently if we had kids because over the years, we've had several 'in progress' projects that wouldn't be safe for children to be around.
Our home is very old and needs a LOT of work, but it's livable and slowly getting better and better, and we have tons of equity because we didn't have a lot of up front costs. For us, paint, flooring, furniture, lighting, etc. have all been 'optional' things that we've done as we could afford.
All that being said, I'd say we spent well under $1,000 when we first moved in, including the new refrigerator, paint, outlet covers, lawn care items, etc.

Can I ask you how much it cost you to replace your electrical panel? Our new house has 100 amp with the old style fuses and we want to upgrade to 200amp, circuit breakers, and service for a generator? What did you have done?

blondie42107 · August 2015

Our house had been gutted and completely redone a few years prior to us buying. The previous owner had used really good, neutral paint colors and flooring.

The only thing we did on first day of ownership was have all the locks re-keyed!

A few months later we painted the master bedroom to make it more personalized. We already had a lawnmower from where we rented. H had lived in a duplex for a few years (me a year) and mowed the lawn in return for a discount on rent. We had enough furniture to get started.

strickland8052 · August 2015

We budgeted for at least $3k but up to $6k, and I think it was pretty accurate.

We spent $3k on "needs" like blinds, curtains, rugs, and a washing machine. (these were "needs" in my mind)

We spent another $3k on things we could have lived without (landscaping work that made our driveway more easy to use.)

Our house had recently undergone an excellent renovation, but the yard was a disaster.

jessica490 · August 2015

blondie42107 said:

Our house had been gutted and completely redone a few years prior to us buying. The previous owner had used really good, neutral paint colors and flooring. The only thing we did on first day of ownership was have all the locks re-keyed! A few months later we painted the master bedroom to make it more personalized. We already had a lawnmower from where we rented. H had lived in a duplex for a few years (me a year) and mowed the lawn in return for a discount on rent. We had enough furniture to get started.

This will be us too. We also picked up a lot of used yard items from family members and neighbors so get the word out!

formerlyGDaisy09 · August 2015

hoffse said:

Oh yeah, +1 on the movers. We moved ourselves too. Never. ever. again. And it still cost more than we thought it would for the Uhaul. We should have just paid somebody to do it for us. I think it's cheaper than couple's therapy!

Also +1 on changing the locks. Our doors couldn't be re-keyed, so we had to buy new locks. I don't remember what that cost, but I remember feeling like it was way too much.

One caveat to my story - we bought a fixer upper and knew we were doing it. The house was really ugly, but we liked the layout, and it was in our ideal neighborhood. We got a fantastic price on it, and the mortgage is low enough that we can afford to live on just one income. That was hugely valuable to us, especially since we didn't have to compromise on location for it. Anyway, we saw great bones, and we were willing to put some real money into it from the very beginning. There were a lot of people that passed on this house, but we're so glad we didn't. We just finished the last of the big remodeling (the kitchen), and we now have a much more valuable house than before, but our mortgage payment doesn't reflect it.

Fixer-uppers definitely aren't for everyone. If you decide to only look seriously at houses that are in decent cosmetic shape with neutral colors, then you probably won't put the kind of upfront money into it that we did. If you buy a house with peptobismol pink walls though... I challenge any adult to keep that wall color vs. spending $100 to paint the room a color you can actually look at. Just saying.

We have spent real money on furniture for the few pieces we've bought, and that's been our choice. My perspective: 1) we buy real, adult furniture when adding or replacing our crappy college stuff and 2) we can take it with us to the next house. It's not a permanent fixture, so I'm not constantly weighing cost vs. resale value. We buy what we like, as long as we can cash-flow it. We haven't pulled any money from savings for our furniture.

we went with some of the keyless entry deadbolts, they were about $135 each (deadbolt and matching doorknob set). a little pricy, but so worth it. WE can change the code if we want to, it makes setting-up a house sitter so easy, and if we're having house guests they can let them in and out of our house without problem.

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