There are eight common mistakes some new homeowners make that you need to avoid so you can save time, money, and stress.
As a new homeowner, here are the top eight mistakes you need to avoid:
1. Selecting the lowest bid for a renovation project. If you’re planning on hiring someone else to do a home renovation project, you should know that the lowest bid isn’t always your best option. In fact, sometimes the lowest bid can cost you double because you end up having to hire another contractor to fix the mistakes the previous one made. If you plan on tackling a renovation project yourself, make sure you know what you’re doing.
2. Submitting small insurance claims. Be careful about submitting insurance claims for minor repairs around your house, because if you submit too many of them, your insurance company will reevaluate your account and you might get dropped.
3. Making improvements that don’t have a good return on investment (ROI). Sometimes people assume that if they put $20,000 into a home upgrade, they’ll get that $20,000 back, and unfortunately, that’s not how it works. If you’re thinking of doing a home upgrade, give me a call so I can go through your home and give you my professional opinion of what makes sense for you. As a starting guide, kitchen and master bathroom upgrades will always give you the best ROI, while decks (especially here in Alaska) will give you a lower ROI.
4. Buying a lot of new furniture. Some people even do this before they actually own the house, which can disqualify you from your mortgage.
5. Throwing away receipts (especially for home improvements). If you decide to sell your house down the line and you have some fairly significant capital gains, those receipts can help level out any tax consequences you face.
6. Ignoring small repair items. Oftentimes, small repair items that get ignored turn into big repair items that cost a lot more.
7. Not doing any research before remodeling. Again, we’d be happy to advise you on what remodeling projects make the most sense for your home, so don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
8. Buying cheap tools. Sometimes money is tight for new homeowners, and when it’s time to buy tools to make any repairs, they buy cheap. Buying cheap tools is like picking the contractor with the lowest bid—it’s not a good idea.
If you need any help with any remodeling projects or you’d like to talk more about this topic, don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. If you have any other questions or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, feel free to reach out to me as well. I’d be happy to help you.
