If you’re a new homeowner, there are eight costly mistakes you must avoid.
Here are the eight costliest mistakes new homeowners make that you need to avoid if you’ve moved into your first house:
1. Going with the lowest bids on projects. If you’re looking to hire someone to complete a home project, the lowest bid often isn’t the best option. Low bids sometimes double in cost because you end up hiring another contractor to fix the mistakes the previous one made. If you plan on tackling the project yourself, make sure you know what you’re doing, because DIY projects can become a problem once you’re ready to sell the home. Having them done professionally usually pays off, even if it costs more.
2. Submitting small insurance claims. Be careful doing this, because after a couple of these claims, your insurance company will reevaluate your account—and maybe even drop you. Make sure any claim you submit is a fairly significant amount.
3. Making improvements with a small ROI. Some people assume that if they put $20,000 into a home improvement, their return on investment for that improvement will be roughly the same, but that’s not how it works. If you’re thinking of making upgrades, give us a call and we’ll discuss with you what makes sense and what doesn’t in your case. Kitchens and master bathrooms are the areas that give the best rate of return, while decks, especially here in Alaska, won’t be as lucrative.
4. Buying a lot of furniture. Sometimes buyers do this before they’ve even officially purchased their home, which can interfere with your credit and sometimes disqualify you from your loan.
5. Throwing away receipts for your improvements. If you sell your house down the road and have significant capital gains on it, these receipts can help level out the tax consequences.
6. Ignoring small repair items. Oftentimes, small repair items can turn into big repair items that cost you a lot more, so stay on top of these repairs. In the end, you’ll be glad you did.
7. Not doing research for your remodels. Again, we’d be happy to help you with this kind of thing.
8. Buying cheap tools. We understand that money may be tight in your situation, but if you buy tools to complete a project yourself, remember that picking cheap ones is the same thing as picking a cheap contractor.
If you need help with remodeling in your home or have any real estate questions at all, give us a call. We’d love to help you.
