While almost every renter dreams of owning his or her dream home, they may want to think at least twice before they take on the frustrating, time consuming, and expensive costs of becoming a homeowner. Unless you are good at do it yourself home repair, maintenance can be costly. Real estate experts estimate that homeowners can expect to spend around one percent of home value on basic house repairs annually. The cool thing is if you are good with do it yourself home renovation or repair, you will save yourself enough to invest in something that will actually increase the value of your home.
When you are spending close to a grand per month on your mortgage, the last thing you want to think about is spending 400 dollars more on basic home repairs do it yourselfers can easily do. Sure, one percent may not seem like a big deal, at one percent per year, the owner of a 100 thousand dollar home can expect to pay 1000 dollars in maintenance expenses each year. Of course, if you buy an older home, you can expect to pay considerably more than that. In 2010, the average sale price of a new home was about 273 thousand dollars, and the median cost was over 212 thousand dollars. That means that the typical homeowner spends at least 2000 dollars per year on home repair.
Although many Americans do not live in 200 thousand dollar homes, no homeowner likes to think about spending hundreds of dollars extra for simple maintenance. Furthermore, since these are basic repairs, it will be money spent that adds zero value to their homes. But the question is do they really have to spend that much money on repairs? According to a recent study, the typical American homeowner can save about 450 dollars per year on household repairs with basic do it yourself home renovation and repair skills.
To put into perspective just how much the average homeowner wastes, more than half of all them will call a plumber for a clogged drain without even attempting to fix it themselves. On top of that, another and additional 28 percent will call a plumber after an unsuccessful plunging attempt. This means that almost 80 percent of American homeowners will spend at least 300 dollars to fix a clog that could have been fixed with a 15 or 20 dollar drain snake and a bottle of Draino.
Homeowners who are do not consider themselves the handy type often shy away from do it yourself repairs that are not much more difficult than changing a vacuum cleaner bag. It is not like they are embarking on some huge do it yourself home renovation! If you are a homeowner who prefers to call a professional, the next time something needs fixing, go online, watch a video, and try to do it yourself. It could end up saving you 300 or 400 bucks!
