we bought a house

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so exciting to hear. We will be house shopping after our wedding next October so no advice exactly except enjoy making it your own.

Congratulations! Honestly, the best advice I have is to be ready for surprises. I bought my house on my own 3 years ago. Some of the surprises I've had have included having to have a tree cut down after a major storm and redoing the driveway, among other things. Owning a house is not always easy, but I still feel homeownership is worth it. I'd recommend getting on Nextdoor if it's active in your area. It's a great for getting recommendations from neighbors, searching for lost pets, etc.

I just bought my first house on my own about 2 1/2 years ago. The single thing that I would recommend is to get a good home warranty, and opt for the additional appliance coverage. Anything can go wrong at any time (and does!), and without a home warranty, you could be shelling out thousands of dollars for repairs.

About a year after I bought the home, my refrigerator went out (it came with the house). Without the home warranty, it would have cost me almost $1000 in repairs. With the home warranty (with the extended appliance coverage), all it cost was $65 for the service call. The rest was covered, and if it hadn't been repairable, I would have gotten a replacement fridge, 100% covered.

About 6 months after that, my water heater broke. Again, initially all it cost me was $65 for the service call. The guy came out, determined I needed a new one. I did end up having to pay about $500 for connectors and parts that weren't covered, but that was it. If I had had to pay for the replacement water heater, it would have been close to $2000.

So, just from my two examples, hopefully you can see how beneficial a home warranty is. This is slightly different than homeowner's insurance, and covers different things, so you can have both, like I do, to fully protect your home and appliances. It's well worth it.

I agree with Kate. Be ready for surprises. My husband knew the furnace was ancient. So he saved for the time when it will have to be replaced. It's been like 6 years lol. But this year might be the year! Also, I would be considerate when making updates whether or not this is your forever home. There's certain things I would love to have in our house, but I know it's worth it. We wouldn't get our money back so better to save that money for the next house. Try to learn about your house. No one is going to tell you what's wrong with it. Like for us, every year our bathroom pipes would freeze. We would do our best to keep the heat high and the water running but it would still catch us sometimes. We randomly found out, through trial and error, that keeping our pantry door open solves this problem. There's a little hole cut into the pantry wall. We never knew why. 🤣

Congrats! My husband and I bought the home his mom grew up in so he was 4th generation owner. Unfortunately, none of his family had really maintained it over all those years so we gutted it and spent the last 3 years remodeling it. The biggest advice I can give you is along with what Kate said: be prepared for surprises. We had a huge tree come down earlier this year during a major storm and it crashed into our garage. Fortunately, insurance took care of the repairs but we had to pay for cleaning up after the tree and will now need to pay to cut down the others as a safety precaution. Stay on top of maintenance such as cleaning out gutters and removing leaves/branches off the top of your roof. If you have any wood decks/porches/fences, you'll need to repaint/restain and seal them every few years. We had to replace our water heater the first year we moved in. As you can see, having a savings account for home repairs/surprises is really recommended!

Wow congratulations 🎉! That's an awesome thing !

View Quoted Comment This. Home warranty for sure. I've had to replace two water hearers and have many repairs done on my furnace before finally having to replace it last year. It's saved me a lot.

Congrats!! No advice from me but just congrats from afar!!

Congrats!! One piece of advice that always stuck with me is change your air filter every time you pay your mortgage! Otherwise it’s so easy to forget and for me it does make a difference in allergies!

Congrats!

Go to your local hardware store and get a complete tool kit. You're going to need it.

We've been married less than a month, so of course our condo has - broken the tub faucet, sprung a moldy leaky spot on the ceiling shower (2nd time it's done this, yay!), and DH's computer broke. YAY OWNING HOUSES.

Figure out what you are going to be comfortable fixing on your own, and not calling a professional. DH and I are fairly hand with tools and paint, so basic repairs we can do... my dad taught me a tiny bit about electrics, so I can tackle replacing a plug, but both of us know better than to mess with pipes. If you can manage some of the basic repair stuff, you'll save a ton of money.

Shelving is your lifesaver. Get more than you think you need. You'll need it.

MEASURE EVERYTHING AT LEAST THREE TIMES and then maybe call a friend over to check your measurements. DH and I have bought furniture for our tiny condo, and then realized we measured (like 10x, no less) ... THE WRONG SPACE. So now we have a wonky TV corner, oops.

Congratulations! We bought a total fixer upper in June 2018 and got married in July 2019. I'd have a "rainy day" account for broken water heater, new AC, plumbing issues, etc. My husband is super handy so he does 99% of our work at home, but I know that isn't the case for everyone. We also save to do an extra mortgage payment every year to help pay ours off a tiny bit faster.