Ideally, I would have like to had $10k set aside but is was more like $10.00

Our house is 60 years old and we've had to replace the furnace and AC in the first five years when my income has also taken a hit. We cut back in other areas including cars and savings - we had one car parked for two months until we could pay cash to fix it.

I think it depends on your tolerance for security/doing without. Some folks would not be able to sleep if buying a house or an unexpected expense meant cutting back on 401k contributions or not taking a "flying" vacation this year. Such folks should have that big e-fund. I'm glad we have our house and don't regret our decision to buy.

I had heard that one needs to budget about 2% of a home's value every year for furnace/AC replacements, a new roof, major appliance replacements, new water heaters, etc. This is above and beyond run of the mill repairs like fixing faucets and painting.

We had a home built in 1973 and in the first 18 months replaced the AC, furnace, water heater, and water line coming into the house. I don't remember our total e- fund but those costs alone were more than $10,000. This wasn't all we HAD to do over the years.

How much of an e-fund did you have when you first bought your home. It would be helpful if you could include the year of the home.

I was thinking of 10K but someone told me to get about triple that for an older home. At this rate I will rent for-ev-er.