The cost of living is skyrocketing in this area in part because of wealthy individuals like you.
You are happy to see the value of your houses increase exponentially.
And now you are complaining about services because they are expensive?
Do you want free hvac, landscaping, car repair or what?

Trouble with not maintaining house is snowballs. My last house I bought in 2000 with wife pregnant and newly married. Well we had back to back to back kids, then housing bubble then housing fall. We never really put a ton in as always expecting to trade up. Flash forward to 2015 wife just wanted to expand at that point so permits tied up and by 2016 laid off work and relocated in 2017 and finally sold in 10-2018.


House needs in next 5-7 years, new roof, all new siding, new gutters, some windows, some concrete work. Buyer also did not like it was oil heat and I don't have central air, my new house I paid 100K extra as it was renovated. Honestly I could have done the work myself for 80K but I would never get to it. Bettter to keep up on it.

Also I spent like 10K getting my old house ready to sell. I also had permit issues as I did do some work over years but always handiman on a budget work as ready to move on. So no permits. The new owner is a lucky man as he knew what was wrong got the money off and is fixing right away to his taste. So he wont live with problems for 18 years

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone commiserate with me. This week we did the following things:

1) Spring clean up and mulching - $1000
2) Major car repair - $3200
3) New HVAC - $5500
4) French drain in basement - $2800
5) Taxes - owe $8000

UGHHHH we had the money saved to do all of this but good lord it sucks writing those checks out! Being an adult is expensive!

I got a 56k tax bill

At least you're rich!

-$900 tax bill

Not rich HR screwed up my payroll last year. My stupid company in 2017 my paycheck just showed state income tax, HR someone how hit NY instead of MD and sent no taxes to MD so in 2018 paid a huge bill to MD in taxes then got a huge refund NY. This year all that NY refund is taxable income which jacked my fed taxes. Add to madness they then deducted MD in check in 2018 but forgot county tax so not huge MD tax again plus penalites plus the fed. Back again to HR. It is a start up they keep screwing up witholdings and I keep trying to get it fixed and they screw it up a different way.

Op here - yes home repairs are expensive! We bought a $700k home that was built in the 1960s in Alexandria. So farour major repairs have been:

1) window and door replacement - $30k?
2) new gutters and siding for garage (because it was rotting and letting in mice) - $10k
3) French drain basement - we have done 2 sides but need to do the other 2 before we finish the basement - $7k so far
4) drainage issues on the side of the house - $2k

We have only owned the house for 5 years. But we are planning on staying for a long time.

30 year homeowner here . . . this does not sound unusual. We bought a house with trees (and they just got bigger and bigger). Finally one fell on the house, but that's another story. We have probably spent 30K just on tree removal and pruning over the years (and, yeah, we were just about to take out the one that fell). This is a quarter acre lot. We have also had new windows, doors, gutters, roof, HVAC system, floors resanded, floors installed, carpeting, bathrooms remodeled, etc. I am sure we have put in close to 80K on all of that. So you can do the math. The value of the house right now is 700K. But we are not selling and we have to live somewhere and we are happy. I think one of the major differences with renting is that you don't have to think about all of this, make choices, schedule it, etc. If you value your freedom from upkeep, keep renting. If you value having a nice place to live, buy. But don't expect it to be a financial windfall at the end of the day. And people do use loans and credit and whatever to get this stuff done (and they forgo vacations and other spending).

Op here - yes home repairs are expensive! We bought a $700k home that was built in the 1960s in Alexandria. So farour major repairs have been:

1) window and door replacement - $30k?
2) new gutters and siding for garage (because it was rotting and letting in mice) - $10k
3) French drain basement - we have done 2 sides but need to do the other 2 before we finish the basement - $7k so far
4) drainage issues on the side of the house - $2k

We have only owned the house for 5 years. But we are planning on staying for a long time.

Anonymous wrote:The rule of thumb is you should expect to spend one percent of the purchase price of your home YEARLY for maintenance.

Yes, I've read that! But $20-25k is 1% of a 2 million dollar house. So I assume people reporting this as an average with salaries under $200k are reporting a higher percentage by far.

The rule of thumb is you should expect to spend one percent of the purchase price of your home YEARLY for maintenance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Geez - $25k is more than my rent and the mortgage we are considering, and no, we do not have that to spare. But surely not everyone who owns a home spends $40-50k+ on it per year, or nobody making under $200k would own a home, and many do....

We make under $180K and regularly put out $15-20, sometimes more per year on house repairs as we got a house that needed everything. Every year or so we do one big thing.

i'm the pp and we are at about $180k, too. the repairs are super expensive! in exchange we get to live in a house we love - and accrue all the benefits of homeownership, which seem to be many - but let's just lay out that we aren't taking lots of expensive vacations or saving tons of money at the moment.

What are the other benefits of homeownership if you are spending $20k+ a year on repairs? Serious question. Renter PP here at under $150k with kids in day care, so that kind of money is make or break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Geez - $25k is more than my rent and the mortgage we are considering, and no, we do not have that to spare. But surely not everyone who owns a home spends $40-50k+ on it per year, or nobody making under $200k would own a home, and many do....

We make under $180K and regularly put out $15-20, sometimes more per year on house repairs as we got a house that needed everything. Every year or so we do one big thing.

i'm the pp and we are at about $180k, too. the repairs are super expensive! in exchange we get to live in a house we love - and accrue all the benefits of homeownership, which seem to be many - but let's just lay out that we aren't taking lots of expensive vacations or saving tons of money at the moment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Geez - $25k is more than my rent and the mortgage we are considering, and no, we do not have that to spare. But surely not everyone who owns a home spends $40-50k+ on it per year, or nobody making under $200k would own a home, and many do....

We make under $180K and regularly put out $15-20, sometimes more per year on house repairs as we got a house that needed everything. Every year or so we do one big thing.

This is literally the first time i have heard owning is twice the cost of renting...i know there are additional costs but yikes, if repair coats are equal to equity maybe i should just rent forever....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Geez - $25k is more than my rent and the mortgage we are considering, and no, we do not have that to spare. But surely not everyone who owns a home spends $40-50k+ on it per year, or nobody making under $200k would own a home, and many do....

We make under $180K and regularly put out $15-20, sometimes more per year on house repairs as we got a house that needed everything. Every year or so we do one big thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Geez - $25k is more than my rent and the mortgage we are considering, and no, we do not have that to spare. But surely not everyone who owns a home spends $40-50k+ on it per year, or nobody making under $200k would own a home, and many do....

Anonymous wrote:

Oh my god. I am literally thinking about buying a house that would bring our joint savings down to a 2 month emergency fund we'd have to replenish (yes, budgeting for moving costs in there) and there is no way we could soak up $16k in a week for months afterward. Is that really the cash you have to have on hand at all times?

Well, there's this thing called a credit card . . .

yep

we bought our house three years ago (almost). it's an old house, and we got a good deal - but with that said, i'd say we've had somewhere between $10k and 25k worth of must-do repairs every year since we bought it so far. we are hoping that as we get old stuff upgraded that number will go down, but at this end of the tunnel i would say be absolutely sure that you have taken into account how much it will cost to keep up any house you are considering buying.

this isn't fun, hgtv-type stuff we've had to do. it's, like, replace the electrical wiring in the kitchen and have our sewer line replaced. i would assume that any house without a warranty/that isn't brand new will be similar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone commiserate with me. This week we did the following things:

1) Spring clean up and mulching - $1000
2) Major car repair - $3200
3) New HVAC - $5500
4) French drain in basement - $2800
5) Taxes - owe $8000

UGHHHH we had the money saved to do all of this but good lord it sucks writing those checks out! Being an adult is expensive!

I got a 56k tax bill

At least you're rich!

-$900 tax bill

Anonymous wrote:So brutal. Every month when I review our expenses I think "Oh but that was an exception" but EVERY month is an exception! These kinds of things just never stop. Sorry OP!

YES!!!!

Every month there is something unexpected or seasonal....tree trimming, kids camp, new tires, on and on and on.