It is suggested to set aside 1%-3% of your home's overall value for repairs every year.

Most people do not do this, and many homes thus slowly degrade in value. It is a fast track way to destroy potential generational wealth.

Home repair issues also tend to be bursty (rule of three...). You'll have a few years of nothing that'll lull you into a false sense of security, then suddenly three major issues will come up. So far this year I've had nearly 10K in random expenses pop up (!!) and based on the life expectancy of my HVAC system I expect I'll have some more major expenses next year.

If there is one near to you, join a tool library. It is a huge savings over buying specialized tools for one off jobs. Tool libraries are an amazing community resource.

Find a good reliable handy man, even if you know how to do things yourself. Hopefully one you can trust with your door code so if your neighbors report running water while you are away on a trip you have someone you can call who you know will take care of it.

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01100011 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> and many homes thus slowly degrade in value

Except in my experience the lack of upkeep doesn't actually affect the value all that much. In many places the vast majority of the price is the land and people seem less interested in valuing based on the condition of the structure. It may affect time to sell, but that seems about it. Sure some credits might be offered during escrow for some repairs, but again often the money is insufficient or the seller simply says no.

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kube-system 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

That depends on the market and how much deferred maintenance we're talking about.

In some places buyers will bulldoze perfectly good homes just to build a different one, just because the land is so valuable.

In other places, there are abandoned homes that municipalities can't even give away because the cost to bulldoze is more than the land is worth.

If the place you're in looks more like the former, maintenance doesn't matter as much. If it looks more like the latter, maintenance is going to be more important to your sale price.

	▲	mothballed 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		At least where I'm from, the cost of a property with a burned-out unusable house on it is always a shit-ton more than land value, since running utilities to a house site, dealing with the paperwork, etc. is way more expensive and precarious than the cost to bulldoze. If there was a house there you can just raze to foundation and rebuild it without having to trigger a clusterfuck with the utility company or septic re-evaluation. Also if the house is at least mortgagable by someone then buyers will still bid the price up to infinity on debt even if the house is only usable for bulldozing. The land value itself is also way lower for places without a house since the land value is loanable in one case and not the other.

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rustystump 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This. Most value is location location location. It does not cost that much relative to price to reno when you want to sell. Space is the premium, not trendy open concepts.

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throw0101c 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It is suggested to set aside 1%-3% of your home's overall value for repairs every year.

Rob Carrick, a now (semi-)retired personanl finance writer in Canada, observed that owning a home tends to not be a forced saving plan but rather a forced spending plan:

* https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWG223bPjvf/

* https://thewealthybarber.com/video/owning-a-home-is-so-expen...

Full interview on The Wealthy Barber podcast:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8OwBbm5OXc

	▲	irishcoffee 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		My parents sure figured out how to not participate in the spending plan, and in the 20 years they’ve owned the home it’s almost tripled in value. I wouldn’t buy it, but it’s super easy to not take care of a home, live in it, and have it appreciate in value.

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tetha 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A friend of mine had an interesting point there. It was more on a personal note that either of us had a hard time spending money on nice things for ourselves. Like, do you need better headphones, do you need this, do you really need that? Better not buy anything nice or fun.

A fairly unintuitive resolution to this is to setup a "fun and nonsense" budget and force yourself to spend it every half year, or to make a conscious plan on how to spend it over the year. If you plan the budget right, it won't hurt you, but it will force you to make your life better.

Maintenance, especially of owned property, seems similar to me. You should be saving up for the real "oh shit" situations, and you should accumulate a budget to just do things continuously. 6 months of routine maintenance budget saved up, what do we spend it on actively, before it becomes a mess?

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doom2 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This has been us the past few years: * Fall 2024: we had to get star bolts[1] installed to reinforce our front wall - $24k * Spring 2025: our (finished) basement flooded, requiring a French drain to be installed and the basement restored - $18k * Ongoing repairs to our roof to address leaks - $8k

Just a seemingly never ending stream of major repairs, which is taking up money we could have used on actual improvements (HVAC upgrades/mini split installation, reinforcing insulation, kitchen upgrades, etc.) that might actually raise the value of the home. Instead, I'm just hoping the repairs will keep us from losing money on the house when we sell.

[1] https://99percentinvisible.org/article/tying-architecture-to...

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cosmic_cheese 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The trick if own can pull it off is to mortgage in an area with cost of living a step or two down from where one had previously been renting. This was easiest during the proliferation of remote work but can still happen with some persistence.

This way one’s housing costs feel like a bargain and savings (including repair reserves) quickly rack up unless the individual in question has serious problems holding onto money.

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sakopov 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I would really recommend getting a Home Warranty. I probably saved myself $7-$8K just in the last year fixing all kinds of electrical, plumbing and HVAC issues.

	▲	toast0 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Maybe, if your home warranty actually has competent providers in its network. When I had one, it was always pulling teeth to get a provider to come out; and most of the providers who are willing to drive 3-4 hours to come out on a home warranty contract aren't the best. And yes, they did replace some things, but at least for me, I'd rather have paid out of pocket to get things fixed or replaced in a timely manner, rather than f**ing around for 3-5 months to get my air handler replaced or my oven almost replaced and then just get a check because their selected oven didn't actually fit. Of course, the check didn't really cover an oven that would fit; but maybe if you have a less fancy house their part selection would work out.

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bluGill 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most home repairs give warning. My roof is old but it wasn't hard to inspect it and conclude it is good for another year. If I have to replace it soon insurance will cover it.

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olavgg 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I just paid 120 000 USD for replacing the exterior drainage system. I knew it was expensive, but not that expensive.

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hypeatei 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Most people do not do this, and many homes thus slowly degrade in value

I agree with the first part, people absolutely do shoddy work or none at all but the value doesn't seem to go down. My mother bought a house had it inspected beforehand but massive issues with the foundation and the roof showed up the following spring when there was heavy rain. Sure, all that can be fought with attorneys and insurance (both cost time and money) but it doesn't feel very good psychologically or physically to be dealing with so much paperwork and house repairs.

Sorry to rant, I think your comment is spot on... owning a house is expensive.