I've successfully budgeted moves to new places as a renter, but moving to a new house that I own has been an endeavor that has completely blown my budget in a truly epic way. As a cautionary tale for prospective homebuyers, here are my surprise expenses from the last month for my old (1920), but renovated and move in ready house. These are not ALL my expenses, but just the stuff I ended up spending money on that I did not plan for.
(1) Small surprises:
Plumber to check on some minor leaks
Electrician to evaluate some weird outlets
Lawn management stuff: lawn mower, weed wacker, round up, rake, shovel
Junk removal
Structural engineer to evaluate a scary crack on detached garage
De-humidifier for basement
(2) Stuff I didn't need and didn't budget for, but felt compelled to buy in my new-house excitement:
Plants for the garden and landscape
Outdoor furniture
Some lovely (but totally unnecessary) pieces from our favorite used furniture store
(3) Here is the list of crazy expensive, emergency fund busting expenses currently on the table:
New roof (insurance underwriters have liked the roof a whole lot less than our home inspector did)
At least 2K in electrical work due to some, ahem, super fun surprises
People getting ready to close on a house: Be smarter than me! Double your moving budget and be ready for the unexpected.
edit: Line breaks
Submitted July 13, 2017 at 06:12PM by Flaapjack http://ift.tt/2sVwOO5
