There are so many expenses that amount when owning a new home that it’s hard to know where to begin with it all – or where it all ends. More importantly, if you don’t know what you will be spending your money on before you buy your new home and are only looking at the finances in regards to the bricks and mortar, there is less chance that you will be budgeting correctly and knowing where your money is going each month.
So if this is your first time buying, or even renting, a home away from other people, what do you need to look out for?
Fees
Whenever you are exchanging money for goods when it comes to properties, there will always be a middle man willing to take your fees. Whether this is a real estate agent, solicitor or somebody else, there are is always some sort of financial exchange that will have to take place. The best thing to do is get the fee price up front so you will know how much you are dishing out. There are definitely ways to save on these expenses; if you take things outside of a realtor and make an agreement that you can stick to between the seller of the house and yourself, you could save yourself a pretty penny. You will, however, still need a solicitor to cover the legal side of things.
Utilities
You can expect to paying quite a bit out each month for the utilities that you are using. Water, gas and electricity are amongst the most expensive. Due to living in the technical age we are using more electricity than ever, as we are constantly needing it to power up our portable devices and computers. There are definitely ways to cut back on this spending, but it’s hard to do – especially if you are needing to use said devices on a continual basis. You can look at comfortably spending a couple of hundred dollars a month at least on these bills. There are some top money saving tips online which will help you be able to budget yourself and pick the best providers for your area, but you need to do some thorough research before sticking with them. Take a look around and hunt for the best deal for you and what you comfortably need to get yourself by. If you use less than you have been quoted for then your provider should take this into account and start lowering your payments/putting credit back into your account to compensate for your overpayments.
Other Bills
When you are trying to work out your monthly budget in your head, you need to factor in a lot of other bills, too. This is money out for bills that you probably previously haven’t considered – mobile phone and internet are the main ones. If you are moving into a new home, the once reasonably disposable income that you have come from which allowed the extra expense on such things will quickly disappear. If you know that you aren’t hitting your tariff each month, take a look at a cheaper one or go to a sim-only contract where you aren’t paying for the phone as well as your bills. Keeping the same phone can be a huge help when it comes to your upgrade time – everyone is always on the hunt for bigger and better, especially as new updates are conveniently released every couple of years to keep people in the cycle of buying a new phone with new and better features. Sticking with what works isn’t so bad.
Taxes
Social security, state and sales taxes .. there are so many taxes to take into consideration when you are first moving into your new home. There are sites online that can give you a breakdown of what you need to pay and when, but it’s best to ask a neighbour or family member who can give you more of a comprehensive idea of what you need to pay in layman’s terms. You don’t want to risk overcomplicating things, as that’s when you start to miss things out. If it is all easy and planned, say on a spreadsheet, this can make the whole ordeal a lot easier to get to grips with.
Insurance
House insurance, contents insurance, life insurance, car insurance – the list goes on and on. The more you have in your property, the more so is the need to get it all insured. Go onto a comparison site and choose a quote that will fit exactly what you need. Don’t try to cut down on your cover just to save some extra cash; if something untoward happens and you don’t have the cover available to get you back on your feet, the couple of dollars that you had saved previously in the year won’t be able to help you.
Furniture
What a lot of people tend to forget is that it takes a lot of money to kit out a house – especially if you’re starting from scratch. The most frugal thing that you can do is ask around and take advantage of the charity being offered. If somebody is asking if you want a piece of furniture for your new home that you can’t afford, take it. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth; if you have something there available for you to use in your home but it doesn’t quite fit in, at least you have it there until you have saved up for something that you want. Have a look around for the best deals that you can get on white goods (or see again if somebody is offering them!) and other electronic items. These things can last for a couple of years if not more, so it’s not so thrifty to suggest or think that buying new will be able to make an item last longer for you. Keep to the basics that you need until you can afford to invest into something bigger and better for your house.
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