{"id":7361,"date":"2025-06-28T20:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T01:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/?p=7361"},"modified":"2025-08-27T16:40:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T21:40:45","slug":"3-expenses-people-forget-when-they-buy-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/3-expenses-people-forget-when-they-buy-a-house\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Expenses People Forget When They Buy a House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When you\u2019re budgeting for a home, it\u2019s easy to focus on the down payment and monthly mortgage\u2013ensuring you get the <a href=\"http:\/\/tomo.com\/mortgage\/interest-rates-today?utm_source=tomo_blog&amp;utm_campaign=debtroundup\" title=\"lowest mortgage rate\">lowest mortgage rate<\/a> is undoubtedly crucial. But there are other costs \u2014 often in the thousands \u2014 that catch buyers off guard. Here are three of the biggest (and most common) ones, with realistic numbers so you can plan ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Keeping the place running<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Your <a href=\"https:\/\/tomo.com\/mortgage\/affordability\" title=\"mortgage payment\">mortgage payment<\/a> is just the start. <a href=\"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/are-property-taxes-included-in-a-mortgage-payment-short-answer-yes\/\" title=\"Property taxes\">Property taxes<\/a>, homeowners insurance, and utilities combined can add hundreds \u2014 even thousands \u2014 to your monthly costs. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bankrate.com\/home-equity\/hidden-costs-of-homeownership-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Bankrate\">Bankrate<\/a> puts the <em>average annual \u201chidden\u201d cost of homeownership<\/em> at about <strong>$21,400<\/strong> nationwide. That includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Taxes &amp; insurance<\/strong> \u2014 often <strong>$2,000\u2013$6,000\/year<\/strong> depending on your home and location<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Utilities<\/strong> \u2014 around <strong>$4,500\/year<\/strong> for electricity, gas, water, and sewer (closer to $6,000\u2013$7,000\/year if you include internet, phone, and streaming)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And these aren\u2019t fixed forever \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/what-are-real-estate-taxes-and-why-do-i-have-to-pay-them\/\" title=\"taxes\">taxes<\/a> and insurance almost always creep up over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. The never-ending maintenance list<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even new homes need ongoing care. Gutters clog, paint peels, water heaters fail \u2014 and none of it is cheap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bankrate<\/strong> puts the average at <strong>$8,800\/year<\/strong> for maintenance and repairs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/yourhome.fanniemae.com\/own\/how-build-your-maintenance-and-repair-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Fannie Mae\">Fannie Mae<\/a><\/strong> suggests planning for <strong>1\u20133% of your home\u2019s value annually<\/strong>. On a $400K home, that\u2019s <strong>$4,000\u2013$12,000 every year<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The challenge? Most new owners don\u2019t set aside money until the first big repair hits \u2014 which is usually when the water heater quits in the middle of winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. The \u201cwe need this now\u201d shopping spree<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You move in thinking you\u2019re set \u2014 then realize you need blinds for eight windows, a lawn mower, a couch that fits the space, maybe even a new fridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nahb.org\/blog\/2022\/06\/home-buyers-spend-big\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"NAHB surveys\">NAHB surveys<\/a><\/strong> show buyers typically spend <strong>$3,000\u2013$7,000 in the first year<\/strong> on furniture, appliances, and d\u00e9cor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Even if you try to reuse what you have, most people underestimate how much it costs to make a new place livable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Quick Cost Breakdown for a $400K Home<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Expense Category<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Monthly<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Annual<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Source<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Taxes &amp; Insurance<\/td><td>$200\u2013$500<\/td><td>$2,400\u2013$6,000<\/td><td>Bankrate<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Utilities<\/td><td>~$375<\/td><td>~$4,500<\/td><td>Bankrate \/ Energy.gov<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Maintenance &amp; Repairs<\/td><td>$333\u2013$1,000<\/td><td>$4,000\u2013$12,000<\/td><td>Freddie Mac \/ Bankrate<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Furnishings\/Appliances<\/td><td>One-time<\/td><td>$3,000\u2013$7,000+<\/td><td>NAR<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bottom line<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These costs aren\u2019t meant to scare you off \u2014 they\u2019re meant to keep you from being blindsided. Many homeowners say their first surprise wasn\u2019t the mortgage, but the $2,000 HVAC repair or $1,200 trip to Home Depot in month one. If you plan for them from the start, you\u2019ll have a much smoother (and less stressful) first year in your new home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you\u2019re budgeting for a home, it\u2019s easy to focus on the down payment and monthly mortgage\u2013ensuring you get the lowest mortgage rate is undoubtedly crucial. But there are other costs \u2014 often in the thousands \u2014 that catch buyers off guard. Here are three of the biggest (and most common) ones, with realistic numbers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":7395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[301,300,298],"class_list":["post-7361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-buying-your-first-house","tag-debt-roundup","tag-homebuying"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/debt-roundup-home.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7492,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361\/revisions\/7492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}