10 Things Homeowners Don’t Think About – But Should
Whether your brand new to owning a home or you’ve been in the game for a while, there are seemingly a million things to learn about homeownership. No matter what you’ve been doing until this point, there are always things you can learn and add to your log of knowledge for the future. Whether you’re preparing for the big move, or you’ve been in place for a while, here are some things you might want to know as a homeowner.
Contents
1. Insurance
One thing that you might not have thought about is getting homeowners insurance. When you rent, you don’t need to think about insuring your home, but since you’re on the hook for everything that happens to your home, getting insurance could be a good choice.
2. Taxes
You don’t need to pay property taxes when you don’t on your home, but the moment you become a homeowner, it’s important to set aside a little bit of money for property taxes so that when tax season rolls around, you aren’t surprised by the extra money that you owe.
3. Home Security Systems
When it comes to protecting your home, you might be a little bit surprised at how much can go into it. It doesn’t take a whole lot but setting an alarm and having an alarm system in place in case of an emergency can be an extremely smart choice, especially if you have kids, or even if you have valuable possessions on your property but you want to take care of. You can set up alarm systems from your garage all the way to your back door.
4. Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Detectors
Even if you might have already thought of Safety when it comes to protecting yourself from things outside of the home, can be easy to forget to check up on things within the home. Make sure that if you have carbon monoxide and smoke detectors, their batteries are charged, and they work perfectly well. It could save somebody’s life.
5. Fire Safety
Even though you might have thought about fire safety before, having an entire house that you were completely in charge of should take things to another level. You might have one fire extinguisher handy, but make sure that it isn’t expired. Additionally, most safety experts recommend keeping a fire extinguisher on every floor so that you can easily access them in case of an emergency.
6. Security Cameras
Whether or not you have an alarm system already in place, adding security cameras to your security set up might not be a bad idea. You can add security cameras to monitor the outside of your home, but you can also add security cameras at strategic locations within your home as well.
7. A Tool Kit
Without the landlord to take care of little fixes for you, you’re going to need to learn how to do a few things on your own, and also have the tools to go along with it. If you aren’t already strapped with a few Andy tools to keep on deck, you should probably invest in a tool kit sooner rather than later. Even if it truly is just the basics, it might save you one of these days.
8. Locking the Doors
One thing that can take a little bit of getting used to is locking all of the doors in your home. Especially if you came directly from an apartment, you might not be used to having a lot of doors to keep locked. Additionally, it can be important to lock your doors even during the daytime, as intruders will often strike in the middle of the day.
9. Property Lines
Before you get started on any landscaping, gardening or outdoor projects, it can be helpful to learn where your property lines are. The exact spot that your property ends, and your neighbor’s property begins might not be of great use to you all the time, but it can definitely come in handy to know when you want to make changes, or even just when you want to mow the lawn.
10. Having Pros on Deck
Since you don’t have a landlord that can help you take care of any fixes that need repairing, you’re going to need to have a few professionals on deck that you can call and trust with your home. This means building up a list of reputable contractors that you can turn to when you need it. Additionally, this also means that you need to be able to recognize when something is beyond your level of expertise so that you don’t make the problem worse before it gets better.
Things Homeowners Need to Know
There are quite a few things that it can be helpful to know when you first on a home, or when you’re getting ready to become a homeowner. From putting money away for taxes to keeping your home safe and secure from intruders, you can learn something new every day and make your home a place that you want to be. Did any of these tips surprise you?
