As I was watching my Facebook feed get inundated with my friends' houses suffering water damage because of frozen and burst pipes, it got me thinking that a lot of the time we take home maintenance and care for granted. We procrastinate and forget because we have more “important" things to do but next thing you know we’re stuck with huge bills from broken heaters, AC units, pipes and even flooding from faulty or backed up septic systems.
Home inspections can help us discover some of these issues before they are actual emergencies and problems, saving us THOUSANDS in the process. Yes, a home inspection can be a few hundred dollars but it is a good way to figure out what kind of shape our house is. Honestly I spend a lot of time looking at all types of homes for a living and I overlook things that the home inspector picks up. Putting something off like examining your pipes, heating and cooling systems, foundation and roofing, can be some of the most expensive repairs in a home. Yes, you may spend a few hundred dollars fixing some of these things preemptively, but it will be a lot cheaper than having to fix something like a leaky roof that has not only collapsed but has also ruined precious belongings in the process, or like in the case of some of my close friends over this past snow storm, having to take care of massive water damage due to frozen burst pipes.
I guess what I am getting at is that you don’t have to wait until you are about to sell your house in order to do proper home maintenance. Sometimes, it’s just good sense to make sure that everything in your house is in order. Make a checklist of the things you need to check every season. Winter should be focused on your heating unit, your pipes and maybe your air filters since you’ll be breathing that air constantly. Spring should revolve around organizing your home, also checking your filters and maybe making home improvements since the weather is usually pretty nice. Summer should be all about your A/C unit and ensuring your home is properly insulated in order to save money on cooling bills. During the Fall you may want to clean your gutters and check your roof to make sure that there aren’t any leaks or cracks. This is a very basic list of things to check and there are many other things you should be on the lookout for.
Taking care of your home, which is probably your most expensive investment, requires care and maintenance so make sure not to neglect your home until you have to sell.
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