Ask HN: I just bought my first house. Any advice? I have just purchased my first home and I would like to make the most of it, but I have no idea where to start. I'd like to setup maintenance schedules to make sure everything it looked after, and I love the idea of home-automation too. Is anyone here in a, or been in similar situation and can share some advice? |
You're probably getting too far ahead of yourself by setting up a maintenance schedule. There's an endless number of potential repairs and jobs, even for newer homes. For anything short of the roof caving in, your limiting factors will be money and time. First see how quickly you can grow your fund the first year, and only then start planning for the stuff you want to fix or enhance. And the roof will cave in shortly after you depleted your fund with some prophylactic job.
Plus, it's hard to budget or plan until you get a feel for what good contractors cost in your area and/or what amount of free time you really have. Basically anybody who owns a house has at least one in progress project at any time, and more often than not the project this month/year/decade is the same as it was last month/year/decade.
It sounds wrong but the most prudent thing to do in the first year or three is probably to hold off on doing anything until real problems present themselves and demand immediate attention. In the meantime just build up your war chest and, if every is going too well, maybe do some small jobs--some with contractors, some by yourself--so you develop a good mental model for budgeting.
-delay home automation indefinitely: current tech/prices aren't worth it
-create an owner's manual for every major system (including landscape/garden) and create calendar events with reminders for maintenance (upvote for turning AC on monthly even during winter)
-wait for at least a year before undertaking any remodeling. Get to know the home and how you live in it.
-spend time gardening. It's one of the most pleasurable parts of owning dirt. Take it easy on the new purchases of tools, bird feeders, plants, etc. It adds up fast. Read the book "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden"
-help your neighbors, even if they're weird, disagreeable, or believe in UFOs.
If it's a new build make use of the warranty.
Oh, and it's a lot of work and things always break. Just remember to fix them when you have time and don't worry about scratches or dents. Paint and spackle should happen all at once, so give it time.
2) If you don't have big reserves of cash, get great insurance and a home warranty, like American Home Shield. Reviews are mixed, but it's saved me money and given me peace of mind.
3) If you live in a humid place, dehumidify. Humidity is easy to prevent and can become a nightmare.
Home automation is still early stage so be prepared for lots of bugs and tweaks. I replaced every switch in my house with smart switches and many outlets and light fixtures as well, connected everything to Alexa (using Insteon). Some niceties are timing outside lights to sunrise/sunset and using motion sensors to turn off lights in unoccupied rooms.
Depending on where you live (I'm in hot and sunny Los Angeles) invest in artificial grass and solar...They have nearly paid for themselves in 4 years.
If possible, study and upgrade your wiring and plumbing before you move in and walls are easy to break. Upgrade your electrical panel to 200A if it's not already that big and install a 100A subpanel on the other side of the house...it will make any future upgrades so much easier.
Also (perhaps USA only): go to City Hall and pull all building permits and plans for the property. If there was work done without appropriate permits, the seller or warrantor should make you whole on that.
Also, if you find a strongbox hidden under the floorboards of the den, that's mine -- I forgot it.