7. Home Ownership

Hello, and welcome to this module, Homeownership. This is going to be a fairly quick module. However, I’m just going to cover a couple of key things to consider now that you are a new homeowner or you’re going to becoming a new homeowner. So here’s what we’re going to get into. So we’re going to talk about getting the clean, getting the keys and moving in, um, home maintenance, just a couple of things to consider now that you are a home owner, uh, the monthly mortgage payment, how this is broken down and really your, your understanding of it, and then insuring your home. And these are really the key things you want to consider going into your home purchase. So there’s going to obviously be a lot more things, but these are some of the broad stroke things you want to be aware of. So let’s talk about closing and getting the keys.

So obviously you are going to get the keys, to your brand new home, and you’re going to be able to go and turn the key. You’ll have the little picture. You can post it on the gram. If you do social media at the closing table, you get your keys, all that good stuff. Now, once you have your keys, it’s not this town. It’s time to move in. So we have two things. We’re going to be moving in all of our, you know, moving in all of our stuff, and then we’re going to be buying new furniture. So obviously be wise with how you buy your furniture. Um, if you need to, you can round a family members and friends to help you move in your stuff. Or you can just hire a mover. My suggestion would be just hire a mover, hire a professional to do this.

If you have a really good family that knows how to move, then you can do that. Um, you know, it was really easy to find movers on the internet. Um, I would say go to Groupon and see if you can find a really good moving deal on, on Groupon. And then obviously go with a referral if you know somebody. Um, the other thing to keep in mind is the further you move out with the move, um, the movers are going to have to pack unpack, and then that’s going to, you know, determine a swing. If you decide to get a mover. And then if you have anything fragile, you know, obviously you want to move it yourself. But again, this is just going to be a part of the home, getting yourself into the home, right? We want to move in, um, home maintenance. Now this is a slide in something you really want to pay close attention to.

So every week you want to check all of your appliances, because again, you can’t call maintenance anymore. You are maintenance. So you want to check all of your appliances every week. Um, either you or your spouse, if it’s just you, you want to make sure you check on those appliances case. They go out every month. You need to make sure you change all of your air filters in your HVAC system. You want to clean, you know, your range or oven with degreaser and you want to inspect your fire extinguisher. If you have one, if you don’t have them, you need to get one. So you want to make sure you check these days every month to make sure they’re tip top shape. If you purchase a brand new home, obviously you would have those things under warranty. If you need to buy new ones, maybe you would’ve negotiated that stuff on the front end.

Um, and then every three months you want to test your doorbell, your smoke detectors, your garage doors and your toilets. So these are things that you just have to make sure you’re always doing on a constant basis. So it’s creating a checklist like home ownership checklist, and these are the things that you want to continue to do every six months. You want to make sure you test your HVAC and system, your HVAC system and your water system, your water heater specifically. The last thing you want to do is just not be Gosha cashflow, but that’s not going to be you. You would have a cashflow control system and then your water heater goes out and you can’t afford it right where the HVAC system goes out. So you want to make sure you look and test those things every six months to make sure they’re good, because these are things that are going to have to make your, not even have.

These are things that are going to make and break your home ownership. So the HVAC system goes out. You want me looking around and be tight. That’s why it’s so important to have emergency reserves. And obviously with the water system and the water heater, you want to make sure you have a good water heater now. Good, good rule of thumb when it comes to home maintenance. So in the spring, as in spring cleaning, um, this is where you’re going to do a good majority of all the work. So you will be able to check the exterior. My suggestion would be checking the exterior drains and drainage. You want to look at the, the gutters on the home. If it’s a single family home, you want to look at the windows, the screens replace them. You want to repair any damage screen. So in the spring, you’re going to really just coming into it and start getting that spring stuff knocked out.

This is going to be something that you and your family can do, or you’re going to have maintenance, do this. You can hire a company and do this, but spring, you want to get this done, then go into, into the summer. You want to repeat some of the same things that you did just kind of check over them to make sure they’re good. And also you really want to be looking out for bugs because spring is spring. We just come out of winter. Then we may have bugs coming in. So we want to be looking for beehives. Wouldn’t be looking for a termite, any type of bugs. Uh, I think they’re called, uh, what’s the name of those, those bees, um, that eat would you want to be looking for all of those types of things and ensuring that you hire some type of pest control to address the problem.

You don’t want a part of your home to, to, to, to go through, um, a lot of damages because obviously you have to pay for it. Fall is the season where you’re going to be able to finish everything up. You didn’t get all done in the summer or you can just be checking just to make sure everything is good. And then in winter, this is a really good time to go around the house and then make sure that everything that you wanted to get done is done. And if you didn’t get it done, make sure it gets done. Right? So moral of the story is every season you want to check your house on the exterior to make sure everything looks good. Obviously you get your yard cut. Obviously you do all those things, but this is a home. So you want to make sure that it’s going to be able to maintain and stand the test of time.

Now, your monthly mortgage payment, you need to understand how this works. So you have your principal, you have your interest, you have taxes. And then typically you’re going to have insurance. So you’re going to have property insurance, which has nothing to do with your private mortgage insurance, assuming you didn’t put 20% down. So all of these things are going to be what makes up your monthly mortgage payment. And one way to ensure you always make your payments on time is what we already know. This is going to be a fixed bucket expense. We’re going to put this towards our fixed bucket and having an automatic draft. If, if, if you want to pay your mortgage off quicker, instead of having it pay once a month, you can pay it twice a month. So let’s just say, it’s due on the first. Maybe you pay, um, you, it would feel like you’re paying twice in one month.

So you would pay. Let’s just say it’s $2,000. But at first you pay $2,000. Then on the 15th, you pay a $1,000. Then on the 1st you pay another $1,000 and now you had two mortgage payments or two payments that pay your mortgage due. And then you just start that cycle. And what that’s going to do is help you pay your mortgage off. You significantly pay the amount you pay on an interest because the more payments that go towards a mortgage, the more that’s going towards principal in that interest. And that will help you really, really pay down your mortgage a lot quicker. But again, the cash flow control system is really important that to really make sure you maintain that. And then the last thing we want to make sure we do is ensure our home, because this is an investment.

So we want to make sure, um, number one, what this is going to do with the PMI is going to make sure that they protect their investment into the, to your home is paid off. But also, um, if someone hurts themselves on your property, you could be sued. So you want to make sure you have the proper amount of homeowner’s insurance and even start considering if, depending upon the home value, a umbrella policy. Additionally, you want to look into types of warranties on the home for different things that are warrants. You can take care of. Uh, also you want to make sure, um, you look into flood insurance or flyer insurance. You know, I rather I’d rather have it in that needed than needed and not have it. So insurance is that, that safety net. So to speak, to ensure that we are good to go in, what it’s going to do is put you in a position to protect your equity.

And then in the event that your home is completely destroyed. Not, not a big deal. You paid that small, monthly premium or their annual premium to really protect your investment. And that’s the moral of the story. This is an investment. So just like the bank wants to protect themselves against. If something happens to you from you not being able to make your monthly payments or whatever the case is, or you pass away, you still need to be able to protect yourself in your asset as well. Because if something happens, you’re still going to be responsible for the mortgage, right? You’re still gonna be responsible. So you want to make sure that, Hey, look, if something does happen, I have a check come in to help me alleviate or pay off the loan or do something. I’ll be good to go. All right. But that’s the last thing. So congrats. So you have completed the home buying blueprint and apply these principles to buy your first, second, third, or your next home.