The Unwritten Rules Of Homeownership

Buying your first home makes a big difference in your life. For a start, you are finally climbing the property ladder. You are not a tenant anymore. Congratulations! But as you embrace a new stage of adulthood, you begin to face new challenges that you didn’t know existed before. Being a homeowner changes how perspective on life, and it changes you too. For a start, you develop a variety of skills that you didn’t suspect you had. But you also discover the full responsibilities of homeownership, and it’s not as fun as you thought it would be. So if you are still considering buying your first home, or if you’ve just bought it, it’s still time to find out about the seven unwritten rules of homeownership.

Home sweet home

#1. House Hunting Is A Game Of Patience

For a start, you need to know that finding the perfect home takes a lot of time. In truth, house hunting can take anything from a few weeks to a few months, depending on where you live. Additionally, you will also need to consider the time you spend researching home insurances, mortgage options, and each location. In other words, when you decide to buy a home, you need to become very patient. It’s a long-term game, and while there might be the home of your dreams at the end, there is no guarantee of how long it’ll take to get there. Consequently, it is important that you remain patient and don’t settle for anything that isn’t what you want.

#2. You Will Discover The Joys Of DIY

Do you know what the first thing that you are likely to do in your new home is? It’s starting a home improvement project – unless you have bought a new build as in that case you will not need to improve the house. Commonly, the main areas that will need improvement are the bathroom and the kitchen. Indeed, these rooms are the first to show signs of use and age, and consequently, they will need re-doing when you move in. For the bathroom, you will need to look for new bathroom gear, such as a shower or a sink from Drench, which is a brand you can trust. Make sure to measure the room before you start, though! The kitchen also requires new appliances, from the hob to the fridge. Make sure to choose energy-efficient items that will keep your costs down.

#3. You Will Discover Your Own Style

Having your own house means that you can decorate it as you please. While this sounds exciting, most new homeowners find the task overwhelming. The reason behind this is that they’ve never had the freedom to decorate a house before. Consequently it is difficult to know where to start. It’s best to give it some time to find out about your preferences, whether you visit home stores or you look into design magazines. Defining your décor style is a difficult step. Are you a minimalist kind of person? Do you prefer bold and busy décors? Do you love high-tech designs? Your preferences will define the kind of interior style that you need. Decorating your home is essential to give it its personality and to feel comfortable at home. Consequently, the time you spend considering colour palettes and furniture options is not wasted. It’s time that you invest in building your ideal nest.

#4. There Is Always Something To Do

Homeowners rapidly find out that there’s always something that needs fixing, replacing, cleaning, improving, or personalising in a new house. For a start, home maintenance is a real thing and needs to be managed efficiently. Your radiators will need bleeding regularly – ideally every year – to stay efficient, especially if you’ve bought an old house. New radiators and new heating system will need to be monitored but doesn’t need any interaction besides servicing. You will need to keep an eye on your boiler, especially if you’ve bought an house with an aging boiler. As a rule of the thumb, a boiler needs to be changed every 10 years. Consequently, it’s important to schedule servicing and changing on time, as an emergency repair can cost a lot. Finally, it’s important to check the presence of moisture in your home, as this could lead to mould growth. And when it comes to the outdoors maintenance, don’t forget to look after the garden. An overgrown garden can present high risks of flooding in winter!

Home maintenance

#5. You Need To Compromise Between Style And Practicality

Most homeowners would love to buy an old house. Old houses are perceived as being charming and full of history. They naturally feel homelier than brand new houses, as they carry the evidence of the family who used to live there. However, there’s one thing old houses are not good at, and it’s energy-efficiency! An old house will require an energy audit before you buy it so that you know what the problem areas are. These are likely to be the drafty windows, the roof insulation, and potential cracks in the structure. So before you pick your dream house, you need to make sure that you can maintain it and afford high energy wastes. If you can’t, a new build is the better option.

#6. You Develop Budgeting Skills

As a homeowner, you rapidly understand that improving your home has a cost. Consequently, you also become an expert in budgeting home improvement works – especially in discovering new funding solutions for your home, such as governmental energy grants for example. Additionally, you also develop an ability to plan future costs, such as changing the roof or replacing the boiler in a few years’ time, to make your home a better place. No penny is wasted, and every expense is forecasted in advance.

#7. Your Social Media Albums Are A Home Diary

Last, but not least, you love to share the progress you are making in your home. Just like new parents take hundreds of pictures of their baby, you will fill Facebook with albums of your tiling work in the bathroom, or your painting efforts in the lounge. Let’s be honest: your friends might find it boring. And it’s probably the kind of things that you wouldn’t have cared about before you had a house. But homeownership changes you. Besides, tiling your bathroom will become the highlight of your weekend!

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