I recently read an article in The New York Times titled, “Why do all home repairs cost $1,000?”
The author was complaining that it didn’t matter much what went wrong at home—be it a leaky faucet, broken garage door, or failed sump pump.In each case, the bill came out to at least $1,000.
In fact, most homeowners woefully underestimate the costs of various home repairs, often by as much as four times the actual cost.
Can anything be done about this?
Here are 3 recommendations to help you deal with home repair costs:
Save for a rainy day
The average homeowner spends $2,000 a year on maintenance.
The trouble is that those repairs are often unexpected.
To deal with this, consider starting a maintenance account and adding a little bit to it every month.
When the inevitable hits, you’ll have a slush fund—plus you’ll feel smart for being so well prepared.
Take time to enjoy being a homeowner
In short, this means giving do-it-yourself home fixes a try.
You might balk at this suggestion, but many of those $1,000 repairs can be solved with $15 worth of parts and a few YouTube tutorials.
You’ll be amazed at what you can do. Start small and build your skills, do what you feel confident about, and pay somebody to do the rest.
Negotiate smart
No matter what you are quoted for any sort of repair, it’s likely that somebody else will do it better for less. Make sure to get a few quotes.
If it is time to hire a contractor, never ask whether the job will cost $1,000, or any other price for that matter. Many contractors will gladly tell you yes, even if they were willing to do the job for much less.
Finally, when you do hire a professional, realize their fee covers not only their expertise and labor, but also various kinds of insurance, certifications, workspace rent, and so on.
In other words, if you’ve done everything else on this list, you can accept the final repair price without feeling cheated or worrying that you’re wasting money.
Of course, sometimes it can simply make sense to look for a new home that won’t require frequent repairs.
If that’s on your mind, you can see all the great homes that are available on our local market right now with this complete list:
Click here for all available local homes for sale
If you’re considering selling your current home, you can get an idea of what your home is worth in the current market, based on recent sales with this home value calculator:
Enter your home address here to find out what your home is currently worth
And if you need recommendations for contractors to fix those things you don’t want to deal with yourself, give us a call. We can recommend several reliable businesses and we’re here to help.