Homeowning and the Slippery Slope of Home Improvement Costs

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Over the past year, I have been seeing more and more people talk about their preference to rent rather than own.

I grew up thinking, like many, that owning a home was one of the ultimate life goals and renting is “throwing away your money.”

I have grown to disagree with both of those sentiments.

Last year we spent a little over $10k on a fence (yes, I know this is a ridiculous amount of money) and it got me thinking about all the money we have spent on our home since we moved in (June 2020) that we wouldn’t have spent if we were renting.

Spoiler alert: it’s about $43k...

Our house was considered “move-in ready”, however, the backyard was overtaken with weeds, the paint on the inside was green with old brown paint peeking through in various corners and the carpet upstairs had a weird smell.

All of these things didn’t NEED to be changed, which is why I feel like our house was move-in ready, but updating (new carpet, painting, etc) was important for us to feel comfortable (which is absolutely a privilege).

We also wanted to update because what if we sell in a few years? We want it to be “cute” and “modern” and to look like a home someone would want to pay big money for.

I guess we are paying the price to “keep up with the times”.

Buying a home is a privilege

I think this is important to bring awareness to this as I find that many times in the financial space there can be messaging that this money stuff is easy and that we all have equal opportunity.

News flash: it ain’t and we don’t.

Buying a home is hard and it is especially difficult for BIPOC communities.

If you disagree…. check out this article: Why the homeownership gap between White and Black Americans is larger today than it was over 50 years ago;

Or this article: Barriers to Minority Homeownership;

Or even this article, The Black Homeownership Gap Is Larger Than It Was 60 Years Ago. COVID-19 Made It Worse.

I frequently feel grateful knowing that, despite all of the cards stacked against us as a minority couple, we were able to still buy a home.

But this was only made possible by LOTS of family support and an amazing realtor. Check out this post if you’re interested in our home-buying details: How We Bought A House With A $56k Salary.

Now, onto the specifics of all the money we have spent on our home (and could have possibly saved if we rented).

List of all the approx. money we spent on our home since June 2020

• Down payment and closing costs: $17,834.45 (we also got $5,500 as a seller credit)
• Paint supplies: $600
• Appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher, microwave, washer/dryer): $6,566.15
• Kitchen sink: $399.95
• Carpet: $2,733.78
• Light fixtures: $251.79
• Mulch: $561.50
• Wall heater grate replacements: $71.72
• Tree trimming and tree removal: $495
• Pest control: $1,203
• Blinds: $765.86
• Foundation wells: $159.46
• Updated appraisal in 2022: $750 (so we could get our PMI taken off our mortgage payment)
• Fence: $10,676
• Total: $43,068.66

Total: $43,068.66 !!!

Wow.

Like I said above, some of these things we didn’t HAVE to do, but we felt the home needed some updating and we hope that benefits us in the long run. And some of these expenses have been necessary for upkeep (e.g. pest control, foundation wells, tree trimming).

I think we could have avoided all these expenses if we had just decided to rent, except we would have still needed to pay some sort of deposit.

The average rent in our area for a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom is about $1,800, so I’d guess a security deposit would have been about $3,600.

So… $3,600 vs $43,000…

That’s a major difference.

Soon, I’d also factor in about $10k for our separate home emergency fund (we are currently working on building this up). We want to have a separate emergency fund because what if we have a flood or the water heater breaks?

We have to plan for these things as homeowners… stuff we wouldn’t have to quite worry about if we were renting.

Is renting better than buying, or vice versa?

In the past year, I have joined many others in the personal finance space in believing that home ownership is not necessarily better than renting.

I used to think owning a home was the ultimate goal, but it’s really not for me. Personally, owning my time is my ultimate goal… but that’s a conversation for another day.

I have been reflecting on my reasons for wanting to buy a home and I think back to the lack of knowledge I had about how much money and time it really takes to maintain a home.

Let’s review some pros and cons of buying vs renting (not an exhaustive list)

Pros and cons of buying

Pros and cons of renting

Ultimately, at the end of the day, do what’s best for you and your family. Talk to professionals. Talk to realtors, mortgage lenders, and other people who can help you make an informed decision.

I also want to say this: renting is NOT “throwing away your money.” You are paying for your shelter.

If you’re interested in hearing more opinions on the buying vs. renting debate, check out this podcast episode, The Myth of the Forever Home, with Delyanne Barros on her CNN podcast, Diversifying.

Final thoughts

Do I regret buying our home?

No.

We have been privileged in knowing our mortgage payment was going to stay the same during these recent years of uncertainty. We have enjoyed updating the home to make it feel more like “us”.

Another huge positive has been being able to rent out a room. Renting out a room alone helped us pay off a ton of debt last year and is helping us build up an emergency fund this year.

Sometimes thinking about all the money that we have put into our home makes me cringe and I wonder if it will all be worth it when we decide to sell. Will we get back all the money we have put into it? I guess time will tell.

I don’t want to dwell on the “what if’s” because it’s not helpful. Overall, I’m happy with our choices and hope this post highlighted for you some of the hidden costs that can come with homeowning.

What are your thoughts about renting vs owning? Did I miss any pros or cons? Let me know in the comments!