There’s nothing like the pride of homeownership as it’s one of the major milestones that most of us strive for, along with getting married and having kids.
A home is where memories are created with your loved ones.
However, a home that is not properly maintained can become a money sinkhole.
If you speak with any real estate investor who’s worth their weight in gold, he or she will tell you that your home is a liability and not an asset.
By definition, an asset puts money in your pocket and a liability takes money out of your bank account.
There’s nothing wrong with owning a home, but I wanted to clarify the difference between an asset and a liability.
In most cases, it’s better to own your home as opposed to renting and making someone else rich.
In order to prevent your pride and joy from draining you financially, you must avoid deferred maintenance at all costs or you’ll lose big time in the end.
It's obvious that some homeowners simply don’t have the money to maintain their properties.
If you’re struggling financially and can carve out some extra time on your days off, you could go the DIY route.
Sometimes the learning curve is steep but can be well worth the time and effort if it means avoiding costly repairs that require you to hire a professional later on to fix.
Regardless of whether you’ll be hiring professionals, going the DIY route, or using a combination, you must do your best to keep your home maintained.
Today, I will share five reasons why you must keep your home maintained.
Let’s cover them now…
1)) Saves Money
The most important benefit of keeping your home maintained is the potential to save tens of thousands of dollars in repairs over time.
Have you heard the saying that goes, “The Best Time To Kill A Monster Is When It's Small?”
This is the perfect analogy to describe how you should view most home maintenance projects.
If possible, you want to repair broken items when you first notice there’s a problem because the longer you wait, the worst it gets.
For example, if your HVAC’s coil has a small leak, you should get it replaced because it will eventually get so big that it will no longer maintain the coolant levels.
And once that happens, your unit will no longer blow cold air. This would be a disaster during the summer months.
Deferred maintenance could drain your bank account if you’re not proactive.
2)) Reduces Repair Costs
We already talked about how deferred maintenance could cost you a fortune in repair bills.
Staying on top of home repairs is the best way to reduce costs because you’ll usually spend less by fixing problems when they’re small.
For instance, let’s say that you have a small leak in your roof.
Getting it repaired sooner rather than later could be the difference between paying a few hundred dollars and a few thousand dollars.
Because the longer it leaks, the more damage is caused to your roof’s wooden frame and even the sheetrock walls, not to mention the possibility of black mold growth, which you’d have to hire an expert mold removal expert.
When you start totaling all of these repairs, you could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars in repair fees, all due to deferred maintenance.
So, being proactive is the key to reducing your repair costs.
3)) Increases Property Value
Regardless of whether you plan on selling your home or taking out a loan, proper maintenance can boost its property value.
Let’s say that you want to get your home appraised.
If your home is riddled with issues because of deferred maintenance, it will not appraise as high as it could.
Just imagine the appraiser or potential home buyer walking through your home noticing everything that needs to be repaired and you having to explain why they haven’t been fixed yet.
That could be a little embarrassing and potentially cause you not to sell your property.
I know that you’d be upset if a home appraiser informed you that the items in your home that need repair caused your appraisal to be $20,000 less than it could’ve been.
Are you starting to see how important it is to maintain your home?
4)) Keeps Environment Safe
A properly maintained home is typically an environmentally safe haven because you don’t have to fear dangerous things such as gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning, or unstable structural issues.
Earlier I talked about roof leaks and if not repaired could lead to the growth of black mold, which is known to negatively impact your health and could cause symptoms such as asthma attacks, skin rashes, sneezing, a runny nose, red eyes, etc.
If you have a family, maintaining a safe environment for them is a must.
5)) Increases Home's Longevity
Have you ever noticed when a home is abandoned how fast it begins to fall into disrepair as nature reclaims the land?
Believe it or not, this same phenomenon occurs even if a home is occupied but neglected.
Your home is a unit that consists of many moving parts that affect one another.
Continuing with the leaky roof scenario…
If you don’t get that leak repaired the moisture could cause water damage to the wood frame of the house, cause the roof to cave in, damage the sheetrock walls, destroy belongings, short-out electrical circuitry, cause the growth of black mold, and so on.
All this damage is possible from a simple roof leak that goes unrepaired.
As you can see, one unresolved issue can cause a domino effect that over time degrade the structural integrity of your home, which drastically reduces its time lifespan in which it could be safely inhabited.
The answer to increasing the longevity of your home is to properly maintain it.
Home Maintenance Log
Since your home has several moving parts, I highly recommend that you use some type of home maintenance log to keep track of your repairs.
It doesn’t matter how good your memory is, because you’re bound to overlook a repair or two that could end up costing you more in the future.
It's a good idea to keep track of what repairs and maintenance are needed regardless of whether you can afford them.
Knowing the parts of your home that need attention allows you to come up with a plan to get it done.
And a home maintenance log is the perfect tool to help you accomplish just that.
Conclusion
After reading the five reasons why you must keep your home maintained, do you have a better perspective on the importance of avoiding deferred maintenance?
At this point, you understand that your home is a necessary liability that provides shelter.
It’s also a place where you create beautiful memories with your loved ones.
There are a lot of positives that come out of homeownership, but the biggest downside is deferred maintenance which could cost you thousands of dollars in repairs.
And the best way to combat those pricey fees is to be proactive by either making the repairs yourself or hiring experts before each issue worsens, which could result in paying more in the future.
Be certain to use a home maintenance log to keep track of repairs and don’t attempt to rely on your memory.
There’s only one thing left to do, take action by using a home maintenance log, list all of the things that need repairing, prioritize, and then tackle each one at a time to prevent overwhelm.
Go get it done so that you can save yourself a ton of money!
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