So you bought a home this year? Housing experts and a first-time owner share advice.

Home ownership is how most American households build wealth, but it often takes some adjustment after years of renting. Here's some things first-time homeowners should know in their first year.

Trey Barnes in front of the duplex he purchased in West Philadelphia as a first-time home buyer in 2022.Read moreAlejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer

by Michaelle Bond

Published Dec. 6, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

A year ago, Trey Barnes bought a West Philadelphia duplex to both live in and rent out as a first-time homeowner.

“It’s been something,” he said.

The century-old home needed plumbing, flooring, and other repairs. Since he planned to have a tenant in the upper unit, he wanted to spruce that up with new appliances and paint.

On top of that, Barnes had to deal with an unwelcome surprise. He had gotten the seller to repair a roof leak but didn’t find out until months after his purchase that the leak had damaged his home’s siding enough to allow water to come in that way, too.

The 29-year-old data engineer has two words of advice for fellow first-time homeowners: “Cash reserves. Make sure you have your cash reserves.”

For new homeowners, it’s all about cushions. And not the ones on the couch.

Home ownership is how most American households build wealth, but it often takes some adjustment after years of renting, especially if a buyer is the first person in their family to take the step. Here are some things first-time homeowners should keep in mind that first year.

It’s always something

“There’s no such thing as a perfect house,” said Ben Poles, owner of Rest Assured Inspections, based in Montgomery County.

“There’s always gonna be something wrong with your house. I tell people I find stuff in new construction,” he said. “Most stuff is just the cost of owning a house.”

Like with human bodies, parts of the house wear down over time. Railings get loose. Screws need to be tightened. Floorboards may squeak. A toilet or sink may leak.

Homeowners “need to at all times put a little money aside” so they can pay for whatever their homes throw at them, Poles said. “You just hope it’s minor stuff.”

Start saving right away

It won’t always be minor stuff.

“The No. 1 thing” is for homeowners to have emergency savings, said Amanda Garayua, a housing counselor and director of housing services at the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises (HACE), the community development organization based in North Philadelphia. Generally, she tells buyers to have at least three to six months of their expenses saved.

For first-time homeowners, “what comes as a shocker is the repairs, how much home repairs can be,” she said.

Buyers should hang onto their home inspection report for an idea of how much time they have to save money for certain repairs, especially major ones that can’t wait for owners to build savings when they pop up.

It’s always a good idea to start tucking money away as soon as possible to repair or replace the roof, one of a home’s most important elements and biggest repair expenses, Poles said. Most Philadelphians spend between $5,100 and $10,700 to replace their roof, according to the home services platform Angi.

Most of Philadelphia’s houses have flat roofs, which last about a decade before they need to be resealed, Poles said.

Water heaters, for example, also can be expensive. The national average for purchase and installation is between $1,000 and $4,000. Poles said water heaters are supposed to last about 12 years, but he tells clients to pay attention to the appliance’s performance, not its age.

In addition to savings, owners who qualify also can take out personal loans or use credit, as long as they pay those bills. Barnes, the West Philadelphia homeowner, said taking out a personal line of credit “really saved me with repairs.”

Prevention is key

The unexpected will happen, but preventing catastrophes through monitoring and maintenance is key.

Poles advises owners to put sensors on the floor near water heaters, washing machines, and anything else that could leak, so they are alerted to a problem as soon as possible.

“You want [to catch] the trickle before you get the leak,” Poles said.

If the home has a sump pump, it should be checked regularly to make sure it’s working and ready to prevent flooding and water damage.

A home’s heating and ventilation system is one of the main areas owners should be vigilant about, Poles said. It’s not an exciting aspect of a property, but it’s important in keeping the home safe and comfortable.

Most systems last 15 to 20 years, he said, but “if you ignore them, then they’ll die sooner.”

Poles advises clients to have someone check their HVAC systems at least annually but ideally twice a year — once in the fall before the winter cold and once in the spring before the summer heat if the home has central air-conditioning.

Adjusting to home ownership

A home is a major purchase, probably the biggest a household has ever made, so “give yourself time to get in the groove financially,” Garayua at HACE said.

Buyers need to “adjust to the lifestyle of being a homeowner,” she said.

Every repair and expense is on them. They may be paying for all of the utilities for a whole house for the first time. If a home has a yard, landscaping costs add up. They have to pay property taxes for the first time.

Hopefully, a buyer has purchased a home they can own comfortably. But a big chunk of savings was most likely used to buy the home, so “you have to give yourself some time to bounce back,” Garayua said. New homeowners may need to pinch pennies and make some sacrifices.

They may have a list of what they want to do to make their home their own, such as furnishings, additions, or yard work. But “it doesn’t all have to be done in the first year,” Garayua said. “Pump the brakes a little bit until you can do it comfortably.”

She warns against overspending on cosmetic updates the first year and advises homeowners to wait at least a year for big projects if possible. It’s natural for new homeowners to want to show off for family and friends, “but at the end of the day, they don’t pay your bills,” she said.

Garayua said the No. 1 thing first-time homeowners come to HACE about is their escrow account. They aren’t prepared for their mortgage payments to increase, because they think those payments are unchanging, unlike rent. They don’t realize there are four components of the monthly payment. The principal payment on the loan and the interest don’t change, as long as the rate is fixed, but property taxes and home insurance can change and increase monthly payments.

“And sometimes [the mortgage] may not be affordable after a few years to the person who bought it,” Garayua said.

Seeking support

Homeowners also should know there is a range of assistance available to property owners, such as home repair programs, property tax breaks, and mortgage aid. Abraham Reyes Pardo, vice president of the Urban League of Philadelphia’s office of housing and diversion services, said first-generation buyers who have an emergency and miss a mortgage payment or two “immediately go into crisis mode.”

“They tend to misperceive what are the implications of missing a mortgage payment vs. missing rent,” said Reyes Pardo, who also is a housing counselor.

Housing counseling agencies can offer guidance and help connect homeowners with assistance in addition to helping people become homeowners.

Barnes in West Philadelphia took first-time home buyer classes through the Urban League of Philadelphia, which also helped him pay for his home.

And fortunately, as a new homeowner, he also has been able to rely on the experiences and advice of his parents and older brother, who all own multiple properties. “The support system,” he said, “is priceless.”