Home maintenance and repairs are a necessary part of homeownership. However, it can be hard to know how to budget for these expenses. Here are a few good ways to budget for home maintenance and repairs before the costs surprise you.
1. Consider a Home Service Plan
A Home Service Plan, commonly referred to as a home warranty, is a powerful tool to help you budget for home repairs. A big reason for this is because of how much it can cost to budget for home maintenance.
The rule of thumb is to save between 1% and 4% of your home’s value for maintenance each year. The current average price of a home is over $428,000. That means you’d need to save between $4,280 and $17,120 for maintenance, on average, every year.
That can be challenging, if not impossible.
A 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty (2-10 HBW) Home Service Plan can cost a fraction of that
A 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan often costs much less than 1% to 4% of your home’s value. It can also provide quality protection against some of the most expensive breakdowns, such as A/C problems and refrigerator breakdowns.
That means you can protect more and pay less as you build up your nest egg. Many homeowners consider a 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan an important part of their home maintenance and repair budget.
A 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan also helps you save money on major appliances through the 2-10 HBW Happy Homeowner Program®. It allows you to access special pricing on the family of GE appliance brands including Profile™, Cafe™, GE®, Monogram®, Haier®, and Hotpoint®. Plus, savings on Whirlpool®, Amana®, KitchenAid®, and Maytag® appliances!
2. Start your budget small if necessary
Saving thousands of dollars for maintenance every single year can be daunting. Fortunately, saving for home maintenance and repairs is a perfect example of “something is better than nothing.”
Even if you can only put a few dollars per paycheck away, it can still help your budget in the long term. The goal is to start preparing before you need to, not necessarily to solve everything all at once.
And with small contributions, you may find that you have enough saved up for less expensive maintenance projects that pop up throughout the year.
You can pay monthly with 2-10 HBW
When you purchase a 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan, you have the option to pay monthly. This is an excellent way to access an important safety net on your terms.
Much like making small contributions to your maintenance budget, monthly payments toward your 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan allow you to access budget-saving solutions to expensive breakdowns when you need them most.
3. Stay on top of routine maintenance
A great way to address your maintenance and repair budget is to commit to routine maintenance. Doing so reduces the likelihood of unexpected, expensive breakdowns, which means you don’t need to constantly draw from the well to address issues.
Even better, routine maintenance tends to be easier than it may seem. Here are a few pieces of routine maintenance that can reduce the likelihood of expensive breakdowns:
- Changing your HVAC filters regularly (Here’s how)
- Cleaning your stove top and oven (Here’s how)
- Draining your water heater yearly (Here’s how)
2-10 HBW can help you learn how to maintain important home items
In addition to the tips above, 2-10 HBW offers all kinds of excellent content to help you maintain your home.
Proper maintenance can help you reduce the likelihood of breakdowns. And with a 2-10 HBW Home Service Plan, you can protect more and pay less when things inevitably do break down, which helps you truly enjoy your experience of homeownership.
