Most people have a rosy view of homeownership – the pride of having a place to call your own or the freedom to create your own unique space. But there is a huge downside you don’t see in the glossy magazine spreads, how much it costs to keep and maintain your property. Here is my latest saga in the non-stop expense adventure known as home ownership.
After spending $15,000 on a few necessary repairs this winter my home improvement budget is beyond overdrawn, unfortunately that doesn’t mean new expenses won’t turn up. Two weeks ago I came home to a notice from the city, we’d been caught and it was time to clean up our act or face some fines. Let me explain.
I live on a hillside near downtown Los Angeles. Even though I’m in the heart of the city, my neighborhood is designated as a high wildfire area. The city imposes extra restrictions on me and my neighbors and how we maintain our properties. This means no grass and weeds higher than 4 inches, trees must be thinned and bushes cut down, amongst other requirements. While this has been the policy for years, we’ve never gotten in trouble before. Mr. M and I grabbed our pruners and went to work, but after a few days we came to realize the task was more than we could handle.
My house is one of the oldest in the neighborhood being built back in the 1920’s. That means we have more trees, bushes and brush than our “younger” neighbors. Cutting down the branches and brush is not a problem, but hauling it to the top of the rugged and steep hillside definitely is! There are some trees too high for us to trim and taking all of our debris to the dump would be impossible for us, so I broke down and hired someone to do the work. For $1400 they will clear the whole hillside, remove the rotted remnants of an old deck and haul everything away. We’re also having them do some work to the front yard, simply because it will cost more to have them come back later. I don’t like how much this is going to cost, but I’m hoping this will keep the city off of our backs for a few years. Plus now I can go back to watching TV and surfing the internet, clearing a brushy hillside is no fun for a pasty, lazy office worker like me!
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Homeownership isn't everything it's cracked up to be but it can lead to having a decent investment if you shop correctly and buy at the right time. There's no insurance won't have ups and downs but I'm glad we own our home despite all that is required to keep it up.
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Very interesting article. Can't wait to read more.
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Seems like you could have used some of that for firewood next winter and saved some money having the wood disposed of.
It's really important for owners to maintain their homes. Well, it's like maintaining our own bodies. :)
It's really a pain to clear your surroundings and to pay that amount for that is doubly painful but it's worth it. Yearly maintenance is really important for the home.
owning a home does have its cons but so does everything else. I think it comes down to each indivdual person. They would have to decide for themselves if the pros of owning a home out weighs the cons of home ownership.
I spent $2,000 for a new air conditioner unit :) Yup not happy with home ownership!!
HS
Wow now that's interesting thank you for posting it
oh you love it! :P
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that is true i totally agree with you
Having your own house is one of the best things to achieve. Yes, it's a lot of work and money but for me it's worth it.
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