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What Are the 8 Hidden Costs of Homeownership That Buyers Miss?
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May 2, 2025
Buying a home is a major financial decision, but many prospective homeowners overlook additional costs beyond the purchase price. From property taxes to maintenance and unforeseen repairs, these hidden expenses can quickly pile up. Understanding these costs is essential for anyone looking to buy a home and can help prevent financial stress. In this episode, Anita breaks down the often-missed expenses of homeownership to help buyers plan effectively. You can read more about 8 Hidden Costs of Homeownership: What Buyers Need to Know (https://real-estate-crunch.com/8-hidden-costs-of-homeownership-what-buyers-need-to-know/) #RealEstateCrunch #HomeBuyingTips #HiddenCosts #Homeownership #FinancialPlanning #RealEstateAdvice #PropertyTaxes #HomeMaintenance Support the show (https://www.buzzsprout.com/2029617/support)
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0:00
[Music]
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hi this is Anita from Real Estate Crunch
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you know everyone has this dream of
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owning property owning owning a home but
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what a lot of people don't realize is
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with anything there can be hidden costs
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associated with home ownership and I'm
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going to go through some of the major
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ones here some of the major hidden costs
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so that you can be able to understand
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them and this again is so that you can
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make the best informed decision possible
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when you are looking to purchase a home
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the first one is property
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taxes one of the most substantial
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outgoing expenses for homeowners is
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property taxes you know these taxes can
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vary on location property value and
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local government tax you know once while
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some buyers account for this in their
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mortgage calculations others may
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suddenly be caught off guard when they
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realize how much they must pay annually
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before you look to purchase a property
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you need to understand what will be the
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property taxes and also understand are
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those taxes going to go up what will
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cause the taxes to go up just so that
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you're not caught off guard by these
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property taxes you know taxes are
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calculated by the local government and
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they will assess the home's value the
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rates can vary from state to state even
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from you know different areas of the
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same city for example a homeowner in New
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Jersey might pay significantly more in
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property taxes than someone in Wyomi due
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to different tax rates you know so it
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even really depends upon where the
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home's located how much the tax will be
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and all of those other things you need
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to really budget for property
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taxes many mortgage lenders will require
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borrowers to pay property taxes through
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an estro account which spreads the cost
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across monthly mortgage payments however
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homeowners who pay property taxes
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separately must set aside that money
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monthly to cover the annual bill and
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this is really essential here because
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you don't want to be caught off guard in
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not paying your property taxes another
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one is homeowners insurance now this has
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really lately has been quite a big deal
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especially as we've looked at the fires
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and in California and some of the
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natural disasters in other places you
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know specifically in natural disasters
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in a place like North Carolina where
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many people they did not have the flood
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insurance even though their house
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flooded you know homeowners insurance is
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essential that a buyer you know needs to
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consider mortgage lenders typically
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require homeowners to carry insurance to
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protect against damage or
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loss you know so insurance is highly
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recommended but there again there's can
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be many factors that affect insurance
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and a lot of insurance companies now
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especially as they're dealing with a lot
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of natural disasters which been
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extremely costly a lot of them are
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saying they won't insure for this they
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won't insure for that you know maybe
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maybe like in California we're not going
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to insure for the fires you know they
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may not insure for floods and other
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things like that which could happen one
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of them is the location of your home you
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know areas prone to natural disaster ers
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tend to have higher premiums the home's
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age construction material the coverage
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amount and deductible and security
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features that you have such as alarm
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systems or do you have is your home you
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know resistant to some type of um you
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know fire or other types of things can
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make a difference as to what the
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insurance cost would be you know
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standard homeowner policies may not
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cover certain events such as floods or
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earthquakes
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so you need to really assess and
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understand whether or not you are in a
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flood area an area which could be a fire
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area an area which is
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earthquakerprone or other natural
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disasters when you're looking at your
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insurance another big one which has
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really come about a lot lately is the
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HOA fees and when you purchase a um a
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home in a community there are usually
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homeowner association fees they'll
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likely be paid monthly or an annually
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there'll be some kind of HOA fee these
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fees can really vary for some areas
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these fees could be one or $2,000 or
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higher even a month in other areas they
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could be you know a couple hundred
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dollars a month a lot of times the HOA
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fees will cover things as landscaping
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exterior maintenance community amenities
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if there's a gym there's a pool there
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security services and trash removal of
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course the more of these type of things
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that you have in your community the more
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you're going to pay for them you know if
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for example if you're in a community
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with a pool but you're not going to ever
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use a pool you may want to decide maybe
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being in another community if if that's
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not what's important for you if it's
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something that is important for you
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maybe paying the HOA fees is great you
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know HOA fees can be a significant
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expense and can increase over time you
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know like an HOA association could
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decide to increase this is I know what
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happened to somebody who bought you know
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into a condo and then suddenly the HOA
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decided that they were going to hire a
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management company and the HOA fees
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doubled or tripled almost overnight and
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she wanted to sell her property and had
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a hard time selling it because people
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didn't like the HOA fees you know HOA
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fees in in some cases can cost almost as
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much as a mortgage or rent or something
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needs to be put on top of it so you know
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if your mortgage payment is say $2,000
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and your HOA is you know $7 or $800 a
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month that right there is
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$2,800 plus on top of that is taxes so
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you know you're looking probably close
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to three or $4,000 for for something so
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that really you need to really
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understand what your monthly cost will
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be when you're looking at this not just
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the cost to pay back your mortgage you
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know maintenance and repairs can be
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another thing that you know things like
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the heating air conditioning systems the
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roof repairs plumbing and electrical
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work and lawn care and landscaping you
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know depending on the size of the
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property can all be things which can
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cost money you need to also plan for
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unexpected repairs it's suggested that a
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homeowner set aside 1% of their home's
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value each year for maintenance and
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repairs for example if the home is worth
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$300,000 the homeowner should have
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around 3,000 annually for upkeep so
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that's just kind of a good thing for you
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to do make sure you have this little you
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know like rainy day fund for uh repairs
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and that type of things uh utility and
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energy costs can be something too which
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could which you need to take into
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account you know utility costs can
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fluctuate depending on the size of the
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home the location and the efficiency of
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the appliances for example if you're
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living in a place that's extremely hot
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like you know Arizona you need to run
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your air conditioning all summer long
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this of course could be very expensive
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if you're in a place which is cold and
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you need to wear you know have you know
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heat all winter long can also be
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expensive so larger homes have higher
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electricity bills especially in regions
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with extreme temperatures you know water
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and sewer costs can vary my father years
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ago we had an old farmhouse and we had
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our own well but then the the city came
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in and made us put in a sewage system
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and and put you know get the city water
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and you know he ended up having to sell
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some land because our house was far back
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from the road and they took it from the
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road onward and and so you need to look
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at that and see if you're buying you
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know property you know will the future
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mean that you'll have to you know buy
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into the sewage system or or the city
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water you know all of those type of
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things you need to understand that and
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maybe put money aside for that um you
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can look at you know energy efficient
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appliances you can look at solar panels
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and other things to be able to reduce
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some of your utility cost you need to
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really look at the cost of moving and
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cost of closing expenses you know
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closing expenses can be very expensive
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there can you know be appraisals and
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inspection fees you know title insurance
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attorney fees you know prepaid property
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taxes also moving costs can be very
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expensive too that you can um you know
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find yourself having to hire movers you
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going to rent a moving truck are you
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going to purchase packing supplies all
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of those things you should look at when
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you're looking to move into a property
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uh pest control and and landscaping can
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be um expensive especially if you live
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in an area where maybe you know pests
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can get into the roof or or other types
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of things where you're going to have to
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deal with it you know that can be costly
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be expensive or something you need to
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look at lawn care you know regular
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mowing fertilizer irrigation systems if
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you can do all that yourself that's
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great if you're not able to you might
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need to hire someone out to do it you
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know termite inspections mosquito
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treatments and rodent controls they can
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all be expensive if if you can do that
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yourself that's great then you know then
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you can do it also um home renovation
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costs if there's things that you need to
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renovate you need to look at that you
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know common home improvement costs
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include things like kitchen and bathroom
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remodels uh flooring replacements
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exterior paint and you know other smart
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home upgrades so these are all things
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that you need to look at these are
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basically eight hidden costs that most
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home own home own homeowners or anyone
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looking to buy a home you should look at
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ahead of time and see exactly what these
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costs are so you can budget and plan for
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it we've written a a blog post on this
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called eight hidden costs of home
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ownership what buyers need to know we'll
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put a dis we'll put a link in the
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description below so that you'll be able
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to check that out we like to thank you
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so much for joining our community for
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being part of uh Real Estate Crunch we
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