Get it wrong and you get trouble

Has your budget allowed for the possibility that your new home does not have good or secure locks and gates? The "homeowners" in the photo above were enjoying a picnic lunch when an uninvited, and unwelcome, guest sent them scurrying for cover in the New Forest.

We all want to get the most property our money will buy. That is human nature. But the maximum amount that a lender will give you is not the same as what you can truly afford.

Homeowners get into money trouble for various reasons.

Many people simply are not savers. They may be able to meet their regular weekly or monthly outgoings, but when something goes wrong, they have no savings or other rainy-day money to make it good. And something will definitely go wrong in your home, sooner or later.

Some buyers overlook or underestimate the fees and other expenses associated with buying a property. They become new homeowners with no cash to spare.

And, with most people buying without benefit of a proper survey, the property itself is likely to spring a leak or other surprise or two.

Will Your Bum Look Big in This?

Here is an uncomfortable fit: on the day you move into your new flat or house, you realise that you should change the locks on the doors, but your current account is running on empty. If you discover something else that you want or need to do—and you will—it will have to wait. Soon, a number of jobs around the new flat or house have piled up, and each one costs.

This tight squeeze can get worse, much worse, when interest rates rise or your boiler packs in.

If you have to outfit a flat or house from scratch, many major expenses will be obvious: sofa, bed, television, cooker, fridge, curtains, carpets and so forth. But don't forget basic tools such as a hammer, screw driver and drill—the kind of tools you will want at home even if you are not a DIYer.

If money is or will be tight, take the debt test on the FSA ( Financial Services Administration) website. It is not definitive but should alert you to important considerations if you are cutting it close to your affordability edge.

Calculating True Affordability

Most of us know to include council tax, water rates and other expenses in addition to the mortgage when totting up our outgoings. But it is easy to overlook some costs; for example, many first-time buyers have a will drawn up when they buy their property, and while simple wills are not very costly, it is still an additional expense. And after you move in, you will probably see things that need fixing or improving that you didn't notice during your earlier viewings.

House-maintenance Info for First-Timers

It may not happen just days before – or after – you move into your new home, but your boiler will eventually break. That is a promise. It won’t last forever. Many modern boilers are lucky to reach their tenth birthday – and they need annual inspections to boot. Even if it is in good working order and behaves itself for many years, boilers are costly: in annual inspections, and in service contracts.

If you have never owned a property, you may well be unprepared for the realities of maintenance: at any given time, something somewhere in the property needs a lick of paint, a tightening of a screw, a readjustment, a replacement.

And speaking of paint and screws and...

If you do not already own a hammer, screwdriver, and some nails and screw, it won't break you to buy these basic tools. But basic is not enough. if you want to hang a picture, you may want an electric drill, and to build some shelves, an electric saw. Before you know it, tools have set you back several hundred pounds. The more you insist on doing it yourself, the more you will spend—and if you don't do it yourself, you will have to pay someone to do it for you.

And if it is a house rather than a flat...

For many flat-dwellers, the roof and much of the rest of the property has been maintained by someone else: the freeholder or managing agent, the local authority, mum and dad.

When you own a house, it is all yours. It can come as a shock to realise that every problem inside and out (and nearby) is solely your responsibility.

Hungry House exposes some of the more likely expenses associated with bricks and mortar.

Money Info for First-Time Gardeners

If you never had a garden before, you will soon meet a green-eyed monster that gobbles up spare cash like there’s no tomorrow—and is still hungry.

Grass and other green things grow...and grow...and grow.

Doing nothing is not an option. You just delay the inevitable: the garden gets even wilder and more expensive to tame. You can concrete it over, but that option costs money too (albeit a one-time expense) and most people want a garden. And gardens want tools, lots of tools.

Green and Greedy dishes the dirt on domestic gardens.

Predicting the Unpredictable - the Known Unknowns

Okay! The conveyancing process costs more than you think. Boilers break. Gardens are expensive. You may lose my job. Surely that covers it all?

Er….

The boiler breaks down. This is predictable. Roof tiles work loose. That too is predictable. So too, in rural areas, are bats in the belfry. But how about wasps in your inner-city loft, or bees next to your welcome mat? It may not be a bat, bee or wasp, but something weird will turn up. And it will cost you to set it right.

The Birds and the Bees urges you to predict unpredictable but inevitable expenses before they spoil your picnic.

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