What is the Best Home Maintenance Strategy?

by Dian Hymer

Homes that are maintained in top condition hold their value better than homes that are left to deteriorate. So, one of the first things you should do after you settle into your new home is to establish a home maintenance routine.

Study the inspection reports you had done when you bought the home. Make a list of all the repairs that the sellers didn't complete before closing that still need fixing.

Don't make the mistake of indefinitely postponing needed repairs until small problems develop into major projects. If you received a credit from the sellers at closing in lieu of having a defect repaired, schedule this work as soon as possible. Often buyers use such a credit to pay for some of their closing costs instead and then neglect to get the repair work done.

Make a thorough examination of your home each year before the rainy season begins. Patch and seal voids and cracks in the exterior to keep water out. Make sure doors and windows are watertight. Have the roof checked for needed repairs, and clean gutters and down spouts. Make sure that water (roof and ground runoff) is directed away from the foundation.

Check beneath the house during the rainy season to see if water accumulates and look for standing water around the exterior of the foundation. Call a drainage expert, if necessary, to make recommendations about how you can improve the drainage system.

Make sure your furnace and fireplace are in good repair. Replace batteries in smoke detectors and recharge fire extinguishers on a regular basis.

First Time Tip: Ask the sellers for the names and phone numbers of tradespeople (plumbers, roofers, electricians, gardeners, etc.) who have routinely worked on your home. Find out if the sellers would use these people again. These tradespeople have the benefit of knowing the property intimately.

Your real estate agent might also be able to recommend reliable tradespeople to you. If you are using people that don't come highly recommended, make sure you check their references.

Plan to have termite inspections done every few years, and take care of minor problems before they become major. Keep bathroom and kitchen tile and fixtures well grouted and caulked. Repair all plumbing leaks.

Painting and sealing is an important part of home maintenance. However, the mere thought of having to paint the entire interior of your home is enough cause you to put it off forever. So the job doesn't become too overwhelming, plan to paint one room of your home each year.

The same approach can work for exterior painting: paint one side of the house each year. Sometimes, one side of a house gets more sun exposure than the others and will need paint more often.

Townhouse and condominium owners worry less about home maintenance than single family residential owners do because many of the exterior maintenance items are taken care of by the homeowner's association. However, even if there's a homeowner's association, the individual unit owners may be responsible for their own roof, drainage system, deck, bathroom, kitchen and interior repairs.

Check with the homeowner's association to determine who's responsible for what repairs. You will want to take an active interest in how common area repairs are handled by the homeowner's association. Those areas need to be well-maintained in order to preserve your investment.

The Closing: Keep a log of all the improvements and repairs you complete during your period of ownership. This will come in handy when you sell because it will document your regime of good home maintenance for the new buyers.

Copyright 2002-2006 Dian Hymer. Distributed by Inman News Features