Your First Year Home Maintenance Guide

Upkeep and dealing with standard wear and tear are an essential part of home ownership. Staying on top of small fixes and maintaining the property’s integrity by promptly fixing leaky faucets and ensuring regular chimney cleaning will save you from dealing with significant issues in the future.

Standard Maintenance

Maintenance varies for condo owners versus single family home owners. Condo owners won’t have to worry about yard work and maintaining common areas.

For a homeowner or condo owner:

• Test and replace smoke and CO detectors – once a month
• Replace or clean filters on heating, ventilation, and cooling (HVAC) units, packaged terminal air conditioner (PTAC) units, and range hoods – once every 1 to 2 months
• Check dryer exhaust – every 1 to 2 months
• Remove and clean out showerheads – once every 3 months
• Vacuum refrigerator coils – once every 6 months
• Service HVACs or PTACs by a professional – once a year
• Inspect plumbing for leaks and replace old washers – once a year
• Check tiling and recaulk as necessary – once a year

Additional duties for single family homeowners:

• Clean gutters – once every 3 to 6 months
• Service water heater – once a year
• Service furnace – once a year
• Inspect the roof – once a year
• Test plumbing, water pressure, and main shut off valve – once a year, especially after cold spells
• Clean chimney – once a year
• Inspect your basement for leaks or water damage – after all heavy rains

Standard Issues to Address

On top of maintaining the integrity of your home and the appliances, there are several repairs you should expect to come up in your first year. Address these quickly before they become a bigger, and much more expensive, problem.

• Repaint peeling exterior paint
• Repair leaky plumbing
• Replace weather stripping on windows
• Replace fill valve and flapper on running toilets
• Fix loose shingles on roof
• Fill cracks in walkway

Expect Increases

Don’t be sticker shocked when certain payments increase. Be prepared:

• Property taxes – If you’ve bought in an area that’s growing, expect your property taxes to increase. Your home value is reassessed every year, and if its value is going up, so are the taxes you need to pay on it.
• HOA fees – Your common charges also will be recalculated and change as necessary. Very rarely, these charges decrease. Usually, increased repairs, added features, and growing costs of utilities will drive up your monthly HOA payments.
• Insurance – Like property taxes, your insurance costs are based on a percentage of your property value. Therefore, if your property value grows, so will the cost of covering it.
• Mortgage – A fixed rate mortgage shouldn’t change (unless your escrow deposits increase due to bigger tax and insurance costs), but adjustable rate mortgages have the potential to increase if interest rates go up.