Category: Home Buying Tips

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Next Evolution of Our Basement

by Kyle BurbankMay 28, 2025

Since we moved into our house about 18 months ago, it seems as though our relationship with our finished basement continues to evolve. To catch you up, the initial intent for this space was a family room/guest room — but the sofa bed's inability to fit down the stairs scrapped that plan. And while it did eventually get used as a guest bedroom with the help of an air mattress,...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Truth About Managing Risk as a Homeowner

by Kyle BurbankApr 30, 2025

Ever since we first toured the home that we'd go on to make our own, there was something literally looming over the house that worried me a bit: a giant tree in the backyard. Specifically, as I've learned, it's a silver maple tree — and, while it does provide some great shade, watching the branches blow in the wind does lead to some anxiety. That's why, at long last, we...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Announcing My New (and Free) Homebuyer's Guide

by Kyle BurbankApr 16, 2025

For the past 18 months, I've been writing about my experience 1) buying a home and then 2) discovering everything that being a homeowner entails. Along the way, I've covered some topics that I'd never heard anyone else really talk about and have developed a few tips that I think others could learn from. That's why I've now compiled the highlights of my experience into a new guide So, You...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Hosting Our First Guest in the House

by Kyle BurbankMar 5, 2025

After more than a year in our new home, we finally hosted our first guest last month. While the ability to have overnight guests was a partial factor in why we elected to upgrade to owning a home versus renting a one-bedroom apartment, the amount of time that it took to actually have someone over is more a testament to just how few people we know. In any case, while...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: Average Annual Homeowner Expenses vs. Mine

by Kyle BurbankFeb 12, 2025

In one of my daily searches for financial news recently, I came across a report from the site Real Estate Witch (which is owned by Clever Real Estate) detailing how much the average American homeowner spends on their house — not even including their mortgage. What it found was, heading into 2025, the average per year is a whopping $24,529. That figure is up significantly from the $17,958 annual average...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: How the Pros We Worked With Are Still Helping Us

by Kyle BurbankNov 27, 2024

A few months ago, I wrote about how the professionals we choose to work with when buying our home made a huge difference and made our experience a positive one. Now, one year later, I'm somewhat surprised to say that they continue to help us out on a regular basis despite the transaction that first brought us together being well behind us. So, between that milestone and with it being...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: One Year as Homeowners

by Kyle BurbankNov 13, 2024

It feels absolutely crazy to say but it's now been a full year since we closed on our house. Perhaps it doesn't feel as long since we didn't actually move in until closer to Christmas — but, either way, time has flown. Before my wife and I got married, her mother said something to her about getting to know someone in all seasons. Well, now, we've come to know our...

Home Buying Tips

Lessons From a First-Time Home Buyer: The Problem with Appliance Repair "Quotes"

by Kyle BurbankOct 2, 2024

When we were buying our house, one piece of advice we were given was, "Get three quotes before hiring someone for repairs." While this sounds like a lot of work, I can absolutely appreciate this tip. After all, even when you're potentially spending thousands of dollars, saving any money you can is still important. As I shared, a few months ago, our water heater broke, ultimately leading us to replace...