{"id":2265,"date":"2019-12-26T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/?p=2265"},"modified":"2019-12-19T00:44:10","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T00:44:10","slug":"tips-for-home-and-condo-maintenance-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/?p=2265","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Home and Condo Maintenance in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Buying a house or condominium is a large investment but taking care of your home can also be costly. When looking at houses for sale in Toronto,<\/a> you’ll want to consider future maintenance costs when calculating the price of homeownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real estate agent and customers shaking hands together celebrating finished contract after about home insurance and investment loan, handshake and successful deal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inspection Report<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A home inspection report is a good way\nto get a handle on home maintenance costs when you purchase a home. While it\nmay be tempting to save $250 to $500 and forgo the inspection report, the\ndecision may cost you more in the long run. Considering the amount of your\ninvestment and how long you’ll be paying your mortgage, you don’t want a major\nrepair cost right after your purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estimating Home Maintenance Costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can expect to spend around 3 to 5\npercent of the value of your home on maintenance costs each year. Maintenance\ncosts will vary depending on the age and size of your home. At the time of the purchase,\nfind out the age of your roof, your HVAC unit, your water heater, and\nappliances. This will allow you to estimate the cost of major repairs over the\nnext few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home Maintenance Tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Homeowners can take steps to minimize\nmaintenance costs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Plumbing: Insulate your exposed pipes.\nTemperature changes can damage pipes. Condensation can erode pipes, resulting\nin plumbing problems. Test faucets and replace washers when taps start to drip.<\/li>
  • Exterior: Powerwash your property and look for\nthings that need repair. Replace the weatherstripping around windows and doors.\nTo cut down on routine maintenance costs, replace old wooden windows with vinyl\nmodels.<\/li>
  • Roof: Inspect your roof regularly. Check for\nloose or separated shingles and check the amount of grit and gravel in your\ngutters. If there’s more than a quarter of an inch of sediment, it may be time\nfor a new roof. Look for dips or waves in the roof, which could indicate rot.\nThis can be repaired by adding more roof vents. Make sure your chimney is\nsecurely fastened. Keep an eye on the flashing seals to make sure water isn’t\nseeping under the tiles.<\/li>
  • Foundation: Clear snow and debris from the\nfoundation of your home. Snow can cause water damage, while debris can attract\npests. Check the base of the house and basement for mold. If there’s mold,\ndetermine the source of the moisture and eliminate the problem. Inspect the\ngrade of the house’s foundation and the driveway. The grade should move water\naway from the foundation.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    Scenic cityscape of downtown Toronto Ontario Canada during a sunny day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Condo Maintenance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When you buy a condo, you become the\nowner of a unit within a larger residential property. You’re responsible for\nmaintaining your unit, but you’re not responsible for shared amenities, common\nspaces within and outside the property, the general upkeep of the property, or\nsome utilities. In exchange, you must pay monthly condo maintenance fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Condo maintenance fees vary but\naverage about 65 cents per square foot in Toronto. Older buildings have higher\nmaintenance fees. Boutique condos also have higher fees because the cost is\ndivided between fewer condo owners. Maintenance fees can increase at any time.\nNew condo owners should check the status certificate to get an overview of a\ncondo building’s management policies, financial statements, and condition of\nthe building. The need for major repairs or a low reserve fund may indicate an\nincrease in maintenance fees is coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When you’re looking for new houses for\nsale, call Merenda Real Estate Group at (416) 240-7653 for reliable real estate\nassistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Buying a house or condominium is a large investment but taking care of your home can also be costly. When looking at houses for sale in Toronto, you’ll want to consider future maintenance costs when calculating the price of homeownership. Inspection Report A home inspection report is a good way to get a handle on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merendarealestate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}