By Melissa Dorman, March 25, 2021
Nobody said owning a home was cheap! But it’s usually a great investment. Paying attention to your maintenance expenses can be very worthwhile over the long term. Here are some tips to help keep your homeowner expenses lower.
Consider your Mortgage
- Refinancing- talk to a trusted loan officer and see whether it would make sense to refinance and drop your mortgage interest rate.
- Review your options. Depending on your goals, you could consider refinancing into a 15 year mortgage, hereby saving you a great deal of interest over the long term.
- Pay half of your monthly mortgage every two weeks. This, also, helps you save on interest.
- Decrease your private mortgage insurance. If you originally had only a small down payment, once you pay down your mortgage principle to 80%, you should be able to drop your mortgage insurance and your payment will instantly go down.
Mind the Utilities
- Lower the thermostat at night and ensure that it’s working properly. Smart thermostats are programmable and you can adjust it depending on your work schedule.
- Shoot for temperatures of no higher than 68 degrees in winter and no lower than 78 in the summer.
- Close the blinds in the summer and weatherproof windows in the winter.
- Make sure the weather-stripping on your doors in intact and in good condition.
Save on Water
- Fix those leaky faucets and install low-flow showerheads.
- Load up your dishwasher fully and let the dishes air-dry.
- Load up your laundry machines for efficiency, instead of multiple small loads.
- Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees.
Taking the time to do a few of these tasks will really help you in the long run and will keep more money in your pockets for those all-too-rare vacations!
Melissa Dorman
Broker | OR & WA
She/They
Ten years ago, Melissa was living in a slum in Kolkata, India, helping over 200 women escape sex trafficking by providing alternative work at a social business.
It was there she discovered her passion for financial education as a means of empowering people to move out of poverty. After graduating from UCLA with a Masters, Melissa spent 5 years working as a Social Worker; assisting clients facing homelessness, in jail, or at a psychiatric facility.
As much as she loved the work, imagining saving for retirement on the meager salary of a social worker was becoming grim. That's when Melissa discovered "passive income." In no time, she fell in LOVE with real estate as a vehicle for wealth. Soon after, Melissa began locating off-market multi-family properties to purchase through creative financing strategies and win-win opportunities. Two years into investing, Melissa quit her day job as a Social Worker to become a full-time broker and investor. Initially, she was drawn to people in difficult circumstances, so she developed extensive experience assisting families facing foreclosure, short sales, and probate. Melissa is well versed in helping her clients overcome complex real estate challenges.
Currently, Melissa is teamed up with Super Broker, Yascha Noonberg at Living Room Realty. Together they assist clients to achieve their real estate dreams, including how to strategically buy and sell a personal residence to maximize profits. Far from the slums of Kolkata, her greatest passion now is empowering other working professionals to develop passive forms of income through buying multi-family properties in Portland.
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- T: 503-567-4697
- melissa@livingroomre.com
