The Home Maintenance Schedule Nobody Gives You at Closing

You signed 200 pages of documents. You got a home inspection with 47 line items. The seller left a binder with some appliance manuals in it. Your realtor shook your hand and said "congratulations."

And then you were alone in your house.

Nobody sat you down and said: "Here's what this house needs from you. Here's what breaks if you ignore it. Here's what costs $200 now or $12,000 later."

That conversation doesn't happen. So most first-time homeowners figure it out the expensive way.

The Things Nobody Mentions

Your home inspection was a snapshot — "here's what's wrong today." It wasn't a maintenance plan. And those generic "homeowner maintenance checklists" you Googled? Thirty items, no priority order, no explanation of which ones actually matter for YOUR house.

Here's what matters. Organized by "how badly will this hurt if I skip it."

Do These or Pay 10x Later

HVAC filter — every 90 days. The single highest-ROI maintenance task you can do. A clogged filter makes your heating and cooling system work 15% harder. That's $30-40/month in wasted energy. Over a few years, it shortens the system's life by 3-5 years. A new HVAC system costs $5,000-$12,000. A filter costs $8 and takes 5 minutes to swap.

Find your filter size: pull out the current filter and read the numbers on the edge (e.g., 20x25x1). Write it on a sticky note inside the HVAC closet door. You'll thank yourself.

Gutters — twice a year (spring and fall). Especially if you have trees within 30 feet of the house. Clogged gutters cause water to back up under your roof. In cold climates, this means ice dams — which lead to leaks inside your walls. Mold remediation from a bad ice dam: $8,000-$15,000.

If you're not comfortable on a ladder, $150-$200 for a professional twice a year is the best insurance policy nobody sells.

Dryer vent — once a year. Not the lint trap. The vent that goes from your dryer through the wall to outside. Lint buildup in this vent causes 2,900 house fires per year in the US. This is not one to skip.

Water shutoff valve — test it the day you move in. Find it. Turn it. Make sure it works. If a pipe bursts and you can't find or turn the shutoff valve, every minute is $100+ in water damage. Knowing where it is and confirming it turns is five minutes that could save everything in your basement.

Do These Annually

Water heater flush. Sediment builds up at the bottom of your tank. Takes 30 minutes with a garden hose. Extends the life of your water heater by years. Most people never do it. Most water heaters fail early because of it.

Test smoke and CO detectors. Push the button. If it beeps, you're good. Replace batteries if it's been a year. Replace the whole unit if it's over 10 years old (they expire, and the date is printed on the back).

Check for leaks. Under every sink. Around the base of every toilet. Behind the washing machine. A slow leak you catch costs $50 in parts. A slow leak you miss for six months costs $5,000 in mold remediation.

Inspect caulk around tubs, showers, and windows. When caulk cracks or peels, water gets behind it. Re-caulking is a 30-minute DIY job. The water damage it prevents is not.

Do These Seasonally

Spring: Check the exterior. Walk around the house. Look for cracked foundation, peeling paint, damaged siding, gaps where critters could get in. Clean window tracks. Test your AC before the first hot day (finding out it's broken at 95 degrees is miserable and the HVAC company is booked for three weeks).

Fall: Similar walkthrough but focused on winter prep. Clean gutters. Check weather stripping on doors and windows. Drain and disconnect outdoor hoses (frozen water in a hose can crack the pipe inside your wall). Schedule a furnace tune-up.

What Your Home's Age Tells You

Not all houses need the same things. Age matters.

Built before 1978: Possible lead paint. Don't sand or disturb painted surfaces without testing first.

Built before 1990: Likely has original plumbing. Watch for galvanized steel pipes (they rust from the inside). If water pressure has dropped or you see brown water, get a plumber to scope the pipes.

Built before 2000: HVAC system is likely original or near end of life. Water heater too. Budget for replacements.

Built after 2000: Newer systems, but watch for builder-grade everything. Builder-grade water heaters last 6-8 years, not 12. Builder-grade HVAC is often undersized for the house.

Your home inspection report has the ages of major systems. Go find it. It's the most useful document you own and it's probably in that binder you've never opened.

The One Thing That Would Actually Help

You know what 70% of first-time homeowners say they want?

A personalized owner's manual for their house.

Not a generic checklist. Something that knows their house was built in 1987, that they have an LG washer with a warranty expiring in March, that their water heater is 17 years old, and that their climate zone means gutters are critical in October.

That's what we're building with HomeCOO. An advisor called Maya who knows your specific home and tells you what matters — when it matters, and why.

Until then, this post is your starter manual. Bookmark it. Do the HVAC filter this weekend. Find your water shutoff valve today. And go open that binder your realtor gave you.

Your house will be around longer than you expect. Take care of it and it takes care of you.

Maya is in development. If you want early access to a maintenance advisor that actually knows your house, [sign up here.]