You've saved $60,000 for a down payment on a $400,000 house. The offer is accepted. Then the phone starts ringing: your lender needs another $10,000 at closing; your inspector found something in the attic; the HOA fee wasn't listed in the listing; flood insurance is separate. The sticker price on a home is only the beginning of what buying one actually costs.
Most of these costs aren't optional, and most of them aren't small. The gap between what people think they need to buy a house and what they actually need is regularly $20,000 to $40,000 or more, once you count everything from the closing table to the first year of ownership.
Here are 15 costs that catch buyers off guard, what they actually run, and why they're worth taking seriously before you sign anything.
Closing costs on top of your down payment
The down payment gets all the attention, but closing costs are a separate bill. They're due at the same closing table, on the same day, and they typically run 2% to 5% of your loan amount. On a $350,000 mortgage, that's $7,000 to $17,500 in fees you'll need in addition to whatever you put down.
Closing costs cover a mix of charges: origination fees, underwriting, credit report pulls, title search, title insurance, appraisal, recording fees, attorney fees in states that require them, and more. Some are fixed, some are percentage-based, and some vary wildly by state. New York buyers routinely pay over $13,000 in lender and title fees alone. Missouri buyers might pay under $2,000 for the same categories.
The good news is that some of these fees are negotiable, and sellers can contribute toward them. But you need to know they exist and plan for them before you're three days from closing and staring at a Closing Disclosure that looks nothing like your original budget.
Prepaid expenses and escrow setup
Buried inside your closing costs are prepaid expenses that often get missed in the planning stage. Before you make a single mortgage payment, lenders typically require you to fund an escrow account with two to three months of property taxes and two to three months of homeowners insurance. They also collect prepaid interest from the closing date to the end of the month.
On a $400,000 home in a mid-tax state, the escrow prepayment alone can add $3,000 to $5,000 to your closing-day check. That's money you won't see again until you sell or refinance, because the lender holds it in reserve to pay your tax and insurance bills as they come due. It's not a fee exactly, but it's cash you need to have.
Many buyers look only at the down payment line when they're saving up, then show up at closing short because they didn't account for prepaid items. Ask your lender early for a full Loan Estimate that breaks these out.
Private mortgage insurance
Put down less than 20% on a conventional loan and your lender adds private mortgage insurance to your monthly payment. PMI doesn't protect you. It protects the lender in case you default. You pay for it anyway, typically 0.46% to 1.5% of your loan amount per year, depending on your credit score and how much you put down.
On a $350,000 loan, a 1% PMI rate adds $3,500 a year to your costs, or about $292 a month. It's just rolled into your mortgage payment, which makes it easy to overlook when you're budgeting. Most buyers with less-than-perfect credit who put down 5% or 10% are paying PMI for years before they hit the 80% loan-to-value threshold where they can request cancellation.
FHA loans have their own version called mortgage insurance premium, which works differently and can last the life of the loan if you put down less than 10%. Either way, factor it into your true monthly housing cost before you commit to a purchase price.
Homeowners insurance
You're required to have homeowners insurance before you can close. What surprises many buyers is how much it costs. The national average is now around $2,490 per year, or roughly $208 a month. That's for a standard policy. In states like Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Florida, average premiums run significantly higher, and in parts of Florida they can top $10,000 or more annually.
Homeowners insurance is also rising fast. Premiums have climbed significantly over the past several years, driven by inflation in construction costs and the rising frequency of severe weather events. More than half of homeowners reported their premiums increased in a 2025 survey. In some high-risk markets, insurers are pulling back entirely, leaving buyers to find coverage through state-run insurer-of-last-resort programs that cost even more.
Get quotes before you're under contract if possible. In high-risk states, insurance availability, not just cost, can actually affect whether your purchase goes through.
Flood and disaster insurance you didn't know you needed
Standard homeowners insurance doesn't cover flood damage. It doesn't cover earthquakes either. If you're buying in a FEMA-designated flood zone, your lender will require you to carry separate flood insurance, but flood risk doesn't stop at the official flood zone boundary. Plenty of homes that flooded in recent disasters weren't in required-coverage zones.
National Flood Insurance Program policies average around $900 a year for moderate-risk properties, but costs vary widely by location and coverage level, and private flood insurance can run higher. In coastal or low-lying areas, this is a real number that needs to go into your monthly budget. Similarly, buyers in California, Oregon, and parts of the Pacific Northwest should price out earthquake insurance, which is purchased separately and can be expensive in high-risk zones.
Ask your agent specifically what isn't covered by the standard policy before closing. Finding out after a flood is the wrong time to learn that flood is excluded.
Property taxes
Property taxes hit every year, and they hit harder than most first-time buyers expect. The average single-family home in the U.S. incurred a $4,427 property tax bill in 2025, a 3% increase from the prior year. That's $369 a month added to your true cost of ownership, before you've paid a dollar toward your mortgage principal.
Rates vary dramatically by location. New Jersey's effective rate is 2.23%, meaning a $400,000 home costs nearly $9,000 in property taxes annually. Hawaii's rate is 0.27%. Most states fall somewhere in between, but what matters is your specific county and municipality, not a state average. Pull the actual tax records for any home you're seriously considering before you make an offer.
If your area reassesses property values after a sale, and many do, your tax bill may jump in the first year or two of ownership, sometimes well above what the prior owners were paying. Ask your agent or a local tax professional about reassessment practices in the county you're buying in.
HOA fees
More than 40% of homes for sale in the U.S. now carry HOA fees, and the national median monthly fee for HOA and condo communities was $135 in 2024. That median understates what many buyers actually encounter. Single-family HOA fees average $200 to $300 a month in most communities. Condo HOAs regularly run $400 to $900 or more, especially in urban buildings where the fee covers structural maintenance, elevators, and building insurance.
HOA fees aren't part of your mortgage payment. They're a separate bill, due monthly or quarterly, and lenders consider them when calculating how much home you can afford. A $350 monthly HOA fee reduces your qualifying mortgage by tens of thousands of dollars because it counts against your debt-to-income ratio. Many buyers don't realize this until they're already deep into the purchase.
Read the HOA's financial documents before closing. Specifically, look at the reserve fund balance. An HOA that's been chronically underfunding its reserves is setting up its members for a large bill down the road.
HOA special assessments
Even if you know about the regular monthly HOA fee, you may not be thinking about special assessments. These are separate, one-time charges the HOA board can levy on all owners when the community needs a major repair or replacement that the reserve fund can't cover. A new roof on a condo building. Repaving the parking lot. Replacing the elevator. Settling a lawsuit. These bills can land without warning and range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands.
Special assessments aren't always disclosed up front, and even when a community's financials look healthy, a single unexpected event can trigger one. The HOA doesn't need your permission to issue an assessment, and you're legally obligated to pay it or face fines and potentially a lien on your property.
When you review HOA documents during your due diligence period, look for any currently pending assessments and ask about ones that have occurred in the last three to five years. A history of frequent special assessments is a warning sign about how the board manages the community's finances.
Routine home maintenance
The standard advice is to budget 1% to 3% of your home's value for maintenance each year. State Farm puts the range at 1% to 4%, adjusted for the age and condition of the home. On a $400,000 house, that's $4,000 to $16,000 a year, every year, for as long as you own it. Older homes trend toward the upper end of that range.
Routine maintenance isn't optional. It's what keeps a $500 gutter cleaning from turning into a $15,000 water damage repair. It's what keeps an annual HVAC service call from becoming an $8,000 system replacement five years too early. The cost of deferred maintenance compounds in ways that the cost of regular upkeep doesn't. Most first-time buyers don't budget for it at all in year one because they're stretched thin from the purchase itself.
Set up a dedicated savings account before you close and start putting money in it regularly. It's harder to start the habit after you've already moved in and spent everything on furniture.
Major system replacements hiding in the inspection report
Every home inspection report includes a summary of the condition of major systems: roof, HVAC, water heater, electrical panel, plumbing. What buyers often miss is the age column. A water heater that's 14 years old and functioning fine isn't a defect, so it won't be flagged as a repair item. But water heaters typically last 8 to 12 years. You're buying a future replacement, not a working appliance.
A 20-year-old roof in decent condition could need replacement within three to five years. Replacing it runs $10,000 to $25,000 depending on size, pitch, and materials. A 15-year-old HVAC system that passed inspection today might fail in its first summer under your ownership. Budget separately for end-of-life equipment, and get specific age estimates from your inspector rather than just a pass or fail on current function.
Ask your inspector to give you a likely replacement timeline for every major system, not just a condition rating. That information helps you negotiate a price reduction or seller credit that accounts for what you'll actually need to spend.
Home inspection and specialty inspections
A standard home inspection runs between $296 and $424 on average nationally, though in high-cost markets and for larger homes it goes higher. That covers the inspector's visual examination of the home's major systems. It doesn't cover everything you may need to know before you commit.
Depending on what the inspector observes, you may need to hire specialists for a sewer scope ($150 to $350), radon test ($150 to $300), mold inspection ($300 to $700), chimney inspection ($100 to $500), well and septic testing if applicable, or pest inspection. In older homes, a separate electrical or plumbing inspection might be warranted. Specialty inspections are not redundant with the general inspection. They're additive, and they frequently surface significant problems that would have been invisible otherwise.
A sewer scope in particular is underordered by buyers and remarkably revealing. Tree root intrusion, collapsed pipe sections, and deteriorating clay sewer laterals are common in homes built before 1980, and none of it shows up in a standard inspection. Sewer lateral replacement can run $5,000 to $25,000.
Utilities
If you're moving from a rental apartment where heat and water were included, or even where you only paid electric, the utility picture in a house can be a genuine shock. You're now heating and cooling a much larger space, paying for water and sewer, and often covering trash pickup and exterior lighting that were previously baked into your rent.
Utilities for a single-family home average $400 to $500 a month nationally, but the range is enormous depending on climate, home size, age of systems, and local rates. A poorly insulated 1970s home in Minnesota with an aging furnace can run $500 a month or more in heating alone during peak winter months. Homes with older windows, minimal attic insulation, and outdated appliances consistently cost more to operate than their listing price implies.
Ask the sellers for 12 months of utility bills as part of your due diligence. It's a reasonable request and gives you real data rather than an estimate. Factor the annual total into your monthly cost of ownership alongside the mortgage, taxes, and insurance.
Moving costs
Hiring professional movers costs more than most people budget for. The average cost of all moves in 2025 was $3,020, with local moves averaging $1,489 and long-distance moves averaging $3,129. Those numbers assume a moderately sized household. A three- or four-bedroom home move, especially across state lines, can easily run $5,000 to $8,000 or more with full-service movers.
Moving costs rose roughly 21% as of mid-2026 due to fuel and labor pressures. On top of the base move, you're often looking at packing supplies, temporary storage if the timing between your sale and purchase doesn't align perfectly, and travel and lodging costs for longer relocations. If you're moving during peak summer months, expect to pay a premium over fall or winter pricing.
Get at least three quotes, confirm they include liability insurance for your belongings, and nail down the payment structure before any agreement is signed. Rogue movers holding belongings hostage pending additional payment is a real and documented problem.
Move-in purchases
The home you're buying almost certainly doesn't come with window coverings. Most houses are sold with the window treatments staying, but that's not universal, and even when they stay, they may be dated, the wrong size, or something you want replaced immediately. New blinds and curtains for a full house run $500 to $3,000 or more depending on size and how much you care about the result.
Then there are appliances. Refrigerators, washers, and dryers often don't convey with the sale. If the home doesn't have them or they're excluded from the contract, you're buying them on move-in week. A basic refrigerator runs $700 to $1,500. A washer and dryer together, $800 to $2,000. Add a garage door opener that's missing, light fixtures you want to replace, shelving, a lawnmower, garden hoses, and a hose reel, and the move-in spend adds up faster than anyone anticipates.
Budget a realistic $3,000 to $8,000 for immediate move-in expenses before you step through the door. Buyers who don't tend to put it all on credit cards, which is the worst possible start to homeownership finances.
Lawn care and landscaping
Apartment dwellers rarely think about landscaping because someone else always handles it. In a house, the lawn is your responsibility from day one, and it costs money whether you do it yourself or hire it out. A basic weekly lawn mowing service runs $50 to $100 per visit in most markets, adding up to $1,500 to $3,000 a season in warmer climates.
Beyond mowing, a healthy lawn and yard require fertilization, aeration, weed control, irrigation system maintenance if there is one, mulching, trimming, and seasonal cleanup. In cold climates, add snow removal, which can run $200 to $600 a season with a plowing service or hundreds more if you need regular salting or shoveling service. Gutter cleaning, which directly protects your roof and foundation, typically costs $150 to $400 per cleaning and should happen at least twice a year.
None of this is optional if you want to maintain the property value you just paid for. Overgrown landscaping, dead grass, and plugged gutters affect curb appeal and, over time, home value. If you've never owned a lawn before, budget at least $2,000 to $4,000 annually until you figure out how much of it you'll handle yourself.
