3 Things That Frustrate Me About Owning a Home

Homeownership definitely has its drawbacks. Take it from me.

Back when I used to rent an apartment, it definitely bothered me to hand those checks over to my landlord. The reason? I knew housing was a pure expense, and I wasn't getting anything out of those rent payments. When I got married and the opportunity to buy a home presented itself, I jumped on it.

But now, years later, I can say with certainty that owning a home isn't all it's cracked up to be. In fact, a big part of me thinks I would rent a home instead of owning one if the option were available. While I can go out and rent a place to live, it's not really possible to find a larger home with a decent-sized yard to rent in my corner of the country, which is why I effectively feel forced to own. Here are a few specific aspects of homeownership that really bug me.

1. Sudden repairs can bust your budget

When my husband and I bought our home, we immediately reworked our budget to factor in expenses like our mortgage payments and property taxes. We also carved out room in our budget for repairs -- run-of-the-mill repairs.

Through the years, we've faced plenty of those. But we've also encountered our share of major repairs -- issues that have cost us thousands of dollars to fix. Some of those repairs caught us completely off guard, too. And while we thankfully have always had emergency savings to dip into, it's still been a rough blow.

2. Maintenance can mess with your schedule

When you own a home, you're responsible for its upkeep. But sometimes, that means having to upend your schedule to deal with issues.

There have been times, for example, when my husband and I have had to drop everything to clear snow off of our sidewalk after a storm or risk getting fined for not doing so quickly enough. That's meant losing work time which, as a freelance writer, isn't good. When you rent a home, those issues become your landlord's problem, not yours.

3. Property taxes make it so you're never done paying

Many people aim to have their homes paid off by a certain time -- often, retirement. But nice as that may be, the reality is you're never really free of paying for housing expenses because you still have your property taxes to pay. And where I live, those happen to be substantial.

Worse yet, property taxes have the potential to rise over time, especially if your home happens to naturally gain value through the years. You can work hard to pay off your mortgage by the time you reach retirement, only to then still face the burden of paying property taxes while you're limited to a fixed income.

I suppose this may be less of an issue in parts of the country where property taxes amount to $2,000 a year. But seeing as how most people in my area pay more than that per quarter, it's frustrating.

There are definitely benefits to being a property owner. On my end, my home serves as a nice deduction when I file my taxes. And the money I pay into my mortgage is allowing me to gain equity in a significant asset. But still, there are aspects of homeownership that really just get on my nerves, and so at times, I really do miss being a renter.