Annual Maintenance Budget Calculator

The rule of thumb is 1–4% a year. Newer, low-maintenance homes sit near 1%; older stock on a slope with an aging roof and drainage to maintain lives at 2–4%. Pick the rate that matches the home you actually own.

Because they carry recurring, predictable costs: roof and moss, drainage and retaining walls, single-pane windows, and aging HVAC. Those aren't "if," they're "when" — so the reserve rate has to reflect them.

List your known near-term projects (roof, drainage, furnace, windows). If they'd burn more than two to three years of your reserve, your rate is too low — older homes usually belong above 2%.

It's real money — a $1.5M home at 2.5% is about $37,500 a year — but it's the honest cost of owning older or slope-lot stock. Underfunding it just moves the cost to a worse time, at emergency rates.

Often, yes. If your known roof, drainage, and HVAC projects keep outrunning a healthy reserve, that's the math pointing toward selling as-is or renovating deliberately rather than repairing reactively.

Fold the reserve into your true cost of ownership before you write, especially on older stock. A home that pencils on the payment but not on the reserve isn't as affordable as it looks.