Colin Moynahan, a certified financial planner near Charleston, South Carolina, says that while buying a house is certainly one of the biggest expenses, furnishing and buying appliances for a new home can be a huge expense, too.
It's something that Moynahan says new homeowners might not think about. "They just spent all this money on the down payment. Now, you gotta furnish the place," he says.
"Most people don't downsize, but people upsize. Now you might have an extra bedroom or two extra bedrooms, or a playroom for the kids, or a basement," says Moynahan. "Most people aren't going to live in an empty space," he says.
Then, there's the fact that expenses start to compound when these things are financed. "Next thing you know, they've got a new credit card, they've maxed the balance out, and they're paying on that for the next five [years]," says Monhoyan.