It often costs more if a plumber (or electrician) has to undo your "repairs" before actually performing the repair. Building a shelf, or patching drywall, or changing a lightbulb is one thing - trying to sweat a hot water line to make it fit your new gold plated faucet is another story altogether! Here is a useful do it yourself blog. Yes, there are many things that the King of the Castle can do by himself. Without much risk of damage to himself or to the thing being repaired. Some home improvement stores offer do it yourself classes - it can be fun and fulfilling, not to mention cost saving. And lest any charges of chauvinism fly, yes, women too are very good with tools and home repairs/improvements! (continued below)

While on the topic of morgage payments, here is a little known secret that no bank will ever tell you about. With each monthly mortgage payment, make an additional payment equal to at least the principal amount contained in that payment - apply it against the principal of the loan. This will reduce your mortgage period by HALF, that is, a 30 year mortgage will be paid off in 15 years! As an example, if a monthly mortgage payment is $2000 and consists of $1100 interest + $200 escrow + $700 principal; make an additional $700 principal payment to cut your mortgage period in half. Be careful though, banks will try to be sneaky and apply any extra payments toward the LAST payment (therefore continuing to charge you interest on the paid off portion). Always check monthly statements and fight to have your extra principal payments recorded correctly. If more money is available, such as after a good tax return, you could apply more money to the principal amount of the loan. It saves you a ton of money over the lifetime of the loan by reducing the interest amount.

You may also want to walk around the neighborhood. Do you feel "safe" walking around? If you do purchase a new home in that neighborhood, you want to feel absolutely safe walking in front of your new home. Are the streets well lit (if the neighborhood has street lights)? You will also get the opportunity to talk to the residents of that neighborhood, as well as observe any noisy or un-leashed dogs (who may chase you). If you have children, you may want to take them along on the walkthru if there are other children playing in the neighborhood. Let them see the quality (and quantity) of prospective friends they will be making should you buy a home in that neighborhood. While walking around you will also get a feel for local vehicle traffic and street crossing safety - are the intersections well marked and crossable? (continued below)

Other big neighborhood noise makers are churches and parks. While you would like to have a place of worship, and a place of play, nearby where you could walk over on a sunny Sunday - you do not want the noise and traffic right in your neighborhood. Some churches have bells that toll, often loudly, sometimes often. Parks are almost always filled with squealing children, and sometimes parks attract teens who may have disturbing hobbies that you do not want next door to your new home. Schools are very noisy as well, besides the horde of loud kids - there are school buses as well as parents in cars that will be passing by twice a day. Another thing to watch out for are bars (pubs, restaurants, or clubs). Bars are nothing but trouble for a neighborhood - besides the noise and parked cars, patrons who have sampled the products served in the bar are difficult to deal with as they depart. Be sure to get a complete picture of the entire neighborhood before you (or anyone else) make the decision of buying homes there.