The City of Wilmington and a local startup want to help homebuyers and owners understand the costs of home repairs and maintenance.
The City is partnering with Wilmington-based startup NESTER to provide eligible city homebuyers an easy-to-use tool to determine long-range costs of ownership and avoid unexpected repair and maintenance costs.
The partnership with NESTER provides their service free of charge to individuals and families in one of four homeownership programs according to Brendon Kennealey - the founder and CEO of NESTER.
"We will be providing NESTER reports and full access to what we offer at NESTER to the city primarily through their neighborhood revitalization partners," said Kennealey.
Those partners include the Wilmington Conservancy Land Bank, Woodlawn Trustees and the Todmorden East Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, and the Wilmington Housing Authority.
NESTER will generate a report to help potential buyers calculate the true cost of home ownership beyond the sales price.
Kennealey explains some of what the report covers.
"It projects out over the next 15 years when all the major systems in that house are projected to need to get replaced or upgraded so things like roof, windows, HVAC, major plumbing, and electric. We just put that all on a timeline for the new homeowner, and then show them based on that timeline how much they would need to save per month on top of their mortgage in order to be ready for those costs," said Kennealey.
The report also provides a NESTER Score showing how the house ranks when it comes to the timing and total costs of repairs, expert tips and maintenance jobs, and an inventory of major home systems.
The partnership is for one-year for now, and Wilmington employees and retirees also can use the service at no cost over the next year.
