[quote=FormerSanDiegan][quote=Scarlett]What about maintenance of the home – how much should one put aside monthly for this stuff? If he is buying in Poway, or PQ, it could be house that’s built in 70s and have enough deferred maintenance and other ongoing issues.[/quote]

Zero $. As a homeowner, mainrtenance becomes your new hobby, so you are essentially replacing your current expensive hobbies and travel (like say a twice-yearly ski trip to Utah or Mammoth) with painting, replacing water heaters and other fun houshold maintenance projects.[/quote]
What if you don’t have any expensive hobbies? Travel abroad is a necessity for us – only to visit immediate family who cannot come over here. Otherwise we live pretty frugally as it is. It’s likely we won’t buy something that doesn’ have a tile or composite shingle roof. But what if the plumbing is all polybutilene (or whatever) and wasn’t replaced?
I can’t even think of what something MAJOR COULD go wrong in a house, it’s kind of scary. Little fixes jobs that cost only a few hundred, I am ok with those. Replacing the windows with double-paned vinyl ones – I see that be somewhat necessary. Our current rental doesn’t have them and leaks like a sieve, if it’s be mine, I’d replace the windows in a second – but I’ve heard it costs north of 10K.