First-Time Home Buyer Shares His Household Hacks

Did you know that you should vacuum the hair and dust off the coils in your refrigerator twice a year? What about draining your water heater once a year?

Maybe not. And Kyshawn Lane didn’t eitheruntil he bought his first home in 2020 and learned how much work goes into maintaining it.After Mr. Lane started sharing his household hacks on social media, he amassed more than 1 million followers on Instagram. On his account, “Weekly Home Check,” he takes viewers on a tour around his house in Newark every week, clad in his signature lavender Crocs, showing his “homies” how to maintain their homes.

“In the process, I feel like I’m also learning to be a better homeowner,” said Mr. Lane, 35, who is also a flight attendant for United Airlines and a Broadway actor. “I’m learning a lot of things about my home. I’m learning a lot of hacks from the homies, and, you know, we’re all learning from each other.”

Buying a home is already a hefty expense, but with property taxes and the occasional call to the plumber, the costs are likely to pike up afterward. A study by Bankrate from earlier this year found that the average cost of owning and maintaining a typical single-family home in the United States, excluding mortgage payments, was just over $18,000 per year for expenses, such as property taxes, homeowners’ insurance and maintenance. Through his easy-to-follow videos, Mr. Lane has created a community of first-time homeowners, showing them how a little upkeep may save them money.