diff --git a/esphome/components/host/preferences.cpp b/esphome/components/host/preferences.cpp
index 5ad87c1f2a..275c202e3e 100644
--- a/esphome/components/host/preferences.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/host/preferences.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <fstream>
 #include "preferences.h"
 #include "esphome/core/application.h"
+#include "esphome/core/log.h"
 
 namespace esphome {
 namespace host {
@@ -14,7 +15,12 @@ static const char *const TAG = "host.preferences";
 void HostPreferences::setup_() {
   if (this->setup_complete_)
     return;
-  this->filename_.append(getenv("HOME"));
+  const char *home = getenv("HOME");
+  if (home == nullptr) {
+    ESP_LOGE(TAG, "HOME environment variable is not set");
+    abort();
+  }
+  this->filename_.append(home);
   this->filename_.append("/.esphome");
   this->filename_.append("/prefs");
   fs::create_directories(this->filename_);
@@ -44,9 +50,12 @@ void HostPreferences::setup_() {
 bool HostPreferences::sync() {
   this->setup_();
   FILE *fp = fopen(this->filename_.c_str(), "wb");
-  std::map<uint32_t, std::vector<uint8_t>>::iterator it;
+  if (fp == nullptr) {
+    ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Failed to open preferences file for writing: %s", this->filename_.c_str());
+    return false;
+  }
 
-  for (it = this->data.begin(); it != this->data.end(); ++it) {
+  for (auto it = this->data.begin(); it != this->data.end(); ++it) {
     fwrite(&it->first, sizeof(uint32_t), 1, fp);
     uint8_t len = it->second.size();
     fwrite(&len, sizeof(len), 1, fp);