How much did you spend on housing last year???

[Danmar]

danmar, I glad to hear you're done quite well. Mind to share how and what you do to accomplish such success?? and mind if I borrow one of those unit on one of the weekend that you're not using?

Described in detail several times in earlier posts. I think some might be sick of hearing it. We often lend our places to close friends and relatives.

 

[haha]

Not sure why any of you would be interested but here goes: 3 places( city condo 1800sf: lake house 3000sf: mountain house 3500sf). Condo costs about $25k per year, lake house about $50k per year, and mountain house also about $50 k. Obviously expensive but an integral part of our lifestyle.

Rub it in, Dude, rub it in!

Ha

 

[Enuff2Eat]

Actually we have done home swaps with people who have second homes. They are non-simultaneous swaps and very flexible, provided you can time the swaps. In our case, they came to our home in Vancouver when we were down south, then we used their cottage in the summer. It worked really well.

Now we sublet our place in Vancouver so have no free cottage to use anymore.

So you don't mind adding another friend to your list, right?? I can be family too. ;-)

 

[Enuff2Eat]

Described in detail several times in earlier posts. I think some might be sick of hearing it. We often lend our places to close friends and relatives.

sorry last message was meant for Danmar.

 

[Danmar]

Rub it in, Dude, rub it in!

Ha

Certainly not my intention. Agree we are very fortunate.

 

[haha]

Certainly not my intention. Agree we are very fortunate.

Only joking. Well financed people that my taxes do not pay the freight for make me happy. You are clearly one of these.

Ha

 

[ripper1]

Don't forget to include some estimate of the opportunity cost of the money you have tied up in your home. This isn't easy since the amount is hypothetical. Still, if you didn't own a home and rented instead, you'd have the money you now have tied up in your home invested in some way. I use 4% of the value of my paid for home. You get to roll your own die. But, include some number or you're just fooling yourself.

Exactly the opportunity cost. I spent the last 10 years of my employment paying off my house. I eventually paid it off but then ended up taking some of it out to help pay for children's college tuition. Never again. When I retired and sold the home I only put down 25% on my new home and invested the rest. My pension easily handles the new mortgage and now I have a big chunk of liquidity as well as my 457. It's nice to know that I could pay off the new mortgage. This being my only debt it's also nice to know that if I need a new car I can pay cash.

 

[eridanus]

Mortgage interest: 3500
Insurance: 700
Repairs: 700
Property tax: 4000
Utilities (electric, trash, water): 1000
Gas: 500
Phone/net: 600
------------
Total: $11000

 

[misty57]

$18,954 Mortgate (P&I)
6,683 Property Taxes
4,036 Utilities (Water, Sewer, Gas, Electric, Trash)
1,800 Yard Maintenance
936 Insurance
204 HOA
156 Land Line
$ 32,565 TOTAL

We live in the San Francisco Bay Area so the cost of living is pretty darn high. We could pay off the mortgage, but choose not to since the interest rate is so low. The home is fairly new so we had no repair costs, although I do expect some in the future (appliance replacement, etc.). I don't consider cable, internet, cell phones, etc. to be part of our housing expense; they are discretionary expenses and mostly for entertainment.

 

[Ronnieboy]

Only joking. Well financed people that my taxes do not pay the freight for make me happy. You are clearly one of these.

Ha

+1