Poll: Annual Housing cost/SF

[kcowan]

Under $6/sq.ft. no mortgage in West Vancouver BC.

[Persn]

25.00/sq ft on the California Central Coast. I estimated property tax on the high side and maintenance at 0, because for the time being anyway, everything is new. We still have a mortgage.

All I can say is when I see San Francisco costs I feel lucky. A good friend is paying 55/sq ft there to rent a 650 sq ft house - and for her area her rent is reasonable.

[NYEXPAT]

$1.37/mth for a condo 2 blocks from the cliffs overlooking the Pacific in a major city. Includes rent,electric,FT housekeeper,Cable,phone,internet,maintenance,taxes .

[HFWR]

SWAG at around $10, $3 of which is mortgage.

[Surewhitey]

$7.13 here in Dallas proper. Higher property taxes offset the lack of mortgage. Low operating costs and 1% maintenance assumed.

1750 sq ft

[Huston55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd Currently: renting in downtown San Francisco: $65 per sqft Next year: owning a house free and clear in a medium-size southern city: <$5 per sqft. Vacation condo owned free and clear in large European metro area: $7 per sqft

Quote:

Originally Posted by gardenfun I hear ya. $55 for a 1 bedroom apartment in Lafayette, an east bay suburb of San Francisco. For this I have the privilege of driving in 6 lanes of slow traffic pretty much any time of the day. And that's on the surface streets, not just the freeways. :

Brau Buddy-Sadly, your scale doesn't go high enough.

$50/SF/yr

PS: Our neighbors just moved from Brooklyn, NY. They think it's very reasonable here.

[LauAnn]

Less than $6 - Suburb, northwestern Pennsylvania.

[PandaBear]

$21.56 in Silicon Valley


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[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsbcal And maybe appreciation should be considered? Real estate is not just about negative cash flow. Also impossible to measure satisfaction but mine is very high despite the costs.

With appreciation we're at -$32, a bit more if we paid off the mortgage but the plan is not to. Home prices have increased pretty crazy in the SF Bay Area the last several years so our appreciation has outweighed our housing costs.

We also enjoy living where we do - pleasant weather most of the year, pretty scenery and lots to do.

[SonofCohoes]

11.00 upstate NY no mortgage 1300 sq ft townhouse with an HOA

[exnavynuke]

$8.86 currently, will drop to around $4 once I pay off the mortgage.

[fritz]

Less than $6.00 actual out of pocket. House is just under 10 yrs old and no mortgage.

[Huston55]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort With appreciation we're at -$32, a bit more if we paid off the mortgage but the plan is not to. Home prices have increased pretty crazy in the SF Bay Area the last several years so our appreciation has outweighed our housing costs. We also enjoy living where we do - pleasant weather most of the year, pretty scenery and lots to do.

That approach would be more accurate with opportunity costs factored in. That cost plus other ongoing costs (taxes, insurance, etc.) would keep it from ever really being negative...as appealing as that might be.

Negative housing cost is a boomerang kid to whom Mom hands $20 each day as the kid walks out the door.

[Major Tom]

Apologies if this comment seems negative, but I'm having a bit of difficulty seeing how the figure of housing cost/sq ft is a useful metric. Housing costs tend to get quite expensive on a per sq ft basis as the space gets smaller - it's not a linear relationship.

I've always liked numbers and am comfortable with them, but am definitely not as analytical as many in this forum. My housing cost turned out at $28.72/sq ft for a 285 sq ft studio apartment in the SF East Bay (including the cost of electricity, internet and landline). Thing is - I'm not really sure how that figure is helpful, other than giving me a number I can post here in order to somehow "compare" with others. More meaningful to me is that in a normal year, I spend around $17K total on this thing called life (isn't that a Prince lyric?)

My financial life is so uncomplicated that it seems to defy any attempt at analysis - at least, in the mind of this simpleton!

[NoiseBoy]

$3.90 in central Illinois for a 1,500 sq. ft. townhouse which has not needed much in the way of maintenance yet. But, a few home improvement projects, such as the replacement windows that I'd like to get, would bump me up into the $4-$6 range. Still, for supposedly expensive Illinois, it looks like I have a pretty good deal. Our community has streets with curbs and sidewalks, street lighting, good snow removal, 4 public gold courses, and good local schools. I am still working, but this poll has definitely given me something to think about concerning any future relocation plans I might make.

[ExFlyBoy5]

Under $6/SF ($5.03 to be exact) for 2400 SF 'burb of Atlanta (about 30 minutes from downtown). It should be noted that there is no mortgage and includes the following:

Taxes, insurance, all utilities (including internet/TV/alarm) and $5K/ year in maintenance. If I leave the maintenance allocation out, then it's $2.96 per SF.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Huston55 That approach would be more accurate with opportunity costs factored in. That cost plus other ongoing costs (taxes, insurance, etc.) would keep it from ever really being negative...as appealing as that might be. Negative housing cost is a boomerang kid to whom Mom hands $20 each day as the kid walks out the door.

Sorry, I am not sure what the boomerang comment means or the math / logic basis for your generalizations on prices and costs. Do you have a resource link or formula you are using? Many long time owners in California have very low property taxes due to Prop 13 and live in areas with rapidly increasing prices these past few years due to gentrification / yuppification. An extreme example of possibly negative costs would be the uninhabitable hoarder house that sold for $1.8M in Palo Alto.

[target2019]

Location is NJ, USA

$-	Mortgage
$-	Rent
$1,100.00	Homeowner’s or Renter’s Insurance (OK to include umbrella)
$-	HOA/condo fees or the equivalent
$1,425.00	Electricity
$1,460.00	Gas/propane/whatever you use to heat/cook
$1,051.80	Internet/TV
$100.00	Landline or VOIP phone
$5,000.00	Typical maintenance/repair cost (averaged)
$12,000.00	Property taxes
$-	Maid/gardener/housekeeper costs (or equivalent)
$660.00	Water
$22,796.80	Subtotal
3000	square footage
$7.60	per sq ft

[MikeyInMarin]

Wow - off the top end at $28. I guess that's because I have a fairly small home (1215 SF) in an expensive area (San Rafael).

I included the costs you asked for, but not others like water, sewer, trash. That wouldn't change it much anyway.

There are many reasons the SF Bay area is expensive. If I had to leave due to COL, there is nowhere else (in the US) I'd like to live. Coastal So Cal used to be cheaper, but it seems less so than it used to.

[target2019]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom Apologies if this comment seems negative, but I'm having a bit of difficulty seeing how the figure of housing cost/sq ft is a useful metric. Housing costs tend to get quite expensive on a per sq ft basis as the space gets smaller - it's not a linear relationship. I've always liked numbers and am comfortable with them, but am definitely not as analytical as many in this forum. My housing cost turned out at $28.72/sq ft for a 285 sq ft studio apartment in the SF East Bay (including the cost of electricity, internet and landline). Thing is - I'm not really sure how that figure is helpful, other than giving me a number I can post here in order to somehow "compare" with others. More meaningful to me is that in a normal year, I spend around $17K total on this thing called life (isn't that a Prince lyric?) My financial life is so uncomplicated that it seems to defy any attempt at analysis - at least, in the mind of this simpleton!

Isn't it helpful for someone to know the costs?
Our cost is relatively high, and we know that moving to the urban area means less sq footage. A move to the city means essentially trading a home with higher costs to something much smaller, with similar costs. It is better to have a thread with a variety of costs laid out, so I can view it later, when I move.

We looked at smaller in the same area, and the monthly costs would be similar. We also found that we aren't ready to give up this environment, so we stay for a few more years.