Those with paid off houses, how much basic maintenance cost ?

[Walt34]

West Virginia eastern panhandle, and bear in mind that prices range from high 5 figures to many millions, depending on location and size and features of the house. I'm assuming SFH, not condos (are there even any in WV?) or townhomes.

Anyway house is 1,700 SF, two car attached garage. Market value ~$230k.

Property taxes $1,329 last year
Insurance $800

We've had a couple of expensive maintenance items, new A/C at $4k and replace the water line from the street $3,400. Plus other regular stuff, lawn mowing (I do that) and such I figure it costs just under ~$800/month to own the place in the 13 years we've had it. It is paid for.

[Amethyst]

Welcome back, JOHNNIE36 :-) Your insurance is very reasonable, for FL!

[SkisALot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rodi I agree with some of the points made - the taxes aren't just location based - here in CA because of our Prop 13, it's also length of time you live in a home. Our next door neighbors, who moved in less than 2 years ago, but have the same square footage, same size lot, pay 3 times what we do. And it would be 9 times what we do if we didn't have our granny flat - which had a base tax of the market value of the granny flat from the date of occupancy. Another factor here in SoCal is Mello-Roos.... an extra tax for newer neighborhoods. The developers used to have to pay into the city to cover infrastructure: fire houses, roads, libraries, parks, etc. But in the late 70's the developers figured out they could put a 30 year bond on homes and make the home owners pay for these costs... So it's a 30 year tax from the time the last home in a development is built. (So early buyers in a large development might pay longer. 0

Another thing to be aware of at least in California (and maybe other places): Some cities and counties are adding "assessments" to tax bills to cover things like landscaping, schools, police protection; otherwise, things that used to be covered by the basic property taxes. These "fees" go up. Real estate people won't tell you about assessments unless you ask and sometimes they just don't know about them. In some cases a county will designate a certain area as a "special services district" or "maintenance area" and charge a lot more than what is commonly thought of as 1% of the purchase price. The best thing to do is to go to the county tax assessors office with an address and see what is charged on that particular property.
An additional fee in California is a state fire protection fee of currently around $152.00 a year per any habitable building on a piece of property. This is NOT insurance on a home but a fee those living outside of cities have to pay to the state to fight wildfires (most often caused by tourists who don't have to pay) This fee also goes up every year.
And then there's the issue of HO insurance which is an issue too long for this post. Suffice it to say that HO insurance here is not a given, even in some city areas.
I could tell you what DH and I pay for all the above but a new person buying in our neighborhood would pay a lot more.

[Gumby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mystang52 Seeing what others pay in property taxes has me a bit depressed . I live in expensive Bergen County, NJ. I have a nice house, but it's modest. I honestly don't know if I'm on 1/4 acre or 1/5 acre. Anyway, here goes: Property Taxes $11,000 Insurance: $1200 Lawn mowing/treatment: $2000 I paid off my mortgage years ago and for me it was the right decision.

Let me make you feel better:

2505 sqft home on 1/3 acre in coastal Connecticut (2015).

Real Property Tax: $12,190
Homeowners Ins: $ 3,952
Water: $ 500
Electric: $ 1,300
Natural Gas: $ 1,700
Repair/Maint. $ 2,500 - $5,000

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustic23 Not sure this info is useful unless you are willing to move to my neighborhood. Insurance, this depends on location, and even location within a state. Insurance for wind and water is different on the coast vs inland, and can very by over $1,000 a year. HOA, in some HOA's there is little or no benefit, in ours it covers 24/7 ambulance, garbage disposal, 24/7 security, common area maintenance and other smaller benefits. A great deal for only $400 a year. As you may guess there is more to this also. (our HOA reserve account generates well over $300,000 a year in income) Proprety Tax. Would appear to be straight forward, but here again not so. In Tx, there is not income tax. The difference is made up largely by property tax. Also many Texas subdivisions are developed using bonds. These are paid off through property tax. If the subdivision builds out, the tax is fairly low. If it does not, then the tax is higher. Again, the difference can be thousands of dollars in two neighborhoods that are side by side. My point is there are far too many variables that make up the foundation of 'additional home expenses' to compare using anecdotal evidence.

In an addition for Tx it depends if you are in a city or not as being in a city can increase the property tax 20 to 25 % all be it you likley won't have to pay for trash, and the water bill may be less. (you may have a well and septic tank if not in a city). I agree that homeowner insurance depends on location nearer the coast there is more risk of hurricane damage, so rates increase and/or you might have to buy wind insurance from the state pool. for a lot of bucks. Tx is also among the highest for homeowners insurance due to both wind and hail damage resulting in large numbers of roof replacements.

[ejman]

1700 sqft home on 7 beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent wooded acres in SW Oregon. Cost per Quicken last year.

Insurance $970
Taxes $1,155 3% increase annual cap
Repair $3,773 (put in a new deck last year)
Heating $44 - but a lot of sweat I cut and split my own firewood
Electricity $1,986

A picture from my front porch

[ABQ2015]

Albuquerque

Market Value of Home est. $350K
Taxes $3821
Insurance $900
Utilities (gas, electric, water/sewer) $3600
No HOA

If you look at the articles on property tax by state, NM taxes are about 1/2% the value of the home. But you can see that mine are a little more than 1%. I never trust those articles. Property taxes are very location specific. Zillow often lists property taxes and is accurate in my experience although their Zestimates are less accurate.

My brother lives in Fort Bend County west of Houston and his property taxes are over $7K on a $250K home. There is an HOA that costs about $600-800 a year. My other brother lives in Abilene and pays less than $2K for a house worth less than $200K. It is a beautiful old turn of the century home but not in a desirable place to live and mediocre schools. I'm not sure how much they pay for insurance.

[hnzw_rui]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesehead Wait a second...why pay off the mortgage? My CPA told us we NEED to have this large of a mortgage or we will jump up in tax rates, we're in Illinois. So...doesn't being mortgage free have to do with how to get the lowest tax classification when in retirement?

To be honest, I've never really understood the reasoning for wanting to pay mortgage interest of $20K just to save $7K in taxes. For a W-2 earner, if you just pay the taxes, then you'd still have $13K left to spend or invest. For someone already retired, that's $20K less you need to spend. Only reason not to pay off is if you have the funds invested and earning more than your mortgage interest.

[Accidental Retiree]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman 1700 sqft home on 7 beautiful, gorgeous, magnificent wooded acres in SW Oregon. Cost per Quicken last year. Insurance $970 Taxes $1,155 3% increase annual cap Repair $3,773 (put in a new deck last year) Heating $44 - but a lot of sweat I cut and split my own firewood Electricity $1,986 A picture from my front porch

You live in a beautiful spot.

[JOHNNIE36]

Amethyst, thanks for the welcome back note. Good to see some of the other folks are still hanging around. Maybe this will get me back in the groove.

[aaronc879]

Condo Fee:$165/mo
Prop. Tax:$70/mo
Condo Ins.:$15/mo
Utilities:$90/mo

Total:$340/mo

[bingybear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesehead Wait a second...why pay off the mortgage? My CPA told us we NEED to have this large of a mortgage or we will jump up in tax rates, we're in Illinois. So...doesn't being mortgage free have to do with how to get the lowest tax classification when in retirement? Thanks

There are other reasons to hold a mortgage in retirement than to lower one's taxes.... but ...I'll comment
One must remember that much of these comments relevance will depend on once situation.
Mortgage interest reduces income based on the destructibility on an itemized return. That means you first have to come up with deductions that exceed your standard deduction. Note that those deductions to match the standard deduction provide no direct savings, they just allow you to take more deductions... like mortgage interest. So the question is...how much are you paying to get this "deduction"?
Now if you don't have a mortgage, then you don't need to come up with the cash to pay it. If all your taxable assets are in qualified dividend paying stocks (and you don't need to pull from IRAs), then up to the top of the 15% bracket, you can have 0 federal tax.
There are reasons to have a mortgage at low interest rates and getting a tax break helps. The effect of tax breaks, price appreciation of the house and earnings on the money you would not have if you paid the mortgage off can make the mortgage a good idea.
Many people can get low taxes without a mortgage.

[Lucantes]

Cocoa Beach FL, 3400 ft2 waterfront built in 2007.
No Mortgage, bought with cash in 2013 and have been renting out until 2017 retirement.
Annual Property Tax: $10000
Annual Insurance: $5500
No HOA
Annual Maint.: $10000 (3 year avg. and covers several major non-routine upgrades/replacements) expect actual avg. to be maybe $5000ish.

[Tortoise]

1360 sq. ft. house w/ 2-car attached garage on 6,000 sq. ft. lot in California. California has a 2% annual cap on property tax increases. Latest county appraisal says our house and property are worth $459k.

Annual Property tax: $6,107
Annual Insurance: $850

[Amethyst]

I still remember your son/nephew (can't recall which) and his American Eagle tattoo!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOHNNIE36 Amethyst, thanks for the welcome back note. Good to see some of the other folks are still hanging around. Maybe this will get me back in the groove.

[I earned it]

Since I'm newly retired I know these numbers, taxes 6,000. , insurance with million dollar umbrella 3000, water 2,000, cable phone internet 2,000, heat and electric 7,000 total 20,000 REPAirs 1 % of the home value is what I was told, I budget for that, I pray I don't spend it, I spent more on a total gut renovation than I did on the original house. 2660 square foot house in the concrete jungle, Zillow says 1.4 million, my neighbors old his for 1.3 and mine is just redone so I think it's the ballpark.

[RenoJay]

House value ~ $600k
Prop taxes ~ $4.5k/year
Insurance ~ $1.5k/year
HOA dues ~ $2.8k/year



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[eta2020]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gumby Let me make you feel better: 2505 sqft home on 1/3 acre in coastal Connecticut (2015). Real Property Tax: $12,190 Homeowners Ins: $ 3,952 Water: $ 500 Electric: $ 1,300 Natural Gas: $ 1,700 Repair/Maint. $ 2,500 - $5,000

A bit north of you in western Suburbs of Boston:

1050 sqft home on 6000 sqft lot

Taxes 6000
Insurance 750
Water 600
Electric 700
Natural Gas 1300
Repairs 500-1000

[pb4uski]

I don't have th details readily available but our property taxes are about $7k a year and insurance probably about $700 or so.

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