Your monthly cost of housing

[Urchina]

2-bedroom, 950 sq ft condo in Central Coast area of California. No garage, no basement, attic crawlspace but no improved/livable attic space.

Mortgage (P&I): $1183/mo
HELOC: $500 / mo (soon to be paid off)
HOA fees: $415/mo
Property tax: $550/mo
Cable & Internet: $95/mo
Electric (light & heat): $70/mo average
Phone (cell & land line): $90/mo
Water, sewer & trash & hot water paid for through HOA fees
Insurance: $100/mo
No ADT.

Total: $3300

Compared to others on this board, this may seem like a lot. It is. But I would like to defend my frugalista chops here -- this is an average condo for our area, and FOUR of us live here (two adults, two small kids). We are thrilled that housing prices have fallen in the past six months because 3-bedroom, 1400 sq. ft. ranch-style houses (built in the 1960's, on 1/5th of an acre suburban lots) are finally coming back down into the high $700k and low $800k range. (Just last summer they were up in the $900k range).

If prices keep falling over the next four years, we might get lucky and be able to trade up. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Running_Man]

2800 Square Feet Northwest Indiana
Mortgage P&I: 686
Property Tax: 150
Heat Electric: 281
Insurance: 133
Garbage: 20
Cable: 65
Phone/DSL line: 73
--------
Total 1,408

 

[Moemg]

1250 sq foot house, mortgage free. Altogether approximately $250 per month.

Wow that is also inexpensive ! I really never thought there were areas you could live for that much a month but I maybe I've been jaded by living in New Jersey and Florida ?

 

[Independent]

1200 sq feet in northern Iowa, two people, $566.

 

[ohfrugalone]

1890 Square foot, 2 car garage

Property taxes/insurance: $200 (they are waiting to the election to figure out property taxes I think)
Gas/Electric $150
Water/Garbage/Sewer: $55
Phone: $30
Cable/Internet: $115

$550

 

[W2R]

I was also wondering how you get taxes , electric , water & sewer , cable & phone and home insurance for that price . I'm moving there . Even when I had a much smaller house in Florida my expenses were more than that .

Oops!! I made a mistake. That's how it was so low.
I was figuring it out in my head since I couldn't find the calculator or a spreadsheet on Frank's other computer, got distracted, and goofed.

Here's the breakdown:

$45/mo property tax
$125/mo electric & gas
$16/mo water/sewer/trash
$60/mo cable TV & internet
$22/mo phone
$116/mo homeowners' insurance
$43/mo flood insurance

Total: $427/mo Better? I was off by $209.

Meadbh is our winner!!

 

[Martha]

We make about $550 a month by living in an apartment in the building we own. That is after all expenses are paid. That is why it is so hard to sell and move into a house.

 

[simple girl]

Currently renting ~950 sq ft apt. in rural MS

Rent: $709
Electric/Heat/AC: $70
Cable/Internet: $90
Cell Phone: $45
Sewer/Water: $25


Total Monthly Costs: $939

 

[Sue J]

1600 sq ft house, no mortgage

$771 a month itemized as -

Property Tax - $200
Insurance- $55
Water and sewer - $66
Trash - $17
Electric - $78
Gas - $204 budget plan
Satellite TV - $85
Internet - $47
Phone - $19

These all seem reasonable except the gas for heat. This has gone way up as the prices have climbed. Also, we have only replaced a few of the windows and need to do the rest. Better insulation would help, too.

 

[youbet]

I don't see anyone including the opportunity cost of holding the equity in your home. If folks are going to include mortgage payments as a monthly cost, the cost of having no, or a reduced, monthly payment should be included. If your house is paid for, or if it's current market value exceeds the mortgage, charge yourself the opportunity cost of the equity value you don't have invested in a 5% CD. It'll make for a better apples to apples comparison vs. renting......

 

[LOL!]

3000 sq ft house: about $2000 a month includes mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities

 

[FIRE'd@51]

~4000 sq ft in central VA - no mortgage

property taxes - 465
insurance - 115
heat, ac, elec - 234
cable/internet - 104
phone - 23
trash pickup - 24

total - 965

 

[HFWR]

2008 monthly average, through Oct. 1650sq rayunch in the burbs of Dallas...

MORT, PT, HOI - $841.19
ELEC - $135.24
NATGAS - $36.30
WATER/SEWER/TRASH - $55.70
CABLE/INTERNET - $107.68
LAWN - $51.15


TOTAL - $1227.25

 

[FANOFJESUS]

1250 sq foot house, mortgage free. Altogether approximately $250 per month.

That is awsome, what state do you live in? Is that for one or two people?

 

[Rustward]

2650 sq ft ranch in suburban Dallas, per month average over last 12 months:

Taxes 420
Cable 53
Electric 136
Gas 83
Phone and DSL 110
Water, Sewer, Trash 67
Insurance 178​

Total 1047

Not included in the total is about 50/month on lawn and landscaping stuff -- we do our own.

 

[Rambler]

About 1300-1400 estimate for our main home in central california, of which over $1000 is prop tax and ins. About $150/mo for phone/internet/TV, about 100-150/mo annual avg estimated for propane (we are there only part time so this part is a guess), 50 or so for garbage, then about 300-400 per year for a couple cords of wood for heating. Electric is supplied by solar ($5/mo interconnection fee), water is from well, good septic system.

Oh, and someone mentioned opportunity cost. That would be about 4000/mo based on we invested to build the home (2 acres, central california, 4300ft home, 10kw solar, 38' pool) at 6% ROR. On the other hand, I could have invested that money in the market and lost 350k in the last 12 months...as it stands, the home is still worth more than we invested to build it, and on top of that, we love it.

R

 

[Ronstar]

1350 sf condo:
Association Fees 246
Electric 64
Gas 23
Maintenance 50
Phone 23
Real Estate Taxes 121
Insurance 29
Total Condo 556

3500 sf House:
Insurance 157
Homeowners Assoc 11
Property tax 508
Electric 159
Garbage 25
Gas 114
Internet 69
Security 47
Telephone 60
TV 94
Total house: 1242

 

[Bikerdude]

Semi rural CT. In addition to the the expenses below I pay a 6% sales tax and a 5% income tax.


1800 SF. house with 3 acres:

Mortgage $600
Insurance $65
Property tax $525
Electric $65
Heating oil $100
Internet $20
Telephone $35
Cable $13

Total house:$1423

 

[Gumby]

2505 sqft, 2 car garage, 1/3 acre in coastal CT. 2 people

Avg. monthly expense

$782 Real property tax
$212 Homeowners insurance
$300 Oil (heat & hot water)
$110 Electric
$43 Water
$15 Natural gas (stove and dryer)
$101 Cable (basic TV package plus internet)
$28 Local phone

$1591 TOTAL

plus Mortgage P&I of $1384

$2975 mo.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I thought this would go nicely with the annual expense poll. What is your average monthly cost of living in your house less repairs and upgrades.

Mine is 1000 sq ft ranch with basement and 2 car garage. I included Property Tax, Heat, Electric, Water & Sewer, Cable & Phone, Insurance, Garbage pickup and ADT system.

Currently $792 a month for single occupant.

I'm unclear on the concept of home ownership. Why would your monthly expense not include your down payment and equity divided by an unknown number of months you will live there, plus or minus the unknown selling price? Why exclude repairs and upgrades?

 

[happy2bretired]

Property taxes are a bit high in Nebraska. I have a 1342 sq ft home, 2 bedrooms, basement, 2 stall garage.

$114 insurance
302 property tax
100 lawn service
90 cable
65 electric
85 heat (nat'l gas)
86 tele/dhl
10 cell prepaid
30 water/sewer

$882 monthly total

 

[itsmyparty]

In Nevada; 2 adults, 1 cat + 2 well-kept outdoor strays, 2100 sf,3car g., 1/3 ac. No State income tax, but 7.3%(I think) sales tax.

Approx. $844 a month for basics, not including house maintenance (including lawn service, etc.), car ins., gasoline, charity, groceries, fun $, etc.:

Property Tax $245/mo
Heat/Electric 187
Water 78
Sewer 30
Cable (basic+) 57 (this will go up as soon as we decide on dish or direct)
Phone/intern. 47
Hse.Insurance 180 (includes earthquake + flood)
Garbage 20
No Alarm system and NO mortgage for about 15 yrs.

After doing this exercise, I'm amazed at how much we spend on top of all this for 2 people. It's a lot and we are not big time spenders! But, we spend at least $800 a month on groceries and also eat out....that's one area I'm going to concentrate on figuring out how to quit wasting food we buy. Usually buy too much..forget we're still not cooking for more than 2. I've considered myself pretty frugal and buy mostly at our area discount stores Winco & yes, sometimes Walmart. This has been a great exercise! Have to admit that looking at some of your expenses...makes it tempting to move!!

 

[Walt34]

~1700 sf ranch-style house in the WV Panhandle. Three bedrooms, full basement, half of which is finished off, two-car garage, natural gas heat, public water & sewer. Paid for, no mortgage. If we tried to sell it, it'd go for about $280k now. Maybe.

Including $2,200/year in property taxes and $400/year HOA fees it costs about $700/month to own. Or perhaps less if we cut out cable TV, Internet, telephone, which we'd pay wherever we lived. The HOA fees include street maintenance (private roads, not county or state maintained) snow plowing, pothole fixing, set-aside for future repairs, etc. and the community swimming pool & tennis courts, which we don't use. Cable TV is a "necessity" here because there are only three broadcast stations, two of them full-time religion ones.

I think that may be why cable TV was invented in West Virginia.

 

[Meadbh]

I don't see anyone including the opportunity cost of holding the equity in your home. If folks are going to include mortgage payments as a monthly cost, the cost of having no, or a reduced, monthly payment should be included. If your house is paid for, or if it's current market value exceeds the mortgage, charge yourself the opportunity cost of the equity value you don't have invested in a 5% CD. It'll make for a better apples to apples comparison vs. renting......

OK. Current value of home ~ $200K.
Invested in stocks, that would generate a return (this year) of maybe (-$50K).
Invested in a 5% CD, it would net $10K.
But you have to live somewhere. $10K a year is $833 per month: not too much to spend on shelter, IMHO.

 

[haha]

Small apartment where I live alone.

Rent, heat, hot water, water and sewer and trash collection $1075
Garage..........................................................................$ 75
Electricity......................................................................$ 10
Insurance.......................................................................$ 8

Total............................................................................$1168

I doubt I will ever buy, but never say never I guess.

Ha