Let's try a poll here....... (Birmingham, Mountain Brook: apartments, car insurance, houses)

[bigposse]

I would like to get people's opinions and stats on their utility bills (cable/sat, internet, power, water) their companies, their happiness with them and avg monthly costs (sq ft would be nice too). I'm specifically interested in apartments as opposed to single family houses, but would love to see both.

Reason being: my wife and I are moving to Birmingham in the coming months from the Atlanta area and want to know what to expect, from a cost of living standpoint. Currently we own a home and utilities seem outrageous here. Lets see some opinions.....

[bluebeard]

I currently am in a house built in 1910, so the walls have no insulation and such. The previous owner put a fair amount of blow-in in the roof, so that's pretty good, but the windows are old and unrenovated. I'm planning on caulking those up and restoring those eventually... Its about 1,700 sqft (not counting the converted attic room not connected to the central air that we use as storage). We have only 2 people (thought that may change).
In the summer its about $150, winter is up to $300, and fall and spring around $70. Water/sewer tends to be around $60-70. Expect that to go up soon. No gas (electric heating and stove/oven). Cable internet is $50. No cable TV.
I've lived in apartments before, and the costs really vary. In general, the heating tends to be much less, esp if you're on the 2nd or higher floor. However, despite the smaller square-footage and higher difficulty in getting a nice-cross breeze, the year round heating/cooling bills actually tended to be about the same. However, some friends in other apartments seem to have lower bills (despite keeping the temperature ranges more tight-- I put it about 60-65 day (also use space heaters)/50 night in the winter and 80-85 day/open windows at night most the summer)

[cpg35223]

We live in Mountain Brook in a 2700 sf house and pay $3300 annually in property taxes.

Our water bill is $25-$30 a month, but we're on septic. Sewer adds a lot more.

We pay roughly $100 a month for cable, but we have our phone on Charter, too

Power/Natural Gas? Our usage is roughly $250 for all utilities. It averages out with more electricity in the summer and more gas in the winter.

[bluebeard]

Oh property taxes are about $1300/yr and we live in Bham city. My home insurance is about $700-800/yr, when combined with our single car insurance.
Also, we don't pay separately for garbage/recycling pickup.

[bigposse]

I assume that everyone in Jeff County (or is it B'ham city?) will be affected by the whole mess with the water/sewer system bankruptcy. Is that the reason, Bluebeard, that you expect costs to go up there? I ask because I wonder what is different in other cities/incorporated areas..... Thanks.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by bigposse

I assume that everyone in Jeff County (or is it B'ham city?) will be affected by the whole mess with the water/sewer system bankruptcy. Is that the reason, Bluebeard, that you expect costs to go up there? I ask because I wonder what is different in other cities/incorporated areas..... Thanks.

Yes, the receiver currently predicts double digit increases in the next few years. It really is still all up in the air though. There are a lot of financial issues in JeffCo right now.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by bigposse

I assume that everyone in Jeff County (or is it B'ham city?) will be affected by the whole mess with the water/sewer system bankruptcy. Is that the reason, Bluebeard, that you expect costs to go up there? I ask because I wonder what is different in other cities/incorporated areas..... Thanks.

Well, yes and no. Right now, it's the sewage customers only who will be affected. At the same time, something tells me that a little brinkmanship is going on here, with the threat of bankruptcy forcing the underwriters to provide better terms on the deal. And it is Jefferson County.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Well, yes and no. Right now, it's the sewage customers only who will be affected. At the same time, something tells me that a little brinkmanship is going on here, with the threat of bankruptcy forcing the underwriters to provide better terms on the deal. And it is Jefferson County.

They have mentioned having a fee for non-sewer customers... but I'm with you. Who knows what will happen.
You gotta make it sound like the sky is falling to get anything to move. Some people went crazy when the news printed something about rates needing to go up some hundreds of percents to break even, as if that were going to actually happen.
Nevertheless, the county is in a morass that probably won't be cleared up for a few years. I think after 10 years all will be fine. But who knows, they have been saying that for a long enough time now. This has been going on the entire 5 years I've lived here. I wouldn't be surprised if we get some higher sewer bills to some extent though. I guess they actually haven't raised them since 2008. I'm not too worried overall though. I'm not planning on planting any rice paddies. I do eventually want to start a garden, but I may get a couple rain barrels for that.