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I'm debating on getting a house, and I'm wondering about the monthly cost of utilities. It's about 1100 sq. feet and well insulated. I'm curious to know what some of you pay for water, gas, electric, and trash....
Depends on what town you live in.
Not sure about other cities, but in Independence, you're on your own for trash pickup. I actually had to choose between 3-4 different trash companies for service. That was a truly weird experience. Didn't bother me terribly, but it was a bit annoying. Most places I've lived in other parts of the country, that sort of thing is thrown on with the electric, or just included with taxes or whatever.
Anyway, we lived in a similar-sized house. For electric, it ranged from 80-90 in the winter, and 120-300 in the summer.
We only had gas for our furnace, but MGE still charges fees in the summer even when you don't use it. In the winter, it was 90-200. Seems like rates on both went up pretty bad in the last year or two.
The lower figures were from 2-5 years ago when our energy bills combined were never more than 200.
Water and sewer were minimal, and charged with electric.
I think you can have it averaged out over the course of a year to make things more stable.
I'm debating on getting a house, and I'm wondering about the monthly cost of utilities. It's about 1100 sq. feet and well insulated. I'm curious to know what some of you pay for water, gas, electric, and trash....
You'll need to be more specific as to which side of the state line and which municipality.
If you are considering one house in particular you can actually call the utility listed for the yearly average. Often Sellers arewilling to provide that info for seriously interested Buyers upon request.
My house is 1300 sq ft and my utilities run as follows. I live in Kansas City North.
Gas - Average $150. Like $250 in the peak of winter and as low as $40 in the summer. Other months run around $90 to $130. I dont know if this is possible but if you can live somewhere that doesnt have MGE, I would strongly recommend it. They are an evil company and not good to deal with.
Electricity - Average $130. Like $230 or so in the summer and as low as $70 in the winter
Water - Average $100. This is Kansas City water and I think it is outrageous. When I lived in Platte County is was like half that.
You can call all the utilities and give them an area and they can give an a ball park figure or you can give them a specific address and they can tell you what it would be.
In regards to purchasing a home, I highly recommend pulling the trigger on it. The rates right now are rates we will probably never see again in our lifetime. On top of that, houses are cheap. There are foreclosures in my neighborhood selling for half of what the houses normally sell for and the prices decrease each month it doesnt get sold. When spring hits, I think the housing market is going to start swinging up and prices will increase along with interest rates. When we fully rebound, rates will probably be up near 10% which will make house payments astronomical.
If you need a mortgage guy and/or real estate agent, hit me up by PM and I can refer you to some good people.
Something to consider is insurance and taxes as well. You can escrow them into your payment just makes sure you account for it when you are figuring up what you can afford. For a $150K house you can probably plan on $2000 a year for taxes and another $1600 or so for insurance. You will also have Private Mortgage Insurance which will be another $100 or so dollars per month. Basically, all of that can add another $400 to $500 to your payment.
Sorry, if you are aware of all of this. I use to be a mortgage broker and real estate is one of my interest and I enjoy discussing it.
I really think this is best answered on how you live your lifestyle.
I live in a 1300 sq ft house currently pay about 25 bucks a month in water but do not have a washer/dryer or dishwasher, if i did i would assume it would go up another 20 bucks and we will be getting a washer/dryer very soon.
For Gas, my last bill December 7-January 7 was 168 but we have a programmable themostat where we keep the heat at 68 when we are home and around 63 when we are sleeping and off to work. We usually always where sweaters around the house and are not lounging in t shirts and shorts thinking we are in florida. I really thought it would have been higher since we have really high ceilings on the first floor but we have really good windows and that makes a difference.
Electric has been running at about 45 a month and 140 in the summer but don't really watch a whole lot of tv, or sit on the computer and we have energy star appliances which i think is making a huge difference. We also adjust the AC like the gas.
So if you want to keep utilities low, i really think its the lifestyle you want to live and make sacrifices if you need to
I really think this is best answered on how you live your lifestyle.
I live in a 1300 sq ft house currently pay about 25 bucks a month in water but do not have a washer/dryer or dishwasher, if i did i would assume it would go up another 20 bucks and we will be getting a washer/dryer very soon.
For Gas, my last bill December 7-January 7 was 168 but we have a programmable themostat where we keep the heat at 68 when we are home and around 63 when we are sleeping and off to work. We usually always where sweaters around the house and are not lounging in t shirts and shorts thinking we are in florida. I really thought it would have been higher since we have really high ceilings on the first floor but we have really good windows and that makes a difference.
Electric has been running at about 45 a month and 140 in the summer but don't really watch a whole lot of tv, or sit on the computer and we have energy star appliances which i think is making a huge difference. We also adjust the AC like the gas.
So if you want to keep utilities low, i really think its the lifestyle you want to live and make sacrifices if you need to
I admire you making those sacrificies but I couldnt do that.
I have always said that comfort is worth every dime I have. I want to be able to wear whatever it is I want in my house and be comfortable and I will spend as much money as I have to to accomplish that.
RjRobb, what have your experiences with MGE been? They specifically told me on the phone when I set up service that there'd be no connection fee and then I was charged one anyway, which was beyond annoying, but haven't had to deal with them for anything else ... yet!
RjRobb, what have your experiences with MGE been? They specifically told me on the phone when I set up service that there'd be no connection fee and then I was charged one anyway, which was beyond annoying, but haven't had to deal with them for anything else ... yet!
Their customer service is terrible and they do not always honor what they say they will. I hit a rough patch a few years ago and had to make a payment arrangement with them because my bill came in at $370 for a single month. They then claimed to never make the arrangement and tried to discount me. I had to call customer service as the guy was standing on my porch ready to turn my service off.
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