Monthly bills for owners of a single-family house (Madison, Middleton: real estate, apartment)

[rinuccia]

How much do you pay for your monthly bills? What's included? Property tax, insurance, utilities...

[amysherman]

Generally, when you buy a home or condo your bank is going to escrow your property taxes and insurance into your payment. So you'll have one payment (the amount depends on how much house/condo you buy costs) for property taxes and mortgage. Then in almost all condos and homes you are going to pay MG&E (gas and electric) probably about $150-$250 a month, water- quarterly or monthly about $75 a quarter, cable, maintence (home upkeep is generally going to be more expensive than condos and it isn't going to be a fixed amount), and then any updating you are going to do to the property.
If you purchase a $200,000 house and put 3% down and your property taxes are about $4000 a year your payment is going to be around $1400 a month. If you purchase a condo for $200,000 it's going to be the same but you'll have condo fees (somewhere between $100 a month and $250 a month).
The interest on your mortgage is deductible on your taxes.
If you are trying to figure out how much house you can afford, you should talk to three bankers (trust the one who tells you the lowest amount). You need to interview banks just like you would a real estate agent.
In general, you can get a really nice condo for a lot less than a home, but you get what you pay for. Home values have held pretty steady in Madison, whereas condos have lost a great deal of value.
If you are going to purchase instead of renting make sure that you are planning on staying in your place for at least 3 years if a house and 5-7 if a condo.
Get some professional advice. Talking to bankers and real estate agents is free and they are far more qualified to give you numbers real numbers. : )
Good luck!

[rinuccia]

Thank you for the information. I'm trying to figure out what option is more beneficial in our situation. House, condo or rent?
We're a family of 3. My husband works in Middleton and I'm a stay-at-home mom. Our daughter is 3. In 2 years she'll go to an elementary school and by that time we'd like to move closer to that school. We cannot afford to buy a house in Middleton, Waunakee or Verona (locations close to his job with excellent schools). But we can buy a condo and it fits our lifestyle perfectly. There're only 2 things that we're scared to death: condo fees that tend to be raised and difficulty to sell a condo (it loses its market value and we'll never return the money we invested). Besides in case my husband loses his job and we're unable to pay mortgage and bills, we'll have significant problems with selling the condo due to consumer's lack of interest to such investment. Though there're some categories of people who're interested in buying condos.
Renting seems to be more attractive as we have freedom. But again those attractive areas with great schools cost as much as we would pay for our own property.

[dbmamaz]

You could always rent for a while until you figure out if your situation is stable, or you are able to save up some back-up cash, and then consider buying when you are more ready. Obviously the big lesson from this economic crash should be that buying a house is a big risk! There seems to be a lot of foreclosures around Madison still, from what I'm seeing on Zillow

[rinuccia]

Yes, you are right. Buying property is always risky, especially in economic crisis period. To my mind, buying a condo is the most risky variant out of these 3.

[amysherman]

In your situation it would be crazy to buy a condo. I would suggest that you rent. The best thing you can do right now is find yourself a good financial advisor (this doesn't have to be expensive, there are free and reduced cost advisors through the city and county) and get on a budget and save for a down payment.
Renting in the Madison area is very expensive but being stuck with a condo to sell in three years is going to cost you a lot more.
Also, I wouldn't rule out Madison schools. Everyone talks about how fantastic the schools in Verona, Middleton and Waunakee are, but if you look on www.greatschools.org you will find that many Madison schools compete very well with those school districts. I wouldn't hesitate to send my son to many of the schools in Madison.
I'm a realtor and I grew up in Madison. I can tell you from my personal experience as well as that of my clients that the idea that Madison schools can't compete is a falsehood.
When it's time to buy a house, if you rule out the Madison schools you will be doing yourself and your family a great disservice.

[Kchomps]

Condo? Why would anyone buy an apartment they can't just move away from once their lease is up?

[leonard]

Originally Posted by rinuccia

Thank you for the information. I'm trying to figure out what option is more beneficial in our situation. House, condo or rent?
We're a family of 3. My husband works in Middleton and I'm a stay-at-home mom. Our daughter is 3. In 2 years she'll go to an elementary school and by that time we'd like to move closer to that school. We cannot afford to buy a house in Middleton, Waunakee or Verona (locations close to his job with excellent schools). But we can buy a condo and it fits our lifestyle perfectly. There're only 2 things that we're scared to death: condo fees that tend to be raised and difficulty to sell a condo (it loses its market value and we'll never return the money we invested). Besides in case my husband loses his job and we're unable to pay mortgage and bills, we'll have significant problems with selling the condo due to consumer's lack of interest to such investment. Though there're some categories of people who're interested in buying condos.
Renting seems to be more attractive as we have freedom. But again those attractive areas with great schools cost as much as we would pay for our own property.

Buying a condo is not wise. As you note, you have minimal control over fees, etc. In fact the fee is a non equity builder. You could buy more house for the same monthly amount as you can a condo when you include the fee. Why throw any equity away?

Condos are the last to sell and the first to fall in price, when things are not going well.