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I'm on Medicare plus an advantage plan. This costs me $39/month. It includes Part D and a free membership to a gym (many to choose from).
The year before I had Medicare and a supplemental plan. This supplemental plan costs $178.50/month and part D was $52.10/month. For 2016, it would have cost about $50/month more.
I would not have been able to afford the supplemental insurance this year and keep up with all the other bills I pay monthly.
So it's a wing and a prayer that my health is good and stays that way. If something "bad" happens, I'll have to deal with it then. I'm sure at least a few of you will think this is stupid and fool-hardy, but for me, it allows me to breathe a little easier and put food on my table.
There's no way I can afford a supplemental plan, as you say, over $200 a month. However, I qualify for financial assistance at UVM Medical Center, which pays all the co-pays that my Medicare Advantage Plan charges, as well as everything else that is medically necessary. I had the same assistance when I lived further south in Vermont and used DHMC doctors. Most hospitals have financial assistance for low-income people, so if you live an area where your doctors are part of a hospital network, you should check that out.
Many people here in support of condo ownership. I'm not totally opposed to it, but it seems to me I would basically be paying $300.00 (on average for the ones in my price range) for a pool I wouldn't use, lawn mower, trash and sewer. And "exterior" stuff like what....paint? Gutters? New roof....then it's special assessment time.
Let's face it - if your condo building needs a new roof, you will probably be charged a special assessment. If you weren't, you were in the minority. I don't know anyone in my state who was not charged an assessment for a new roof.
Plus, as many of you pointed out, you are still responsible for stuff inside your condo.
So, seems, to me, I would prefer a house.
it is not true at all that new roofing necessarily implies a special assessment. Well run HOA factor a reserve fund for such contingencies into their fees.
For a small additional sum to your home insurance you can take out insurance for special assessments over a certain amount.
Incidentally a condo can be a house. A condo is not a building descriptor.
I can see it. If I did not have a huge house and lots of acreage, our property tax would be much lower. A 1/4 acre of land with a 1,000 sq ft house should only be taxed $200 or $300 a year.
You are delusional. Let's pick some random place in Maine that actually has jobs. Kittery. 5 Boush Street. 1,015 square feet. The lot is way smaller than 1/4 acre at 4,356 square feet. $200K house which is affordable to a working class couple where both work and earn $12.50/hour. Property taxes? $2,303.
Sure, you can live in Outer Bumfark, Maine where there are nothing but logging trucks and find a house cheaper than that with lower property taxes but good freakin' luck finding a job.
it is not true at all that new roofing necessarily implies a special assessment. Well run HOA factor a reserve fund for such contingencies into their fees.
For a small additional sum to your home insurance you can take out insurance for special assessments over a certain amount.
Incidentally a condo can be a house. A condo is not a building descriptor.
You either pay for it by paying into a capital fund or you pay for it via special assessments. It's the same money either way. The difference between a condo and a single family home is that with a single family home, you can decide for yourself if you want to defer a repair or improvement. When you do it, you can decide for yourself the quality level, who does the work, and how much you're going to pay for it. You have the DIY option that is never allowed for exterior maintenance in a condo. In a condo, if the owners vote for a walkway paved with gold bricks, you have no choice but to pay. Even worse, if some of your condo owners get into financial problems and stiff the association on condo fees, you're on the hook for paying your fraction of what's been lost in revenue. If that unit is sold at a short sale, the condo association is often in line behind the bank and the town for back property taxes and gets nothing.
The simple solution is to not live in expensive places like Los Angeles or Bethesda.
And don't live in a condo and pay HOA fees. It's funny how people who pay HOA fees are so very defensive about it. Probably because they secretly know how dumb it is to pay HOA fees instead of living in an apartment in which you don't have to pay insurance, taxes, or property maintenance fees. I said that condo is an apartment for dummies. Yes, houses do have insurance, maintenance, and property tax costs. And yes, condos can be sold, while an apartment cannot, but what good does that do a retired person who expects to live in one place for the rest of their life?
As many of us have stated, choose to live in one of the many affordable cities and towns that exist throughout our wonderful country. If you can't find a community like that in Florida and want to stay in heat and humidity, jump over to Georgia or Alabama or Louisiana. Or Texas, which doesn't have a state income tax.
Then choose to live in a nice senior housing complex. As I said previously, in my town very nice apartments in the one and only senior complex cost only $220.00 a month. No insurance. No taxes. No maintenance costs. No HOA fees. And you can have up to 2 cats or 1 dog in your apartment.
Find a senior complex that has Wi-fi included. Use public transportation instead of a car. You can then very easily live on $1000 or less. And then enjoy the multitude of fun things your community has to offer.
Instead of giving up, put your time and attention into finding this nice new home for yourself.
Why anyone wants to stay in a high cost of living location when they don't have to is completely beyond me.
Then choose to live in a nice senior housing complex. As I said previously, in my town very nice apartments in the one and only senior complex cost only $220.00 a month. No insurance. No taxes. No maintenance costs. No HOA fees. And you can have up to 2 cats or 1 dog in your apartment.
I presume this is subsidized housing? If you give me subsidized housing, I can live in any high cost of living place on $1,000 per month existing on all the free stuff. Medicaid, my EBT card, means-tested public transportation where I get the free bus pass.
Living on $K a month is possible depending on country location to start with and the living conditions (home/Apt/Condo/Mobile Home/Camper etc...you name it))
It all comes down to a personal preference and the rest of your living years.
Being on the west coast of calif I would have preferred to stay in So Cal but chose Baja Mexico as being close to any VA medical needs, Medicare and SS also applied.
Invested $40K in a lot and home I built with a ocean view (we west coast people like that).
My place was paid with Cash as I built the home and NO Rent or Mortgage to contend with.
Property tax was $100 a year but I get a 50% senior discount so about $53 is actually paid....came down this year.
Two neighbor friends rented their homes out for $500 a month= $6,000 a yr.
Had I paid that over my 20 years here that would have been $120K....in essence I saved $80K.
Utilities are a song and do have Land phone (Internet), Mexican cell and a US cell for when I cross the border.
29 mile drive and within one hr I'm at the border......over 14,000 Americans are in my area so I am no exception.
Love the avg 60-70 degree weather.....no smog....very little rain.....plenty of sunshine.
I actually tried it. I got laid off a few months ago, so I decided to try living on my calculated bare bones monthly spending of $1,000. That amount includes taxes, insurance, utilities and an HOA fee in addition to food, transportation, etc., no debt, ACA with subsidies, and a very small paid off condo (so taxes, utilities, etc. are also small). Theoretically it was doable, with cheap home-cooked meals and no non-essential purchases (at most thrift shop goods).
That budget was blown big time just in the first few weeks. I didn’t take into account unexpected emergency expenses. There just happened to be a whole cluster of them after I was laid off, including: a car repair, because someone crashed into my parked car and I have a high deductible; my computer needed to be replaced (although I suppose I could have used the library computer for my job search), and a crown fell out and needed repair. This was a run of bad luck not likely to occur every year, but there will always be unexpected expenses.
I was lucky enough to find a job that pays just enough to save a little. I’m going to try to keep to the $1,000 budget even while working, so I can save more.
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