House - Monthly Costs of Ownership (Livingston, Millburn, Shore Hills area preferred) (apartment, homeowners insurance)
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We are planning on moving to somewhere around Livingston. Currently we live near hoboken (rent a small apartment) and this will be our first house. We would like to know how much for a medium size house we would have to pay for expenses. We'd like to keep our mortgage + taxes under $3000 if possible and are thinking of 3 bedroom 2 bath or 4 bedroom 2 bath houses (that should give you an idea, so around 500-550k).
Can someone who has lived in the area (or just overall who has experience) tell us what real expenses we will be dealing with and how much on average it would cost (do consider my wife is at home 7/24 with our baby). Electricity, water, gas, sewage, trash, internet, etc. What about house up-keeping costs?
electricity- Range totally on use... bare Min 100 a month unless you are fairly conservative
water - 30/month - could be included or not
gas - Depends on use - bare min 100 a month unless you are fairly conservative
sewer - Usually incl depends on town
trash - usually incl depends on town
internet - minimum around 50/month
House up keep, ive been saying about 1% of purchase price of home per year for general maintenance and wear and tear (driveway sealing, new furnace kind of stuff) .
Lawn 30-40/week for basic mowing and blowing
Last edited by joe moving; 04-05-2012 at 11:29 AM..
We are planning on moving to somewhere around Livingston. Currently we live near hoboken (rent a small apartment) and this will be our first house. We would like to know how much for a medium size house we would have to pay for expenses. We'd like to keep our mortgage + taxes under $3000 if possible and are thinking of 3 bedroom 2 bath or 4 bedroom 2 bath houses (that should give you an idea, so around 500-550k).
Can someone who has lived in the area (or just overall who has experience) tell us what real expenses we will be dealing with and how much on average it would cost (do consider my wife is at home 7/24 with our baby). Electricity, water, gas, sewage, trash, internet, etc. What about house up-keeping costs?
Thanks so much for your help.
OK, let's do some of the basic math here. Say you purchase a home in Millburn/Shorthills for $500,000 with 20% down. That means a mortgage of $400,000 with a 30 yr fixed rate mortgage at about 4% you are looking at the mortgage being approx. $1,900. per month. The taxes on that home will be $9,189 , or $765.75 per month. For a total of a $2,665.75 payment to the bank each month. That leaves a mere $334.25 for sewer fees, water, gas, electric, internet, upkeep and maintenance, etc. Although I do not live in Millburn, I am not far from there so rates should be comparable for basic utilities. I am on a budget plan for both gas and electric (gas heat, gas hot water, gas cooking and electric cooling) and they each are right around $150 per month. My water bill averages around $50/$60 a month with 2 adults in the home, and as long as I do not have to water the lawn. In other words no way will you be able to keep it under $3,000 a month. Don't forget you need to also figure in homeowners insurance which will likely be around $500/$600 a year as well as lawn care (even if you mow it yourself, you have to purchase a mower and other equipment and supplies, maintain it, gas it, etc.) telephone, cable TV. You also have to consider expenses for plumbing repairs, service calls on appliances, painting rooms or the exterior of the home and this adds up. Do not forget big ticket items like roof replacement, or heating and AC repairs or replacement which will run in the thousands. On the plus side the town provides trash collection and recycling so basic trash is covered in your taxes, but white goods are a separate fee.
OK, let's do some of the basic math here. Say you purchase a home in Millburn/Shorthills for $500,000 with 20% down. That means a mortgage of $400,000 with a 30 yr fixed rate mortgage at about 4% you are looking at the mortgage being approx. $1,900. per month. The taxes on that home will be $9,189 , or $765.75 per month. For a total of a $2,665.75 payment to the bank each month. That leaves a mere $334.25 for sewer fees, water, gas, electric, internet, upkeep and maintenance, etc. Although I do not live in Millburn, I am not far from there so rates should be comparable for basic utilities. I am on a budget plan for both gas and electric (gas heat, gas hot water, gas cooking and electric cooling) and they each are right around $150 per month. My water bill averages around $50/$60 a month with 2 adults in the home, and as long as I do not have to water the lawn. In other words no way will you be able to keep it under $3,000 a month. Don't forget you need to also figure in homeowners insurance which will likely be around $500/$600 a year as well as lawn care (even if you mow it yourself, you have to purchase a mower and other equipment and supplies, maintain it, gas it, etc.) telephone, cable TV. You also have to consider expenses for plumbing repairs, service calls on appliances, painting rooms or the exterior of the home and this adds up. Do not forget big ticket items like roof replacement, or heating and AC repairs or replacement which will run in the thousands. On the plus side the town provides trash collection and recycling so basic trash is covered in your taxes, but white goods are a separate fee.
HTH
KoalaNJ
Thanks for the detail write up. I think I wasn't clear on my post, we are fine with $3k/month for JUST mortgage + taxes + insurance I never included the utilities in the 3k. So would it be safe to say $500/month for all utilities MINIMUM ($100 cable+internet, $150 electricity, $100 gas, $50 water) on top of the 3k.
We are going to live here 5-6 years and before we buy we will make sure the house needs no major repairs (I won't buy unless the AC is less than 3-4 years old for example).
$30-40/week for mowing the lawn? That's a lot isn't it? Maybe I can get a mower and do it myself.
Can also someone tell me on average how much the home insurance is for a say 500k home around livingston?
It depends on your coverage and what you have inside the house. For example, I pay almost as much for jewelry as I do for the entire rest of the policy. Jewelry is particularly expensive because it leaves the house with you and is easily lost or stolen. If I am on vacation and I lose my watch, it is covered by my homeowners policy. My art and guitar collection are worth more than the jewelry, yet are much cheaper to insure in the policy. I can't tell you how much for a 500k house without any valuables, but there are different costs depending on the policy you choose.
It depends on your coverage and what you have inside the house. For example, I pay almost as much for jewelry as I do for the entire rest of the policy. Jewelry is particularly expensive because it leaves the house with you and is easily lost or stolen. If I am on vacation and I lose my watch, it is covered by my homeowners policy. My art and guitar collection are worth more than the jewelry, yet are much cheaper to insure in the policy. I can't tell you how much for a 500k house without any valuables, but there are different costs depending on the policy you choose.
You can assume the standard scenario, we really have got nothing that needs special coverage. We don't have any expensive electronics, furniture either. I'd only get this insurance because a) its required by the bank, b) if the house burns down, I don't want to loose my down payment (so this should give you an idea of what we are looking for in the insurance).
You can assume the standard scenario, we really have got nothing that needs special coverage. We don't have any expensive electronics, furniture either. I'd only get this insurance because a) its required by the bank, b) if the house burns down, I don't want to loose my down payment (so this should give you an idea of what we are looking for in the insurance).
The age of the home also matter. General rule is older home cost more to insured.
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