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I had started a thread having to do with the expected cost of a home in your area.
With this thread I want to go more with what is a true cost of living in your area.
1. Cost of a modest home, meaning lets say a basic 3 bedroom to 4 bedroom home with 2 to 3 baths, a two car garage or what ever is normal for your area.
2. Property tax for your home
3. Insurance cost for your home
4. Cost for a HOA
5. Cost for heating
6. Cost to cool the home
7 Cost to get to work. I realize many people may have chosen a home that they can afford and have to work far away. Or maybe you are lucky like me and work near your home.
I will answer as though I had a family and owned a home. (Maryland suburbs of DC).
1. In my area it would cost about $200/sqft. A 2000 sqft home runs about $400k. To get cheaper you have to downsize, live in a questionable school district, or buy a fixer-upper.
2. I believe the going rate is 1.5-2% of market value of the home annually. The state, not just the municipal governments, levy property taxes.
3. It's a low risk area, so probably around the national average, ~0.3% of home value annually.
4. This depends on exactly which subdivision you're in.
5. First of all, can we assume you don't want an all-electric house? These can go absolutely crazy and cost $500/month in the winter. By using natural gas, it's less than half that.
6. Our summers are not that hot here. With decent insulation it does not have to go much over $100/month in the summer.
7. This depends on the length of your commute. Most employers offer free parking, so you really only have car expenses (fuel, maintenance, depreciation). Say about 35 cents per mile for a midsize car. The same as anywhere. We don't have many toll roads around here, apart from the new highway 200 which people don't use much.
I live in southwest Florida in a suburban neighborhood, not on the coast and not in one of the more expensive communities.
1. Cost of a modest home, meaning lets say a basic 3 bedroom to 4 bedroom home with 2 to 3 baths, a two car garage or what ever is normal for your area. I would guess an average of $140,000 for a modest (1400 sf?) 3/2/2 on a 10,000 sf lot in a nice/safe neighborhood, but not on the water or in a gated community.
2. Property tax for your home Ours is about $1,800/year
3. Insurance cost for your home We pay around $600/year, which I think is on the low side (we aren't in a flood zone and many homes here are)
4. Cost for a HOA I have no idea
5. Cost for heating n/a (we might have 5-10 days per year where we turn on the heat for a few hours to take the chill out of the air)
6. Cost to cool the home Our electric bill is around $150 per month, on average; not sure how much of that is the central air.
7 Cost to get to work. I realize many people may have chosen a home that they can afford and have to work far away. Or maybe you are lucky like me and work near your home. I work from home and my husband works six miles away, so negligible
Basic 3/2/2 in good shape in a decent school district..........$450,000K
Property tax: Around $6,000
Insurance: that's really hard to say. Good portion of my tiny state in a flood zone. And ins can vary greatly depending upon the age of the home and distance from hydrant or fire station. Around $2000 probably.
HOA's: we really don't them per se.....but where there is one.......it's very basic....just covering mail boxes and roading clearing. $200/year.
Heating: Expensive - no matter what fuel you use. Most heat with oil. Then natural gas, then propane. $1500 per year and up. A lot of our housing stock is quite old......and poorly insulated.
Cost to cool home: A/c is used basically from the end of June through end of Sept. We pay close to .25 per KwH..........Central is more efficient than window units. Most of our homes do not have central air. Average household uses 600 KwH per month for basic electricity. My electric bills triple when I use a/c window units.
Cost to get to work: For me.........zero. I work from home. Avg commute time is probably around 20 minutes. Gas is fairly high compared to other states, car insurance is a wallet buster and we pay exhorbitant car taxes each and every year...........so it all adds up fairly quickly.
I had started a thread having to do with the expected cost of a home in your area.
With this thread I want to go more with what is a true cost of living in your area.
1. Cost of a modest home, meaning lets say a basic 3 bedroom to 4 bedroom home with 2 to 3 baths, a two car garage or what ever is normal for your area. [$800K for one in good shape]
2. Property tax for your home [$8K/yr]
3. Insurance cost for your home [$1K/yr]
4. Cost for a HOA [$0]
5. Cost for heating [$1500/yr]
6. Cost to cool the home [not necessary]
7 Cost to get to work. [$1000-20000/yr - are you taking the bus or leasing a 7 series?]
It's all highly variable. A lot of people here live in their cars or in tents.
I do not see what you are trying to accomplish with this info. Nearly all of those things will vary wildly one neighborhood to the next in the same area. Any answer you get will only apply to one neighborhood, maybe only one street in that neighborhood, not the entire area or town. Not to mention, most of this info is readily available with a simply google search.
1. Cost of a modest home that is normal for your area.
Varies wildly, anywhere from $200,000 to over a million. We bought a 3 bedroom/2 bath about 10 years ago and have mortgages totaling just under $2,000/month (that's a couple 15 year mortgage we refinanced into 5 years ago that also paid for an addition to our house).
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Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
2. Property tax for your home
The county values our house at about $375,000 and we pay $2,900/year in taxes.
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Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
3. Insurance cost for your home
No idea. It's rolled into a larger insurance plan that includes things like our car and liability, plus other random things. I'd guess about $75/month.
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Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
4. Cost for a HOA
I would never buy any place with HOA or condo fees. Screw that.
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Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
5. Cost for heating, Cost to cool.
Average of all utilities across the year is $130/month. Most of it is gas for heating in the winter, but it also includes the water bill and electric. It can vary based on how cold a specific winter is.
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Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
7 Cost to get to work
We fill our tank once a month or so, so gas is about $40/month right now. Add another $150 /month for transit, cabs, Uber, bike repairs, etc. We go out a lot, so our Uber and cab costs are high.
I do not see what you are trying to accomplish with this info. Nearly all of those things will vary wildly one neighborhood to the next in the same area. Any answer you get will only apply to one neighborhood, maybe only one street in that neighborhood, not the entire area or town. Not to mention, most of this info is readily available with a simply google search.
I agree. But, because it's fun, I'm going to give my own stats, even though they can vary greatly from house to house.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE
I had started a thread having to do with the expected cost of a home in your area.
With this thread I want to go more with what is a true cost of living in your area.
1. Cost of a modest home, meaning lets say a basic 3 bedroom to 4 bedroom home with 2 to 3 baths, a two car garage or what ever is normal for your area.
My house is a 4br, 2ba, 1700sf house, (small for the neighborhood) in a very poorly performing school district. My house is/was a fixer-upper, and I paid about $20k for it. But, houses in pristine condition could go for as much as $150k, maybe. (it rarely happens--people with the fully restored houses don't want to sell, so it's hard to say for sure)
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2. Property tax for your home
$250/yr. +/-
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3. Insurance cost for your home
$900/yr. +/-
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4. Cost for a HOA
This is a city neighborhood, no HOA.
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5. Cost for heating
Gas. Highest bill in winter: $250, lowest bill in summer: $40 (obviously I'm not heating in summer, but I have a gas water heater, gas stove, and I don't put out the furnace's pilot light.)
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6. Cost to cool the home
I only need to use a window AC unit for the hottest parts of the summer. This adds $10-20 to my electric bill in July and August.
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7 Cost to get to work. I realize many people may have chosen a home that they
can afford and have to work far away. Or maybe you are lucky like me and work
near your home.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Suburban city east of Seattle:
1. Cost of a modest home $600k
2. Property tax $5,000/year
3. Insurance $2,000/year
4. Cost for a HOA: None for us, others as much as $600/month
5. Cost for heating 100-$300/month depending on the temperatures
6. Cost to cool the home - None, very few homes have AC in our mild summers
7. Cost to get to work - in my case with employer subsidized bus pass it's 0. If I were to drive, gas would be about $100/month at current price of $2.59/gallon and car getting 25 mpg. We also have free parking at work, but there would also be the costs of additional car repairs, oil changes, and tires if commuting in it.
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