Author Topic: what does your mortgage-free house cost?  (Read 11113 times)

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« on: June 23, 2016, 02:57:54 PM »
Inspired by this thread, and not wanting to derail it: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/what-percent-of-your-income-do-you-spend-on-rent-or-mortgage/

For those with a paid-off house, what does it cost you per month or year?

Repairs
Maintenance
City utilities (water, sewer, garbage, recycling)
Special levies, strata fees, etc
Insurance
Any care/upkeep you consider necessary to retain the structure or your (or a tenant's) willingness to live in it

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2016, 03:05:33 PM »
Over and above its mortgage, the "cheap" house I owned cost:

$3000 insurance
$2800 taxes
$2400 required maintenance
$960 city utilities (water, sewer, garbage, recycling)
...so a minimum of $9160/yr or $763/mo

...and then I felt compelled to spend another $2400/yr upgrading the house and yard, so $963/mo.

Now I rent for $500/mo on all of the above, with free internet to boot!

onlykelsey

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2167
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2016, 03:08:51 PM »
Posting to follow, have 360K to go before mine is paid off.  At a minimum, I'd still be paying ~10K annually in condo fees, another 5K-10K in taxes (unclear what they'd be then), and say 2500 annually for utilities.

Cranky

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3842
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2016, 03:13:34 PM »
insurance - $655/year = $55/month
taxes - $850/year = $71/month
water/sewer/trash - $85/month

So, the basics are $211/month.

We have a fairly hefty gardening budget, because we like doing that, and we've been upgrading/remodeling stuff over the last few years, but again - that's optional.

Cassie

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7946
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2016, 03:18:04 PM »
Taxes: 700/year, water etc = $83/month, insurance=50/month, total= 2296/year. Maintenance is a hard question because the house was in bad shape when we bought it 4 months ago. However, we got it really cheap and redid the whole thing inside and out ourselves which cost a lot of $. But we did most things low or no maintenance such as astro-turf, etc. So we don't anticipate spending any $ on maintenance for many years. It is now worth 2 1/2 times all the $ we have invested. I have read that most people spend about 1% of the purchase price on maintaining a home.  Scrubby, is your rental comparable in size, having a yard etc or not?

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2016, 03:27:33 PM »
Scrubby, is your rental comparable in size, having a yard etc or not?

The house was bigger, but also infinitely bigger than what I needed, so I rented a bunch of the excess out. The square footage of the part I lived in was about the same as my current rental. My yard is now a gazillion times bigger because I live in a rural park.

As you guys acknowledge, it's tough to determine the true costs, because: Do we include the gardening in that or not? Esthetic upgrades or not? Maintaining to honour neighbourhood standards, or not? Etc. But, still neat to hear the variations.

When I owned, I felt compelled to spend more -keep neighbours happy, keep tenants happy, care for the environment (e.g. transform grass to productive xeriscape), some weird psychology I had re: showing that I know the difference between ugly and nice and how to get it to the latter, etc. When I rent, I don't experience any of that spending compulsion, and that saves me heaps.

pdxbator

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 229
  • Location: Portland, Oregon
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2016, 03:30:25 PM »
It's not cheap to live with a paid off house. - 1700 square foot house built in 1913. It's not massive by any means.
taxes $3200 year
insurance $1000 year
water/sewer $250 quarterly = $1000 year
electric $40 month = $480 year
gas $30 month = $360 year
maintenance at least $1000 year (roof, painting, etc)

That's $7000 a year (~$600/month) even with a paid off house. Of course that is way cheaper than moving to a rental in the city where a 1 bedroom is now getting to be $1500/month.

slowsynapse

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 103
  • Age: 51
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2016, 03:33:54 PM »
Value of house is about $285K

Taxes = $3,000 or $250 per month (ridiculous really)
Insurance = $600 or $50 per month
Garbage and Sewer = $864 or $72 per month
Other utilities are about $1,680 or $140 per month

Let's say $512 per month prior to housekeeper, yard maintenance crew, massage therapist, personal chef and Sherpa guide.  I also look at the utilities as something I would have to pay wherever I live.

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2016, 03:41:14 PM »
Taxes: $1050 annually / $87.50 a month
Insurance $380 biannually / $63.33 a month
Water $15.00 a month (high estimate)
Optional trash service $53.00 quarterly / $17.66 a month
Maintenance ??? - going to guess at $20.00 a month**


Overall $156.49 a month




**No maintenance costs so far, 3 year after move in, aside from a $10 elbow for a septic tank pipe when my husband broke it while digging up the lines and cleaning out the filter. Disgust factor was high, but cost was low, and we already owned the shovel. He built this place to last, slab on rock (he jackhammered it himself; we know it's rock), 50-year metal roof, rebar-reinforced poured concrete walls except for the south wall, all treated wood in the south wall to reduce termite risk.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2016, 03:44:01 PM by Rural »

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2016, 03:43:06 PM »
Are we including electric? I'd thought we were just looking at costs not paid (directly) by renters.

Lake161

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 113
  • Location: NorCal
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2016, 03:44:06 PM »
House value is $200k

Budget:
$250/mo into maintenance fund
$229/mo property tax (Nevada County, CA)
$117/mo insurance


nereo

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 17499
  • Location: Just south of Canada
    • Here's how you can support science today:
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2016, 03:46:19 PM »

For those with a paid-off house, what does it cost you per month or year?


Just curious... why are you excluding those that still carry a mortgage?  Why not ask "how much does your house cost per month/year excluding any mortgage payments?"?

Quote
Are we including electric? I'd thought we were just looking at costs not paid (directly) by renters.
My last two rentals didn't charge for utilities. IME it seems pretty common to lump utility costs (including internet) in with a single rental fee, perhaps because many units lack their own electric meter.

Rural

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5051
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2016, 03:50:46 PM »

For those with a paid-off house, what does it cost you per month or year?


Just curious... why are you excluding those that still carry a mortgage?  Why not ask "how much does your house cost per month/year excluding any mortgage payments?"?

Quote
Are we including electric? I'd thought we were just looking at costs not paid (directly) by renters.
My last two rentals didn't charge for utilities. IME it seems pretty common to lump utility costs (including internet) in with a single rental fee, perhaps because many units lack their own electric meter.


I bet that's very location-dependent, then. I've lived in a dozen or more rentals and none included utilities aside (usually) from sewer and (sometimes) water.

Cassie

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7946
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2016, 04:01:37 PM »
We are lucky that our property taxes on so cheap on a house worth 250K. I didn't include heat/electric because some pay for it if they rent and some don't. Also SF if you had renters then you would have to subtract the rent from what you were paying so it didn't cost as much as you think or I am missing something.

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2016, 04:12:10 PM »
Are we including electric? I'd thought we were just looking at costs not paid (directly) by renters.

Yep, anything you have to pay to make the house go. Just ignore renter matters in this thread :)

Just curious... why are you excluding those that still carry a mortgage?  Why not ask "how much does your house cost per month/year excluding any mortgage payments?"?

I'm not really meaning to (and answered it that way in my own example). Anyone should feel free to include themselves (just not mortgage cost itself).

My last two rentals didn't charge for utilities. IME it seems pretty common to lump utility costs (including internet) in with a single rental fee, perhaps because many units lack their own electric meter.

Yeah, most of what I've rented included heat, lights, water, garbage, etc (and usually now internet too). When I did need to pay one, it was only electric at about $20/mo.

We are lucky that our property taxes on so cheap on a house worth 250K.

Yep! This differences in people's taxes are astounding!

I didn't include heat/electric because some pay for it if they rent and some don't.

Would love to see those included, as I'm curious about the cost to keep a house, and heat/light would be critical to most people.

Also SF if you had renters then you would have to subtract the rent from what you were paying so it didn't cost as much as you think or I am missing something.

In this thread, I'm just aiming to learn/explore what it costs. i.e., I stuck tenants throughout mine, but ownership costs were the same either way. i.e., Its costs were costs, regardless of whether I also created additional income. I also wasn't interested in having tenants ongoing (it was horrible), so I needed to explore the own/rent comparison keeping in mind I couldn't cope with tenants for longer than a year. That was a critical factor in my "keep owning or sell-and-rent" exploration.

nereo

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 17499
  • Location: Just south of Canada
    • Here's how you can support science today:
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2016, 04:23:36 PM »
ok!
Condo appraised at ~$250k
taxes and copropriety fees: $3,288/yr
electric: $744/yr (ranges from a low of $22/mo to a high of $148/mo)
insurance: $308/yr
parking permit: $78

redbird

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 546
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2016, 05:13:14 PM »
My last two rentals didn't charge for utilities. IME it seems pretty common to lump utility costs (including internet) in with a single rental fee, perhaps because many units lack their own electric meter.

I've found this can vary drastically. All of the places I've rented have only had trash included in the rental costs at best*. I've paid all other utilities (water/sewage, internet, electric, phones) separately. This is in apartments, townhouses, and a single family house - locations include Maryland, Georgia, and Tokyo, Japan.

*Japan was the exception. I also had to pay for trash costs.

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2016, 05:52:16 PM »
Why was your insurance so high? Mine is under $400/year on a fairly expensive house.

Beats me! lol. I asked the insurer the same question, especially as they increased it to that despite no changes and no claims in the interim. But at the time I checked around and all agencies quoted me within $200 of that. I think this amount is normal in some regions. I'm kinda watching in this thread to see how much of my tax and insurance craziness was another Canada vs US schtick. It was a small 1940s house in a lower middle class area of a small blue collar city, so I can't account for it. That and property tax tripled in my first few years of owning, the latter due to a surge in assessed value.

I'm not interested in owning a home again, but I'm keen on buying vacant land. My experience taught me that I'll need to consider for additional costs of "owning." (I have to put it in brackets, because I just don't feel like I own something if I have to pay $10k year to have it.) Even vacant land can see high property taxes, sudden increases in those, levies for area work, requirement to put this or that in/on, etc.

In case it helps with your post-sell journey, spartana, I just did a blog post on ways I've gotten cheap rent since selling: https://financialtipsforthebroke.com/2016/06/23/how-to-avoid-paying-market-rent/

Bateaux

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2318
  • Location: Port Vincent
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #18 on: June 23, 2016, 06:01:11 PM »
Annually, 2500 sq foot 4 bedroom fwo bath woodframe with basement. South Louisiana

Insurance 3500
Taxes 1000
Maintenance 5000
Misc. 500

About $10,000 fixed costs

Utility costs annually
Electricity 3000
Water 400



scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2016, 08:27:27 PM »
That's crazy about your insurance. Other than Bateaux insurance (which might cover flood and hurricane damage being he's in S Louisiana) no one else's seems very high.  I can't imagine why yours would have been so high. Here in Cali if you want coverage for things like floods, earthquakes or wildfires you have to buy individual policies for each which can be around $400 or so a year each. So maybe your insurance included those kinds of natural disasters.

It was just regular insurance. Not in a risk zone for anything fancy like (natural) floods, wildfires, or earthquakes. I became very uncomfortable with not just these kinds of costs, but also the fact that they could just be imposed, and increased year after year with no options.

Your gig with your sister sounds perfect! I had that in mine at one point, and it was awesome! If everyone in it were committed to taking on the risks and costs (preferably paying it off vs me taking on a mortgage alone) I might have kept it. I can see why you'd sell. Like Knaak said, opportunity cost is important to consider too. I think you're going to LOVE your increased opportunities, financial and otherwise :)

Bateaux

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2318
  • Location: Port Vincent
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #20 on: June 24, 2016, 01:57:25 AM »
My insurance was around $600 a year in 1992 when we moved in for flood and homeowners.   Four floods and five hurricanes later and I'm lucky to have insurance at any cost in coastal Louisiana.

deborah

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 15962
  • Age: 14
  • Location: Australia or another awesome area
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2016, 02:18:36 AM »
Maybe Canada is like Australia in that a lot of those things are automatically included - individual policies cannot be got as far as I know, but people can opt out of flood insurance if they are in a flood zone and have to pay extra.

Roots&Wings

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1555
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #22 on: June 24, 2016, 07:10:45 AM »
$780 insurance
$2,250 taxes
$2,400 maintenance fund budget (could be less)
$840 mandatory city utilities (water, electric, sewer, garbage, recycling)

$6,270 total per year or $522/mo

No way could I rent a comparable property for anywhere close to this amount in my area.

Fishindude

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3075
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #23 on: June 24, 2016, 07:24:14 AM »

Best guess of annual expenses:

Repairs - $3 - 5,000
Maintenance - $500 (mostly mowing)
City utilities - Electric $3,000, gas $2,400   On a well & septic so free water/sewer, dispose of trash at work dumpster free.
Special levies, strata fees, etc - N/A
Insurance - $1,000
Taxes - $3,500

Something not factored in is periodic big repairs such as re-roofing every 18-20 years or all of the tools and equipment required for maintenance, etc.

A paid off home is far from "free" but it's a whole lot cheaper than one you have a mortgage on.

Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22320
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #24 on: June 24, 2016, 07:49:10 AM »
Posting so I can find this later.

I love this thread for helping drive home the point that even paid for-houses cost a LOT of money.
We currently live (for reasons discussed elsewhere), in a 2600 sf custom clown house in a high COLA, sans mortgage.

I have no idea (not a home right now) what ALL of our expenses are, but the property taxes alone are nearly  $12k per year. Yup, roughly what I made at my first career job out of college. Mind blowing, especially as CA's property taxes are fairly  "reasonable", lol!






Kaydedid

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 216
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #25 on: June 24, 2016, 12:51:02 PM »
House value ~$90,000

$1800 taxes
$300 insurance
$600 water/sewer
$2400 maintenance (budgeted)

$5100/yr, or $425/mo

With gas and electric, $575/mo.

Taxes are high for house value, but we have a ton of local amenities.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


Lake161

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 113
  • Location: NorCal
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #26 on: June 24, 2016, 01:04:32 PM »
House value is $200k

Budget:
$250/mo into maintenance fund
$229/mo property tax (Nevada County, CA)
$117/mo insurance
Where the heck is there a house/condo/cabin/shack in the woods ;-) in Truckee for $200k? I was just there a bit ago looking at property there and in Tahoe and it was all crazy expensive. Is that what you bought it for awhile back or what it's worth now?

Locals neighborhood, 750 sq ft 1BR cabin, no views, small lot. 2-3BRs in our neighborhood go for $325k or so. We could probably get a bit more for it now, but we bought it 3 years ago. I think it's the size that kept the price low. Not much market for 1BRs.

kudy

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 945
  • Age: 41
  • Location: RV Traveling the U.S.
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #27 on: June 24, 2016, 01:26:12 PM »
I haven't double-checked my taxes & insurance recently, but it's probably close to...

1200 taxes
1200 insurance
1800 maint & upgrades
516 HOA and trash
2280 water and electric

$583/month.

JoJo

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1851
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #28 on: June 24, 2016, 02:54:18 PM »
Condo worth about $500K

Annual Expenses:
Property taxes $3425
HOA dues  $4740  (includes maint, garbage, water, sewer, external building insurance)
Insurance $500  (belongings & wall in)
Electric $310  (incredibly cheap considering this includes heat)

$748 per month.   (comparable rent for the other condos that are renting in my building is $2200)


I've been really lucky not to have any major indoor repairs.  There are a few things I need to fix/replace before I sell next year but hopefully it's handy man stuff.

NaturallyHappier

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 130
  • Age: 58
  • Location: Near Philadelphia, PA
  • FIRED 3/10/2017
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #29 on: June 24, 2016, 04:13:06 PM »
House worth about 470K.

Annual
Taxes: $7000
Insurance: $1900
Internet/Phone: $1400
Maint: $5000
Solar Income: ($11000)

Net: $4300

Spork

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5742
    • Spork In The Eye
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #30 on: June 24, 2016, 04:16:23 PM »
Ok, I actually dug through the last year.  Some of this varies wildly by year, but I was too lazy to do multiple years/average.

Insurance:       960
Taxes:             550 (county still hasn't figured out we have a house)
Home Improve:  50
Repair/maint: 1378 (surprised me.  Dead dishwasher + felling some big dead trees)
Internet:          744
Electric:          1680 (Part of this: we're being piggy with A/C.  Part of this: we have 2 meters which gives us more overhead)
Garbage:          265
Gas:                 500
Water:              480 (lots of plant/garden watering.  Varies wildly with how wet/dry we are.)
Total:               6607

so... roughly $550 a month

Shinplaster

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1725
  • Location: up in Canada complaining about the weather
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #31 on: June 24, 2016, 05:50:26 PM »
Appraised value of house:  $288,000   1600 sq. ft., 3 bed, 3 1/2 bath.

City taxes - includes garbage pickup:                                                               $300/month
Natural gas (hot water, fireplace, heating):                                                         $64/month
Electricity/water: varies depending on season, so this is an average                   $140/month (about half this is fixed delivery charges)
Snow removal/lawn care (not apologizing for this!):                                          $100/month
House insurance:                                                                                              $65/month
                                                                                                                    -----------------
                                                                                                                     $669/month  total

Things like flowers for the summer, etc. probably add about $80/year.  I'm not including phone/cable/internet, since the costs would be the same no matter where we lived.  The total doesn't include repairs, etc.  There aren't any major ones looming immediately, but we know that we will need some down the road if we stay here. When comparing with what it would cost to rent, we're allowing about $4000/year to be added into the house costs.   Although we could find a 2 bed apartment for about $1100/month here, it wouldn't be in the greatest area, or the nicest place.  For us, it actually works out better to own rather than rent for now.

                               

tobitonic

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 549
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #32 on: June 24, 2016, 07:22:50 PM »
Repairs / Maintenance - maybe $1000 a year? It varies.
Utilities - $2000-3000 a year? Not entirely sure.
Insurance - $1000 a year.
Taxes - $3500 a year.

So ~$8000 a year, or an amount easily coverable by a part-time, minimum wage job, keeping in mind that the only hard requirements there are taxes (although we'd never go without insurance). We paid ours off in a few years specifically for that security, and are very happy with our decision.

HappierAtHome

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 8015
  • Location: Australia
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #33 on: June 24, 2016, 07:32:54 PM »
Interesting thread!

Renters pay their own utilities here, so I'm not including those.

Insurance: $1100/annum. (Contents only for a renter would be about $200/annum).

Local council fees (includes bin pickup and other local amenities): I'll double check but I think about $1000/annum? Not nearly as much as I expected.

Maintenance and repairs: if doing the minimum and DIY, could probably average out to $2000/annum. Given that we don't just want to do the minimum, probably more like $6000ish/annum.

We don't have annual property taxes in Aus, instead paying stamp duty on the purchase of a house (anywhere from $10k to $100k+ depending on the insanity of the house - mine was ~$50k). So that influences the financial decision towards staying in a house, not upgrading / moving, also not downsizing later on in life.

CU Tiger

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 462
  • Location: Mid-Atlantic USA
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #34 on: June 25, 2016, 09:43:47 PM »
$400 a month covers our property tax, home and umbrella insurance, and water/gas/electric.

FIRE me

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1097
  • Location: Louisville, KY
  • So much technology, so little talent.
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #35 on: June 25, 2016, 10:41:37 PM »
$1,040  Homeowner's
$   829  Tax
$   840  Water, Sewer, Trash
 -------
$2,709  annual fixed expenses ($225.75 monthly)

I record repair and maintenance expenses under $100 in my miscellaneous expense. 2014 and 2015 saw no repairs over $100.

2016 has been less fortunate.  In May I spent $430 for a new water heater and hardware (self installed). Same month, I had the air conditioner Freon topped off for $135 (called a serviceman).

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #36 on: June 25, 2016, 11:09:28 PM »
Just wanted to say I really appreciate people posting. I'm continuing to read with great interest!

jorgygirl

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 6
  • Location: East Coast
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #37 on: June 26, 2016, 12:30:15 AM »
House Value $250,000

Town Taxes = $341/mo  ($4100/yr)
Fire Taxes = $37/mo  ($450/yr)
Electric = $100 mo on plan (approx $1200/yr)
Gas = $125/mo on plan (approx $1500/yr)
Insurance = $120/mo (approx $1400/yr)

Total = $723-800/mo

In our New England area, you can't get a decent apartment for this amount and then you have to add utilities, so to live in a mortgage-free house with a 1/4 acre yard, we are well ahead of our peers! 

Oh yea, and I retired at age 47 and the hubster will be retired at age 49! So very proud of our accomplishments!
« Last Edit: June 26, 2016, 10:03:11 AM by jorgygirl »

Mmm_Donuts

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 410
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #38 on: June 26, 2016, 10:03:30 AM »
House value - ~$1.5MM (it's not a big house, but it's HCOLA Toronto)

property taxes (soon to go up very steeply): $5600
home insurance: $1300
hydro (electricity): $2100
utilities (garbage collection and water): $800
gas: $2000
garden: $2500

total annual: $14,300

Plus home maintenance, which can cost anywhere from $1000 to $20,000 depending on what needs to be fixed/ replaced.

Overall the house costs on average $24,000/year, as a guesstimate. Eventually we'll sell it and downsize to a LCOLA.

Cassie

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7946
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #39 on: June 26, 2016, 01:00:32 PM »
I just saw in today's paper that rents are skyrocketing here and you need to make $13/hour to afford rent on a 1 bedroom. 30% of people make minimum wage which is 7.75 if you have health insurance provided from the job and 8.75 if you don't.  No new apartments were built after the bust and now they are building but it will take time.  Also in order to obtain vacant land you usually have to go out further which means that people will need cars.  Our bus system is not so great.

skinnyindy

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 43
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #40 on: June 27, 2016, 09:54:28 AM »
Our monthly costs are:
 
Insurance and taxes - $700
Water (lots of yard to water) - $175 - 225
Electricity - $20
Yardman - $240 (2 days a month)
Maintenance varies -$100?

We have not paid our full loan off but it is lower then most people I know so we will pay off early and need to keep these expenses in mind for retirement.  And the yard is partly to sell flowers and food but I haven't figured out how to deduct water from taxes.

boarder42

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 9332
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #41 on: June 27, 2016, 12:14:26 PM »
520k house

5k taxes
2k insurance
500 maintenance
2400 all utility

9900/year
825/month

scrubbyfish

  • Guest
Re: what does your mortgage-free house cost?
« Reply #42 on: June 27, 2016, 06:29:42 PM »
Another thing this thread does is help renters to see their landlords aren't always rakin' it in. I have a neighbour who has a phenomenal deal, and she is so crabby about her landlord, demanding ever more in service and product. I can't believe it. (If I had that place at that rate, I would be worshipping the ground the landlord walks on, tripping over myself to try and make life easier for her, not the opposite.) But she has no concept of the costs and risks in owning, not to mention in landlording.