• U.S. homeowners can expect costs associated with owning and caring for a home to total almost $9,400 a year, according to an analysis by Zillow and Thumbtack. That’s about $780 a month on top of a monthly mortgage payment.
• Property taxes, utilities and homeowners insurance are about $6,330 a year for the typical home.
• Maintenance costs come to about $3,070 a year.
• Property taxes, utilities and homeowners insurance are about $6,330 a year for the typical home.
• Maintenance costs come to about $3,070 a year.
While home shoppers tend to focus on listing prices, owning a home includes a heap of expenses that aren’t included in that sticker price – and they vary considerably by market. Obviously nobody chooses where they live based on how high lawn service costs are, but it’s smart to be aware of these costs—and it’s particularly important for first-time buyers or those moving to a new area who might not be familiar with all the costs of homeownership.
Three of the main costs are property taxes, homeowners insurance and utilities – the first two largely unavoidable and the latter a necessity, although homeowners’ water, waste and energy use can affect how much they pay. Together, those three total about $6,330 a year for the typical U.S home, according to an analysis by Zillow and Thumbtack. Regular home maintenance tacks on another roughly $3,070 a year. The total effect is $780 per month above and beyond the monthly mortgage payment for the typical homeowner.
The burden tends to be greater in markets with high housing costs, in large part because property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are often related to a home’s value. In San Jose, Calif., the priciest major metro in the country, the typical home is worth about $1.3 million, and the typical homeowner will pay $20,660 a year for property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, utility bills, and maintenance costs – the highest total for all homeownership costs among major metro areas. Annual property taxes and homeowner’s insurance account for sixty-five percent of the total bill—or $13,380—for the typical homeowner in San Jose. Similarly, the typical homeowner in San Francisco spends $17,760 each year on costs associated with owning a home, more than half of which ($10,370) goes toward property taxes and insurance.
But California homeowners aren’t paying the most in property taxes, thanks in large part to Proposition 13, which limits the rate at which a homeowner’s property tax bill can increase and effectively lowers tax bills relative to the value of their homes. New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut and New York are notorious for high property taxes.
Among the country’s largest 35 metros, Chicago has the highest property tax rate. It translates to expenses of $4,590 a year on a typical home worth $220,400. That’s more than twice the $2,240 paid by the owner of a typical U.S. home, estimated to be worth $217,300.
In the New York metro, the typical homeowner spends $8,160 in property taxes alone. That’s more than $1,200 above what the typical San Jose homeowner pays, despite the fact that the median home value in New York is a third of San Jose’s, at $429,300.
Utility bills do not vary as widely across markets: According to estimates from UtilityScore, a typical homeowner in the Minneapolis metro area has the lowest average utility expense of the top 35 metros, at $2,265, while the typical homeowner in Atlanta has the highest, at $4,612.
Finally, home maintenance adds another layer of expense. It varies depending on the home, the area and the homeowner’s needs, but one baseline includes house and carpet cleaning, lawn service, gutter cleaning, pressure washing and central air and heating system repairs. Together, they average about $3,070 a year for the typical U.S. home and range among major metros from a high of $3,810 in Portland, Ore., to a low of $2,570 in Miami and New York.
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