Mandana

Which provider do you use for electricity?

Our house is smaller than yours and our bills are far higher

Saying that, OH loves the air-con cold, so that's probably why. What do you have yours set to?

BTW - where in Katy? Fancy the info on our next Houston meet-up?

Yorkieabroad

We're pretty close to Fry/Grand Parkway. Where are you? We use Reliants floating rate - the fixed rate so far would have been more expensive for us because we're a pretty low user. Aircon is set to 85 during the day, and 80 at night. Occasionally I knock it lower during the day, but not often. We have ceiling fans just about everywhere, and they make it feel a good 10deg cooler...

I PM'd with SarahinTX before the last meetup - she said she was going ot remind me about the next one cos I dont often check the meetup forum - not sure if I'll be able tomake it if its lunchtime - the kids soccer matches are between 12 and 2 (nice timing to avoid the heat....)

TruBrit

during the day ours is 74/75 and 71 at night when the humidity is high and yes we sure pay for it, august leccy bill just in $734.15 but that's lower than the previous month

btw welcome to texas wokster

Ray

damn ..you are cold lovers ....
a permanent 77f for me ....and a temporary 75f is its very humid ..

krizzy

We only use our AC a few hours a day if that...mostly to dry out the house...the fans keep it cool...I'm sure I started hot flushing this year so I've used it a bit more...I think my bill was $160 last month....and I thought that was a lot...

krizzy

Mine is set at 85 Ray...in FL 78...

wokster

Thanks again for all your replies, I had no idea it would be so expensive you have certainly opened my eyes

From being incredibly upbeat about how low the property prices were, I know have alot to think about.

From what I can gather in the info provided so far I would be looking at paying on average per month - $1250 for Property tax, $166 for house insurance, $416 for gas and electricity, $50 for water, $100 for cable internet(does this include phone, or is there a seperate charge for this), $100 for car insurance and minimum $166 (based on $2000 for year which I know is probably low) for extra medical.

Which equates to $2248 per month

HOA was also mentioned at 750 - 1000 depending on the area - what is HOA and are the figures above monthly or yearly?

Are their any other costs associated like paying for your garbage collection, upkeep of local land etc, or is this area specific.

All this information will be extremely beneficial when I come to negotiate my salary.

Thanks again.

TruBrit

HOA stand for Home Owners Association. Our fees are close to $4,000 per annum.

Yes peeps in the UK think coz the houses are relatively cheap (however a lot of that is down to the area you live in) that everything else is cheap but afraid it's not esp when you are paid in $$$ and spend $$$.

Yorkieabroad

HOA is the Homeowners Association - they provide the local landscaping, area pools and playgrounds etc as well as "maintaining the standards of the development". It also includes twice weekly garbage collection and once a week recycling collection. The 2 figs I quoted were the range for annual fees for 3 of the main developments round Katy - Cinco Ranch, Kelliwood and Grand Lakes - you can check out whats on the market at har.com - prices range from in the 100k's to in the 1,000ks. There are lots of new developments going up, and I'm not sure what they are charging, but wouldn't expect a lot different - something to ask your realtor when you are viewing.

The figure for internet I quoted didn't include phone - we have a seperate land line at $22/month, plus we have a family plan on mobiles $75 a month for 5 phones on the same bill, sharing 1000 anytime minutes a month with free calls between the phones.

Yorkieabroad

Ps - a lot of folk take yard services to cut the lawns during the summer - reckon on 25-30/week. Can get a cleaner for twice weekly service for around 75-100/visit. We dont have either of these, but then a) I'm a tight Yorkshire git and b) 2 hours spent cutting the grass is 2 hours away from refereeing UFC imitations between my 2 boys....

Ray

JeeZ..you lot live expensively

2000 sqft

HOA ..$120 a year (non gated)
grass cutting $50 a month (do my own though)
pool service $80 a month (do my own though)
cable TV internet $100 a month
House ins $1400 a year
Property taxes $1700 a year ..
phone $25 a month
garbage $100 a year
Water $400 a year
Electric $ 1500 a year
Car insurance 2 $1400 a year

Ammunition $400 a year ...

Bluegrass Lass

[QUOTE=Ray;5294776]JeeZ..you lot live expensively [QUOTE]

have to agree with you there Ray. We average:

HOA - $75/yr
Electricity - $1800/yr ($150/mo)
Garbage - $135/year ($40 every quarter)
Water - $600/yr ($50/mo)
Cable/Internet/Phone - $1800/yr ($150/mo)
Home insurance - $2k/yr
Car Insurance - $100/mo (full coverage on 2 cars)
Property Taxes - $1750/yr
Cell phone: $85/mo (2 phones, sharing 750min.)

And I thought we paid out a lot for monthly expenses..how can you afford a house in Houston with all those costs?? We'd still be renting at those rates.

Yorkieabroad

[QUOTE=sunflwrgrl13;5295031][QUOTE=Ray;5294776]JeeZ..you lot live expensively Looking at the list, I think the only one seriously out of whack is the property tax which is pretty large down here at 3-4%, half of which goes to the school district. Basically over 25 years you buy your house twice!!!
Tax is slightly less in some places, but the absolute cheapest I know of is 1 subdivision that only pays 2%. (This is for Katy, which is commuter belt for Houston - can't comment on Houston itself...)

wokster

Is it not the case that because Texans don't pay any state taxes that it evens itself out...................or am I just being naive?

I have also read somewhere that you can offsett your property tax against your federal taxes, is this the case?

Thanks again.

Manc

bugger me it's warm down here I know that much

Hello from Sealy.