All Posts Tagged With: "landlord"
How much owning a home can ACTUALLY cost you
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, Nov 19 2009 | 3 Comments
When you rent, there are things that you no longer have to worry with such as broken refrigerators and other appliances, as well as leaks and other problems with the actual property. In most cases, you don’t even have to cut the lawn, the landlord takes care of all of it.
As a homeowner, you do have expenses that HAVE to be taken care of; and even when the mortgage is paid off, there are things that you still have to deal with when it comes to the cost of a home.
So, if you have a mortgage, there are things that are added to your payment that are held in escrow and the mortgage company actually pays with the money. Property taxes and homeowner’s insurance are held in the escrow account. Once your mortgage is paid off, these are bills that will come around every year and you will HAVE to pay. There are some occasions where property taxes can be deduced from your income tax that you have to file at the beginning of the year, but at around $150 per month for the average home, this is still one bill that some may forget when they pay off their mortgage.
Another expense that all homeowners face, mortgage or not, is repairs. I can’t emphasize this enough. From personal experience, in the past year we have had to fix or replace the air conditioner, the refrigerator (which still isn’t fixed completely), both toilets (our water basically eats the parts) and the front and back doors. Things that still need to be fixed or replaced include or dishwasher and carpets. Something that we should probably start doing is setting aside a bit of money every month to help pay for something when it decides to break.
The same could be said about any other types of repairs, such as exterior repairs, that need to be done to a house. Roofs need to be replaced every 20 years or so and they cost a LOT of money when it comes time to replace the current one. Painting the exterior of a home can also cost a lot of money, particularly if you hire someone to do it. A 1,200 square foot brick home could run you about $4,000 for just two coats of paint if you hired someone to paint it. Then, you can’t forget how much it costs to maintain a yard. Chris loves playing in the yard and thanks to his concentration on the yard work, we have a nearly weed-free completely Bermuda grass lawn (in our neighborhood Bermuda grass is the best to have and is NOT considered a weed). He spends about $40 per month on just the lawn treatments and he does all the work himself.
If there are some things that should be considered when thinking of the cost of ownership of a home, include them in the comments below!
Related posts:What does it really cost to own a home?
Save money on home repairs and improvement
Tags: air conditioner, escrow account, landlord
The English population is expected to increase; housing will follow
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Nov 11 2009 | 0 Comments
Research by Communities and Local Government says that the population of England is going to increase from 50.8 million to 60.4 million by 2031. There is also a projected increase of one person households. It is expected to increase by 60.3%. In 2006, the number of one person households in England was 6.8 million, the 2031 projection is now 10.9 million.
With an increase of 9.7 million people, there will have to be more room for them. The good news is that since 1938, the number of houses in the country has increased greatly; it has grown from 10.6 million homes in 1938 to 22.2 million as of March 2007. In 1938 people weren’t buying a lot of the homes; there were only 32% that were owner occupied, there are now 70% that are.
Over the past decade, there has been a huge increase in the number of homes built in the country to keep up with demand. It has been seeing an increase in homes between 121,000 and 207,000 every year since 1998. However, with the recent recession, that figure has dropped and between 2008 and 2009, there was only 108,000 built.
Another problem that has been happening in the recession is that the number of vacant houses has also increased. Between April 2007 and April 2008 the number of vacant private homes increased by 26,000.
It appears as though in England, that as the recession has gone on, more and more people are renting instead of buying homes. It may have more to do with the actual cost of ownership than the recession though. In 1990, the average price of a home was 63,000 pounds. It increased to 196,000 pounds just 19 years later. When people are losing their jobs left and right, they simply can’t afford such an expense every month. Not to mention, the true cost of ownership of a home is not only reflected in the monthly mortgage payment but also in the cost of repairs to the house. Things like replacing appliances and fixing plumbing is something that a homeowner has to worry about replacing or fixing on their own dime rather than expecting a landlord to fix these things.
With the number of people that England is expected to accommodate in the next 20 years, there will likely be even more rentals in the country; particularly with single person households. Also, I can expect that housing prices will not go down in the country thanks to the very limited amount of space in the more urban areas.
In the United States, the population is also expected to explode in the next 20 years and housing prices are expected to steadily, but not rapidly, increase over the time frame. Of course, there will be urban areas where bubbles will form and housing prices in those areas will be more expensive than other areas, but over all the national average will likely increase steadily.
Source
Housing Prices See an Increase In the DC Area
Housing prices are on the decline nationwide
Tags: mortgage payment, vacant houses, recession
