What is the average utility expenses on your condo? Also, what other expenses are there other than loan repayment and assoc. fees? Thanks.

Not an owner, but I had thought about it and read up on some stuff and talked to some people.
Actual utility expenses can vary depending on the complex and what is included in your monthly association fees.
Other expenses could include ASSESSMENTS. These are when the complex needs to do something out of the ordinary to make repairs or upgrade the property. An OSO member told me he got 10k assessment last fall

Utilities vary by complex as does the HO dues.

Just because it is new doesn't mean it is good. There are several newer (10 years) complexes with major renovations going on.

Get a good realtor and talk to the people that live there about the last special assments and what are the problems. If you have some specific ones I can find out about anything you need to know.

2br all electric used every weekend all summer. Turn off your hot water heater and air when you leave and it's not too bad.

Electric $37.32/month avg
Phone $21/month
Insurance $21.50 (like renters insurance)
Everything else (water, trash, maint) is in the home association dues at $488/quarter.
I think the dock is about $150 year or so.

Now the special assesments. Keep in mind, my building is only 4 years old -- Don't even get me started. We got a $7000 bill like 6 weeks before Christmas. We have managed to defer about 2/3 of it as of yet, pending actual completion of needed repair, but the rest will be due this year. If Roger Sanford, or one of his companies was the developer for the complex you are looking at - Run! Of course the association is suing him, but in the mean time we have to fix the problems. So even new units are not imune to large, unexpected special assessments. In my naivity, I thought buying a new unit would reduce the chances of large unexpected expenses.

Also expect a sharp increase in any quoted monthly or annual assesments due to insurance premium increases. The insurance premium for our complex went from $32k/yr to like a $132k/yr. That gets passed on to you. (seeing a theme here?) Insurance guy said every complex is going up due to 9/11.

We have 3br/2bath. Our condos are less than 5yrs old at the 14mm.
I think with utilities/home assoc dues/insurance we avg around $300/month.
In 2002 we had a special assessment for a new breakwater which was approx $3K.

The wife and I have a 1 Bedroom at Heron Bay, with a 26 ft slip. Our assessment is around $380 a quarter this includes the dock, its all electric, our bill runs about on average $45 a month, including winter, we are required to leave the heat on at 55 degrees in the winter. We use it about every weekend in the summer and the electric bill stays around $45/month. We turn off the hot water heater and A/C when we are not there. We don't have a phone down there we just use the nextel. Cable TV is free (included in our quarterly dues) We have never been hit with a big assessment, and to my knowledge they have never done that as far as I know. They redid the roof on our building and took the money out of the quarterly assessment.

Taxes are about $180/ year and the insurance is $140/year. Our place is about 16 years old. They do a good job keeping the grounds up nice. Our complex is not the newest or the fanciest by any means but it is cheap and very clean. They plan a lot of activities on party weekends, July 4th, labor day, shootout weekend, and Memorial Day. They usually have a band at the pool in the evenings on those weekends. It is worth every penny knowing that you can leave for the lake on a Friday after work and go to a place that is yours with your own bed. Also leaving on Sunday is nice to where you can leave all your stuff down there and know it will be there Friday just like you left it.

i recently sold my 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit (1,105 sq.ft.) at Stone Ledge. construction was completed last july, so i was the first owner. my electric bill averaged $34.25 from july-march. at Stone Ledge they have quarterly maintenance fees which include your building maintenace, dock fees, etc. they are $1.32 sq.ft./yr, which equates to approx $365.00 /quarter for my 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit, $84.00/quarter for my 14'x40' slip. since my unit was a new construction and has not been assessed and transferred from the developer to me, i don't know my RE taxes yet. my new unit is 3-4 bedroom / 2 1/2 bath w/ a loft. it is a little over 1,700 sq.ft. my maintenace fees will be $561.00/quarter and $84.00/quarter for my slip.

to give you a comparison, at the Ledges, a 2 bedroom / 2 bath unit (980sq.ft.) built in 1997 has RE taxes of $465.00/yr and quarterly gross assessments of $436.00.

jbk

whats going on Shorty, ready for the summer?

what complex are you in gaspipe96?

Hey Shorty did Brian sell his Magic?

His brother has it.