Friday, April 15, 2011

BUYERS: Some things to consider..Part 1

Expenses to factor into a home-buying decision.
-Utilities: Heat, electricity, sewer and water , telephone, cable, Internet and of course cell phones. Possibly Trash and Recycling as well.
-Food/entertainment: Dining in and out, movies, hobbies.
-Children: Day care, tuition, lunch money, supplies, clothing, sports gear.
-Health costs: Eyeglasses, medicine, unforeseen .
-Debt: Credit cards, Student loans and car loans.
-Maintenance/repairs/furnishing: Extra beds or cabinets.Appliances, landscaping, snow removal.
-Job expenses: Transportation (the commute), auto maintenance.

In this post let's take Utilities first.

  Always do some research with the current owners. They are generally more than willing to pull up some numbers for a prospective buyer as to what they pay for various utilities and whether or not they need to pay for trash recycling, etc.
 
Each person and family has certain tastes and requirements as far as media expenses go. Believe it or not there are still some out there who don't own a cell phone computer or TV. Looking at my bills recently while doing my year end taxes showed some interesting totals. The "thousands" of dollars I spend on internet, cable, and a rarely used home phone made me think, "How about that vacation?"

Make sure you figure these dollars into your expenses with a little wiggle room. And shop around too. There are lots of deals out there for new subscribers. There are small adjustments that you can make but generally you will know the ballpark figure after a few minutes with the current owners expenses and your own preferences.

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