Here's an estimate of our utilities and other expenses that I think you may be interested in. Except for the utilities you have options and can select providers that may be higher or lower.
$260 - Amenities, water, irrigation, sewer, sanitization
$180 - Cable, internet, home phone bundle
$125 - Electricity (actual bills ranged from $92 - $172)
$50 - Monthly lawn mowing
$615 - Paid annually for bi-monthly lawn and pest treatment
$150 - Annual termite treatment
$430 - Annual flood insurance
$732 - Annual Maintenance (on tax bill)
$81 - Annual Fire Department (on tax bill)
Gas is not available in our area.
Of course your property taxes and home owners insurance are dependent on your home value.
Every new house has a bond that can be paid (with interest) with their property taxes. Ours was approximately $22K. Interest rate was 5.5% so we elected to pay it off rather than pay the interest. This saves you money if you don't plan to sell your house, but if there's any chance you will want to sell, this may not be a good idea. Most people don't pay it off for that reason. The interest is not tax deductible.
Hope this helps. I remember trying to plan a budget before moving. Hard to compare when moving to a new area. Because we down sized so much our utilities were considerably lower automatically.
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