[villages8house]

Bryant,

I'm the owner of the one-bedroom, one-bath patio villa that's advertised on this website in the free classifieds under "For Sale by Owner". It's only been on the market a short time, not several months.

My maintenance costs are:

$132.34 Monthly amenity fees to District 5 (this is the new 2008 amount)
$ 65.00 Approx. monthly cost of Electric & Gas
(Central heat, water heater, range & clothes dryer are gas)
$ 55.00 Approx. monthly for water, sewer, sprinkler system, & garbage pickup
$ 35.00 Monthly for Lawn - cutting, edging, etc. (does not incl. weed pulling)
$ 55.83 Monthly for Comcast Cable TV
$ 80.00 Monthly for Embarq Local, Unlimited Long Distance & High Speed Internet

$ 120.00 Yearly for Massey Termite bond (can be transferred to new owner)
$ 783.00 (year of 2007 Homeowners Insurance)
$1500.00 (year 2006 Sumter Co property tax) (includes Villages Bond, Maint, & Fire)

I do the work myself as far as fertilizing the lawn and pest control. Saves a bunch.
The only other maintenance I can think of is to have the heat/air cond. system maintained (either once or twice per year) and having the house vinyl siding washed (approx $50 if you hire it done) - cost of water & a little bleach if you do it yourself.

The only repair I've needed was to have the carpet restretched due to a few wrinkles.
Other than that - pretty much maintenance free.

Hope this helps. Maybe you'll take the time to check out my patio villa. It's almost 1,000 sq. ft. with extra spacious bedroom and living areas - only 5 ft. shorter in length than the two bedroom Colony model.

Donna