Budget for singles?
 

I'm still a few years away from Margaritaville but I'm a planner! So...I have budget questions for other singles. I'm reading suggestions that monthly utilities are running $300.00 and up for power, water, sewer, trash. Is that true? That's twice what I pay now in Louisiana for a 1300 sq ft house. I'm probably a medium user of power. I'm not wasteful but I like a comfortable house. Any feedback on utility expense?

Water, trash, amenities fee runs around $200 to $250. Per month.
We are electric no gas and our electric runs from $80 a month to $120

Hmmm..the Villages website COL estimate said
60.00 water
31.00 sewer
148.00 Electric
19.00 trash

That's not accurate then in your experience?

You can take your actual usage and look up the new utility rates.
The quality of the home construction will also affect your estimate
I would lean toward the higher estimates for the budget.

The amenity fee is part of the utility bill, that's $147. Drinking water, irrigation water, garbage and recycling makes our total average bill about $220 a month for a 2 BR masonry CYV that is 7 years old. The irrigation systems usually run two nights a weeks, you set your timer but they'll be set up for you when you buy a new home. During the rainy season from May to October you can turn the irrigation off.

We have power with SECO electric, our bills run about $95 during the heating season, which is about 2 months and about $85 in the A/C season and about $70 when we don't need either.

SECO is the cheapest power I ever had. I can remember in the 80's living in Pensacola and my electric bill was about $260 a month for a normal size home 30 years ago. Moving here 7 years ago from Maryland, our power there was anywhere from $180 to $400 a month. I find SECO is a great deal. Most communities or condos will have an HOA fee, my mother back in Maryland was paying $250 a month for condo fees and they didn't even have a pool or rec center.

That's fair. Overall the fixed costs drive your bill. The A.C. Doesn't care if there are one or two occupants. It makes a slight difference in the water heater.

How to I know? I have a energy monitor and I rent it out on occasion. I can tell The cost of extra guests. The owners who charge more than 30.00 for an extra couple are doing this to discourage extra occupancy, not because of utilities cost. Edit to add I see the consumption by appliance, not just the total bill.

The biggest driver of cost is YOU and how you use the utilities. I see huge swings depending on the guest.

The amenity fee can run from $139.00 on our patio villa, $152. On our cottage, and $149 on our designer. Electric is less in the designer 2018sf that is stucco, than our cottage 1534sf, that is vinyl siding, and patio,1164sf that is also vinyl.

All in all with taxes, the Villages sheet that rounds cost at around $10,000. Per year not counting mortgage is very close to actual cost to live here.

Aha. Did not realize the amenity fee was billed out on the utility bill. No wonder it kept sneaking into the discussion! I was getting confused there.

With virtually no effort you can cut 10% off the water, sewer, irrigation water and electricity bill. That is if you are interested in that sort of thing. Almost no one is, in practice.

Also check to see if you have a bond to pay off and annual maintenance charges. Go to the tax collectors site and look at some bills. At the bottom can be additional annual charges in addition to real estate taxes.

I've probably been watching too much 'Fixer Upper' but I have an 'all in' budget for the house in mind which will have to include payoff of any bond remaining on the home. Thinking a 5 year old home with a paid off bond would be great!

Margaritaville is near Daytona Beach, right?

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As I hear it the "nut" in The Villages is about $10,000 as has previously been posted; mortgage payments, taxes and bar tabs not included.

Which type of taxes do you refer to...property or income as being excluded from the $10k?

As for the bar tab...seperate bucket!

Both