[Laker14]

Once upon a time there was a thread, I believe it was started by a gentleman named "Hagar?(??), in which he enumerated many of the predictable expenses of buying, owning, and living in TV.
Things like what the bond would likely cost, closing costs, amenity fees, pest control, trash pick up, etc etc.

I can't find it. Has it been removed?

Gracias.

[dewilson58]

A cut and paste............


Here is a Budget I found on The Talk of TV.

I thought it was a good guide:

Costs of living

My figures are based on a 1150 sq ft Patio Villa with vaulted ceilings.

Bond,taxes,insurance $250
Electric 100
Gas 40
TV 60
Internet 45
Ammenity,water
sewage,trash 225
Termite bond,pest and
lawn treatments 40
Mowing 35
Homewatch 45

Total $750
The above estimates are based upon actual costs for the past 6 months with the house occupied in Sept and Oct and empty May,June July and Aug.

We are snowbirds ,when up north the TV and internet goes down to $8 but we pay $45 for home watch.The TV is on a promotional offer so it will go up in time.If we were full time in TV I estimate the total to be $800 to $850.We were in the house in Sept and Oct and the electric bill for Sept was $95 and the water and sewage bill only went up a few dollars. This past summer the home watch folks set the AC
at 80 degrees and the bill never exceeded $80.
When we are in the house,we do not pay $45 a month for home watch service,so I estimate the $750 figure will be our monthly costs when we occupy the house.
The below figures are monthly costs for out of pocket expenses base upon our stay in TV for Sept and Oct.This is our like style.Plug in figures for your life style.

Budget $400 a month for dinning out,$200 for golf at a country club(3 or 4 times a month),$50 for drinks at the square happy hour(5 times a month),$500 for food and $600 for misc.TOTAL $1750
That is a grand total of $2500.Add in your car expenses,medical expenses, insurance and mortgage(if any).
If the patio villa is paid off and you have good health insurance a couple can live nicely in TV on a monthly income of $4,000.

In a few years, we hope to be full time in TV and plan to upsize to a 3 bedroom ranch or designer home.So we are interested in the monthly costs for a larger home.

[Laker14]

Thanks so much!

Happy New Year!

[Laker14]

I found the posts. They are "stickys" on the "Nuts and Bolts" Forum. They were created by ZCaveman, (whose avatar was the comic strip figure Hagar the Horrible, which is why I was confused.)
I see he has become an "eternal" member, which I assume means he has passed away.
It was very nice of him to post all of this information.

[2BNTV]

Originally Posted by Laker14

I found the posts. They are "stickys" on the "Nuts and Bolts" Forum. They were created by ZCaveman, (whose avatar was the comic strip figure Hagar the Horrible, which is why I was confused.)
I see he has become an "eternal" member, which I assume means he has passed away.
It was very nice of him to post all of this information.

I believe that post was updated before he passed so it should be still accurate. I know I used it when I was planning to move here!

Zcaveman did it for a friend of his who was planning to move here and I consider it to be the bible on costs to be incurred in addition to other useful information.