apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

To get a true idea of owner costs, the survey should ask mortgage + maintence + utilities. Leaving out maintence removes quite a chunk of most folks expenses.

Yeah, maintenance is what co-ops call it; common charges are what condos call it. Condo owners, since they're actually owning real estate a little more literally than co-op owners, actually also pay monthly taxes, I think, so THAT probably has to go into that, right?

Plus, some of us may be adding extra principal every month in order to pay off the loan quicker and/or avoid the interest rate varying and/or just hate giving the bank more over the long term.

This will raise the mothly layout considerably.

mortgage - $1100
maintenance - $411

homeowner's pride - priceless!

Is the inclusion of utilities in this kind of a calculation a NYC thing? If so, does it factor, too, into the renters' calculations?

And I vote yes on hearing people's maintenance fees, since some are fairly staggering, on top of the mortgage.

ps: I rent where I live here in NYC, but I own a rental property elsewhere (a two-bedroom, two and a half bath two story townhouse with washer and dryer that I rent for $1300 a month--!!!-- in Miami), so I'm staying out of this survey!!

Curtis, to confirm, yes condo owners have quarterly real estate taxes to pay, which sometimes, but not always, explain the lower-than-usual common charges of condo units in NYC. (Coop
units have the real estate taxes embedded in their
monthly charges, I believe.)

Single girl, really. Only $1100? Rock on, girl.

I answered the survey but now I'm feeling a bit sheepish because I live in Atlanta and although I felt it was a huge chunk of money we paid for our little house, it is nothing compared to NYC.

juanito

yep, no lie. 1 BR, Queens, NYC.

5.8% interest rate - rock on!

;-)

I factored in the maintenance, which has gone from $660 to $825 in two years. Thank goodness for that 45% tax deduction.

Oh so happy there's another Queens fan on the boards! When I answered the survey I included my maintenance. I felt it fell under "utilities" since the monthly maintenance for a co-op pays for heat at the very least. There are perhaps others who interpreted it the same way...

My maintenance does not pay for heat, but it does cover water.

Mortgage: $649
Maintenance: $667

1+ BR in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights

Oops, I included common charges and RE taxes (not much because they are abated). Including utilities does seem a little weird to me and I definitely would not call it an NY thing. And if you want to get a true accounting of all costs related to housing, don't forget to add annual doorman tipping - I shelled out over $1,000 every December when I lived in a building with a large staff.

Ninon
which neighborhood are you in? I'm Sunnyside/Woodside. While I'll be the first to admit, this isn't Soho or the West Village, it definitely is getting better and I do love where I live. And its affordable! Love it!

My first tiny little co-op apt. was a 24-hour doorman building and I know that I gave more than most people with apartments that size in that building, but even though it was a huge staff, I didn't want to leave anyone out, so my yearly total was about $350 in Christmas tips, which was roughly equal to what I spent on actual Christmas gifts for my blood relatives.

Mortgage: $1850
Common Charges: $395

Loft in Prospect Heights. I get satellite TV and high-speed internet with my common charges, which is nice.

mortgage = $4900 (5.625% interest only - we're disciplined enough to pay down principal quarterly and the monthly payment automatically recasts when we do so)

maintenance = $1960 (approx. 55% td)

2 br, 2 bth in west village

Single girl, another Queens fan here, though I'm in Jackson Heights. We originally started looking in Sunnyside, but there weren't that many apartments for sale at that time. You guys have the cutest coffee shop there, though. I really love Jackson Heights, but (as Lori2 and I have bemoaned many a time), we don't have a real coffee shop yet (although we do have some fantastic restaurants)

I won't give actual numbers, but my mortgage and maintenance are CHEAP! Another reason to love Queens...

Maintenance $2,140
Mortage $500 (almots paid -- we've been payign extra)
Utilities $200 avg. ($380 elec this month!)

1600sf Brooklyn

mortgage on condo = $3300
common charges = $360
location = williamsburg, brooklyn
stuff = 2 br, 2 bth, washer / dryer, parking space (for visitors and boyfriend; i don't have a car)
time it took to save up for a down payment while living in NYC = 8+ years
rent on the West Village apartment I was living in = it just went from $2600 to $3200 (robbery!)

Congrats to all home owners...it is expensive in this city.

Here we go again, I hate to keep nitpicking on these surveys, but I don't see the point in them if they are going to continue to be overly broad, vague and/or confusing. Do you really mean mortgage + utilities? One of those is a fixed cost (not counting any extra payments we may choose to make) to the bank every month, while the other varies widely from season to season (our ConEd stays below $100 in the winter but average $250 for the summer months). Do you really mean utilities? As in gas, electric, cable and phone? Or - more likely - do you actually mean maintenance (a monthly charge for co-op owners like myself - which doesn't include actual utilities within the unit) and/or common charges + taxes (monthly charges for condo owners, which might include utilities within the unit, but I don't know of any condo owner personally for whom that is the case)

laurie, for someone who 'hates to keep nitpicking on these surveys', you;re doing a fine job :)

Mortgage: $583
Maintenance: $446

I refinanced the mortgage a few years ago so it's now only 4.75%. I'm paying more per month as a result, but cut it in half from 30 to 15 years.
No real point in including utitlities as it can vary widely depending on if the air conditioner has been on a lot or if I've been out of town.

Also representing the lovely *unhip* borough of Queens:

~ $1300 Mortgage
~ $640 maintenance
Purchased in Oct 2005, fixed 5.875%

950 sq ft 2 bdrm, pre-war, elevator building in Sunnyside Queens

Love learning about life/homeownership in NYC!

Here in sunny San Diego, our costs are pretty high as well...locals call it the "sunshine tax."

I pay:

Mortgage - $ 1850
property tax - $560

for cool 1940's house, 1200 sq. ft., 2 bd. 1 ba about 10 miles from downtown San Diego. Utilities normally low, but not so much lately thanks to global warming heat wave!

damn, we should have bought a year or two ago but we kept thinking we would leave the city.

We just bought a 1.5 bedroom in Clinton Hill Brooklyn
800 sq ft

1600 mortgage
750 maintenence (40 percent tax deductible)--includes heat, electricity, water et all

all in all after deducting interest and maintenence charges we are paying about 1600 a month--which is only 100 dollars more than we were paying for a much 650 sq ft apartment in park slope (which unfortunately if we had tried to buy an apartment that size two years ago we could have gotten it for half as much as the place we just bought......

I don't know if this is relevant, but myself and many of my neighbors have a house with a rental unit. So...my mortgage might seem high, but it is offset by rental income. For us, this was the only way to afford a modest frame house.

"Sunshine tax" must be what the non-natives and the local media (comprised of non-natives, natch) call it.

I own and have no mortage. Don't I get a clicky on your poll? :)

How about asking what percentage of net pay people pay for housing and related expenses?

How about asking what percent of total expenses people pay for housing and related expenses as well?

When I answered the survey, I included it all - mortgage, maintainence and a monthly average on utilities. For a 750 sq ft. 1-bdrm pre-war we bought in Nov. 2005 in Prospect Heights, Bklyn:

Mortgage $1727 (I also got the 5.875% 30-year rate)
Maintainence $630
Home Equity Loan (so we could put down 20% when we bought the place) - $260
Utilities - about $250-300/ month

Damn! That's a lot. No wonder I never have any money.

I answered, but obviously I'm not in NYC...or anywhere near any coastline at all...but we pay between $1500 and $2000 monthly, which included mortgage, escrow, PMI (because we didn't have the 20%) as well as utilities. This is for a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath 1961 frame house on 1/3 acre suburban lot.

The cost? A lot higher than I would have liked. The benefit? I can see mountains outside my bedroom window, and from nearly every point in my yard, plus I have a park out the front door, and public transportation, coffee shops, shopping and restuarants within walking distance. So...nice. And worth it.

Fun site!
Just bought an 800+ sq ft "fixer" condo for $88K.here in Anchorage Alaska: 20% down, 4.2%/30 yr.mortgage. HOA dues $310 mo includes all but elec and heat-no AC needed here! Previous owner says they run $150 (+/-) depending on how hot you want it. HOA will go down when they finish paying for parking lot upgrades. No personal history; time will tell real monthly outlay!

500 sqft. 1BR in Chelsea, NYC

purchased: 2002
interest rate: 5.5%
mortgage: $1100
maintenance: $572

According to broker estimates, the property value has doubled in 4 years. Now if I can only get a good job!

Mortgage: $2312
Maintenance: $1350
Utilities: $200-250 (I really have no idea why they are so high since we barely use them but I've just given up on this front).

This is a "Classic Five" on a park block in the UWS, purshased in 1996 for $240,000. My mortgage is actually around $320,000 because of multiple refinancings to overcome a period of long recession coupled with failed entrepreneurial ventures. Current value is, I think, four times that.

I bought my apartment back then because I was paying a free market rent that was being jacked up by 40%. At the time, many people I knew paid far far less in rent because they had rent-stabilized apartments (including people with trust funds and/or high-income jobs). None of these people ever bought and they all missed out on the entire late 90s early 00s real estate boom, I assume because all felt they had such great deals on rent (which, I should add, they all felt they deserved). Lesson? Holding onto good deals can prevent other opportunities.

Junior 1BR in Murray Hill (425 sq/ft):

Mortgage: $1200
Maintenance: Crept up from $600 to $800 over 2 years. (Full service building, but not quite "luxury")

Thought I'd contribute numbers since I appreciate that others did; gives us all a reality check that we're not the only ones out there paying close to 50% of our income on housing! But, I love owning my own tiny piece of Manhattan - kudos to everyone making it happen or trying to!

Maintenance: $430 per month.
Mortgage: $300 per month (5 year interest only; put between $200 - $700 extra per month torwards principal, depening upon my finances at the start of each month.
Utilities: Almost always about $30 per month. Only pay electric, though it was a freakishly high $50 in July.

This is for a studio in the UES of Manhattan purchased in 2003.

$1875 mortgage
$870 maint.

680 sq. ft.
1 BR
Upper West Side

NYC118-
"Maintenance $2,140
Mortage $500 (almots paid -- we've been payign extra)"

Can you explain a little bit more about your apartment? I'm confused as to why the maintenance is so high, and the mortgage so low. If you don't mind me asking, where in Brooklyn do you live?

Mortgage $3000 (inc. PMI - grr!! - and taxes); condo fee $634.

I was hoping you Manhattanites (and other borough-ites) would make me feel like that was nothing. Hello? Anyone? Where are all the people paying zillions in NYC? I know you're out there...:) LOL!

Oh well. I love my place! I'm in a new building in downtown Washington, D.C., with 2 br, 2.5 ba.

Studio in limited equity middle income coop in Chelsea (Penn South).

- no 'mortgage' - equity price was $28,000
- 'carrying charges' + utilities are < $400 though we pay a 200% surcharge (just for this year) for exceeding income so total is just under $1000.

Murray Hill, Co-op, purchased in 2004. Jr. 1BD, 600sq ft, hi floor with clear East River views, FT Doorman, etc.
Mortgage: $1200
Maintenance: $935
Utilities: $160 (cable/internet & electric)

Per month: $2295
About what I'd pay in rent.

Clicked on the survey for an update and found my post deleted. If the survey is for New York only, you should say so....

Slightly Hurt,

West Village, 850 Square Feet, 1 bedroom with large, large windows and high ceilings.

Mortgage: $1500
Maintenance: $1000

739 - mortgage
460 - maintenance (includes heat, hot water, cooking gas)
interest rate (purchased April 2006): 6.25
$183 deducted from paycheck for small down payment loan from my 401k.

Total: about 1381

Oh, Utilities: Cable and Elect = around $150

Kensington Brooklyn (closest to Cortelyou, Ditmas Park) Co-op, no doorman
670 sq ft
jr. 1-bdrm, 6th floor

Just myself (A feat in itself, I think! And a nod to all those doing the same! :))

Harlem Luxury Condo(24 hr. doorman, gym)
1100 sq ft. 2bd, 2ba
420 sq. ft. terrace

Mortgage = 1620
CC = 753
Utilities = ~130 average

Central village 1.5 br plus terrace soon to be 2.5 br 2 bath plus terrace

Currently 1800 mtg plus 1100 maint soon to be ~2700 mtg plus 1700 Maint

(in contract to buy the studio next door with plans to combine)

550 sq ft studio. convertable small 1 bedroom
$750 mortgage $420 maintenance with gratitute to my family for helping out!

windsor terrace- brooklyn.