oh well
Mood: annoyed
Posted on 2008-01-05 13:22:00
Tags: house
Words: 44

I think I'll just live in a hotel for the rest of my life. Room service, maid service, etc. It would be a lot less trouble.

Also, does $44/month for water seem high to anyone else? We're not running a car wash or anything...


11 comments

Comment from medryn:
2008-01-05T14:13:45+00:00

I'd let the market bottom out before I bought a house, anyway. But I read www.thehousingbubbleblog.com every day, so my head is full of doom and gloom :-) But think about this: as a two-engineer household, your household income is (easily) in the top 10% nationally. So the neighborhoods that you are "priced out" of are not a function of your relative income at all, but rather a function of inflated prices due to the unusual lending policies of the last decade. Things are certainly not as bad (in terms of inflated prices) in Texas as they are elsewhere, but why not wait until it's really a better deal to buy than it is to rent?

Comment from cifarelli:
2008-01-05T15:17:07+00:00

$44/month seems high to me. Our average water bill for the last 12 months has been $24.65 with a high of $35 and a low of $14.

Of course, we live in Houston where water pricing may be different than Austin (no idea if this is true or not). And we have a tiny yard that hasn't required much watering this year due to an exceptionally rainy summer.

Comment from amorphousplasma:
2008-01-05T16:42:56+00:00

Our water is under $15, but we also live in Houston. Also we don't have sprinklers. But Matt takes hour long showers, which is kind of like a sprinkler. :)

And I know this is kind of late, but have you checked out credit unions for mortgages? They usually have the best rates, if you can find one you can become a member of.

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-01-06T01:52:45+00:00

Yeah, we kinda meant to check out credit unions but never got around to it. We did check USAA, though, which is members-only. Anyway, the deal we got through this broker guy is pretty good (and destroyerj used the same guy and hasn't had any problems) so I'm feeling good about it.

Comment from winocas:
2008-01-06T11:27:14+00:00

Well, depends on what you're doing I suppose.
The price of water can vary greatly through the US. In most US cities you pay between 0.02 and 0.07 cents/gallon. Your water statement should have a price per gallon on it.

Then just keep in mind that the average shower takes about 2.6 gallons/minute, depending on the toilet you have it uses 1.6 or 3.5 gallons/flush, a dishwasher load consumes about 15 gallons, washing machine depending on the model, between 16 and 39 gallons, etc.
You can certainly do the math. But to answer the question, yes, it does seem a bit high.You're not running a car wash are you? j/k

Comment from djedi:
2008-01-07T11:03:04+00:00

Yeah, given that the highest water bill we've ever had from any other apartment has been like $20. This is rather high. I'm guessing we're getting charged for the complex's water use too (rather than just paying that thru rent).

Comment from winocas:
2008-01-07T11:41:31+00:00

The only other thing I can think of is that they're tacking on a solid waste pickup fee (garbage) which is usually about $10 a month.

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-01-07T11:44:22+00:00

$44 was the water portion of the bill - there was also a garbage fee.

Comment from winocas:
2008-01-07T11:54:24+00:00

Ack! Maybe your water is provided by the electric company?

Comment from fairydust1:
2008-01-05T13:38:33+00:00

urm - our monthly water Bill in Round Rock was $70/month before we added in the sprinklers. Now its $100/month.

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-01-05T13:44:11+00:00

Wow, OK. I will stop complaining then!

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