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Old 06-05-2017, 02:33 PM   #1
jtrf
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Default Budgeting maintenance for new home

Hello everyone!

My wife and I have found our dream home, on the water in Alton, but like every dream home it will be quite a stretch for our budget. Before we let our emotions get the better of us, we wanted to get a sense for what the maintenance costs will be. Here's what we think we need:

1) Snow removal. The house is on a shared private road. The owner of a (very large) house at the end used to generously pay for all the houses along the road, but this is apparently changing. We'd be responsible for about 0.3 miles of a fairly thin, somewhat hilly road, and our own driveway which is probably longer than normal. We'll be there on weekends only, but I guess we'll need it plowed all the time for fuel delivery etc.

2) Landscaping. The house has beautiful grounds sloping down to the lake. I'd estimate 2 acres of land-scapable land. Most of that is lawns, but there are lots (hundreds) of flowers around the house. Everything would need to be planted in the spring, and watered and mowed throughout the summer.

3) Pool. The house has an in-ground pool, which is large for a spa but small for a pool. We'd need someone to maintain that as well.

4) Handyman. Friends say this is really important, and people typically charge by the hour. Would be great if he could stop by the house a couple times just to check everything while we're away during the week.

5) "Gopher." It would be really nice, but not necessary, to have someone pick up our mail from the post office, be at the house to meet workmen, etc. Not sure if a handyman would do this or would be affordable for this type of work.

I know this is a lot! But given the sage advice that goes back and forth on this forum, we'd love any thoughts and advice you have. What should we expect in terms of ballpark prices? Can you suggest any good vendors?

Thanks ever so much!
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Old 06-05-2017, 02:52 PM   #2
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With regard to the handyman, we have a house/camp minder that charges $50/month to check the house 2/3 times weekly. He's also available at an hourly rate to meet tradesmen or receive packages but we haven't used that service yet.
For plowing, your insurance company may require plowing for emergency vehicle access even if the house is unoccupied.
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Old 06-05-2017, 02:57 PM   #3
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Congrats on your "maybe" new place. Having a second home comes with all kinds of costs, I cannot comment specifically on the rates you asked about but here are some other costs I came up with, hopefully you have thought about all of these already.

Insurance
Gas/Propane/Oil
Cable/Internet
Security System
Electric Bill
Is there docks? Will they need to be put in an out each year

A lot to think about but also a lot of great memories to be made.
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Old 06-05-2017, 02:59 PM   #4
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Default Budgeting for new house maintenance

Welcome to he Forum.

I certainly do not want to be rude, but my experience with waterfront living taught me that if you have to ask, you can't afford it. (We moved off the Lake just for this reason.)

However, to answer your question, expect first year costs to be high, and then, as you get involved with some of the projects yourself the costs will go down.

In some cases, it is best to err on the side of caution, i.e., when you are away during the winter, don't turn your heat down too much. The cost savings ol=f lowering the heat will be immediately eaten up by repair costs if you have a pipe freeze up and burst.

Also, ask your new neighbors about what they do and how they do it. You might want to develop a long term plan and implement it as you go, as you can, doing some yourself and hiring out other stuff.
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Old 06-05-2017, 07:15 PM   #5
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Default Easy to economize

Welcome! A few thoughts:

2 acres of landscaping will be a killer financially. You might consider speaking with a landscaper and telling him you want to figure out how to do the absolute minimum . Replacing flower beds with ground cover, reducing the amount of surface to be mowed, deciding the lawn doesn't need to look like a putting green and therefore doesn't need chemicals, and other steps can save you big annual fees.

Similarly, do you really want a pool if you live on the lake? Fill it in once and you've done a lifetime of maintenance.

Another benefit of doing things like the above is that it simplifies the process to the point where you may find one person able to do all the tasks listed.

Please forgive/forget if you love the lawn, pool, etc as it is today.

Good luck!
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Old 06-05-2017, 07:31 PM   #6
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Thank you for the thoughtful responses everyone!

It seems that if there's one theme that's emerging, it's that lake living doesn't come cheap!

We talked with the current owners and have a good sense for the costs of what I'll call "basics": heating, insurance, electricity, cable, and of course taxes.

Where we're sort of in the dark is all the maintenance stuff. The owner lives there full-time and has a background in construction, so he does a lot of things we just can't since we don't have the skills or time.

You're right that we should talk with the neighbors and come up with a plan. And we will! But, knowing how these sale processes go, I'm not sure there will be time to get that all done before we make a go / no-go decision.

So that's a long way of saying, thanks for the help so far and would love any other thoughts you have, especially ballpark costs.

(Maybe a second theme is that lake people are really nice!)
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Old 06-05-2017, 07:54 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jtrf View Post
Hello everyone!

My wife and I have found our dream home, on the water in Alton, but like every dream home it will be quite a stretch for our budget. Before we let our emotions get the better of us, we wanted to get a sense for what the maintenance costs will be. Here's what we think we need:



1) Snow removal. The house is on a shared private road. The owner of a (very large) house at the end used to generously pay for all the houses along the road, but this is apparently changing. We'd be responsible for about 0.3 miles of a fairly thin, somewhat hilly road, and our own driveway which is probably longer than normal. We'll be there on weekends only, but I guess we'll need it plowed all the time for fuel delivery etc.



2) Landscaping. The house has beautiful grounds sloping down to the lake. I'd estimate 2 acres of land-scapable land. Most of that is lawns, but there are lots (hundreds) of flowers around the house. Everything would need to be planted in the spring, and watered and mowed throughout the summer.



3) Pool. The house has an in-ground pool, which is large for a spa but small for a pool. We'd need someone to maintain that as well.

4) Handyman. Friends say this is really important, and people typically charge by the hour. Would be great if he could stop by the house a couple times just to check everything while we're away during the week.


5) "Gopher." It would be really nice, but not necessary, to have someone pick up our mail from the post office, be at the house to meet workmen, etc. Not sure if a handyman would do this or would be affordable for this type of work.

I know this is a lot! But given the sage advice that goes back and forth on this forum, we'd love any thoughts and advice you have. What should we expect in terms of ballpark prices? Can you suggest any good vendors?

Thanks ever so much!
Don' stretch your budget too much. The house will find more ways to spend your money than you can imagine

Don't even consider not plowing after every storm. Once you let a storms worth of snow sit for a few days it becomes "Ice in" until the spring thaw. Have someone plow whether you are going to be there or not. A plowed driveway helps to make the house look lived in as well.

Get some type of heating system monitoring. I use a "Freeze Alarm". I have my system set up so the house is kept at 50 deg when it's unoccupied. If the house drops to 45 deg the system calls me to alert me of the condition. This gives me plenty of time to arrange for heating service or to get to the house to do it myself. the Freeze alarm will also notify of a power failure (it has battery back up). It's a good secondary alarm beside the burglar alarm in the house. I can call the Freeze Alarm to turn my heat up prior to heading to the lake so the house is nice and toasty when I get there in the winter.

As others have said, ground cover is your friend. nice lawns require chemicals that are bad for the lake. Ground cover is cheap and requires no maint. other than leaf blowing in the spring which is far cheaper than a landscaper for 2 acres.

Get references and make sure your handyman caries insurance. You don't want to open yourself to liability. Remember everyone with a second home is looked at as if they have all the $$$ in the world.

As a second home owner expect to pay a little more for some services, It's just the way it is.
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Old 06-06-2017, 04:55 AM   #8
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Plowing - you are going to probably want to coordinate plowing with the others who will be having it done and use the same service. Otherwise, problems could come up. If the first part of the road isn't plowed, is YOUR service going to go in and just do your part? What good will that do if you come up and the first part hasn't been plowed yet? What if you come up and it's a mess and your guy says YOU are plowed out but the other guy hasn't done the outer section yet? Who do you call? Even if you call the other guy, if YOU aren't paying him, he might not be too responsive.

You will probably get a better price if one guy gets they whole road anyway. Who does the guy in the big house currently use?

House minder services - look in the classified ads on the forum, call a service and ask for a quote. You might get maintenance, pool, and gopher from one place and it would be easier dealing with one provider.

Same for landscaping - check the classifieds and tell them you are looking for a ballpark seasonal cost.
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Old 06-06-2017, 08:59 AM   #9
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Having just built a new house up here, I would tell you be prepared to spend a lot of time calling around trying to get anyone to even call you back, come out to your place and then actually follow up.

And especially w.r.t landscaping, unless you're planning to spend $100K+ on landscaping good luck getting any of these guys to even call you back.

Start lining them up now.
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Old 06-06-2017, 02:11 PM   #10
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Default Some numbers....

Hey JTRF--

Congrats on finding what sounds like a great property. Some of the things you're inquiring about we have at both our primary home and at the lake, so here are some numbers to consider:

Pool: We have an inground pool at our primary home. We pay our guy $650 in the spring and $650 in the fall to uncover/cover, get ready for the season/winterize. I do all my own vacuuming and chemicals during the summer. Chlorine and chemicals are typically a few hundred bucks per season. So for me, it's about $1600 per season to run the pool, but again, I do my own maint. I've received flyers from pool maint companies that charge anywhere from $2-4K per season for everything.

Plowing: At our primary home, we are on a private way with 3 houses. The road and driveways are plowed by the builder who built the little development. It's probably close to a 1/4 mile from the beginning of the private way to the end of my driveway. The plow guy charges us $75 per plow, based on a certain number of inches. The rate goes up the more snow there is. Our plow guy at the lake follows a similar scale, although his base charge is about $40.

Lawn Maint: We have a good sized yard at our primary home, and that runs $75 per mow. We have a lot of planting beds around the property and that is a several $K annual expense to edge and mulch. As a result, we did it one year and then scuttled a lot of the planting beds...too expensive to maintain.

House Checker: At the lake, we have company who does winter house checks from Nov-Apr. They go through the house once per week for $15 per visit. Reasonable and well worth it.

Gopher/Handyman: Suggest you do as much of this as possible yourself. If we have workers that need to come out to the house, we time the appointment so we are there to let them in

Don't know if you're into boating, fishing, watersports, wintersports, but if you are, there are a "boatload" of expenses that will come up with these as well. Ex: Putting the dock / mooring in and out each year; buying and maintain the boat; buying all the sports gear and toys; the list goes on and on....

Hope this helps. Please PM me if you have any further questions or would like any more detailed info.
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Old 06-06-2017, 03:47 PM   #11
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Nice post, Meredith Man, worthy of a thanks.

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Old 06-06-2017, 04:02 PM   #12
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Seconded. Thank you Meredith Man!
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Old 06-06-2017, 04:57 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MeredithMan View Post
Hey JTRF--

Congrats on finding what sounds like a great property. Some of the things you're inquiring about we have at both our primary home and at the lake, so here are some numbers to consider:

Pool: We have an inground pool at our primary home. We pay our guy $650 in the spring and $650 in the fall to uncover/cover, get ready for the season/winterize. I do all my own vacuuming and chemicals during the summer. Chlorine and chemicals are typically a few hundred bucks per season. So for me, it's about $1600 per season to run the pool, but again, I do my own maint. I've received flyers from pool maint companies that charge anywhere from $2-4K per season for everything.

Plowing: At our primary home, we are on a private way with 3 houses. The road and driveways are plowed by the builder who built the little development. It's probably close to a 1/4 mile from the beginning of the private way to the end of my driveway. The plow guy charges us $75 per plow, based on a certain number of inches. The rate goes up the more snow there is. Our plow guy at the lake follows a similar scale, although his base charge is about $40.

Lawn Maint: We have a good sized yard at our primary home, and that runs $75 per mow. We have a lot of planting beds around the property and that is a several $K annual expense to edge and mulch. As a result, we did it one year and then scuttled a lot of the planting beds...too expensive to maintain.

House Checker: At the lake, we have company who does winter house checks from Nov-Apr. They go through the house once per week for $15 per visit. Reasonable and well worth it.

Gopher/Handyman: Suggest you do as much of this as possible yourself. If we have workers that need to come out to the house, we time the appointment so we are there to let them in

Don't know if you're into boating, fishing, watersports, wintersports, but if you are, there are a "boatload" of expenses that will come up with these as well. Ex: Putting the dock / mooring in and out each year; buying and maintain the boat; buying all the sports gear and toys; the list goes on and on....

Hope this helps. Please PM me if you have any further questions or would like any more detailed info.
Great post. I will just say that $650 is a lot of money for your opening and closing/ removing cover etc. Our pool company ( out of MA ) just upped their price to $280 each time I believe. $50 more if they clean the cartridge filter in the winter.
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