Where do you live? Grande Prairie Alberta, Canada.
If you own how much is your mortgage? $290 bi-weekly. This is only because of a significant down payment.
How much do you pay in property taxes? I believe about $2300.
**What did you pay for it? How long again? What is it worth today? ** We paid $176,000 just over 1-1/2 year ago. It is easily worth $205,000 now. $30K in over 1 year is a good thing!
Describe your house or apartment: Approx 1300FT[sup]2[/sup] Bi-Level (approx 2000FT[sup]2[/sup] in total developed, livable space). We have 3 relatively large bedrooms upstairs. The master has an ensuite with a soaker tub. We have a large kitchen and living room upstairs as well. The living room has a fireplace. I have the basement approx 1/2 developed (about another 700FT[sup]2[/sup]). We have a a pool table on one end of it, and a family room at the other end where the TV is as well as another fireplace. The rest of the basement is undeveloped. That is what we use for storage as well as washer/dryer, deep freeze, furnace, hot water, etc.
How long is your commute? Really depends on the traffic. It could be anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.
Where do you live? Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
If you own how much is your mortgage? $1,950 monthly
How much do you pay in property taxes? around $1,400 annually, although I believe DC is re-evaluating the neighborhood values in the near future
What did you pay for it? How long again? What is it worth today? We paid $280,000 in the Spring of 2002, it was just appraised at $370,000 in August 2003.
Describe your house or apartment: 100 year old brick rowhouse, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths (although one of the baths is in such poor condition to make it virtually unuseable). HW floors throughout, original woodwork, but a real fixer-upper. We’ve done a large amount of work since we bought it, but we still have a bunch left. We are within walking distance of Metro, a large city park, and Eastern Market, a historic open air food market.
How long is your commute? My work is probably 1.5 miles away, it takes 15-20 minutes walking and taking Metro. My husband fruitbat works in the Virginia 'burbs, so he commutes against the traffic and it takes him about 45 minutes.
Laughing Lagamorph, looks like we gotcha beat on monthly payments.
Melandry, your apartment sounds just like my best friend’s place near Fenway when she was a grad student at BU. I would’ve sworn it was the same building, but I believe she was on Boylston.
Where do you live? Northwest suburbs of Greensboro, NC
If you rent, how much per month do you pay?
If you own how much is your mortgage? $1,463 (includes taxes/insurance)
How much do you pay in property taxes? $1,600ish
What did you pay for it? How long again? What is it worth today? We paid $223,000 5 years ago. Recently appraised for $289,000.
Describe your house or apartment: Our house was is a two story brick home on a one acre waterfront lot built in 1998. (Waterfront in our case = 6 acre pond, but whose complaining. :)) It has 3,300 heated sq. ft., 4BR, 2.5 bath, hardwoods on first floor, 1100 sq. ft. deck (thanks to our remodeling efforts last summer) and a two car garage. This thread reminds me why I like the cost of living here in NC so much.
How long is your commute? By car, ten minutes if I leave at 8:00am. About 30 mintues if I leave at 7:45am.
As you might have guessed from the location, I am also a BU grad student, so that is quite a coincidence. The company I rent from has dozens of semi-identical buildings (3 other grad students in my deptartment rent from them also) so maybe that’s the reason. In any case, a nice reminder that I am not the only one to suffer so…
**If you own how much is your mortgage? ** About $1200/month (but I’m paying an extra $250 each month towards the principle)
**How much do you pay in property taxes? ** The house hasn’t been assessed yet, but taxes will probably come to about $5000/year.
**What did you pay for it? How long ago? What is it worth today? ** I purchased the house in April 2003 for $259,000. It’s too new to have appreciated much.
**Describe your house or apartment: ** My house is a brand new, 2700 square foot raised ranch with a brick front and hardboard siding on the sides and rear. 1780 square feet upstairs, with three bedrooms and two baths, all hardwood floors, granite countertops in the kitchen (which also has a dining area that opens out onto a raised deck), a great room with library paneling on the walls plus built-in bookcases and a cathedral ceiling with huge floor-to-ceiling windows flanking a gas fireplace. The basement is a walkout, also finished, and has a large family room, a fourth bedroom, and a 3/4 bath. The lot is gently sloping and sparsely landscaped (that’s next summer’s project!).
**How long is your commute? ** About 20-25 minutes by car.
If you own how much is your mortgage?$1,060, which includes property tax and home insurance
How much do you pay in property taxes? I’d have to go find a mortgage statement and calculate it up
What did you pay for it? How long again? What is it worth today? We paid $124,000 a year and a half ago, appreciation is fairly negligible
Describe your house or apartment: Our house is a 3-bedroom with 1300 heated square feet with a full unfinished basement, hardwood floors, elaborate trims and moldings, patio, and rocking chair front porch, on a 100ftX50ft lot with mature plantings and fenced backyard. It’s really rather more house than two humans, two cats and two dogs need, but the yard is about right for the girls.
How long is your commute? Dr.J drives about 7 minutes to the hospital. My trip to work takes about half an hour during rush hour traffic, then about 15 minutes to come home in the middle of the night.
Incidentally, Jammer, do you live on Lake Jeannette?
If you rent, how much per month do you pay? N/A although a similar house would be priced at about £2500 a month maybe more
If you own how much is your mortgage? Bought outright.
How much do you pay in property taxes? Not sure what this means - we have a local council tax levied on properties and it’s about £1000 pa (lowest in the country), not completely sure how much.
What did you pay for it? £225,000
How long ago? Five years
What is it worth today? Hard to say - but at least £500,000 (the wife is a style and lifestyle journalist and has used the house as a test bed - which means it’s got lot’s of goodies, which could concievably add to the price) The £500,00 is without the additions.
Describe your house or apartment: Edwardian 4 bed semi, big rooms, thick walls 120 ft garden. Crap plumbing.
How long is your commute? I work all over london - it takes me 15 minutes to get to Earls Ct and however long from there - currently about 45 minutes to Shepherds Bush for TV centre.
Lake Jeanette would be nice, CrazyCatLady, but no such luck for us. I don’t think our “lake” would be recognized by name by anyone in the area, but I did see it with the title “Pope Lake” on a map once. I think it was likely a primary farm pond years ago when the land was an active tobacco farm. Nothing fancy, but large enough to take the kids out on the canoe and fish occasionally.
If you own how much is your mortgage? $560/mo 30 year
How much do you pay in property taxes? included in payment
What did you pay for it? How long again? What is it worth today? $84,000 1.5 years ago, appraised 6 months ago at $98,000.
Describe your house or apartment: 1.5 story house built in 1930’s. Refinished hardwood throughout, crown molding throughout, and nice old wooden molding throughout. Updated Kitchen and bath. 1 bedroom downstairs, 1 bedroom + walk in closet upstairs. 1 bath. nusery or small office off bedroom downstairs. Living room & separate dining room. Off street parking, small lot. about 1300 square feet. Basement, but not livable.
In the US most property owners pay a yearly tax to the local municipality of some percentage of the property’s calculated value. If the property has a building or buildings it is assumed to be worth more and the taxes are higher. The actual percentage people pay varies from place to place.
In my case we pay property taxes to our town. This money pays for our town’s schools, as well as such local services as police and fire protection, roads, garbage pickup, water and sewer, and a various other things. Some places have fewer services and the taxes are lower.
Re the above we have something similar - Council tax - a locally raised tax based on the value of the house, it is in five bands. It is to pay towards local services such as highways and schools, police etc
The amounts can vary hugely - I live in Wandsworth Borough - which has the lowest property tax in the country. I am very near the boundry with another Authority - Merton, which is Labour controlled and by virtue of being about 50 yards on the right side of the border I save something like £2000 a year.
Labour canvassers get short shrift in the Owl household.
I don’t think our “lake” would be recognized by name by anyone in the area, but I did see it with the title “Pope Lake” on a map once. I think it was likely a primary farm pond years ago when the land was an active tobacco farm. Nothing fancy, but large enough to take the kids out on the canoe and fish occasionally.