Cost of living? (Houston: rent, student loans, home)

[City Love]

Originally Posted by ChocolateBabz

You sound like a similar family to ours. We are a family of 3 in Pearland (4300sq ft new build) we keep it at 76 deg in summer and probably about 68 in winter.

Gas runs at @ $100 winter @ $30 summer. The other big shock for us was home insurance which including TWI is costing @ $2800 this year .

This is very true and should be considered by all out of towners. The bigger the house the more expensive your insurance, especially in "coastal" counties.

[chris_ut]

Insurance is way higher on the coast. Up in Kingwood you would be looking at less than half of that for a similar size house.

[mikehtown]

Gymnastics for our 2 year old was $44/month @ Byron's for one 45 minute session per week
Ballet and tap for our 3 year old is $77/month @ Memorial Dance for an hour a week. I think there was some up front cost as well.

[1WVULAWGRAD]

Just wanted to comment that this was a great thread. I am not moving out there for another year and a half but it is good to know what I will be facing.

[davidtk]

We've been living in the Silverlake part of Pearland for more than 10 years. Below is what we pay for our 3000 square foot house, typically.

1. Water/sewer: around $20-$40 per month, higher in the summer.
2. Trash: as others have said, it's included in #1
3. Electric: Around $75-100 in winter to around $250-$350 in the summer. Typically the summer months are in the mid to upper $200's, with maybe one month in the low $300's. There's almost always someone home, so our bill would be quite a bit lower if that wasn't the case.

4. Lawn care and flower bed maintenance: $30 per time; so figure around $120 per month in summer time.
5. Pest control: we do this ourselves.
6. Babysitter for occasional night out on the town
7. Gymanstics or dance classes for young child

Homeowner's insurance can be more expensive in Pearland, technically being in a "coastal" county. We're right at the border to Harris county, but I think we still pay the coastal premium to some extent. However, one advantage is that I noticed my car insurance went down quite a bit when we moved out here from Houston, inside the loop. Granted, that was 10+ years ago.

[Visitor2007]

Originally Posted by davidtk

4. Lawn care and flower bed maintenance: $30 per time; so figure around $120 per month in summer time.

4 times lawn care per month?

[davidtk]

Originally Posted by Visitor2007

4 times lawn care per month?

Absolutely. Why is that strange? Everyone in my neighborhood also mows their yard about once a week. Pretty normal in Houston in summertime.

[chris_ut]

I get it every week in the spring and summer. Now that Fall is here we have cut back to every other week.

[EasilyAmused]

And if you have an individual yardman (hard to find outside the city) it will cost you 25 a week vs. the 40 yard crew...and my lot is very oversized.

[westres1]

If you are planning on staying in the home for just a few years I would consider a neighborhood with better resale and one that is already established like SilverLake...you wont have to compete with new construction when you are ready to sale.

Home sales up, prices down in Shadow Creek Ranch | Home Front | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

also,you should mow every week in Houston. 25 per week is what I pay