Buying a house is expensive. It’s one of the biggest purchases that you will make in your life.
First, you need to find one in your budget, then there’s a downpayment, closing costs and the mortgage itself. They're all expensive payments that don’t end when your name is on the deed.
In fact, once the major payments go through most people start to feel the reality of how much it costs to own a home.
Jeff Ostrowski is an analyst with Bankrate, a personal finance company. Bankrate recently looked into the average cost of owning and maintaining a single-family home. They found it’s 28% higher than four years ago.
“These are all the monthly and ongoing costs beyond just the principal and interest on the mortgage payment. So, those are things like property taxes, homeowners’ insurance, ongoing repairs and maintenance, electricity bills, internet, cable -- all that kind of stuff,” Ostrowski says.
So, what does that actually look like in Virginia? According to Bankrate, the average “hidden costs,” in 2020 were $14,406. In 2024, that jumped to $17,647.
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In North Carolina, Bankrate says it was $11,199 in 2020 and $14,647 in 2024.
Breaking that down further, it's on average more than $1,400 per month for Virginians and $1,200 for North Carolinians. Two big factors in the cost are inflation and soaring insurance premiums.
“We just wanted to make sure that buyers are aware of that, and we wanted to give some guidelines about how much you can expect to pay,” he says.
Setting your expectations and budget can help you avoid debt.
Ostrowski’s advice is to find a financially responsible way to pay for these things, have an emergency stash, and consider borrowing from a home equity line rather than putting charges on a credit card.
