Buying a home comes with more expenses than you may realize, especially if you’re a first-time buyer.

There are many costs to take into consideration that you may not have previously experienced, especially if you were renting.

When searching for your new home, keep in mind that there are more costs to factor in than just the monthly mortgage payment, such as:

Property Taxes

The amount you pay for property taxes depends on the city-assessed value of your home.

Example: A typical 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home sells for approximately 1.25M (or more) within the City of Victoria. As the assessed value is typically is much lower than the selling price, we will use $1,000,000 as the assessed value. At $1M assessed home will push you to a 0.509% property tax rate equally an annual property tax payment of $6,372.

Keep in mind this amount can change annually based on your assessed value and the rate at which property taxes are applied.

Home Insurance

This number will vary greatly depending on how much you own, your insurance claims history, and the policy you’ve chosen, but on average, you can expect to pay 100-$150 per month. 

Water, sewage and garbage/recycling

If you were previously renting, these costs may come as a surprise for you!

Water charges are based on usage and this amount may vary each month. Water rates within the City of Victoria are charged at $4.52 per unit with 1 unit being 623 gallons of water.

Garbage and recycling charges are based on the size of bins you are using. Most homes opt for an 80-litre bin which is charged at $66.82 every 4 months.

For the average home, sewage rates are approximately $560 per year, this is based on a rate of 188.8 cents per cubic metre of sewage. 

Hydro

Your Hydro bill will depend on usage with the average monthly bill in BC costing anywhere from $120 - $290 per month.

Rates are charged as follows:

Residential: $0.0884 per kWh for the first 1,350 kWh in an average two-month billing cycle, and $0.1326 per kWh for any additional consumption

Gas

Not all homes will have gas, however, if your new home does, you can expect a gas bill ranging anywhere from $100-150 per month.

Gas may be a better option for heating your home than Hydro as it's often more affordable, it heats faster and uses less energy. 

Repairs and Maintenance

This involves everything from having your ducts cleaned to the furnace serviced to cleaning the gutters and downspouts.

While this may not be applicable every year, you may also run into much larger costs with things such as roof replacements that cost upwards of $10,000 or upgrading appliances and small renovations.

Experts suggest you budget 1-3% of the value of your home every year to deal with repairs and maintenance.

While taking on the responsibility of owning a home can be overwhelming the benefits will pay off as you build equity and upgrade your home increasing its value over time!