Anyone else with HUGE hikes in utility, insur., local tax bills?

[lanlady]

As of this month I've been socked with a $200/mo. increase in mortgage due to rising property taxes and home insurance rates; $100/mo. increase for electricity and water; and a $30 hike for car insurance each month. Not to mention the insidious "service enhancements" (ie., price hikes) I've come to expect from Comcast. Nothing has changed in my life to merit these increases. My mortgage loan officer whom I just spoke to said he's getting lots of calls from homeowners like me in a panic. He said the insurance companies especially are getting brutal.

Anyone else care to rant with me?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. $700/yr increase in property tax, $600/yr insurance increase for 2 cars

Thanks, George!

[k in IA]

4. Just received a notice of a 21% rate increase in

our electricity bill. Big cuts in programs in schools. Closing recycling center, etc., etc., etc.

[sadiesworld]

2. I hear you...

Our mortgage payment is up $130, the electric bill has skyrocketed, and we will be paying close to $700 per year insurance on a crappy little used car we just purchased. My husband and I are fixing up our house in order to sell it, it has become unaffordable.

[Ilsa]

3. Yeah, our home mortgage payment is up

about $95 per month for this year, both taxes and insurance. Part of it is to cover last year's unexpected shortfall. Altogether, our payments are up about $800 for this year (expected). No telling what the reality will be.

Damn Bush, pushing down all the taxes to give his buddies a break.

I wonder how we are supposed to afford our lives when our salaries start averaging down due to outsourcing. We are figuring my husband will take a 50% cut in pay when he loses his job in a couple of years. Is deflation in housing a possibility when average salries fall?

[bread_and_roses]

5. Electric & Natural Gas

have increased exponentially here in the Southern Tier of NY. People I work with who live in small apartments are telling me their energy bill is up 100% from last year. This is a terrible hardship on low income people...if "middle-class" earners are shell-shocked, imagine the impact of a $300.00 gas bill on a minimum wage worker.

[tabasco]

12. Maryland too.

Natural gas prices shocked the hell out of me this winter, and I keep the place at about 50 degrees.

[Bertha Venation]

6. Home and Auto Insurance both went up.

When we insured our home -- brand new home, 3 years ago -- our premium was $320. After tornado damage it went up to $420. This year it's gone up to $680 -- no claims since the tornado in '02. The auto insurance (same company) went up, too, after tornado damage to one of the cars. (Hailstones made it look like someone had taken a ball peen hammer to it.)

[burythehatchet]

7. The bubble's about to burst

Besides the Federal and State defecits, consuners are also running up huge defecits. They are borrowing against the imputed value of a house and getting cash to finance current consumption. What will happen when the 3 yr ARM kicks up by a couple hundred a month?

[lanlady]

10. never seen it so bad

Right. People don't realize either that there's no such thing as a "fixed rate." As your property increases in value, so does your tax bill. They've really got us coming and going.

[burythehatchet]

14. Yes - we have been led by the pied piper to the land of indebtedness

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose.

[Suziq]

8. I am a Renter . . .

and my landlord raises my rent according to his property taxes. No increase in my rent yet - but was told one is coming.

I pay all utilities like a homeowner. My gas bill has skyrocketed this winter, my water bill has gone up, ditto garbage collection, car insurance for two cars; a 1998 Jeep and 1989 Olds. is out of control! :grr:

It really makes me laugh when people are so thrilled with their "tax cuts". Do they not see that they are paying a hell of a lot more for services since states have to pick up the shortfall. Do people not want cops, firefighters, good schools and roads you can drive on without having to dodge huge potholes. I don't get it.

:hippie:

[BigMcLargehuge]

9. utilities have risen sharply in the last five months

with my bill showing administrative, maintenence, and procurement charges as twice the cost of the kilowatt usage. I spend about $35 a month in actual electric usage, and over $75 in the above mentioned charges.

[lanlady]

11. exactly same with me--

I'm in No. Virginia. Looking over my utility bill, and that's exactly how they're justifying the increases. My bills should be lower because we're only 2 people now instead of 4. I'm fit to be tied.

[Mandate My Ass]

13. $500 heating/elec bill for January

for the first time in my life I'm carrying a balance on my utility bill. I keep my heat in the low 60s during the day when I'm not home and the high 60s in the evening. I just heard PECO wants to start charging an $80 surcharge to paying customers to cover the deadbeats.

Local tax in my town went up, services like trash collection went down.

Water is up and is set to rise yet again.

It seems the fees, service charges and penalties on everything are becoming absurd.

Insurance is expensive but not rising....yet. :scared:

[lanlady]

15. What's PECO?

n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

18. Philadelphia Electric Co.

We've always paid some of the highest rates in the country for gas and electric, but PGW (Phila Gas Works) has been run into the ground by fraud and mismanagement and now the consumer is paying the costs.

[EV1Ltimm]

16. $350 bill for heating/electricity in february

then on top of having to pay uncle sam $2000(!!!!) even though i claimed 0 all year(!!!!) my mortgage payment went up $11 a month.

[Tyler Durden]

17. Gas is up over 1000%

Used to hover around $10-$20/month, last one was over $200.

Electricity has doubled.

Hey, the Romanovs need an extra Summer home in the Bahamas.

[shanti]

19. you must have read my mind!!

i JUST got my latest mortgage bill telling me that my monthly mortgage had a shortfall (again!) and would be raised *temporarily* until it was right. i'm in california. so do you think it's the insurance or the property taxes that are going up?

i need to find a good company for my homeowner's ins. Does anyone have any suggestion for good ones? i have farmer's now and have heard it is one of the highest.

btw, what about your car insurance? i have AAA and it went up 200 dollars last year!!

[bushh8ter]

20. DOUBLED PROPERTY TAXES in Maryland

It will be phased in over three years -- but homeowners insurance also rose so I'm awiting an 'adjustment' notice anyday now. Water just went up, natural gas has gone up, car insurance went up, daycare up a whopping 15% in one year. Guess what has not gone up .... you guessed it- my income.

[amazona]

21. homeowner's insurance, water going up

Homeowner's insurance has gone from around $400 a year to around $650 a year. Don't know what flood insurance will be but assume it will have to rise also -- I'll find out in a couple months -- but my street had several homes flood less summer after only six inches of rain in a former no-flood zone. The water bill has gone through the roof as well, plus we're paying for recycling even though they haven't picked up the recycling in around 2 years.

Don't have cable. Electric and car insurance have stayed the same.

There are rumbles that the assessor is going to re-assess inexpensive homes to try to get them on the property tax rolls. If so, they'll be putting lots of older and low income people out of their homes.