Ask the seller for twelve months of actual operating figures rather than estimates — utilities, landscaping, pool, security, insurance, tax, dues and staffing. Add a reserve for cyclical items like roof and HVAC. Property tax is frequently reassessed on transfer, so what the seller pays may not be what you pay.
Buyers concentrate on the purchase price and rarely on the running cost. The second number is knowable in advance, substantial, and consistently underestimated.
Buyers of large properties concentrate almost entirely on the purchase price and rarely on what the property costs to run. The second number is knowable in advance, frequently substantial, and consistently underestimated by people who have only owned smaller homes.
Not estimates. Actual figures for the last full year, from the seller.
Most sellers can produce them and reasonable sellers will. A seller who declines is telling you something, though not necessarily something sinister — some genuinely do not track it.
What to request: utilities, landscaping, pool and spa service, pest control, security monitoring, association dues, insurance, property tax, and any staffing.
Utilities at scale. Heating and cooling a large volume, particularly one with high ceilings, extensive glazing or a pool, does not scale linearly from a smaller house. Neither does water on an estate lot with mature planting.
Landscaping to standard. Mature grounds are the reason many people buy a property and among the largest recurring costs. Maintaining them to the level they were maintained is not optional if you want them to stay that way.
Pool, spa and water features. Service, chemicals, heating and eventual equipment replacement. Water features are more expensive than they look.
Systems maintenance. Multiple HVAC zones, a generator, an elevator, water treatment, irrigation controls and home automation all carry service contracts. Individually modest, collectively meaningful.
Insurance. Now a substantial and rising line item on high-value property, and worth quoting before purchase rather than assuming.
Property tax. Frequently reassessed on transfer. What the seller pays may bear no relationship to what you will pay, and the difference on a large property can be considerable.
Where a property is genuinely large, it may not be practically maintainable without help.
A house manager, regular housekeeping, grounds staff, or a caretaker for a property that sits empty between visits. Sellers rarely volunteer this and it can exceed every other operating cost combined.
Ask what the current owner does. If the answer is that they have three people, running it with none is unlikely to work.
A property occupied a few weeks a year does not cost proportionally less to run.
Systems still need servicing, grounds still need maintaining, and an empty property in a cold or coastal climate needs active management. Freeze protection, humidity control, security and someone to attend when something happens.
Some costs actually rise with absence, because you are paying others to do what you would otherwise do yourself.
Beyond running costs sit things that fail on a schedule: roof, HVAC plant, pool equipment, seawall, exterior paint, driveway, generator.
None arrive monthly and all arrive eventually. On a large property they are large numbers. A buyer who budgets only for running costs will find these arriving as unpleasant surprises rather than planned expenditure.
Establish the age of each during diligence and set aside accordingly.
Two properties at the same price can differ enormously in what they cost to hold, and the cheaper one to run is meaningfully cheaper to own.
High operating costs also narrow the resale pool. A property that is expensive to hold is one fewer buyers can comfortably keep, and that shows up when you come to sell.
Ask for the numbers early. They are among the easiest things to obtain and among the most consequential.
Twelve months of actual figures rather than estimates: utilities, landscaping, pool and spa, pest control, security monitoring, association dues, insurance, property tax and any staffing.
Utilities at scale, which do not rise linearly from a smaller house, and landscaping to the standard the grounds were maintained. Staffing surprises people most of all, and sellers rarely volunteer it.
Frequently not. Property tax is often reassessed on transfer, and on a large property the difference between what the seller pays and what you will pay can be considerable.
Not proportionally. Systems still need servicing and grounds still need maintaining, and an empty property needs active management — freeze protection, humidity control, security. Some costs rise with absence.
Cyclical replacements: roof, HVAC plant, pool equipment, seawall, exterior paint, driveway, generator. Establish the age of each during diligence and reserve accordingly rather than meeting them as surprises.
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