The Word Is Fixed

Pip: today's word is fixed. Professor Wobble: the average mortgage is about $25,000 a year; the extras, with HOA fees, nearly $28,000. Bitsy: the extras cost more than the house payment? Utilities $7,679, maintenance, taxes and insurance, and those keep rising; one planner says taxes and insurance are often over 20% of the payment. Fixed means the mortgage, not the bills. Mort: not everyone pays every bill, every year. Brought to you by the number 28,000.

Count HOA fees and the average homeowner's costs beyond the mortgage come to nearly $28,000 a year, more than the roughly $25,000 average annual mortgage payment, by a March 2026 survey: utilities $7,679, maintenance $5,162, HOA fees $4,196, renovations $3,929, property taxes $3,580 and insurance $3,336; a planner says the mistake is taking the 'fixed' in a fixed mortgage literally, since taxes and insurance often make up more than 20% of the payment and keep rising, though not every owner pays every item every year.

Starring

PipProfessor WobbleBitsyMort