WiseAddressMethodology index

Ongoing Costs subscore (v1)

Version 1.0.0 · Published 2026-06-04

What this is

Ongoing Costs is one of three independent subscores rendered next to the Environmental Grade on every report. It summarizes the recurring obligations a buyer would inherit, distinct from the headline purchase price.

Tier definitions

  • $ — HOA and insurance both project to within buyer-set caps. Recurring spend is unlikely to surprise.
  • $$ — One of the two inputs lands in a band that warrants quote-shopping or HOA-bylaw review before bidding.
  • $$$ — Both inputs project high or one of them dramatically exceeds the buyer-set cap. The tier renders with a warning chevron on the report.

Tier escalation: any input firing the highest band escalates the whole subscore to $$$, even if the other input is benign. The buyer's mental model is "what is the worst recurring obligation here", not an arithmetic mean.

Inputs (at v1)

  • HOA fee: read from listing data when present; tier is set by comparing monthly HOA against the buyer's configured hoa-fee threshold. If the HOA field is missing from the listing, the verdict is n/a and the chip surfaces "HOA fee unknown".
  • Insurance band: modeled tier (Gold / Silver / Bronze) from the property's year-built relative to FL hurricane-era + post-2001 code-cycle revisions (2002+ Gold, 1994-2001 Silver, pre-1994 Bronze). When the listing carries no year-built, the tier is n/a and the chip surfaces "estimate unavailable". We also show a rough annual dollar range derived from the list price and year built. Because building age is a gradient you can soften (wind-mitigation credits, a re-roof) rather than a cost cliff, the subscore caps the insurance input at $$, so an older build alone does not max out Ongoing Costs.
  • Flood insurance: a rough annual dollar range from the property's FEMA flood zone, led by whether coverage is federally required (in a Special Flood Hazard Area) or optional (zone X). Coastal V/VE zones can escalate the subscore to $$$. See the Flood Insurance estimate (v1) page for ranges and the NFIP / Risk Rating 2.0 caveats. An estimate, not a quote.

Provenance footer (round-6 condition)

Per the round-6 external review by Kimi K2.6 + DeepSeek V4 Pro (2026-06-04), every report renders the following text in the Ongoing Costs tooltip and in the tier's detail panel:

Cost figures from listing data + modeled insurance bands. Confirm all fees, taxes, and insurance directly before purchase. Does not capture all ongoing obligations.

The disclaimer travels with the tier so a screenshot of the chip carries its own context. Buyers should obtain real quotes; this subscore is a screening signal, not a binding estimate.

What this does not include (at v1)

  • Property-tax projection. Tied to county millage + Save Our Homes portability rules; deferred until the FL DOR feed lands.
  • A precise flood-insurance quote. We now surface a rough flood-insurance range by FEMA zone (see Inputs above), but a binding number needs an Elevation Certificate we do not have.
  • Special assessments, CDD fees, capital reserves. These get their own line items in the Schools & Childcare and Neighborhood Amenities subscores or the BLUF prose; we don't collapse them into Ongoing Costs.
  • Mortgage and PMI. WiseAddress is intentionally lender-neutral.

Why a tier instead of a dollar amount

Listing HOA and modeled insurance carry materially different confidence. A buyer comparing five addresses needs a comparable signal at a glance; we surface the per-input dollar values inside the tier's detail panel so a click reveals the full breakdown, but the chip itself stays $/$$/$$$.

Versioning

Pinned at v1. Reports persist the subscore version so a v2 publish does not silently rewrite older citations.

Methodology pages document how WiseAddress measures what it measures. Every report citation in the form [src] (rendered inline on a report) resolves to a page like this one.