Retirement planning always involves questions of cost. How much will it cost to live there? What are those costs? Today, let’s break down some of these to make it easier to figure out if the cost of living inside Hot Springs Village is attractive enough for you to consider making your future home here.
Let’s begin with the monthly POA (Property Owners Association) assessments. These expenses are current as of 2025.
$50.42 a month for a single lot (commonly called “unimproved assessment,” which just means there are no utilities on the property
$113.19 a month for a single lot with utilities (a lot with a house on it fits the bill; this is commonly called an “improved assessment”)
Next would be the cost of electricity. No gas is inside the Village, although some people have propane tanks servicing their house.
Part of the Village is in Garland County, served by Entergy. We live in Saline County, the other county represented in the Village. Our electric provider is First Electric Coop.
Our house is about 2,200 square feet, built in 2022, and has 10-foot ceilings. In the winter months, during the day, we keep our thermostat set to 69 and turn it down to 67 at night. In the summer months, we keep it around 74. Ceiling fans run year-round (yes, we change the direction of the fans to blow the warm air down in the winter and to circulate the air in the summer).
Our typical monthly bill is about $150. Low months might run under $100, and high months (2 or 3 winter months) will be around $250 (or slightly higher).
Then there’s the water bill (pictured below is our most recent actual bill).
Our water bill is issued every other month and covers a 2-month billing cycle. This expense is relatively stable, varying only by a few dollars each time UNLESS you’re a heavy water user. My wife and I are empty nesters, so water usage doesn’t vary much. Yes, we bathe daily (she takes baths, and I take only showers) and do laundry once a week. We usually run our dishwasher once a week, too. We have no irrigation for our yard (no need to water rocks).
Everybody is charged a minimum of 5,000 gallons every two months. This bill—pictured above—is for January and February. Our usage was 4,204. If we had gone over the 5,000-gallon minimum, you’d see an extra line item for the overage. Since we were well under the minimum, we avoided that.
The regular water bill includes the other expenses – likely similar to the ones where you may live right now:
Sewer Charge $95
Each home has a grinder pump located just outside one side of the house. These are higher-tech devices that contribute to sewage treatment. The POA performs the sewer treatment here inside the Village.
Ambulance Fee $16.67
Street Lights $6.67
FSDWA Fee $1.00*
*Thanks to A.I. I found out what this stands for – Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Fee
Arkansas State Tax $6.75
Saline County Tax $.39
Conclusion: Our Totals*
So, not including property tax or home owner’s insurance, our monthly expenses are:
$113.19 monthly POA assessment
$150.00 monthly average electricity bill
$103.00 average monthly water bill (but it’s only paid every other month)
$366.19 monthly total
Our property taxes are $2070.10 a year or $172.51 a month.
Like everybody else’s around here, our insurance increased due to tornadoes last year to $997.89 a year or $83.16 a month.
That brings our total monthly overhead – not including mortgage because thankfully, we’re mortgage free – to:
$621.86 total monthly expenses
Compared to Texas, where we split our time but don’t own a house—our old house, where we lived for over 25 years—our Texas property taxes were just under $10,000 a year, or about $800 monthly. The monthly cost savings between Hot Springs Village and DFW are well over $2,000 a month.
Living costs are a major advantage of coming to Hot Springs Village. You can maintain whatever lifestyle you’re accustomed to here. Do you want to downsize and simplify your life? You can. Do you want to maintain a country club lifestyle and play golf every day of the year, weather permitting? You can. And best of all, you’ll likely be able to do it much more affordably than wherever you are right now. As with anything, your individual results will vary, but relatively speaking, I’ve never encountered anybody who moved to Hot Springs Village and saw their monthly expenses increase!
Please remember that we’ve not addressed any costs associated with the amenities—golf, tennis, pickleball, or anything else. These costs only apply if you choose to participate in them. And they’re quite reasonable, according to the folks who regularly participate. Member rates apply to everybody who belongs to the POA.
Lastly, there are things to consider, like the one-time “buy in” fee of $2,000 if you’re buying a house. It’s currently $300 if you purchase a lot. When and if you build a house on that lot, you’d have to pay the additional $1,700 to complete the $2,000 buy-in fee. But this isn’t an ongoing expense.
Hopefully, that helps you think about—and figure out—what your monthly overhead might be if you decide to move to Hot Springs Village. Your realtor can help you with some history of an existing house, and your builder can likely provide some help if you’re buying or building a new house. You’re wise to count the costs. We did, and it made buying a house inside Hot Springs Village even more attractive than the serenity and tranquility we get by being here.
We hope you’ll come visit. Let us know how we can help.
*Your mileage may vary, but this should give you an idea of what it can cost to live here inside Hot Springs Village.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:09 — 10.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | Android | iHeartRadio | RSS | More
• Join Our Free Email Newsletter
• Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel (click that bell icon, too)
• Join Our Facebook Group
• Support Our Sponsors
(click on the images below to visit their websites)
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
