Budgeting maintenance for new home

[jtrf]

Hello everyone!

My wife and I have found our dream home, on the water in Alton, but like every dream home it will be quite a stretch for our budget. Before we let our emotions get the better of us, we wanted to get a sense for what the maintenance costs will be. Here's what we think we need:

1) Snow removal. The house is on a shared private road. The owner of a (very large) house at the end used to generously pay for all the houses along the road, but this is apparently changing. We'd be responsible for about 0.3 miles of a fairly thin, somewhat hilly road, and our own driveway which is probably longer than normal. We'll be there on weekends only, but I guess we'll need it plowed all the time for fuel delivery etc.

2) Landscaping. The house has beautiful grounds sloping down to the lake. I'd estimate 2 acres of land-scapable land. Most of that is lawns, but there are lots (hundreds) of flowers around the house. Everything would need to be planted in the spring, and watered and mowed throughout the summer.

3) Pool. The house has an in-ground pool, which is large for a spa but small for a pool. We'd need someone to maintain that as well.

4) Handyman. Friends say this is really important, and people typically charge by the hour. Would be great if he could stop by the house a couple times just to check everything while we're away during the week.

5) "Gopher." It would be really nice, but not necessary, to have someone pick up our mail from the post office, be at the house to meet workmen, etc. Not sure if a handyman would do this or would be affordable for this type of work.

I know this is a lot! But given the sage advice that goes back and forth on this forum, we'd love any thoughts and advice you have. What should we expect in terms of ballpark prices? Can you suggest any good vendors?

Thanks ever so much!