Heating costs? Property taxes?

[Spartana]

In my endless search for my dream hovel in my dream town, I realize that I need to take into account both heating costs and property taxes. I had always wanted to move back to Maine - or somewhere in New England - but after hearing about the continually rising property taxes and heating costs I don't know if that's a smart idea. So what, on average, do you pay in your area for property taxes and to heat your home. I'd be looking for a small house probably under 1000 sf. :thankyou:

[kib]

Bisbee, AZ: approximately $1200 a year for property tax on a 1100 sq. house on 1/4 acre. About half that for a 900 sq. on a 2000 sq foot lot. - hey, wanna buy my house?? :~) Heating cost ... well I'm a lunatic, so about $25 a month. But even normal people seem to pay somewhere in the range of $120 a month at the max, and only for about 3 months.

[Crystal]

You can get a pretty decent house here in OK for between $50K and $100K (less if you don't mind a little DIY), and property tax is 1% of the value per year. Heating cost will depend on how cold the winter is and how well weatherized your house is. Last winter I paid about $200/mo. for heat. This winter is shaping up to be less, both because it is milder so far and because I had the house weatherized last summer.

[Yppej]

I am in New England and use approximately 500 gallons of oil per year, keeping the temperature at 68 degrees. I have installed insulation and new windows and doors over the years. Current lock-in price is 2.699 per gallon - this will vary of course by how much competition is in your area as well as by state fuel taxes. RET is just under $200 a month. Even more variation there by state - for example, NH is high because they don't have sales or state income tax whereas in Mass. it's more reasonable as rates per $1000 in value can't increase more than 2 1/2% a year without an override by local voters.

[Tenngal]

1400 + sq ft house and 6 Ac mtn side land = $126,000 appraised value for taxes which run around $750 per year. House was built in 1993, well insulated and our heating runs $600-$750 per year. We are a little frugal with the heat 64 at night and 68 during the day.

[Blackdog Lin]

Small-town Kansas, new(er) 1800sqft house built in 1993, well insulated, with 7 acres, pond, and large 2000sqft unimproved (dirt floor) barn: we payed in 2010 $1944.28/year in property taxes, and heating (everyone uses natural gas around here) ran us an average of $63.75/month (I just ran the report on my Quicken - it was interesting to find out how much we spend on heating/natural gas). And I am not at ALL frugal with the heating, as I hate being cold, and hate it more the older I get.....

[artist]

I live in a 964 sq ft house in Southern New Hampshire. I do heat the basment (we have a home office down there and ds uses the unfinished part so I'm heating 1800 sq ft total. My Decmeber bill was $135 for gas heat. My property taxes for the house, two car detatched garage on a .25 acre lot is $3200 a year. Something to consider, because I live in New Hampshire, is that there is no sales tax and there is no state income tax. So while the property taxes are high, it's practically the only tax I have to pay to the sate.

[JaneV2.0]

Seattle suburb, $5000-plus for property taxes on a mid-sized house on a largish lot, $100 or so per month for all electricity, including heat.

[catherine]

For New Jersey, I think I have great property taxes--$7,000 for a 1800 sq ft home in a VERY centrally-located area (exactly between NYC and Philly off of I-95). I actually really like where I live, but I wouldn't recommend it to people looking to get the best deal on property taxes.. NJ is the worst in the nation.

I did a little search and found that Benton NH has the best deal on property taxes, but it's not much of a town. They say that PA and DE are great states for "retirees" (I know you're too young to be considered a traditional retiree, but for all intents and purposes...)

Upstate NY has some nice towns that are affordable. I personally have sights on VT, but the cute big towns are expensive (Burlington and Manchester). However, other really cute towns (I don't know the property tax rates of) in VT are Brattleboro, Winhall, Jamaica, Chester, Weston, Waitsfield, Dorset, Ludlow, Brandon. I know of all those towns because we spend a month a year in VT and we've slept in almost all of them

[herbgeek]

About 3800/year in real estate taxes for a 1600 sq foot house on 3 acres in central MA. Heating costs probably around 1700-1900/year, but I keep it at 70 during the day since I'm home.

[sweetana3]

Indianapolis has extremely low property taxes (compared to those mentioned). We live downtown, 3bed/2bath 1400 with finished basement, detached home with 2 car garage, brick patio, walk to downtown and our property taxes are less than $2100. We heat water and house with gas and gas is budget $34 a month all year. Electric is around $75 a month and includes AC and all the electronic gadgets DH has running.

My husband's parents live in upstate in a tiny one bedroom house/one bath with no updates and their property tax is over $2000 per year and gas heat is over $100 per month. Plus they have over 8 feet of snow and all the issues with snow removal.

[Float On]

SW MO. 1500 sq ft house and a detached 30x24 garage on 1/2 acre is $700 year property tax, my heatpump/air is too small for my house (all electric) plus we have several other energy drainers and my budget billing for electric has gone up to $185 month.

[pinkytoe]

Austin, Texas - Property tax on 1500 sf 1950's house with value of $325,000 - $5900.
To heat with natural gas in coldest months runs about $90 a month.

[Spartana]

I know you're too young to be considered a traditional retiree, but for all intents and purposes...



Not so young anymore ;)! Burlington, VT was one of the areas I was looking at (along with Portland, Me and Portsmouth, NH) so thanks for the info. Might have to look further south - like Maryland or the North Carolina Coast for affordable housing, more moderate weather (cheaper heating and cooling costs), and (I believe) fairly low property tax. I figure halfway between New England and Florida with easy access to Europe might not be too shabby of a place to live. Anyone have suggestions? I was stationed in Yorktown, VA and Oak Island, NC (near Southport & Wilmington) and loved them both. Also stationed in Cape May, NJ which I thought was great! But high prices and prop tax there. I'm pretty amazed at both how low and how high property taxes are in some areas. Very different than I though. Thanks for the info everyone - very helpful. :thankyou: Lindi

[rodeosweetheart]

We moved from NY because the property taxes were awful.
In SC, we paid 420 for property taxes for a year, 1000 sq ft on 3/4 acre.
When we lived here before and had central air and heat, it was around 100 a month for both, I think. Now, we have no heat or air, so it's kind of cheap! In NY, we heated with woodstove, but still had to do supp. heat at times.
It's really heavenly here.

[bae]

Washington State, 25 year old Pacific NW rambler-style nothing-special house, $5342/year in property tax, appraised value ~$1.1 million

Yearly heating budget is:

8 months/year $40 month perhaps, electric: $320
4 months/year $200/month electric, and a few cords of wood that cost me nothing but labor: $800

$1120 total

[Spartana]

Thanks for the info! But guess what - I just bought a new place in SoCal. Move there in 3 weeks. Not exactly my dream home, but in a good area and a good place for the pups and it was super inexpensive. Will also have inexpensive prop taxes since they will be 1% of the purchase price and can't go up by more than 2% a year, and should have fairly low utilities as it's in a moderate climate. And I still will have enough moolah left over to be able to travel or rent a vacation house for several months each year. YIPPEE!!!

[rodeosweetheart]

Congratultions, that is absolutely wonderful news! There is nothing like a little house of one's own,and a safe place for the dogs.

[JaneV2.0]

New place envy wafting your way...(smells kinda like flop sweat).

[Spartana]

New place envy wafting your way...(smells kinda like flop sweat).

Ha Ha - If you saw the place you wouldn't be envious. Can you say "flop house?" :-)!! Need some work - which I probably won't ever do, not being a big home improvement person. Not bad but a very basic little place in a kind of rustic setting but within a mile of all sorts of shops and stuff. Just a place to hang with the dogs and lay my head at night.

[JaneV2.0]

Sounds just right to me. Half-hidden in a rustic setting? Perfect! Congratulations!

[Spartana]

Sounds just right to me. Half-hidden in a rustic setting? Perfect! Congratulations!

Thanks!!