Oil Heated Houses? (Boston, Arlington: apartments, rental, condo)

[Deusuh]

I am moving to Boston in the next few months and am about to do a scouting trip for either rental houses or apartments. I started to look around to see how much utilities would cost in each and haven't really got an accurate view from the internet. More specifically, I am between a choice of five different apartments, or a two story 2000 sq. ft. house that utilizes oil. Can you help? Please answer these questions:

1. Describe your housing situation in Boston as of today. Apartment or house, gas or oil, electricity and provider, square feet, etc...

2. What do you estimate that you pay on utilities every year?

Any answers will be appreciated.

Thanks!

[smarty]

First... if you did a search on this site... it's been discussed many times.

Second... your question is like asking how much gas a Toyota uses a year. It depends... how much energy you use depends on how well a house is insulated, temperature you set, temperature out side, how much hot water you use, efficiency of the burner, ... all these factors can vary dramatically how much oil you will use. In any case, an average house uses about 1000 gallons of oil a year. The current price of oil is $4.50/gal.

Gas currently is about half the price of oil for the same BTU. But, things can change quickly, oil went up 45% from last year.

All the other utilities can vary dramatically... depends on how you use it... if you turn on air conditioning all day... you could be paying $400 a month.

Usually apartment cost less since you can have 5 of the 6 sides of an apartment your neighbor heating it for you. The range I would says is between $150-500/month for heat and electricity.

[Deusuh]

Thanks Smarty. I realized that the standard deviation would be high, but I still wanted to guage what people might say. I did search through the forums, but saw responses from more than a year ago.. and as you stated... the price of oil has grown quite a bit. Also, being from the other side of the country I know nothing about oil for heating. There are only 8.1 million homes in the country (most in New England) utilizing it now and it is shrinking every year. In my world, electricity, water, sewer, gas, trash pickup, internet, and telephone, would never cost more than $500 combined... but then I hear that the average consumption of oil in Boston per household is 900-1000 gallons and WHOA!!! That is close to $500 a month... plus all that other stuff.

Renting an apartment is looking better and better

[golden_calf]

Originally Posted by Deusuh

Renting an apartment is looking better and better

Tell me about it. The apartment I rent uses one heater for the whole building, so heating fees are paid for collectively by the condo association. What that means is that as renters, I see none of that, though our landlord's condo fees have shot up in recent years.

We have some friends who rent a large house with an old oil heater in Arlington, and the burden of heating the home falls on them. They had to have it filled every two weeks in the winter, and it cost a fortune! And, their place was chilly all winter anyway. I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but basically, it's a situation you want to avoid if at all possible.