Help to estimate utility costs and question about vehicle tax. (Dallas: condo, how much)

[dtkn]

We'll be moving to the DFW around Jan 08 time and would like to get some more info on utility costs for a better planning. I know these are hard to determine and will depends on the city, size of the house and personal usage, but I'd like to get a general idea and some stats to compare on average. I'd greatly appreciate if anyone can share or provide some data. The info I am looking for are:

City: (interest in Richardson, Plano, Galand, but also appreciate data from other nearby areas)

Size of the house ( in sqf):

Yearly electric cost:

Yearly gas cost:

Yearly water/waste cost:

On the side, I also want to know if we have to pay annual tax for vehicle in addition to the registration fee. And how much that would be for a 5-year, $10K car. What's the rate? how to calculate this type of tax?

Thanks all in advance.

[KBilly]

There is no annual vehicle tax here, other than registration (which is less than 90 dollars on the majority of cars). There is also an annual vehicle safety/smog inspection fee of about 38 dollars.

The other numbers you ask are so variable as to be meaningless. Each city has different waste/water rates. Electricity is deregulated so it's up to you if you want to pay 11 cents a Kwh or or 13 cents a Kwh or 16 cents a Kwh. Gas rates you can get from Atmos Energy.

[dtkn]

Thanks KBilly for your reply.
The registration and the inspection fees are expected. Here in Massachusetts we have to pay excise/road vehicle tax to the city, wasn't sure if TX has that. Thanks for confirming.

About the utility costs, I am not looking for cost per unit, but rather looking for comsuming cost per household, on average.

Thanks

[SepiaZelda]

One thing to be aware of when looking for houses in Dallas: in the summer it gets very hot and older homes tend to be less energy efficient. We live in a 100 year old home that leaks terribly and our bills for electricity alone were around $600 a month last summer.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by SepiaZelda

One thing to be aware of when looking for houses in Dallas: in the summer it gets very hot and older homes tend to be less energy efficient. We live in a 100 year old home that leaks terribly and our bills for electricity alone were around $600 a month last summer.

Sounds like the homes up here in MA, except it's around that much to heat a larger (2400+ s.f.) home here in the winter.

[SepiaZelda]

Exactly.

Originally Posted by Parsec

Sounds like the homes up here in MA, except it's around that much to heat a larger (2400+ s.f.) home here in the winter.

[lh_newbie]

Our home was built in 1976. It's 2586 sq ft. I've been capturing data since Sept '06. Gas + electricity + water = $300 per month average. Keep in mind my wife and I do work M-F, so we set back our thermostat. If you plan to have someone home all day, your energy bills will go up - I would suspect it would be about $350/month average if that were the case. We also have a 16-SEER air conditioner - something to check out when you're buying a new home - an old HVAC system = high bills.

[dtkn]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Our home was built in 1976. It's 2586 sq ft. I've been capturing data since Sept '06. Gas + electricity + water = $300 per month average. Keep in mind my wife and I do work M-F, so we set back our thermostat. If you plan to have someone home all day, your energy bills will go up - I would suspect it would be about $350/month average if that were the case. We also have a 16-SEER air conditioner - something to check out when you're buying a new home - an old HVAC system = high bills.

$300 to $350/month for gas+electric+water combined for 2586 sq ft is not bad at all. For the year 2005 and 2006, we paid average $330/month for only 1200 sq ft home in northeast of MA. Gas on winter months are high here.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by dtkn

$300 to $350/month for gas+electric+water combined for 2586 sq ft is not bad at all. For the year 2005 and 2006, we paid average $330/month for only 1200 sq ft home in northeast of MA. Gas on winter months are high here.

It is very good. The 1400 ft Dallas condo I was in was built in '76 and all electric (the air was upgraded to 12 SEER five years ago), and it was averaging about $300.

[LOK222]

in speaking to one of my neighbors I expect to pay under 300 a month for gas+Ele+water in our 4100 sq foot house