My First 30 days in Fort Wayne, IN (home, school district)

[jc76]

The home my Mother left us in Elkhart IN is a ranch style, 3 bedroom with a basement. It's in the county so it's gas heat and septic plumbing. We were looking through her winter bills and the GAS is crazy! 3-4 months it was anywhere from 225-400. That's with the new $7000. furnace system and new siding with triple insulation! Granted it's a roomie home, but I am used to paying around 25-60. in my old apartment. We are selling anyways because we are all moving west so it wont matter. Yeah I would say with this area being cold much more than it is warm and sunny you will have some high gas bills for at least half of the year.

[BanyanTree]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

Agree - also love the look and charm and warmth and feel of the older houses, but, the warmth would be quite costly, as you have found out too. I would highly recommend either (a) get a newer more efficient home, or (b) if do get older one, definitely remodel, to try to reduce amount of heat/air loss - but from what I've found, that can be quite a money pit too. Mine is over 2k sq ft, all electric, using ground-source open-loop [well-fed] heat pump [plus two gas flueless fireplaces, that only are used when extremely cold] - and bills are ~100-150 per month.

I am currently rooming in a house which was custom built in 2002 and the owner took pains to foam insulate it during construction. It is 2200 sft and the gas bills from October 08 though May 09 are:
38, 53, 162, 229, 140, 131, 72, 30$. This is not bad at all. The owner does not bother with putting the shades down at night.
The older house (1977) had Dec - March: 326, 433, 282, 162$
Newer house (2002) - Dec - March: 162, 229, 140, 131$

Or course, there are other variables which would have affected the bills. So, one cannot simply go by this data.
I never heard of this ground-source heat pump. Neat technology. Is this common in this area? Do builders do it for an entire neighborhood?

I read about the heat pump here:
Ground Source Heat Pump | Aspen Center for Environmental Studies

[BanyanTree]

Originally Posted by jc76

The home my Mother left us in Elkhart IN is a ranch style, 3 bedroom with a basement. It's in the county so it's gas heat and septic plumbing. We were looking through her winter bills and the GAS is crazy! 3-4 months it was anywhere from 225-400. That's with the new $7000. furnace system and new siding with triple insulation! Granted it's a roomie home, but I am used to paying around 25-60. in my old apartment. We are selling anyways because we are all moving west so it wont matter. Yeah I would say with this area being cold much more than it is warm and sunny you will have some high gas bills for at least half of the year.

Ouch!
"new siding with triple insulation"
Was this a foam insulation inside the walls?

My brother and I were putting our engineering heads to figure out which would be cheaper to heat - A ranch style house or a two storied house?
We reduce the variables. That is no basement, no vaulted ceilings, etc.
I guess it comes down to which has more exposed surface area for a given volume. Then we got distracted

[jc76]

Originally Posted by BanyanTree

Ouch!
"new siding with triple insulation"
Was this a foam insulation inside the walls?

My brother and I were putting our engineering heads to figure out which would be cheaper to heat - A ranch style house or a two storied house?
We reduce the variables. That is no basement, no vaulted ceilings, etc.
I guess it comes down to which has more exposed surface area for a given volume. Then we got distracted

Actually I was wrong, it is DOUBLE INSULATED. Sorry bout that after asking my brother he laughed and said it's double. Our gas bills are super high in the winter but the new heating system did bring it down about $60. a month in the winter months. She used to get gas bills in the high 300's low 400's now its a little better, but still more than we want to spend, it's ok I am ready for the west coast!

[BanyanTree]

I am moving to an apartment temporarily (3 to 6 months) and then move into a house.
I have DishTV. Unfortunately, the apartment I am moving to, does not have a place for the
antenna facing the satellite.

I spend about 60$ total on dishTV and about 40$ total on the high speed dsl internet connection.
I don't recall the speed, but it is one step above the basic dsl speed.

What would you guys recommend for this (100$ for tv + internet connection) kind of budget?

[wintergrace]

Originally Posted by BanyanTree

We have a preteen daughter and I am a bit anxious about her schooling.
She will be moving in after she is done with her current school year.
My wife and I visited couple of schools. Quality seems much better than what is there in the Bay Area, Cal. But in a 95% white community, will she face harrasement (sp?) ? I don't know. There are hardly any Indo-americans in the schools. Like 5 in the entire school of 1000!
In her current school, out of a class of 30, there are like 15 oriental, 8 indo-american, 2 middle eastern, 3 caucasian and 1 african american.

I share your concern, Banyan Tree. We will also be relocating to Indiana for work and I'm hoping for the best as my Asian daughters head off to nearly all-white schools in Indiana...part of me thinks that well, this is the current reality of America, maybe it's good for them. Another part of me is a quivering mess. We're headed to the SW Allen County school district in Ft. Wayne and I'll be praying for the best for your daughter and for mine.

Thanks for your post.

[fabumom07]

You should be fine in SW Allen wintergrace, my kids attend there and they have friends of different races and its not a big deal. I am sure any new transition is tough for kids, but this area is not "redneck" and you should be pleasantly surprised. A little snobby yes, but not redneck.

[BanyanTree]

It has been 8 months since I moved here. My wife and daughter moved here in June. My wife absolutely loves this place. My daughter is happy with the school. Kids in the school here are great and friendly. Better than Bay Area for sure.
The fall season is beautiful around here. I wish we weren't losing the leaves this quickly.

[cdr18]

BanyanTree, I am glad you like it here! Do you guys live in the Southwest area? I bet Fort Wayne is a lot different than the Bay area.

[BanyanTree]

Originally Posted by cdr18

BanyanTree, I am glad you like it here! Do you guys live in the Southwest area? I bet Fort Wayne is a lot different than the Bay area.

Thank you. Yes, we live in SW area. Hopefully, the current road construction here in the SW area, would mean smoother traffic in future.

Bay Area for sure is different. For one thing, fewer Glen Beck devotees