What fees/taxes/costs are going to surprise me? (Boston: how much, homes)

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by Parsec

MA (or maybe it's just Boston?) levies a personal property tax on businesses, except it's not just for cars. They tax you on everything you own including computer equipment and office chairs.

You mean like, if you own your own business that you would use for a federal income tax deduction, that MA would tax you on all of the business-related property you had as if it were personal property? i.e. the computer, desk, bookshelves, etc.?

That's good to keep in mind. We don't have a personal business, but it is something that could be a possibility in the future.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

You mean like, if you own your own business that you would use for a federal income tax deduction, that MA would tax you on all of the business-related property you had as if it were personal property? i.e. the computer, desk, bookshelves, etc.?

That's good to keep in mind. We don't have a personal business, but it is something that could be a possibility in the future.

To my knowledge that's correct. I only know this because I'm involved in filing this tax form for the company I work for. The actual tax amount isn't high enough to worry about, but I can see this would be troublesome for people who work jobs that classified as self-employed such as real estate agents.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by alidmc

I would also request the utility bills for any house you are considering purchasing (water, electricity, gas/oil) to give you an idea of what you are in for. Utilities in Massachusetts are among the highest rates in the nation.

Pay attention to this one. New England has a natural gas pipeline capacity shortage. Electricity is about 20 cents per KWh. Natural gas is double compared to most places in the country. There is a winter price spike on both electricity and natural gas as the utility passes on a "pipeline surcharge". Most people with natural gas available to them switched over from oil heat years ago. This year, oil is cheaper than natural gas. There are also places with very expensive water/sewer bills.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Pay attention to this one. New England has a natural gas pipeline capacity shortage. Electricity is about 20 cents per KWh. Natural gas is double compared to most places in the country. There is a winter price spike on both electricity and natural gas as the utility passes on a "pipeline surcharge". Most people with natural gas available to them switched over from oil heat years ago. This year, oil is cheaper than natural gas. There are also places with very expensive water/sewer bills.

*sigh* This will just make me fantasize about solar all that much more. We'll be bracing ourselves.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by alidmc

I would also request the utility bills for any house you are considering purchasing (water, electricity, gas/oil) to give you an idea of what you are in for. Utilities in Massachusetts are among the highest rates in the nation.

Good point. I was floored when my heating bill hit $1000 one month a couple winters ago. I'm so happy the price of oil has dropped.

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

*sigh* This will just make me fantasize about solar all that much more. We'll be bracing ourselves.

Speaking of winter, Boston has the earliest sunset out of any major metro area in the US (I'm not counting Alaska obviously). On winter solstice the sun usually sets around 4pm here. Talk about depressing. Since we don't get a lot of sun here, solar panels here don't generate as much power as they do in other parts of the nation. Very few homes in the Boston area qualify for solar panel incentives.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Good point. I was floored when my heating bill hit $1000 one month a couple winters ago. I'm so happy the price of oil has dropped.




Speaking of winter, Boston has the earliest sunset out of any major metro area in the US (I'm not counting Alaska obviously). On winter solstice the sun usually sets around 4pm here. Talk about depressing. Since we don't get a lot of sun here, solar panels here don't generate as much power as they do in other parts of the nation. Very few homes in the Boston area qualify for solar panel incentives.

The early sunset can be depressing. The early summer sunrise is frustrating too. I feel like we'd be happier in the Atlantic Time Zone.

I don't think solar is going to be horrible. It's not as clear as the desert by any means, but we get a reasonable amount of sun here. Places like Germany make it work and they are cloudier and further north. Compared to Europe all of the U.S. Is pretty far south. The shortest day in the winter is still about nine hours, the longest day in summer about 15. Compare that to San Diego where the shortest day is 10 hours and the longest about 14. There's a difference but it's not a huge one. The lower angle of the sun at our slightly higher latitude means that sunlight is less powerful. The latitude here is 42 and somewhere like San Diego is 32, so the difference is only about 10%. They have us beat on the number of clear days, though.

[chicagoliz]

I read that Germany is at the same latitude as Alaska, and they use a lot of solar. If we're talking a $1000 heating bill, any bit would help.

I know that Boston is far east in the time zone, and yeah, that will be kind of depressing, but sadly, there isn't anything that can be done. A few years back a friend and I were trying to figure out where in the U.S. would have the average latest-setting sun (not like Alaska who would have very late setting sun in the summer, but almost no sun in winter). We figured it would have to be someplace both south and the furthest west within it's time zone. Surprisingly, it wasn't that easy to find out this information (although maybe we didn't do a good job in our search.) Our best guesses were Key West, FL and perhaps Kauai, HI.

(Chicago is also pretty far east within its time zone. I haven't looked at the exact sunset times, but I bet it's close to Boston's.)

[pippiep]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

This year, oil is cheaper than natural gas.

I did not know this. We have oil and I was considering gas a "plus" in our current house hunt. Our oil bills have been insanely expensive the past few years.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Very few homes in the Boston area qualify for solar panel incentives.

Not to hijack the thread but this is incorrect information. Boston is latitude 42.36N. Boston averages 58% sun and 98 clear days.

Here is a graphic showing solar energy data points based on latitude. Boston is about 60% the solar energy of the equator.


So a panel in Boston will be a bit less than half the output of a panel in the desert near the equator. The energy output will be biased towards summer solstice. The panel won't do much in December when days are short and the noon sun is relatively low on the horizon.

Homes in Boston don't qualify because of trees and non-optimal roof orientation. I'm at 41.59N. There are solar panels all over the place.

[robr2]

Per my research on solar April, May, June, and September are "collection" months where you are generating the most and hopefully net metering. The rest of the year the goal is to get that energy back from the grid.

As for natural gas, even with the increased natural gas costs, my gas bill for my 2300 sq ft house never went over $350 and my electric bill never went over $200 during the winter. That's a family of 4 with one work from home adult.