Aside from property prices, property taxes and gas, is California that much more expensive than other states ? (San Francisco: rental car, live)

[Lola The yorkie]

Originally Posted by 509

There is NOTHING wrong with my calculations. The 2000 dollar electric bill is IF I had to pay California rates with PGE for my electricity. Read my post again in "slow English".

It just shows how high electric prices are in California.



BTW...your last comment "if you needed to heat it at all" indicates that you have NOT traveled much in California. There is much, much more to California than the coastal region south of the Bay Area.


Yep, IF I lived in California I would heat my house with gas.....if I had a gas line to my house!!! But given my profession and preferred living locales I would probably be heating my house with wood or propane.

BTW....I lived in California in the 60's and early 70's. At that time PGE was boasting that it had the LOWEST private utility electric rates in the nation.


California was a wonderful state in the 60's and early 70's. It is sad to see descend into a hell hole.

We keep A/C max at 72...never need at night....tho this summer was a bit warmer at night..I am great at managing the temp

3000 sq ft home, pool
Our two highest months of electric was just 500

Our son and my sister both have PGE, one with pool, both large homes..

Never had a bill more than 500....and rarely that

If you calculate 2000, must be living on the sun

[ddeemo]

Originally Posted by saibot

Our electric bill for a family of 5 in a single-family house has never exceeded $100. Where are you getting this $2000 figure?

Where are you getting $100/mo - according to surveys, the average electric bill is about $200 in CA and that is certainly is not a single house with a family of 5.

Electricity is very expensive in San Diego, our electric bill is about $500/mo w/o using AC - SDGE is about double the rate of PG&E or SCE per KW and about 5x the rate I pay in NV.

[American_Renaissance]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I use smart asset to get property tax information

It used 1.960% for Orange County. Even with potential Mello Roos and tacked on bonds (school, water, etc), I don't think it is close to that, maybe 1.25%.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by 509

There is NOTHING wrong with my calculations. The 2000 dollar electric bill is IF I had to pay California rates with PGE for my electricity. Read my post again in "slow English".

t just shows how high electric prices are in California.

BTW...your last comment "if you needed to heat it at all" indicates that you have NOT traveled much in California. There is much, much more to California than the coastal region south of the Bay Area.

Ridiculous, I've been in California for more than 50 years and have been all over. I never said no one uses heat, but the majority of the population lives where heating needs are minimal.

Originally Posted by ddeemo

Where are you getting $100/mo - according to surveys, the average electric bill is about $200 in CA and that is certainly is not a single house with a family of 5.

Electricity is very expensive in San Diego, our electric bill is about $500/mo w/o using AC - SDGE is about double the rate of PG&E or SCE per KW and about 5x the rate I pay in NV.

We have SCE (south OC). My last bill was $97 and I lied, our bill did go slightly over $100 during the summer months (I checked my account statements online). Yes, I have heard that rates are higher in San Diego.

Originally Posted by Lola The yorkie

3000 sq ft home, pool
Our two highest months of electric was just 500

Our son and my sister both have PGE, one with pool, both large homes..

Never had a bill more than 500....and rarely that

If you calculate 2000, must be living on the sun

Exactly.

[tetka_grunya]

Originally Posted by saibot

Ridiculous, I've been in California for more than 50 years and have been all over. I never said no one uses heat, but the majority of the population lives where heating needs are minimal.



We have SCE (south OC). My last bill was $97 and I lied, our bill did go slightly over $100 during the summer months (I checked my account statements online). Yes, I have heard that rates are higher in San Diego.



Exactly.

Our last bill from PGE was $298. And this is for obvious no A/C, but I turn on our heater when in house it colder than 58F. This winter we have many nights with 41-44F. And our house shared walls with 2 houses on left and right of ours, so we have little outside space wall and usually it's helps to keep temperature warmer inside. House is not big and we put extra level of isolation when we put new sidings. In older single family houses it could be much worse.
PGE rised rates a few years ago, when state mandate that it was their fault in 2018 that fire started in Paradise CA and took lives of Paradise residents. PGE went under chapter 11 and our rates went up.
I think they paid some big money to Paradise fire victims and their families.

[aslowdodge]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

So you weren't selling a house when you made that post, it was just a hypothetical question? I'm very confused.

But back to the topic under consideration; most people in California who buy million dollar houses have jobs that pay very well, probably significantly better than an equivalent job in "Garland Texas"

Aside from that not all houses in California sell for a million dollars. You can buy a house in several parts of California for far less than that. In Fresno the median home sale price is $298,000 The median sale price in Garland Texas is $241,000. The difference is that in Garland Texas the annual property tax on the $241,000 is $9,975. In Fresno the annual property tax on a $298,000 house is $2,354.

I only give that example because you attempted to compare the housing prices of a place like San Francisco or a nearby suburb with a home in "Garland Texas"

Last question...why after this rant did you recently buy a million dollar home in California when in the other thread you said you were retiring?

Fresno tax only 2354 for a 300k house. You’d better check your facts on that.
While you can get a sub million dollar home home in California, don’t expect to get high wages.
You don’t need to be in San Francisco to pay a million as you claim. Plenty of suburbs in the Bay Area are well over a Million. So in this case a suburb is being compared to another suburb.
Here’s a home in garland to for 250k the taxes are no where near what you claim.
6k a year, not the over exaggeration of 10 k a year.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by Lola The yorkie

Perhaps because we have less extremes of weather...less A/C than in Texas and Arizona for instance..

Less if any need for heat

Last summer Az had the hottest driest summer ever. Over 50 days of 110+. 108 days of over 100. I rent a 2 bdrm 2 bath all electric apt in the heart of the Sonoran desert and my highest electric bill was 90.00.....
Just sayin

[saibot]

Originally Posted by Finper

Last summer Az had the hottest driest summer ever. Over 50 days of 110+. 108 days of over 100. I rent a 2 bdrm 2 bath all electric apt in the heart of the Sonoran desert and my highest electric bill was 90.00.....
Just sayin

So the trade off is you live in a place where it's insufferably hot for months in a row and you're stuck in the house with a/c running, but electricity is cheap.

I live in a place where it's mild and pleasant for months and months in a row, and am just as comfortable outdoors as in, but pay a little more for electricity.

You pays your money and you takes your choice.

[509]

Originally Posted by Lola The yorkie

We keep A/C max at 72...never need at night....tho this summer was a bit warmer at night..I am great at managing the temp

3000 sq ft home, pool
Our two highest months of electric was just 500

Our son and my sister both have PGE, one with pool, both large homes..

Never had a bill more than 500....and rarely that

If you calculate 2000, must be living on the sun

It takes a LOT more electricity to HEAT than cool. You guys really do live in a bubble!!! The climate outside of southern California is much, much, much different.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by 509

It takes a LOT more electricity to HEAT than cool. You guys really do live in a bubble!!! The climate outside of southern California is much, much, much different.

We know that. At the same time, most Californians use electricity for a/c, but gas for heat. And gas is much cheaper than electricity.