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We need to move sometime next year.
Renting houses or a part of a house seems to be a lot more common here than apartment communities. So we are considering it.
Our reservation is when you factor in Heat, Elec, Water, Sewer, Oil, other? utilities for the house- arent they MUCH more expensive than in an apartment.
if with utilities we want to be at 2000-2200, is that doable for a 2 (ideally 3) bedroom and 1.5+ bathroom rental in a good district (Sachem at least)?
The answer is "It depends", but optimistically you should consider adding at least about $300 to $400 a month for utilities to the base rent.
You can almost ignore water and sewer - as they are small.
Your biggest expenses will be heat(oil or gas), electricity and cable or other monthly services.
Heating and electricity heavily depend on: 1) your family size, needs and habits, i.e. with young children your expenses may be higher; 2) the insulation and size of the house, as well as the efficiency of the heating system.
For example, in a 3BR/2B, I use about 650-700 gallons of oil per year. The price per gallon depends on contract conditions, deals etc, but is high - >$4 now. Electricity - I am a very conservative user and is only $50/month. You may consider $100/month.
The answer is "It depends", but optimistically you should consider adding at least about $300 to $400 a month for utilities to the base rent.
You can almost ignore water and sewer - as they are small.
Your biggest expenses will be heat(oil or gas), electricity and cable or other monthly services.
Heating and electricity heavily depend on: 1) your family size, needs and habits, i.e. with young children your expenses may be higher; 2) the insulation and size of the house, as well as the efficiency of the heating system.
For example, in a 3BR/2B, I use about 650-700 gallons of oil per year. The price per gallon depends on contract conditions, deals etc, but is high - >$4 now. Electricity - I am a very conservative user and is only $50/month. You may consider $100/month.
Things easily add up to $300-$500/month.
Hmm i find this confusing- so right now we are renting about 800square foot 1 bedroom apartment, balanced billing on LIPA is 132- So you are saying for a same size house it would be cheaper? I was under the assumption that the price per kWatt(or however they price it) in a house was HIGHER than in an apartment?
Heat for this apartment can also get very high, close to 100$ sometimes- so i assumed once again that for a house it would be 200 or more.
Do you know if an electric range adds considerable cost to the electricity bill or if the overall cost toward the bill is small?
Hmm i find this confusing- so right now we are renting about 800square foot 1 bedroom apartment, balanced billing on LIPA is 132- So you are saying for a same size house it would be cheaper? I was under the assumption that the price per kWatt(or however they price it) in a house was HIGHER than in an apartment?
Heat for this apartment can also get very high, close to 100$ sometimes- so i assumed once again that for a house it would be 200 or more.
Do you know if an electric range adds considerable cost to the electricity bill or if the overall cost toward the bill is small?
1. Electricity: $/kWh is the same for an apartment or a house. Your usage in a house is likely to be higher - main expenses are with electric dryer, electric stove and fridge (if not energy efficient); and esp. air conditioning in the summer, if you use such. My electricity bill is unusually low - so, nothing to be confused about. You are likely to use more electricity in a house than you currently do, if you did not have some of the above mentioned appliances in the apartment.
2. Heat definitely will be higher - as I said. Again, my use may be on the low side, but even then - 700 gal of oil @ $4.50 is about $260/month (spread over 12 months).
Again, conservatively, $350-$400/month for utilities.
We need to move sometime next year.
Renting houses or a part of a house seems to be a lot more common here than apartment communities. So we are considering it.
Our reservation is when you factor in Heat, Elec, Water, Sewer, Oil, other? utilities for the house- arent they MUCH more expensive than in an apartment.
if with utilities we want to be at 2000-2200, is that doable for a 2 (ideally 3) bedroom and 1.5+ bathroom rental in a good district (Sachem at least)?
Oil heat: $600-$800 (150-200 gal.) every 6-8 weeks from Oct-April
Electric: $300 +/- Bi-Monthly
Water & Sewer: $85 each +/- every 3 months
Oil was probably more common, but more and more people are switching to gas. It really depends on if there is gas in the neighborhood. If you can find a rental you like with gas go for it - oil is expensive, it's a pain in the neck to deal with the deliveries and if something goes wrong it will always be on the coldest day of the year when a blizzard is coming!
I don'r rent but I had a question...If you rent a home that has oil for heat who is repsonsible for paying for the oil when it needs to be filled up?? You or the landlord? I know you would have to pay other utilities.
I agree with Twingles...go with gas if you can. Oil delivery is normally good, but when it fails its usually when you need it most. Nobody cares if the oil guy doesn't show up on a sunny day.
For reference on the electric bill...we have 3 adults and 2 kids. Other than the standard electric usage, we have an electric hot water heater which is a killer. We pay about $180 a month on avg.
I don'r rent but I had a question...If you rent a home that has oil for heat who is repsonsible for paying for the oil when it needs to be filled up?? You or the landlord? I know you would have to pay other utilities.
It depends on what was agreed upon and would (should!) be stated in the lease. If heat is not included, the tenant pays for the gas or oil.
Generally, whole house rentals state that the tenant pays most if not all of the utilities, with the possible exception of water and sewers (where applicable).
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