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Is this a bad combo as you get older re maintaining it? If so, I'll avoid looking at those. Anything more than a phone call to public utilities would be a hassle. If $ is involved to maintain/repair it is a no deal.
In Maine it seems alot are off public water, wastewater, etc. & tho I'd go this way yrs ago, now another story. Thx you locals up there.
PS - This seems to rule out over 1/2 the homes in Aroostook Co.
Last edited by movintime; 02-20-2018 at 02:06 PM..
Is this a bad combo as you get older re maintaining it? If so, I'll avoid looking at those. Anything more than a phone call to public utilities would be a hassle. If $ is involved to maintain/repair it is a no deal.
In Maine it seems alot are off public water, wastewater, etc. & tho I'd go this way yrs ago, now another story. Thx you locals up there.
As I tell my clients, there is no problem with water that can't be fixed, the question is how it is going to be fixed and who's going to pay for it. The seller or builder will most likely want to fix it for the lowest possible up front price, but that may mean the ongoing replacement media/cartridges, will be more costly and need to be replaced more often by the new buyer. The new buyer will often not stick to that schedule, defeating the purpose of the expensive equipment that was installed during the purchase of the property. The seller will often want to treat only certain faucets (to save money) vs. a whole house system, but that would require that a buyer avoid the non-treated faucets, which is not the way I'd like to see a buyer live in a home. Like a heating system, a water treatment system needs ongoing maintenance by a professional company, usually on an annual basis.
While the prospect of all of this equipment, replacement media and ongoing maintenance may scare some buyers away, the cost may be less than the $30 - $100 monthly bill for water and perhaps sewer. Having your own septic system vs. a city-provided sewer will also bring on different maintenance issues (pumping the tank every few years and eventually replacing the leach field and/or tank after several years). Either way, there is a cost for both.
If you are looking at only homes with public water and sewer, you will need to restrict your search to certain areas of certain towns/cities, which will most likely have higher sales prices and taxes.
If you are looking at only homes with public water and sewer, you will need to restrict your search to certain areas of certain towns/cities, which will most likely have higher sales prices and taxes.
^^^^^This^^^^^
Your options will be *severely* limited in ME.
Private well and septic is really not that big a deal, and the only ongoing expense is the electricity to run the well pump. If you are buying a house, you are probably going to want to budget a certain amount of money each year into a maint. fund (don't rape it if you need no repairs, let it build for the "Oh, crap! The _________ just broke!" The money you *aren't* paying to the city for water/sewer can go right into that fund.
The septic tank will need to be pumped periodically- the period depends on the size of the tank and the number of people using it. The well pump could last a very long time, installing a larger bladder tank may increase its life by putting fewer start cycles on the pump. The biggest issue I have had with my well pump is the pressure switch- the switch and bladder tank are in a 'crawlspace' (actually much more room than the space under my last house, I can't stand up straight, but I don't have to wriggle under on my back), a bit drafty, and I shut off the furnace 10 years ago so there isn't much heating going on in there (only the water heater). If the outside temp goes below zero, there is a good chance the pressure switch will freeze, it took me a while to figure this out. But the issue was solved by aiming a 125W halogen worklight at it, 8-10" away, connected to a switch up on the porch. When the temp drops below 0 I just switch the light on and it is prevented from freezing. (I could build a more energy-efficient solution but there are other things that are higher on the priority list...maybe in a few years if/when I retire...which I recently realized is coming much sooner than I had thought.)
Don't let well/septic scare you out of what might otherwise be your 'perfect' next home.
Aroostook County is not all that scary. Lived here my whole life. A private septic is so much less expensive than a place on municipal sewer. Just do the maintenance and have it pumped every so often. I only know one family out of all the people I know who had a pump fail in their well during winter. So it might take a couple days to get a plumber to replace it, big deal. I'm talking hundreds of folks I know and only one had to deal with a dead pump in winter. Cost of owning your own well and septic is way less than public utilities. If you would go crazy having to stay home for a day because of a blizzard outside, don't come to the County. Fearing a problem with septic and water, not so much of a scary thing.
If you're building a new house on an empty lot, in my opinion public utilities are preferable because they significantly lower the upfront cost for establishing water and wastewater service, and they make it more predictable - no risks of great difficulty reaching the water table drilling, or elaborate, frequently renewed treatment systems being needed for contaminants in well water, or poor drainage making an elaborate septic system necessary. On the other hand, if you're buying an existing house, then I don't think it's so cut and dried. Like any household systems, I'd consider the age and have them inspected to assess condition to get a feeling for any big bills that might be imminent, and you could also ask to see any existing treatment systems and get a sample of the water tested for contaminants. But if you have a well and septic system already and things are in good shape, what's so bad about that?
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 02-20-2018 at 06:19 PM..
Private well and septic is really not that big a deal, and the only ongoing expense is the electricity to run the well pump. If you are buying a house, you are probably going to want to budget a certain amount of money each year into a maint. fund (don't rape it if you need no repairs, let it build for the "Oh, crap! The _________ just broke!" The money you *aren't* paying to the city for water/sewer can go right into that fund.
The septic tank will need to be pumped periodically- the period depends on the size of the tank and the number of people using it. The well pump could last a very long time, installing a larger bladder tank may increase its life by putting fewer start cycles on the pump. The biggest issue I have had with my well pump is the pressure switch- the switch and bladder tank are in a 'crawlspace' (actually much more room than the space under my last house, I can't stand up straight, but I don't have to wriggle under on my back), a bit drafty, and I shut off the furnace 10 years ago so there isn't much heating going on in there (only the water heater). If the outside temp goes below zero, there is a good chance the pressure switch will freeze, it took me a while to figure this out. But the issue was solved by aiming a 125W halogen worklight at it, 8-10" away, connected to a switch up on the porch. When the temp drops below 0 I just switch the light on and it is prevented from freezing. (I could build a more energy-efficient solution but there are other things that are higher on the priority list...maybe in a few years if/when I retire...which I recently realized is coming much sooner than I had thought.)
Don't let well/septic scare you out of what might otherwise be your 'perfect' next home.
Aroostook County is not all that scary. Lived here my whole life. A private septic is so much less expensive than a place on municipal sewer. Just do the maintenance and have it pumped every so often. I only know one family out of all the people I know who had a pump fail in their well during winter. So it might take a couple days to get a plumber to replace it, big deal. I'm talking hundreds of folks I know and only one had to deal with a dead pump in winter. Cost of owning your own well and septic is way less than public utilities. If you would go crazy having to stay home for a day because of a blizzard outside, don't come to the County. Fearing a problem with septic and water, not so much of a scary thing.
Many years ago a building inspector gave me this formula. Take 7 and subtract the number of people who flush in the house and that is how often you should have the tank pumped. For an empty-nester couple, that would be every 5 years, for a family of 5, 2 years.
If you're building a new house on an empty lot, in my opinion public utilities are preferable because they significantly lower the upfront cost for establishing water and wastewater service, and they make it more predictable - no risks of great difficulty reaching the water table drilling, or elaborate, frequently renewed treatment systems being needed for contaminants in well water, or poor drainage making an elaborate septic system necessary. On the other hand, if you're buying an existing house, then I don't think it's so cut and dried. Like any household systems, I'd consider the age and have them inspected to assess condition to get a feeling for any big bills that might be imminent, and you could also ask to see any existing treatment systems and get a sample of the water tested for contaminants. But if you have a well and septic system already and things are in good shape, what's so bad about that?
I agree with this, but you'd probably be limiting yourself to a sub-division, it's too costly for a municipality to bring water and sewer to an individual house. You have to decide which is more important, privacy and a house built to your specifications or something closer to a town/city with neighbors close by.
I agree with this, but you'd probably be limiting yourself to a sub-division, it's too costly for a municipality to bring water and sewer to an individual house. You have to decide which is more important, privacy and a house built to your specifications or something closer to a town/city with neighbors close by.
Well, village lots can be scarce, but I just closed on a village lot that was subdivided from an existing one. All the houses on the street look built from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Mine will be new, but on casual looking should look like it's always been there. Have town water and sewer since all the houses around me already have it. I wanted neighbors and to be within walking distance to downtown. There aren't tons of village lots available, that is certainly true, but in my looking at a few towns of interest, every town had at least a few, and they had town water and sewer like their neighbors - the main lines are already in on the street, so in effect the builder's contractor just needs to excavate at the street and either make use of an existing tee if there's one there, or insert one to service the lot .
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 02-21-2018 at 10:54 AM..
Well, village lots can be scarce, but I just closed on a village lot that was subdivided from an existing one. All the houses on the street look built from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Mine will be new, but on casual looking should look like it's always been there. Have town water and sewer since all the houses around me already have it. I wanted neighbors and to be within walking distance to downtown. There aren't tons of village lots available, that is certainly true, but in my looking at a few towns of interest, every town had at least a few, and they had town water and sewer like their neighbors - the main lines are already in on the street, so in effect the builder's contractor just needs to excavate at the street and either make use of an existing tee if there's one there, or insert one to service the lot .
I agree, those who have sub-dividable lots are in a good spot.
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