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Not a realtor, so don't know the answer to your question. However, I will say this...I hate gas, I'm terrified of it. No matter what anyone says, I can always smell it. I absolutely would not live in a house with gas.
People are all different. Certain buyers prefer some things, others prefer other things. You couldn't pay me enough to buy a home with gas. Gas fireplace, gas stove, gas heating. No, no, no.
It seems to me that homes w oil heat are sitting longer and selling for less. I mean WAY less than it would cost to convery to gas.
I haven't kept any stats on this and its merely my cursory observational data.
What are your experiences?
I can't say I've noticed the same thing. In my town, a little less than half the homes have access to gas. So if you ignore all the oil houses, you cross nearly half the town off your list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational
They are more comfortable to live in than similarly located (off gas service) homes
that have been built using heat pumps. And they tend to be older.
It's pretty rare to see heat pumps around here (OP is also from MA). Most electric heated homes are either geo-thermal or more commonly electric baseboard heat. It's pretty rare to find a house with electric heat though. There were some built in the 80's was electricity was cheap but an overwhelming majority have oil or gas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CHAIN5
Not a realtor, so don't know the answer to your question. However, I will say this...I hate gas, I'm terrified of it. No matter what anyone says, I can always smell it. I absolutely would not live in a house with gas.
People are all different. Certain buyers prefer some things, others prefer other things. You couldn't pay me enough to buy a home with gas. Gas fireplace, gas stove, gas heating. No, no, no.
End rant.
I've heard other people voice the same opinion. In my experience, the majority of people do have a preference for gas though.
It seems to me that homes w oil heat are sitting longer and selling for less. I mean WAY less than it would cost to convery to gas.
I haven't kept any stats on this and its merely my cursory observational data.
What are your experiences?
converting to natural gas isn't an option for a lot of people in the Northeast. The infrastructure for gas isn't always there, and in other locations it's not practical (for example: many wealthy towns in S/W Connecticut have two acre zoning, so putting in residential gas pipelines would be prohibitively expensive for a limited number of homes.)
Plus, until the turn of the century, oil and gas prices were pretty competitive most years. While I prefer gas myself, my parents grew up with home heating oil & don't trust natural gas at all.
I'm in Maryland and I have noticed that homes with oil are less attractive to my customers while gas is more desirable. I personally think in my area it has more to do with the proximity to DC so we attract people from all over the country who move here. They may not come from areas where oil is common and therefore its a fear of the unknown. I really haven't noticed a difference in price though, but the areas that don't have gas lines yet tend to be a bit more remote and so the price would reflect the location.
In Massachusetts, at least, there doesn't seem to be a steep penalty for having oil. That fits in reasonably well with the anecdotal evidence I've noticed. Location seems to be MUCH more important than gas vs. oil.
Heat pumps aren't generally used in the northeast. It's almost always gas or oil - electric is too expensive.
yes, I think most people would prefer gas but like someone said it's not so easy to cross half the houses in an area off the list. And there are towns on Long Island where there's pretty much no gas service at all so then you're crossing whole towns off your list.
I live in the northeast and most towns have no natural gas lines. So your only option for gas would be a propane tank on the side of your house.
If you have forced hot water, you likely have oil.
If you have forced hot air, you likely have propane or natural gas.
Since most houses in the north east are very old, its likely you have forced hot water heat.
Personally, I hate oil, but its the best choice for heat as you get more heat for a lower price than propane.
As for condensing high efficiency boilers/hot water, I'm not sold. Too many mechanical problems and longevity issues. A $1700 boiler can last 30 years. A $5000 condensing boiler is good for about 8 years and will break down regularly. Even if its warrantied, they never cover service. My last issue with a Rinnai the part was $8 and the company covered it but the service was $400 which I had to pay.
Last edited by 399083453; 11-11-2014 at 08:27 PM..
I'm in southern New England. My market has both gas and oil heat.
Take two colonials in the same subdivision........the gas heated home will sell first, while the oil heated home with languish on the market.
Some builders of spec homes where no natural gas is available, are using installing propane. Last winter propane was more expensive in the winter than oil! I think they are doing so as to allow for the installation of gas fireplaces, gas cooking and emergency generators.
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