Is All Electric Home a Good Buy? (Roswell, Artesia: rentals, mortgage)
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Newbie to this forum. My wife and I are in the market to buy a house and came across this beautiful all electric home. I tried reading about the pros & cons of all E homes but not much information out there and the case varies from location to location considering different weather conditions/utility rates. If anyone of you can provide us with an insight on if all electric homes are a good buy in New Mexico would be helpful.
Here are few things that I would like to know before I make an offer.
1) Is all electric home a good idea in this part of the US? Considering our winter and summer here based on the comparison of electric rates vs gas rates.
2) I plan to ask for last year's utility bill history from the previous owner so that it gives me an understanding of what the average bill was for the house but again it will vary from user to user. Anything else that I should be looking at?
3) The home says it has been energy audited in 2012. My understanding is that in energy audit they just survey the house checking the insulation, etc. but what matters is if the issues that came up in energy audit were fixed or not. Am I missing something here?
The electric company here is Xcel Energy and there electric rates for residential service are $0.079127/kWh for all kWh used per month during winter months & $.087881/kWh for all kWh used per month during summer months.
Anyone with all electric home out there? Any help on this would be appreciated.
Since the electric company is Xcel Energy, I presume it might be somewhere in southeastern New Mexico. Since it doesn't get too cold there, it is quite possible that the home the OP is looking at might use an electric heat pump for heating, rather than an electric resistance furnace or baseboard heaters. Electric heat pumps are extremely efficient and have comparable operating costs to a natural gas furnace.
The home is located in Roswell, NM. You are right Pink Jazz the home uses electric heat pump. Thanks for the input. Now I just need to get utility bill report for the last year from the Owner. The only things that bothers me though that the whole central forced air system says its as old as the house which 34 years. I am afraid it might break down anytime so I am trying to get the seller pay for 1st year of home warranty.
The home is located in Roswell, NM. You are right Pink Jazz the home uses electric heat pump. Thanks for the input. Now I just need to get utility bill report for the last year from the Owner. The only things that bothers me though that the whole central forced air system says its as old as the house which 34 years. I am afraid it might break down anytime so I am trying to get the seller pay for 1st year of home warranty.
I'd definitely look into a new system, since newer units are so much more efficient due to today's minimum federal energy standards. Currently, the minimum federal standards for central heat pump systems is 13 SEER in cooling mode and 7.7 HSPF in heating mode. Energy Star qualified systems have a SEER of at least 14.5 and an HSPF of at least 8.2. Of course, to get the most efficiency out of a new unit, the air handler should also be replaced as well.
Last edited by Pink Jazz; 03-05-2013 at 02:11 PM..
Buying any home in Roswell is a really iffy bet; I'd make darn sure you loved the town and planned on working/retiring there for 5+ years, because selling homes there is very difficult.
Roswell also suffers, hands down, from the most onerous anti-solar ordinances on the books I've seen anywhere, inside NM or out. They even conflict with state laws. I think you can get on a first name basis, have a beer, etc. with a city engineer, and fill out some simple paperwork and they'll let you slide though.
Xcel energy, on the other hand, offers some of the most generous pro-solar incentives imaginable (and the home-sized ones aren't fully subscribed yet). I think what happened was an Xcel employee lobbied for the tough regulations and then Xcel did the math.
Gas is still a fair bit cheaper than electric heat pumps for heat purposes, but as long as you're not using baseboard or other resistive heaters, you shouldn't be eaten out of house and home to heat it; I'd target insulation and windows before I fretted about the heat pump (at least in winter). Would also add a swamp cooler (window unit?) to take the edge off all but the hottest/most humid summer days. Much cheaper to moisten air than to run a compressor.
Thanks on the heads up on the SEER rating. There are some good systems out there which would significantly reduce energy bills. I will likely scheduled an appt with the RE agent to go take another look at the system there and its rating, age, etc. 34 years seems little high to me as most system have a life span of 15-20 years. May be the selling agent goofed up the numbers there.
Zoidberg - You are right that a home purchase in Roswell is really a matter of taking a big risk. My wife & I both are not native to this town but I have lived here for 2.5 years and she has lived for 4.5 years. As the years pass by we are knowing more and more people and it becomes easier to get by on an everyday basis but we are still not certain if we want to settle here. We have been rending a independent house for last 2 years and can see ourselves living here for at least 3 years if not more (likely 5). The interest rates are low and the houses we are looking at are in the early 120's range (with 20% down). Even though we qualify for a higher mortgage we choose to keep our mortgage low so that in case we have to move out of Roswell we should be comfortable to make payments while living somewhere else.
I agree with you that selling a house in Roswell is a big nightmare for some but renting is totally different situation. Good houses rent out super fast here coz of oil companies and doctors coming to town. Its hard to find a good rental so nice furnished rentals go for a decent price and quickly. That's what we are aiming at in case we plan to move out of Roswell.
An all electric home is great, but think about life if the power goes out. With the addition or inclusion of natural gas or propane, you will still probably have hot water, and a working cookstove, lighting the pilots and burners with a match, of course.. Utility costs seem low and reasonable to me here in the lower Rio Grande Valley, especially when compared to other areas. If you are reasonably thrifty with usage and use common sense, you should have no trouble getting low bills, even in Roswell.. Have you thought about homes in Artesia too??
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe electric hot water is significantly more expensive than natural gas currently.
Generally correct... An electric hot water heater would cost more to operate than a natural gas unit.
And last time I calculated, LPG (Propane) is almost three times more expensive to operate than natural gas.
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