Questions about Southern New Hampshire Homes and Propane.

[DawnCt1]

In the process of looking for homes commutable to Cambridge, Ma, I saw some lovely homes in S. NH. One thing that stood out as a huge negative to me is heating with propane. Ct. residents have had some major issues with the pricing of propane. The cost is high. I have an inground propane tank that I use only to heat the spa to our pool and I only do it on cool days to extend the length of the season. I would think that it would be very expensive to heat a house with propane. Can anyone comment on that?

 

[Darcy03231]

Its been a number of years, but we heated a house with propane and I didn't find it much more expensive than heating with oil or natural gas. Of the three, I've found the natural gas to be the least expensive (by a few hundred $ per year). My parents heat their home with a combination of a wood burning furnace and propane. They always prebuy their propane in the summer when the rates are lower.

 

[DawnCt1]

Its been a number of years, but we heated a house with propane and I didn't find it much more expensive than heating with oil or natural gas. Of the three, I've found the natural gas to be the least expensive (by a few hundred $ per year). My parents heat their home with a combination of a wood burning furnace and propane. They always prebuy their propane in the summer when the rates are lower.

That is good to know. It could be the Ct. propane dealers that were jacking up the prices. Less competition, not a lot of homes dependent on it for heat. I would love to have natural gas.

 

[3boymthr]

I know my DB has propane and he hasn't complained about it being outrageous. For part of his house though he also has a pellet stove.

 

[Poohgirl]

Hi Dawn, Im in S. NH and have propane. I don't think that is very expensive here. There are many companies that have lock in plans that will cap the price but give you the price lower as well. My house is just under 2600 sq ft and runs everything off propane. My yearly total last year was $1,968 (they average then bill monthly, evenly) and I keep the winter temp fairly high.

Now electric through PSNH...now thats another story!

 

[PatsMom]

I'm in northern NH and one of my neighbors uses propane as a back up to their woodstove. They try to never let the stove go out because they think the propane is much more expensive than oil heat.

I also use primarily wood but I have oil heat as a back up.

Housing prices in southern NH are pretty outrageous but I guess they are better than MA! But you could actually end up paying more overall in taxes than if you lived in MA. You will have to pay MA income tax if your employer is in MA and you still have to pay NH's high property taxes. Since we don't have an income tax, our property taxes do tend to be quite high in some communities.

 

[DMickey28]

We just completed our home search in S. NH and honestly didn't see a lot of homes with Propane heating. Maybe it's the price range. Most where oil. Many have propane for the gas range or a stove but that's it.

I would think carefully about the MA vs. NH, especially if you don't have kids in the schools anymore. You will most likely end up spending more per year, as a PP mentioned, by living in NH and working in MA. The property taxes are pretty high in the good towns, with much of that going towards the schools, and you will still be stuck paying MA income tax. Also the commute to Cambridge is not going to be pretty. One of the potential positions my DH was looking at recently was in Cambridge and short of a border town the commute would be horrendous! He ended up choosing and getting a job that will allow him to be home based so the commute and income tax 'situation' go away.

The town we choose and are waiting to close in has a tax rate of approx. $20.00 per $1K and over $13.00 of that goes to the schools!

 

[monarchsfan16]

My parents' house is in the Manchester area of NH. My apartment is closer to the seacoast. My parents' house is heated by oil; the apartment is propane. I think I'm paying the exact same rate now (not locked in) for propane as my parents are locked in at for oil (most recent invoice was at $2.49/gallon for propane). I could be off by a few cents, but there's not much difference if any RIGHT NOW.

We just completed our home search in S. NH and honestly didn't see a lot of homes with Propane heating

Propane seems to be very popular in the newer homes. The older homes are typically heated with oil.

 

[Silent1CB]

Not sure if its an issue like it is with RI, but you might want to check out the tax situation with living in NH & working in MA.

 

[DMickey28]

Propane seems to be very popular in the newer homes. The older homes are typically heated with oil.

That would make sense. Our house was built in the 1970's!!

 

[AllyandJack]

I have propane, too (in southern, NH) and I have a $1,500 credit with my propane company and, this year, we're paying less than $150./mo (for an 11mo plan) to heat my house that's over 2,400sq ft.

Over the last few years, we've never used as much as we've paid for and the credit keeps racking up and the monthly payments keep going down when we renew the contract.

I also have to agree about PSNH! Get a generator! My lights will just go out, randomly, for hours at a time. No reason given. Before I got the generator, I stopped re-setting my clocks. They all just blinked because I knew it was useless to re-set them when I'd lose the lights again the next day.

If you work in MA, you'll have to pay taxes there. Sometimes, even if you work in NH, you'd have to pay MA taxes (my friend's DH is a carpenter and works out of the Salem, NH shop of the MA union and has to pay MA taxes even though he neither lives nor works in MA).

My taxes are insane. They weren't bad before and then, WHAM, last year, they went up about $1,000/yr. This slammed my mortgage escrow and my mortgage payment went up about $250./mo (this was after I sent them over $900. to "re-pay" the escrow the deficit).

I did the commute to Boston for about 5yrs. I didn't mind it for 3yrs and then it got to be miserable. At least once a week, something would happen (accident, snowstorm, rain, a cloud passing overhead, who knows) and it would take me upwards to 3hrs to get home. I used to leave my house at 4am, so I could be at work by 5:30am, and leave around 3pm. There was still an enormous amount of traffic heading home (everyone else had the same idea). I tried a variety of public transportation options and tried 93, 95, and 3. No matter what I did, I always had at least 1 day a week where one trip was a nightmare.

With the propane....I do a budget/lock-in contract. I pay the same amount every month for 11mo and my rate can't go over a certain price per gallon, but, if the price is less, I pay that. Since I have the credit, my payments keep going down. I have Energy North Propane.

Stay away from FairPoint, if you can, too. They double-billed me so much I won't have to pay them for the rest of the year with the refund they owe me.

Happy house hunting!

 

[karen l]

I live north of Boston & have propane. The prices aren't that bad. I ended up with a credit from last year & we tend to keep the heat on high. The only heat I never want in a home is electric - I've heard some real horror stories about those prices.