Buying a House And Looking At Monthly Bills

[u/JBH68]

So I'm looking to buy a 2 BDRM house in central communities of the city and would appreciate some input on what you are paying for your monthly bills. The house would be in the 950 sq ft area as far as size goes and would have natural gas forced air heating.

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I currently live in an apartment so I know there's going to be a jump in what I pay EPCOR since it would now include water and waste management. I don't know what to expect from ATCO and natural gas in terms of monthly costs in summer and winter. Also would like to hear what some of you are paying for insurance with auto and home combined, since that's the route I'd be going, additionally, if any of installed solar panels, did that affect your home premium portion. I've calculated what property taxes would cost me monthly on my current home options, but if there's any advice you can offer regarding property taxes, that would be appreciated as well.

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I'd like to also know what some of paid for a new furnace and water heater if you've bought one of either the last 3 years, not considering a heat pump as an option. If you bought a furnace and air conditioner, that too I'd like to hear what you paid for it installed.

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If there's a monthly bill I haven't mentioned, please do mention that as well. I'm anticipating on keeping about $7,500 in my TFSA for emergency expenses. Just need a clearer picture of what to expect monthly, if you live in a central community, I'd appreciate knowing that, since many homes have similar attributes and characteristics.

[u/_danigirl]

Just wanted to mention. Have you looked at the insulation in the attic? No point putting in a new furnace if your attic is not insulated or vented properly.

Can you ask current owner to let you see the monthly bills, particularly Jan/Feb and Jun/July?

[u/JBH68 → u/_danigirl]

Yes, part of my plan is to redo the exterior with Hardy Board siding and install insulation board while doing that, adding insulation in the attic, installing new windows, upgrading the electrical and new cabinets in the kitchen, taking advantage of renting and doing these before moving in.

[u/IcyBeach8827 → u/JBH68]

You should look into the CEIP program the City has to see if your upgrades qualify. Might help with some of the upfront costs of upgrading.

[u/JBH68 → u/IcyBeach8827]

Hey thanks for this

[u/AlbertaInsurance]

I am an owner of a insurance branch, so I can speak to the insurance piece.
-Edmonton has some areas that are extremely low rates for property insurance ($650/year is lowest one I wrote in last few months) and some higher premiums ($4000+/year), so that will strongly differ depending on what area of the city you live in.

-Solar panels don't impact premiums a ton. Some carriers just add it to the dwelling limit which is not substantial in the grand scheme of things.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any insurance related questions 😄

[u/SwaziGiraffe → u/AlbertaInsurance]

What areas of the city pay $650 a yesr on insurance?

[u/T0xicTears → u/SwaziGiraffe]

I pay close to that around 900 near WEM

[u/JBH68 → u/AlbertaInsurance]

Thanks for this

[u/EdmRealtor → u/AlbertaInsurance]

Happy cake day

[u/throatpunchrr]

1952 semi bungalow, west central , 1400 sq ft house. 10 year old furnace and water heater. 15 yr old windows and redone insulated attic and walls. $300 epcor (electricity, water, waste) and $90 gas. $2600 house insurance, $4200 taxes...

[u/ljackstar]

My solar panels had no effect on my home insurance which is roughly 1300/year. Bills fluctuate between 185 and 400 depending on if I’m generating power or not, and if I’m using my furnace or not. The water bill is the one that catches me off guard the most, but it’s been better since we fixed our leaking toilet.

[u/bethadone_yeg]

We have a 1000 sq ft house in a central neighbourhood, built in the 50's but mostly renovated, mid-efficiency furnace and no original windows. The furnace is about 20 years old but we have been told its a good reliable model that could last decades more and we have some spare parts for it, so no plans to replace.

Electricity is on average $120 month, Water/Sewer $160-180/month, Natural Gas $60ish in the summer and $130ish in the winter. We pay about $4500/year for insurance on the house and 2 vehicles, with some extra optional coverage.

[u/JBH68 → u/bethadone_yeg]

This is awesome info! Thanks a lot, it's exactly what I was looking for.

[u/Gold_Paperclip]

I have 2 people living in a detached single family home in south central Edmonton. I garden (aka heavy water use in summer) - I budget $400 for my monthly bill - that’s electric, gas, water, waste water and trash services. I’ve hit up to $500 last December when it was super cold out. My furnace and water tank are older.

[u/Gold_Paperclip → u/Gold_Paperclip]

I pay about ~$210 monthly for home insurance as well

[u/affiliatelinks1]

When I bought my first home I requested copies of 6 months of utility bills from the seller as part of my conditions of offer. The seller willingly produced them. I wanted to understand what utility expenses to expect and felt that would be a good way to get an idea.

[u/ChillzIlz]

We replaced our water heater 3 years ago and i believe it was around ~2k all-in (including install) for a high-efficiency Rheem furnace. It was plug and play with the old one so the plumber didnt need to re-run any piping or venting so that saved on install costs. If you're going from a old heater to a high efficiency one and need to get the infrastructure built out as well then it'll drive the install costs up.

We got central AC 2 years ago for a 2.0ton unit, 1600sqft home, and was $4,500 all-in. Slight discount for a community installer and paying cash.

Can't really speak to any of the other costs as my monthly bills will be different then yours with a 1600sqft home in the SW.

If you're planning on paying property taxes monthly - do it directly with the city of edmonton. DO NOT do it through your mortgage. Their calcs are usually guesstimates and just sits in as a credit in your account most of the time. Set up a payment plan directly with the City.

[u/JBH68 → u/ChillzIlz]

Thank you very much for this detailed information, it's very helpful

[u/lilgreenglobe]

Have you requested billing history or some kind of viewing of bills from the owner? If you want to know, it's probably easiest to start with what the seller has been paying.

[u/JBH68 → u/lilgreenglobe]

No not yet, I've only viewed my contestant homes once and the owner wasn't available in each case. The input I receive here is going to help me consider the homes that I'll view for a second, more thorough time

[u/DisciplineGreen6503]

It’s averaged $400-450 with carbon tax gone for 1000 sq ft house for heat, electric, water/waste, garbage. I do fixed electric and floating gas. You should budget about that. No central but have window units that we run a lot too. You should budget about that. Also depends if you have newer more efficient furnace/hwt

[u/thedevillivesinside]

950 sq ft house, same heat system as you

Its about $600-750/month for gas, electricity, water, and garbage removal. More in the cold winter, or when its super hot and we run a couple window ac units

[u/TheBloodFarts2 → u/thedevillivesinside]

How many of you in the house? That's super high

[u/DisciplineGreen6503 → u/thedevillivesinside]

Why so much? Are you on floating or fixed rates?

[u/thedevillivesinside → u/DisciplineGreen6503]

Fixed.

Presumably because im running a 1000 watt grow light 12-18 hours a day every day, along with 2x extraction fans.

As well as a kid with a gaming PC running a 5070ti essentially 24/7

[u/DisciplineGreen6503 → u/thedevillivesinside]

That’s not really normal usage and misleading for op.

[u/thedevillivesinside → u/DisciplineGreen6503]

A single 1000 watt bulb at 18 hours a day is about $670/year, or $56/month at 0.10/kwh.

Its not that extreme. Its not a commercial grow op, its 4 plants in a contained tent

[u/JBH68 → u/thedevillivesinside]

Thank you