Greetings Floridians. Illinoisan considering relocating has questions. Please help.

[adamjr]

Hi all. The title of my post says it all. My wife and I just returned from Cocoa Beach. We loved it so much and felt great sorrow getting on the plane to come home. My employer has an office in Orlando and relocating is a possiblity. With that prospect I started researcing home prices in the area. I think we are most strongly considering Satellite Beach.

I have noticed from the real estate listings that all of the single family residences are on slabs. My guess would be hurricane season is the reason for that.

Another thing I noticed, much to my chagrin, is that homes with natural gas for the water heater, furnace, and cooking are strongly in the minority. I was guessing that might be due to the mortality of buried gas mains when there is a high content of salt water in the water table. But that is purely speculation and I am sure that I will be corrected if I am wrong.

So with the prospect of moving to a completely electric house on the space coast I have an important question. How bad is the sticker shock going to be when I get my first June, July, August, and September electric bills? I am expecting to have a 210 gallon reef with 3 250 watt halides on a 9 hour light cycle in my living room.

Let's say for example I am in a 1500 square foot house that's 3 bedrooms with the aforementioned reef tank. I will have central air. I am sure someone in your club (which i would hope to join if I move) would have a tank meeting the same energy requirements and heat output as what i am proposing. What am I looking to spend monthly on electricity. How many months am I going to be running my air conditioning.

Thanks in advance. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[tangers]

I have a 160 gallon with 8x85w t5's, 1500 sq ft house about 160-170 during the summer.

 

[adamjr]

Thanks for the rapid response Tangers. s your house completely electric likt eh properties I am seeing listed?

TIA,

Adam

 

[Swirlygig]

my bill has been $330 - $380, but there are also 5 people in my house...If you just have 2-3 people, I would say it would be about $100 less...IMO just to be on the high side...

 

[WingnutSr]

A lot will depend on the quality of the home, as in insulation and mostly with whether or not the AC unit is properly sized and adequate ductwork. I live in Clermont, which is just west of Orlando. We have nat. gas for the water heater, range and dryer. Elec bills are currently running close to $300 pr/month. AC in this place is undersized and never shuts off during the day. I am running a 125 tank with 6 x 96 watt PC's. Home is just over 1500 sq. ft.

 

[rdmpe]

I have an older house, approx 2400sf, block walls w/no wall insulation and not great insulation in the attic, all electric. Have a 180g w/halides and our summer electric bill is ~$400.

Going to commute from Sattelite Bch to Orlando? That seems like a long drive.

 

[JUICE!]

My boss drives from coco to Orlando.....about an hour drive for him using the 528

My last house, the electric bill was about 325 a month.....about 1800 sq foot...... that was with 2X400 watt halides on the tank (at the time)

I think the lack of natural gas is more due to the fact that we don't run heater for very long during the winter.

 

[The_Browns]

We have a newer house, 2,000 sq ft and our electric bill is about $230-$280 mid summer and about $130 -$180 winter

 

[adamjr]

rdmpe- My company works people by zip codes. It actually could work out quite well. I am a field service tech for a copier manufacturer and we don't report directly to the office except for a couple of times a month. If I could get the space coast gig I'd never be far from home.

Thanks for the info everyone. So far all of the houses I have seen in Satellite Beach appear to be block/stucco construction. Is this somethign I should be trying to avoid? I don't want to move down there and make a HUGE mistake and be over my ski's.

Thanks again.

Adam

 

[lusenut2]

With living on the coast and driving to Orlando, I dont think your electric bill is going to be the problem. The gas bill just to and from work is going to be the problem.

 

[adamjr]

I won't necessarily be driving to and from Orlando. My mileage is reimbursed except for to my first service call and to home at the end of the day. If my territory is on the coast or the Melbourne area, etc. then I am in really good shape. In any case my work expense won't be any different then what it is now. My main concern is whether or not I can afford the uility costs of the hotter climate.

So how about these questions?

Is a block/stucco house something to avoid?

How many months a year am I going to need A/C? What months is the A/C going to be running?

Thanks again,

Adam

 

[lusenut2]

Over on the coast a block house is a MUST. If not when the first hurricane comes through, your house wont be there anymore. lol You will pretty much need A/C all year. There will be a few months where you wont use it for a week or two, but for the most part its hot here. I have never went an entire month without turning the A/C on. Down here its hot, you get to swim instead of ski on Christmas day. lol

 

[cur10u5g30rg3]

I would try hard to find a block home. In florida you have termite, hurricanes, and water damage which block homes will hold up much better towards.

It is very hard to compare the elctricity cost of houses and areas becuase there are many utility providers and their costs very so much. There also many different building techniques that are within "code" but could be more or less energy freindly.

I live in a 2200 sf turn of the century home with poor insulation, high ceilings and old windows. I have a 150 with 2 250 metal halides running 8 hours a day and our summer electric bill is about 300.00 from may to september. It drops to 150.00 the other months of the year.

If you research the house, the builder, and the area you can easily buy a house the will be very engery friendly and stand up to the elements around here.

 

[skinnyjoe1976]

i live over here in brevard. you will have the same elec that i do and my house is around 1500sf and running (1) 250 and (4) watt vho's and several pumps. we keep the house at 76 when we are not home and 72 at night. are bill runs around 200. we have a wood frame home. have you looked into merritt island? you can cut the cost of the home by at least 50,000. the average home in titusville runs about 180,000 give or take. we are just 20 mintues north of cocoa beach. we decided here because it's 30 mintues give or take from east orlando, deltona, daytona beach and merritt island, cocoa beach areas. the only issues you will have on the beach is the tourist, hurricanes (when one comes they shut down the bridges in and out to barrier islands so you might want to evacuate when they say so. third thing is the price. if you want beachside then i assuming you would want to pay the price. good luck and imo try to find a home with a backup generator if possible. during the 04 hurricanes there was not power for most for 3 weeks and no gas, water, food etc. we have to drive to orlando to get gas and food. shot me a pm if you have any questions about the area. i was born and raised in brevard county

 

[chantweaver]

You will find that Electric is the least of your money concerns right now. I have lived in several location and find that the electric bills from one place to another seem to balance out over a years time. What you need to know about right now in Fla is the home owners that is kick everyones butt if you can get it. I live in an older home and was difficult getting insurance.

 

[adamjr]

Thanks for the heads up on the homeowners insurance. I just sent a description and location to my insurance guy and he will hopefully be able to ball park it for me.

Thanks again. Keep the suggestions coming.

Adam

 

[schnell76]

If you buy a house that was built in 02 or later then you will not have many, if any at all, issues in getting home owners ins. Companies are ready to write policies to those homeowners since they were built under the new FL building code. Its the houses that were built before 02 that can have ins. issues.

Oh yeah, and you definitely want block construction. Would not even consider a house if it was frame.

My wife and I moved from IL about 7 years ago and it can be a learning experience, without a doubt

 

[adamjr]

Thanks for the architectural reasoning. I agree this is going to be a significant learning experience. I am on the low end of that curveso far. Most of what I am looking at seems to be built between 57 and 63. What I am not familiar with is the methodology of houses built in that era. I know that the houses are cement block exterior. Is the interior plaster and lath over 2X4 frames?

 

[dugg]

You should really do your research before you move over on the coast. If there is a storm in Florida, it gets bad and nasty right about tittusville lol. The homeowner ins. is outrageous in some coastal areas also. One big thing to check on is if the house is in a sinkhole area where you are required to buy sinkhole insurance.
Here is a good place to get stats on towns in the state.
http://www.city-data.com/city/Florida.html

 

[tangers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12801845#post12801845 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tangers
I have a 160 gallon with 8x85w t5's, 1500 sq ft house about 160-170 during the summer.

house is completely electric, and is 3 bedroom also