I’m living in a nice condo in rural upstate New York, and I have an option to buy. The place is really nice, exactly the size I want. I’m even betting the property values will go up eventually.
Only problem is that it has electric heat. It’s a bit expensive, but what really worries me is the power fiasco in California. They say it might hit New York too.
Please share your opinions and experience with me. I’m a first time buyer, nervous, and I need to make a decision by summer time. Thanks!
You know, Grok, even with the impending problems with gas heat, I’d still go with it, if I had a choice. First: you can still cook if you have a gas stove, and I believe it will still be cheaper than electricity for heating your home.
We have an older home, and maybe with the super energy efficient homes, it won’t make much of a difference, price wise, but I’d still go with gas.
Repeat after me, Grok:
North: baaaad. Cold. Snowy.
South: gooood. Warmer. Civilized.
Buy a condo in the SOUTH, where you won’t have to use the heat so much, whether it’s electric or gas. Big savings for you!!
You know I’m right. Admit it. 
Is that electric resistance heat, or a heat pump?
If it’s electric resistance, in your part of the country, I would run away from that. Electric resistance heating is ridiculously inefficient, and a very expensive way to heat.
Aside from the high cost of electric heat, your main concern seems to be the potential for power outages similar to Cali. Remember that in NY, our big power problems usually hit in summer when everone has their A/C running, winter is generally not as much a problem. If you’re OK with the added expense, I’d not worry about the other stuff.
Natural gas delivers such outstanding economic and functional performance (ever cooked on an electric stove?) that it is the only way to fly.
If your stove, dryer, water heater, and furnace are all gas your savings can be quite substantial. Avoid an all electric residence like the plague. You will never get it replumbed and you are talking about long term inhabitation.
As mentioned above, not relying upon a single source of energy is also a great benefit.
Two key words in this OP
Electric heat = BAD!
Condo = BAD!
Electric heat sucks…expensive as all hell.
Why would anyone want to OWN a condo.Do you know how hard it is to SELL it if you ever wanna move?
GROK, electric heat sucks in colder climates, even if the rates don’t go up. And with the rates out west expected to go up 60 - 150%, it’s unlikely the rest of the country will not be impacted as well, though possibly not to that extent.
That said, if you like the place, you might consider checking into how hard it would be to convert to natural gas. In my neck of the woods, you can even get an incentive from the power company that will help underwrite the conversion – not much $$, but a bit. The key question is whether there are already natural gas pipes to the condo development. If so, conversion is feasible, though you’ll have to decide if it’s worth the cost. If not, then conversion isn’t even feasible, since the gas company would have to lay pipe in to do it and they probably won’t do that unless you have a firm commitment from a certain percentage of the owners/tenants to convert. In my case (when I was in a condo), they made the Homeowners’ Association guarantee at least 50% would convert from electric to gas before they’d lay in the lines. But you might check it out. If you really like the place; you don’t mind the power bills thus far; and you have at least the option of converting later if you want, then I’d say go for it. 
Why do you say condos are inherently bad? Most people I know who own a house say they wouldn’t do it again. They are too much work to maintain, and even the best can be money pits.
What would you suggest other than a condo to a person who has no desire to own a house?
Well, Why wouldn’t you want to own a house? If you are worried about yard work,hire a landscaper.You are already paying maintenance fees for the condo,right?
I lived in a townhouse development for 5 years.It seemed like a great idea to buy one at the time.I was single…working full time,going to school part time.
Then all Hell broke loose…I got married,had two kids and whammo…that nice two bedroom condo was too small.So…I decided I’d just sell it and buy a house…problem solved,right? Wrong!..It took me another year and a half to sell the damn thing,and I barely broke even.(And this is when sales were booming!)
Owning a house is not that big of a hassle if you do your homework and don’t buy a “handymans” special.
But I don’t have to pay water or trash. And I don’t have to cut the lawn and I don’t have to shovel the snow. Worth it to me. The only thing I hate about condos is the close quarters to your neighbors, the association fee and the stupid ass rules you have to follow.
For some reason I really do love zombie threads where the conversation carries on from one post to the next like it never missed a beat despite an intervening decade or so. It’s like an interstellar discussion across multiple light-years :).
Wow. I was going to recommend to the OP that he consider upgrading to a mini-split heat pump system, such as ones described here. They use about 1/3 the electricity - his costs would probably be comparable to gas, especially since these things double as air conditioners, so it’s one fewer system to maintain.
But I realize that in 2001, importing Asian made air conditioners from China wouldn’t be the convenient and practical thing to do it is today…
I wonder what the OP ended up doing.
And I wonder if any of the posters from '01 would’ve said something different had they known then what would happen in '08. I assume so.
Interesting to see how someone viewed things back then.
The California energy crises was of course due to Enron and such manipulating things. CA had a particular form of deregulation that allowed it to happen. You only have to worry about this if you live in a state where a similar form of deregulation has been implemented. NY isn’t one of those.
This was known to many people at the time, but the media focused on blaming the wrong people for the usual reasons.
My only experience with electric heat isn’t my own. A friend purchased a large home that was completely electrified (PSC did not give approval to run gas pipelines, or something). The place was extremely expensive to heat/cool. They would have to shut off whole sections of the house from heat/cool just to be able to afford the bill. I don’t believe that electricity has gotten any more effecient or any cheaper. Gas is just a better choice overall.
Bob
How much will you need the heat anyway? It can vary a lot.
I lived in an apartment for a year that had its own electric furnace. This place was big, with 12-foot ceilings and huge windows. I barely had to use the heat, however, since the walls were so thick, there were heated apartments and hallways completely surrounding the apartment except for the big windows, and heat loss through them was pretty minimal (they also let in a lot of sunlight, so it tended to balance out).
So depending on where the condo is located in the complex and the quality of the walls and windows, you might not need much heat in the first place.
By the way, I live in Indianapolis. Winters here are cold.
I believe he changed his user name to something having to do with large-ish mammals that like books. He then bought the condo, and found that when fuel oil prices rose he was glad for the electric heat. He still lives there, and likes that you can heat or not heat particular rooms. He’s thinking of getting one of those “smart” thermostats next, and would like recommendations on them.
Or so I hear. 
I live in Montreal which is just as cold as upstate NY, but we are blessed with enormous amounts of hydro power and we heat with electricity most of the year. In the coldest weather, we heat with oil since the electricity rates go up sharply, but are very cheap otherwise. The switching is automatic.
But if I were starting over, I would opt for heat pump using a 500’ underground water-filled pipe as a reservoir. (They call it geothermal, which it isn’t.)