Another e-bike friendly shop is Battle Road Bikes, just beyond Arlington off the Minuteman Trail in Lexington. I’m not sure if they’d service a Priority Current but they are really cool people and I want them to get more business.

Thank you!

For calculating historical heat loss that is for you to do. Outside contractors don’t have your historical fuel bills.

Since you have central ducting, system design is easy - any HVAC contractor can install a appropriately sized central heat pump to replace a furnace.

Final note is that the operating cost of a heat pump in Cambridge is currently more expensive than a natural gas furnace.

It's actually fairly recent (2008) but the furnace is nearing end of life.

Who should I get in touch with to get that done for me? I'm only managing the unit, not owning it, but both the owner and I would like to get it done correctly.

You probably just want an HVAC contractor. You don't need to pay an engineer to figure how to deploy a mini-split system in a small space like that.

I got an ebike and just taught myself how to fix and adjust everything. Its a huge time saver and bike shops will charge way to much for any service.

You don't want an HVAC engineer (people who prototype HVAC equipment to be made in factories), and as you correctly surmised most contractors won't put in much effort on system design either.

Given this is a condo in Cambridge, it likely is a very old building. This means even Manual J calculations by "diligent HVAC contractors" are probably very inaccurate. The best way to size a system would be to use your historical fuel consumption from past years https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/replacing-a-furnace-or-boiler. This will be the most accurate way to determine your empirical heat loss, which would determine sizing, the most important design factor in a heat pump.

Further details about system design and selecting equipment will depend on your specific needs and considerations.

East Cambridge or East Somerville. Everything since 00 has skyrocketed in price. Best of luck.

Facebook is a good tool with multiple different groups you can look at, apartments.com, a realtor, or the housing subreddit

Yes on the assessors website. I believe this kicks in if you sign up and after being there for a year? Anyone know if this is true? It’s also only for owner occupied

Priority Current, so direct to consumer, didn't buy through a bike shop

East cambridge is now nyc

What brand? I’ve used wheelworks in the past but they probably only support brands they sell

east cambridge has changed quite a bit since 2000. For the better IMO. Tons of stuff going on

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That apartment building people go to craigslist is good knowledge for me

I think I should spend some more time walking neighborhoods

Also try quad city cycles or the bike stop. Both are in Arlington, very near each other. The bike stop even has a back door right on the bike path.

Bike boom in Davis and Trek out in Alewife both service ebikes, even ones they didn't sell.

Ace only services ebikes they sell, last time I checked.

What do you consider “affordable”? It’s difficult to give suggestions without a price range.

Your best bet is North Cambridge.

I do think Hotpads.com is the most exhaustive listings aggregator and it has an interface that is easier to filter and scan new listings vs the ones that you’ve viewed before. That said, there are plenty of small landlords in Cambridge who just list apartments for rent via signage in front of the building and you do learn a lot by walking through your desired neighborhoods!

Here is a summary overview of Cambridge residential property taxes - https://charlescherney.com/blog/posts/2017/04/03/ask-charles-cherney-question-46-what-is-the-residential-tax-rate-in-cambridge-ma/

I found my last two Cambridge apartments through a realtor and neither of them were posted elsewhere. That being said that was quite a long while ago so things may have changed. But at least you avoid scams on CL and other sites by going directly through a broker.

Your other option is to talk to a real estate broker. They have their own listings of apartments that landlords are looking to rent. In my experience I’ve already seen 90% of them by searching on my own (since brokers will also post the units on craigslist/zillow/facebook). Good luck!