Adding New Furnace and A/C increase Value of House ??

**Maria** · 10-30-2010, 01:26 AM

Im currently living in a House that was built in or around the 1950's
its a 1 1/2 story and current market value for houses around me that are similar is $400K
Im probably going to be selling it and moving into a newer house within 3 years.

The House currently Uses Oil and the furnace is preety old , the central air was installed 10 years ago but has since broke.

i got a quote for a New Gas Furnace and A/C , with goverment rebates etc. it comes to around $11K CDN

2 questions , would that increase the houses value significantly or does it do much of anything?
and is that a good price for a New Furnace&A/C ... as i checked some websites and even the Most Efficient Gas Furnace is only around $3K and the A/C would be a Couple Thousand ... so that would = $6K for installation.

thx so much

M

**clemy** · 10-31-2010, 09:18 AM

Get more than one quote and see how alike/different they are, then ask questions about what is included. If you are changing from an oil furnace to a gas furnace, the extra costs might be to run a new gas line and other costs in changing. The estimates should also include getting ride of your oil tank.

It won't add value to your home, but it will maintain the value. If you try to sell without replacing the systems, you will have to lower the price to attract buyers.

**White Bear Lake MN Homes** · 11-01-2010, 08:22 PM

I would like to weigh in on how replacing the furnace and A/C could impact the sale price of your home. The answer really lies in the data of comparable homes near you. Do "most" home selling right now have an updated furnace and A/C? If not, then the addition of these new mechanicals should set you apart from the competition...and ultimately bring you some add equity. Otherwise, it will likely just maintain the value of your home (if most other comps have the updates).

**davidhd** · 11-01-2010, 10:22 PM

I thing adding New Furnace and A/C will not increase the value of your home very much. Instead it might be a losing affair for you.
The reason might be as you have new furnace and A/C, then the buyer don't valuate it to the cost of these. For Example if you have these for $1500, then you will not get more than $1000, that is a loss of $500.
Therefore adding these to your house will not impact your home price, rather than it would give you a loss.

**Chrisopher Moltisanti** · 11-02-2010, 07:42 AM

David's correct. These things are expected to be in working order with a house anyway.
Square footage increases the value of a home, not appliances or a heating system.

"Hi, my home is for sale, the heat and AC are being upgraded."
Buyer: "And?".

CM

**Jonathan Radford** · 11-04-2010, 07:03 PM

Everyone is looking at only the surface costs. So let's say you spend $10k installing central air but the buyer does not valuate these features and therefore you get the same price for the house as you would without the central air. It is possible that even if the buyer does not valuate these features into the purchase price, he/she was still influenced by these features in their purchase decision, and possibly made a purchase that they would not have made otherwise. Therefore, even though they weren't willing to pay extra for these features, it may still be cheaper to eat the cost if it helps push a quick sale (rather than spending money on the cost of keeping the house on the market).