AC Replacement & The Real Estate Market
Is your family looking for a new home? Whether it’s because you need more space or you’re ready to downsize, selling your home and buying another is an exciting prospect.
But it can also be confusing and stressful. There are a lot of questions that go into moving house, including what updates you should make to your home before listing it. Pretty much everyone can agree that painting your walls and updating your decor will make your home more appealing to buyers, but what about major appliances like your water heater or HVAC system?
Buyers who are looking for their dream home are looking for things like hardwood floors, stainless steel kitchen appliances and lots of natural lighting. They’re rarely thinking about the unseen appliances in the utility closet.
Selling Your Home: Do You Need To Install A New AC Unit Beforehand?
If you’re selling your home and unsure whether to replace your air conditioner prior to listing the house, consider these questions:
- How old is your air conditioner?
If your air conditioning unit is more than 10 years old, you may want to replace it as a selling point. This is because the unit is no longer under warranty and could leave the new owners with significant and unattractive maintenance costs, something they won’t want to deal with shortly after buying a new home.
- What kind of refrigerant does it use?
If you have an air conditioning unit that uses R-22 or Freon to cool your home, you should weigh the pros and cons of replacing it with a new system that uses R410a. R-22 is an ozone-depleting greenhouse gas that is no longer in production and is extremely expensive to replace; R410a is environmentally friendly and a lot cheaper than R-22.
If you live in a particularly environmentally-conscious neighborhood, making the upgrade to an R410 system will be a good selling point. Air conditioning replacement is expensive, though, so if the air conditioner is working well and poses no major maintenance issues, leaving it in place should be fine.
- Does the air conditioning unit work?
This is the most important factor in deciding whether or not to replace your air conditioning before selling your home. While it’s true that “NEW HVAC” looks good on a home listing, if your air conditioner works and hasn’t required any major repairs in the last few years, there’s no need to sink the money into replacing it.
On the other hand, if you’ve had to call Hydes for air conditioning repairs several times in recent years and the unit is on its last leg, go ahead and replace it. Not only will this ensure that you have no embarrassing too-hot home tours, but it will also give you greater negotiating power since potential buyers can’t use replacing the AC as an excuse to lowball their offers.
Consider the Condition of Your Air Conditioning System Before You Sell Your Home
No matter what you decide to do with your air conditioning before listing your home, Hydes is here to help. Give us a call at (760) 360-2202 with any questions you have about preparing your HVAC system for the home selling process.
