Old furnace change or not?

Question

For a flip. Do I replace a furnace that is working fine just real old or do I just leave it in and sell the house with it?

Sam Shueh · Answer

gas furnace costs about $900. compressor ac system cost is more brand dependent.

That is just materials. Labor figure $50/hour two people for 3 days.

Ryan Murdock · Answer

I've only done a handful of flips but I always replaced the heating systems, roofs, and any other major system that was even remotely borderline on age or wear.

I'm guessing that beyond recovering the cost of the system(s) with a higher sale price I also expanded my market by attracting buyers who may not have otherwise been as interested in the property.

I think this is especially valuable with homes marketed to first time buyers as they like knowing all of the "big things" won't have to be tended to for many years. I've seen it hundreds of times as a real estate agent in addition to my own projects: Brand new stuff sells.

Alan Pederson · Answer

I'm kind of facing the same problem. We are about to close on a house that has an AC system that is 38 years old. The inspector said he has never seen one this old. It works just fine. Do we replace or just leave it until it goes out? My first thought was to replace it but I wondered what the electric bill was with the old unit in place. The seller said the electric bill ran about $150-200 which is a little high for this size house. For now I think we're going to just leave the old one in place until it goes out or the tenants see some type of spike in their bill.

If I was doing this on a flip I would probably replace the unit. I can get a system installed for $4500. In the house we just bought, a new unit would have resulted in a higher asking price so the cost would have been a push.