25 year old furnaces, water heaters: replace upfront or let fail?
Hi all,
I bought a 4-plex a couple of weeks ago. Three of the four furnaces are 25+ years old, and three of the four water heaters are super old as well (18, 24, and 25 years). It's in a rough but rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. I bought the building with cash, and will refinance as soon as the two vacant units are leased. My plan is to sit on the building for a few years while the area around it improves, and then renovate and pull money out.
My question is: should I replace the old appliances now, or just replace them as they fail (or if they make it for a few more years until I do a full renovation)?
Benefits of replacing upfront would be:
- No hectic service calls for me, the property manager, and the tenants when they randomly fail in the middle of the winter
- I can capitalize the expenses if I replace upfront vs treating them as repairs down the line
- It'll increase the appraised value, so I can basically pay for the cost with a mortgage
The only argument I can think of for waiting is "don't fix it if it ain't broke" -- might as well just save the money, and who knows they might last a few more years.
Thoughts?
- Harman