Mini splits, electrical baseboard or oil

[Gareth Fisher]

I recently acquired a 2 unit. The first floor is a one bedroom about 6-700 SQ feet. The second floor was a 1 br. However it has an attic that we are planning on converting to a br. Making it a 2 br unit. I was able to get a good price because the previous landlord never got the heat separated. He was paying the heat out of pocket, oil radiant heat. However the electrical has been upgraded and is separated. So my plan was to convert one of the units to baseboard and Leave the other oil. However my HVAC guy suggested I do a mini split on each of the units. He said it would be more efficient and then offer both ac and heat. Another friend told me mini splits have a tendency to fail. I also am considering running gas to the property and just doing it right, and adding two separate boilers, but that seems very expensive. However I have another friend who said on smaller apartments his tenants dont mind electric baseboard. Which obviously would be the most cost effective. so at this point I'm pretty confused on what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Charlie MacPherson]

@Gareth Fisher Things might be different in PA, but her in my area (MA), electric baseboard is the cheapest to install, but by far the most expensive to run.

I have had retail buyer clients who have said that they would not even consider a property with electric baseboard heat

I'm a fan of mini-splits (on your tenant's electric meter!) because they're energy efficient and also give the added benefit of whole-house AC.  That makes your unit more attractive to tenants.