Protecting Your Home Investment With Better HVAC
When reviewing real estate investment protection initiatives you typically hear about homeowner or mortgage insurance policies and the like. However, there is one word, or should we say four letters, that you must consider if safeguarding your greatest asset is of upmost importance. That’s right, HVAC is one very important key to keeping the sanctity and value of your home intact, or better yet climbing despite market trends in Calgary. Let’s find out how.
4 Ways Investment in Your HVAC Can Also Protect the Value of Your Calgary Area Home
Helps Prevent Cost of Freeze-Thaw Damage
Year after year Alberta homeowners must contend with the seasonal freeze-thaw cycle, and the older the house, the greater the cause for concern and cost to follow. As you know, freeze-thaw typically results in significant water damage in the home when the slightest crack, fracture, or fissure is found anywhere within a property. In our recent article about how to make your ambient temperature more comfortable, we provided tips to preventing air leaks that create vulnerability to freeze-thaw damage. However, in older houses nipping every at-risk spot in the bud is a challenge, which is why you need to ensure that internal temperatures remain consistent and warm, preventing internal frost or even ice intrusion, both of which will take their toll on your walls, pipes, trim, baseboards, and more. It is therefore imperative that you have your furnace inspected and serviced for repairs on a semi-annual (to account for dramatic weather shifts) basis.
Reduces Monthly Utility Expenditure
When pondering property value protection you will want to look at some hard dollar facts. Without a doubt, poorly functioning HVAC systems have a direct impact on both your monthly and annual expenditures, which together will hamper your stake in real estate. After all, an investment that has you unnecessarily spending thousands of dollars per year isn’t much of an investment, is it?
A rundown furnace can inflate your monthly heating bill for eight to ten months of the year in Calgary while an antiquated air conditioning unit will increase your cooling spend for the other two to four, all Chinooks considered. Then, there’s the fact that when you upgrade to newer more energy-efficient HVAC systems you may qualify for federal and/or provincial tax credits and rebates. View our recent article on how upgrading your HVAC systems (furnace, AC, and hot water heater) will help you save money on utilities for a more in-depth financial analysis.
Not only will saving money on these expenditures improve your bottom line, you can put the savings (once you’ve covered your new furnace and/or AC investment) into additional home improvements that will also serve your property investment well.
Mitigates the Risk of Property Disaster (and subsequent cost)
A malfunctioning furnace is like a ticking time bomb, and we’re not being dramatic as there have been a fair number of instances of outdated furnaces causing residential explosions across Canada.
Of course, most residential disasters caused by outdated furnaces don’t result in outright explosions. Instead, they can result in fires, something that is much more common but no less impactful on your investment (we won’t even touch of the traumatic implications to owner/occupant safety). The NFPA reports that well over 20,000 household fires per year are caused by the existence of flammable gases in the home, with furnace (in disrepair) leakage being a primary culprit. Beyond the damage to your home, fires can also damage/destroy neighboring properties which can add to investment woes as resulting liability claims can be more than your insurance policy can bear.
Long story short, you must take this threat to your property investment very seriously and upgrade old HVAC systems right away, before it’s too late.
Can Increase the Market Value of Your House
By repairing or upgrading your HVAC systems you will help increase the market value of your Calgary property. For one, upon repair/replacement your home becomes a more comfortable one which is a positive marketing message in itself. However, the most quantifiable trait was addressed earlier in item #2 above, where we noted the monthly cost savings along with tax credits that come from installing more energy-efficient HVAC systems in the home. Appraisers and buyers alike will add this into their calculation as like you, they are factoring in not just the purchase price of a house but the long-term cost of ownership.
If your budget does not allow for a complete overhaul, it is still extremely important to get your furnace, air conditioning, and hot water heater serviced and maintained on a regular basis. When cleaned, refastened, and maintained semi-annually the lifespan of your systems expands which can absolutely increase the value of your home.
Contact Air Force Heating & Air Conditioning today by calling (403) 463-7700 or simply complete the form found here. The ROI of doing so will be realized much sooner than you could ever imagine.
