How Important for Resale is Central AC?
We are renovating the garden/parlor duplex of a 4 story brownstone that we just bought, on a fairly tight budget (for this sort of project). Our family will need to live on the lower floors and rent the top two. So we want to fit 3 bedrooms and two baths onto the garden floor. We…
We are renovating the garden/parlor duplex of a 4 story brownstone that we just bought, on a fairly tight budget (for this sort of project). Our family will need to live on the lower floors and rent the top two. So we want to fit 3 bedrooms and two baths onto the garden floor. We have two sets of plans that we are shopping, one of which includes a garden floor extension that makes it much more comfortable to fit the 3rd bedroom in. HOWEVER, with the added cost to do that, we could not afford to add in central air. Looking toward resale, I want to understand how important people think it is to have the central air included in the mechanical update?? I don’t think it is that important to me, from a day to day living aspect. However, if we are selling this one day to a luxury buyer and telling them that the mechanicals are done, will the value of that mechanical upgrade be much lower if they feel like they have to add in AC and rip out the ceilings to ductwork…etc? Thanks.
Thanks for all the responses, very helpful and I appreciate everyone’s time. To comment on a few of the points, I did look (though I will now look harder) into the ductless systems. I was a bit surprised at how expensive my contractro told me that those would be – and he is generally pretty reasonable. They weren’t as much as the central but the units, installed, were something like 7-8k each and you would need a few. That’s what made me think about central. I agree with the last poster that a luxury buyer would want the whole house but we were thinking that in a few years we would sell it whole, with that person having to only renovate a couple of floors. I guess you are right though and they would probably want to rip up everything we did anyway.
One last question, if anyone is still listening, for the central air people, did you have a problem with your garden floor ceilings being too low because of the ductwork? My contractor was worried about having that floor feel cramped.
Thanks!!
If the central a/c isn’t important to you, I’d forego it because I just don’t think you are describing a “luxury buyer” property anyway. The houses configured as a duplex and 2 rentals, no matter how nice the duplex, just aren’t the ones the people with tons of money want — they want a one-family or triplex with ground floor rental. We have your configuration now and are looking to trade to a house with more space and it seems to me that there’s a huge jump in price for renovated triplexes or one-families over the duplex 2/rentals. So I doubt the central air is really going to make that much of a difference. Yes, it’s a plus like anything else, but the real luxury buyer is going to want to renovate your home anyway.
I think that this climate/energy situation is going to get pretty serious, so I try to do all my thinking about the future and mechanicals in terms of astronomically high energy prices.
So I think, personally, that central AC is going to be *such* a luxury in the future that it’s not prudent to put one in now. I would capitalize instead on the way brownstones are designed to be cooler than new buildings, and build on that. Make sure my ceilings are full height. Put in good fans. Make sure your floor plan allows for air flow from front to back. Insulate. Think about ivy on a south-facing wall (there are drawbacks to this).
Personally, I’d prefer to have all of my original plaster and molding intact than have the luxury of central air 3 months out of the year. And the space is much more important to me as well. I’m just fine with window units, even though it’s a pain to install them every year. But then, I’m not a luxury buyer.
If you think you will sell relatively soon and the place is really luxurious you will need the central AC. Non central AC (as in window units or Mr. Slim) is far less comfortable (but ok for most people). But again, if the place is truly luxurious it cannot be without it. Look at it objectively, and remember it’s often a better business deal to have a more average place with a few top quality items than a truly luxurious one.
I think it adds a lot to have central air (also finally have it – didn’t know I needed it – but would hate to be without it again – kind of like when I got an apartment with a dishwasher, then one with W/D – you can never go back).
But unless you are planning to move SOON (which you probably aren’t, even if you plan to, in the coming market), do what suits you for living in. I’m at the point where I’d prefer central air to more room (and I’m a space hog, really. That’s how much I like central air.) But do what suits you best.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Central heat/AC, and am willing to pay more for a place that already has it installed.
With that being said, you don’t have to get standard central AC. Why not look into the ductless systems, like the Mr. Slim? They’re much less expensive and don’t require you to run duct work. I’m no expert, but there’s plenty of information about them if you do a google search.
While some of them have that big unit in each room, I did some research and found some that don’t. Here is the list that I had compiled:
Mr. Slim – requires room unit
Spacepak – no room unit
Fujitsu – like mr. slim
Unico – like Spacepak
Sanyo
LG
Daikin
Good luck!
I have central air and absolutely LOVE it. I wouldn’t want to live without it again.
That said, I think an additional bedroom is more valuable than central air. Most brownstones don’t have central air so I don’t think its a must have in terms of competing with other homes.
Your quote sounds sort of high for two floors assuming that isn’t including the work to repair all the holes or the plumbing. We added central air and heat on 4 floors for slightly more than that. But if it includes the plumbing and the wall repair, that sounds very reasonable.