Maximizing the sale price for your home in North Carolina without spending tens of thousands on renovations can be challenging, but there are some things you can do for a modest fee to bump up your selling price and your profit. One of the easiest ways to get more for your home in areas like Asheville, where the weather is hot year-round, is to make sure your HVAC system is in excellent condition and working order. Surprisingly, you can stand to increase the value of your home by more than 10% just by focusing on your HVAC equipment.
Below, HVAC experts from Blue National HVAC will discuss why buyers are willing to pay more for a home with sound HVAC equipment, as well as how to find HVAC issues that could turn buyers away.
How to Use Your HVAC System to Maximize Your Sale Price
Buyers look for more than a beautiful kitchen and upgraded bathroom fixtures. While fresh paint, newly refinished floors, and some effort put into curb appeal can undoubtedly give a good impression, modern buyers are more educated about home systems. They want to see quality beneath the surface as well.
Keeping this in mind, there are two primary ways you can use your HVAC system to fetch a higher sale price for your home.
Find Issues Before Your Buyers Do
The last thing you want is a potential buyer walking through your home and finding a problem with your HVAC system that you don’t know about. Not only will it make you look unreliable as a seller, but it will give the buyers a bad feeling about the home and make them wonder what other issues you haven’t noticed or have neglected to tell them about.
Before putting your home on the market, it’s a good idea to turn on the heat or air conditioning, depending on the season, and walk through your house and your yard listening and looking for problems. Pay attention to strange sounds coming from your condenser, any air or water leaking from ductwork, hot air coming out of the vents when it should be cool, weak airflow, and strange odors.
All of these symptoms will quickly be picked up on by a savvy buyer, and it’s best to have them addressed before you hold an open house or private showing. When a buyer sees your home and notices that your interior is comfortable and the HVAC system is working as intended, they’ll be more likely to have a positive experience and a higher demand for the home.
Maintain or Replace Your HVAC Equipment Before You Sell
Even if you aren’t experiencing problems with your HVAC equipment, it’s usually a good idea either to have a tune-up or complete replacement done. This is especially true in areas like North Carolina, where the HVAC system will be called on nearly year-round.
When you schedule a new system installation or routine HVAC maintenance in Asheville or the surrounding area, you can then let any prospective buyers know that you’ve gone above and beyond to ensure that the system that will keep them comfortable is functioning as intended.
Even if you don’t want to go through the trouble of getting your HVAC components replaced, presenting them with documentation that the system has been inspected and maintained to prevent problems will go a long way. Most buyers will be willing to pay more for a home if they’re confident the mechanicals won’t fail shortly after closing and cost them money in repairs or service.
Why Buyers Pay More For Sound HVAC Equipment
Some sellers wonder how it’s worth it to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars in maintenance or replacement just to turn around and sell the home. The investment in your HVAC system will very often pay off for two reasons.
Peace of Mind
First, buyers are willing to pay more for peace of mind that their biggest investment isn’t going to break down right after they close. Buying a house is expensive, so any buyer will have a higher demand for a home that has been adequately maintained and won’t cost them even more in the near future.
When you schedule preventative HVAC maintenance or get your equipment replaced, your buyers can rest assured that they’re at relatively low risk of the system failing. If it’s between your home and a nearly identical one with a failing, aged, or unmaintained HVAC system, they’ll be willing to pay more for yours just for the peace of mind.
The Promise of Lower Energy Bills
Additionally, new or tuned-up HVAC equipment always runs more efficiently. An educated buyer will understand that, while they might pay you a bit more for your house, they’ll enjoy lower heating and cooling bills in the future. This is especially true for an area like Asheville, where residents will use heating in the winter and cooling in the summer.
You’ll find HVAC maintenance or replacement worth it to raise your sale price, and your buyers will have no issue paying more upfront to enjoy energy savings over the following years.
Wrapping Up: A Sound HVAC System Increases Your Home Value
When selling a home, sellers will often all do the same things to maximize their sale price: repaint the interior, clean up the yard, and maybe replace fixtures or refinish floors. You can go one step further by servicing or replacing your HVAC system before you sell to set your home apart from the others.
In doing so, you could increase the value of your home and command a higher sale price, and buyers will be more likely to choose your home over the competition, even if you list yours higher.