25 year old furnaces, water heaters: replace upfront or let fail?

[Harman N.]

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

[Patrick McGrath]

@Harman N.

I would replace the water heaters $500/each plus labor , have the furnaces serviced and get a quote to replace.

I had a water heater go out on a Sunday with a family of 5 living in unit. Cost me $1400 to get it replaced when I could of did it for $500 and some time.

Replacing a electric HW heater is extremely easy, YouTube is your friend. If they are NG, hire a professional.