Furnace Eyesore in Rental

[Scott Rogers]

Hello all,

My property management company is having some trouble renting out one of the units in my recently acquired duplex (It doesn't help that it is the dead of winter in Wisconsin, lesson learned).  Another of the detractors is the gas furnace in the corner of the living room (there is a minimal basement and mostly just a crawl space).  It is an eyesore, takes up some space and can be loud. The unit is a 3BR/1 BTH with about 1000 SQFT.  I have been weighing options.

1) leave it as is.  It will eventually rent at the right price and as the weather improves.  My concern would be tenant turnover (even with a 1 year lease)

2) Try and enclose the furnace.   I know this is a safety and efficiency issue

3) Remove the unit and just rely on the electric radiant headers in the baseboards.   The electric heat must not have been enough if they previous owner felt the furnace was needed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you