All Forum Posts by: James Mc Ree

I settle on the unit Thursday.  It already has a finished basement.  My improvements were replacing the furnace, adding c/a and adding duct work to bring basement returns back to the furnace and a/c.  The returns just empty into the basement and we need them to connect to the furnace and a/c.

The old furnace still worked.  I thought now was a good time to replace it since I wanted to add c/a and a new furnace would require ductwork for the returns to comply with code anyway.

My spending drivers are improved resale value and rent competitiveness, as suggested above. The seller is motivated and price below market in a nice area. The ROI for the c/a is 2 years or less. It is harder to assess for the furnace since I don't know when it would actually fail. Murphy would have it fail at the worst possible time giving me some stress ROI too. 8-) Otherwise, I don't think a tenant cares if there is a new or old furnace if they are warm.

Jim.

I am about to replace a 1950 gravity gas heater with a modern unit, add c/a and do a little basement duct work to a unit all for $5,800.

Around here (Delaware County, PA - near Phila), a "3Br, 1Ba, unfinished basement and no c/a" is the "base unit" for the row homes I buy.  Upgrades add a powder room, finish the basement and add c/a.  The base unit typically rents for about $1,000 - $1,100 while the fully upgraded unit rents for about $1,200 if you can ignore everything else that affects value for an over-simplified comparison.  That is very hard to do.  Condition, location and maintenance needs are very important.

One tenant factor you may run into is the affordability of c/a.  Lower income tenants may not be interested in c/a as it will increase their electricity bill and rent if you charge more.