If you are asking, "should I maintain my home?" I think we all know the simple answer is... yes! As I list homes and talk to home owners that are thinking of selling, I generally get the question, "what should I do to prepare my home to sell?" What I always hope to see is previous maintenance and updating done at the same time--it saves a lot of pain to just update and maintain at the same time. Within the lifetime of the home, you will find many different timelines on the life expectancy of the individual pieces of the same home. I am guessing that was a confusing way to say that the lifespan of your hot water heater is not the same as the lifespan of the dishwasher. So in saying that, an item may be working but it may be functionally obsolete. Hot water heaters for example have a typical "insurable" life span of 15 years, but they can last much longer than that. If, when you go to sell the home and your hot water heater is, let's say, 25 years old and working fine; you most likely will have a problem. You will have to replace the unit before you sell, because the new owner will not be able to get insurance on the home. Some of the benefits of this strategy--maintaining over time--are affordability, energy savings and personal enjoyment. Let's start at affordability. If you take the time to replace the major items of the home slowly and over time, you will avoid the issues and costs associated with having multiple items all be in need of replacement at the same time. Energy savings--some of the older items in your home will cost you in inefficiency, and could recoup more of their cost over time because they simply cost so much less to operate as they are operating in new condition and are often manufactured to be more efficient. So if you replace them earlier, you will get the savings that item provides just because the new item is so much more efficient. Most importantly may be personal enjoyment. Sure, you could live with that old, inefficient hot water heater that takes forever to warm up, and leaves you hanging out in the shower with cold water; or you could just replace the unit and enjoy hot water faster and with quicker recovery and cheaper costs. So what am I saying? When you buy a home, you are the maintenance man...so make your life easer maintain, update and upgrade as you go! It often pays off in the long run.
Skip Geiser
SkipSOLDMyHome.com with
Plum Tree Real Estate Marketing
850.221.6442
