Question:
we are considering adding central air conditioner to the house. The house comes
pre-wired, but the builder is asking $1800 for adding the air conditioner. Is this
something that is better installed during the building, or just as easy to
install after we buy...
Answer:
Besides comfort, look around at the area's housing market and determine
if central air conditioning is "standard" on similar sized and priced
houses. If your house ends up being the only one around w/o air when
you go to sell, you may have to lower the price by more than the $1800.
Can you afford (in the banks view) the additional loan amount that the
$1800 central air conditioning option will add. It is better to buy
the house w/o air conditioning than to not buy the house at all. More
along this line is that many options added to the price of a new house
do not add to the resale value years later. After a while, house
prices in a community will more in unison with +/-'s only from more
obvious things. Examples that could possibly make a future price
difference include hardwood floors, skylights. Examples that could
possibly NOT make a future price difference include carpeting padding
upgrade, upgraded kitchen cabinets. If the additional financing is an
issue, then you may want to prioritize your option list.
If central air-conditioning is not standard in your area and you do not
feel that you will use it or ever install it after you are in the
house, then it is probably not worth it. On the other hand, the $1800
additional cost seems (on the surface) a decent deal for an average
size house (1700-2300 square feet).
