5 Ways To Protect Your Home Investment
September 12, 2011 Leave a Comment
North Dallas Real Estate Agent offers 5 Ways To Protect Your Home Investment
As HVAC units have increased in size, inside replacements are having to be installed in the attics.
It is very important to have a licensed HVAC tech do the work and I personally think it is important to check with your city about permits and this and other licensed work. It also is important to keep your invoices together in one place.
About permits: I understand that everyone does not agree about the importance of permits, but it places an extra measure of accountability on the installer and can be a good marketing tool when you later sell the property. Permitted work presents you as a responsible owner who makes sure work is done correctly and this can translate to a better sale price and/or fewer repair requests when you are selling your house.
Home inspection reports are showing enough bad, and even unsafe, installation work of HVAC units and hot water heaters to convince me of the value of having the work permitted. This means you may pay slightly more for the permitted work, but think of it as a type of insurance on quality of installation
work. Remember that this is not your weekly grocery list – it is one of your most valuable assets.
About keeping your paper work: Recently, some buyers purchased a house and the home inspector and their HVAC inspector found that when the unit had been replaced several years earlier, the installer used a 5-ton coil in a 4-ton unit.
The work had not been permitted; however, the owner kept his invoice. Without the invoice, it is doubtful the owner would have been successful with the HVAC company, or it would have taken much longer and possibly prevented the sale from closing by the contract date. However, the documentation in hand (showing the correct size written up but different/wrong size installed), probably saved the owner a lot more time and at least $2,000+ if he had paid for the correction work.
Becky Hopkins, Realtor®, SRES, GRI
CENTURY 21 Judge Fite Company
Serving the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex
www.50andholding.com
