Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

The house (~1,500 sq ft ranch) does not have central air or ductless units. There are three window units for the bedrooms. There is plenty of room in the attic to run ducts if central air was desired.

Would this be a deal breaker for you?

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Not if it could be installed, but I'd definitely want an HVAC company to look at it and give at least a rough estimate on how much it would be to install.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Nope I bought this very set up.
DH doesn't like central air because he needs the noise of an AC to sleep.
And to be honest, our huge wall unit in our living room makes the house way colder than any house I've been in with Central AC,.
Especially because the house is small - around 1500 sq ft

I am not really a fan of central AC

Message edited 4/20/2018 4:37:38 PM.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Not a deal breaker at all. I would consider it in the value of the offer.

As long as it’s fixable, it’s not a deal breaker to me.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Definitely not a deal breaker. You can buy AC units.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

For me it was because I knew we wouldn’t be able to afford it right away. However, if I was looking for a house now, no, so long as it could be installed! If you can put it in the house and afford it or live with the window units for a year or two, then no it’s not a deal breaker, especially if everything else is what you want!

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

I’m sure the price has taken into account no AC.

Good news, so easy to run ducts with a ranch and if it has window units no walls to patch. I would not get ductless for a ranch.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Definitely not a deal breaker but I'd have to consider the price for the install.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

No It's nice to have, but not a deal breaker.

Message edited 4/20/2018 8:11:58 PM.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Not a problem unless I lived in Florida or someplace like that.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

I’d have to be positive that I could have central air installed. I know it’s personal preference, but we didn’t even consider homes that had just wall units even. Everyone’s got their thing...

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

central ac might actually be a deal breaker for us.

Not a fan

Message edited 4/22/2018 6:49:34 PM.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Ranch style homes are very easy to add CAC to, so it personally would not be a deal breaker for me.

I also think it depends on the price point. If someone has a budget that is really the starting point to buy into an area, then you kind of take what you can get and focus on the big items. If it's a high end home with a high-end price tag, than I would expect upgrades such as CAC.

But I always tell my clients, focus on the things you CAN'T change... location, lot size, overall layout. Those things can and should be deal breakers if it's an issue. You can't make a yard larger or pick up a house and move it.

But things like CAC can be added to most homes, and therefore, I generally think they should NOT be deal breakers.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

My opinion is a bit biased. My parents' house (I still live here) is without ANY air conditioning. No CAC and no window units. I bought my own window unit for my spare bedroom (not even the one I sleep in) a couple of years ago. On the plus size, I guess it makes house hunting easier because AC or no AC doesn't matter to me, lol

And, IMO, the summers have definitely been more mild and more tolerable. I usually only need the unit for one or two weeks throughout the entire summer. Also consider which way the house faces, how many windows, the amount of sunlight coming in, etc. My sister-in-law's house is north facing and very little light comes in. Her house is very comfortable all summer without any AC. Of course it may matter more if you have young children. But I don't think it should be a deal breaker, especially in this market.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Nope! That was actually one of my deal breakers.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Thanks for all the responses! We will be putting our house up within the next few weeks, and it does not have CAC or splits or anything. Just the window units for the bedrooms. I was starting to worry that it would be hard to sell this way, but it seems not... so yay!

There is definitely room if new owners wanted to install CAC. The attic is enormous... basically the footprint of the house and it's a stand up attic. Its actually a really easy ranch to add a second floor to, if that is what someone wanted to do. I love my house and its location (you can easily walk to a bunch of stuff, but it is still in a quiet neighborhood)... but we will be moving out of state soon.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

We have a ranch and no CAC. We have 2 window units for the BR's we sleep in and that is it. One half of our house has a 2nd floor so no way to put in to that side of the house. We have no intention of adding it. We talked about it but we have been in the house for 5 summers and cummulatively only had about 10 days we wanted central air.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Message edited 4/23/2018 5:46:03 PM.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Posted by NervousNell

Posted by PhyllisNJoe

Posted by shaleywhale

Thanks for all the responses! We will be putting our house up within the next few weeks, and it does not have CAC or splits or anything. Just the window units for the bedrooms. I was starting to worry that it would be hard to sell this way, but it seems not... so yay!

There is definitely room if new owners wanted to install CAC. The attic is enormous... basically the footprint of the house and it's a stand up attic. Its actually a really easy ranch to add a second floor to, if that is what someone wanted to do. I love my house and its location (you can easily walk to a bunch of stuff, but it is still in a quiet neighborhood)... but we will be moving out of state soon.

As long as there is room to put central air or ductless units, you should be ok. We can never go to window units. DH is always hot and my house is always a meat locker. When we were looking for homes, that’s was high on our list. And if the house didn’t have it, we checked to see if we could and then re-evaluated the price , etc.

Our house is also like a meat locker...in fact I have to wear sweatshirts in the house all summer and I can never wear shorts...that is how cold DH keeps our house in summer...and this is with all wall units. The one we have in our main living area I feel is overkill for the space...but he got it because he likes it so cold. So central air is not necessarily a must for having it super cold.
Having said that I am getting bad flashbacks to summer now and being freezing all the time.

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

I've actually never lived in a house with central air so I'd be fine with it. We have in wall units in our main living space but never turned either on until we'd been in the house 5 years and there was a heatwave. I'm fine with a few window ACs in the bedrooms.

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

Yup. Bought 2 houses in the past without it.
{GASP}}

Would you buy a house without air conditioning?

not a deal breaker. I feel like in my area of LI, CAC is still not as common as window/wall units when looking at houses... That is more of a luxury than a necessity IMO. You can add it later on

Re: Would you buy a house without air conditioning?