My husband and I spent over eighteen months touring potential houses to purchase.
We were extremely anxious to move out of our cramped apartment and start building equity.
We simply couldn’t find a property that met all of our criteria and was within our budget. My husband and I were fine with making renovations. However, we were looking for a safe location, good sized yard, a garage and enough square footage to accommodate kids. When we finally found the perfect option, we weren’t thrilled with the ancient oil furnace. We hired a professional HVAC contractor to make sure the system was operating safely. The technician assured us that the furnace would continue to operate for at least a few more years but recommended the conversation to natural gas heating. We had so many updates to make on the house that replacing the furnace was quite far down on the list. We got along with the oil furnace for three years. We spent an excessive amount on our monthly heating bills and lived with unpleasant fumes and inferior comfort. I constantly worried about running out of fuel in the middle of a January blizzard and being left without heat. I hated scheduling deliveries and the appearance of the cumbersome tank. I was concerned about the tank leaking and creating a huge mess. When we finally got around to upgrading to a gas furnace, the project wasn’t nearly as expensive or invasive as we expected. We should have switched immediately. The gas furnace is so much more energy efficient that it’s quickly paying for itself.