I’ve never been very educated in homeownership or the many responsibilities it entails.
Growing up, my parents didn’t tell me anything about it and as an adult I’ve only lived in apartments where it’s up to the landlord to take care of these duties.
This has been both a gift and a curse, because now my boyfriend and I are living in our first house together. I only now appreciate how much work goes into maintaining a yard, a roof, and an HVAC system. Pretty much immediately after we moved into our house, the central heating and cooling system went down. It turns out that the unit was well over 15 years old, and the prior owners hadn’t received routine maintenance from an HVAC professional, but instead tried to care for the furnace and air conditioner themselves. This obviously led to more wear and tear than was necessary on the machinery, and we were stuck replacing the entire HVAC system within months of moving in. Since we had to make a big investment, I started researching all of our options for heating systems. It turns out that there are far better alternatives to the traditional forced air furnace on the market. In fact, these electricity-powered furnaces are literally the least efficient models you can purchase! I had no idea, all my life we had the wrong kind of furnace and were wasting money! With that knowledge, we’re now ready to make our first big purchase as homeowners, and invest in a high quality and high efficiency heating system.