The HVAC system in your home is critical to your everyday life because it will make you and your family comfortable and safe. You want a furnace that will run reliably and keep your family warm throughout the chilly winter months. Likewise, during the summer, when the sidewalks are so hot they burn the bottoms of your feet, you want your home to be your oasis of cool and calm. Your air conditioning system should make your home a welcoming refuge from the hot summer sun.
You’re going to need it.
Logically, you will use your air conditioner the most in the summer because that’s when it’s going to be the hottest outside, which directly impacts the temperature inside your house. If you have a relatively new air conditioner or recently had work done on your air conditioner, running it in early summer will likely be what you need to determine if it’s working properly. You don’t want to get stuck with no air conditioning on the hottest day of the year. Keeping your family cool throughout the summer is important and will make the long summer months overall more enjoyable.
Annual maintenance is critical.
As air conditioners age, they will run less efficiently. Parts within the unit will wear down, and things will break. Your HVAC system is one of the most important home repairs you’ll make because it’s critical to your daily quality of life. When your AC isn’t running efficiently, your energy usage will increase as it runs more than it should. This will drastically increase your energy bills, making it more expensive to run. Additionally, if your AC breaks suddenly, you’ll have to pay for an emergency visit, which will automatically be more expensive than a regularly planned annual maintenance check.
During an annual maintenance check, preferably in the early summer, your HVAC tech can make sure everything is running the way it should and that you’re ready for the coming season. You can become aware of parts that may be going bad and choose to have them replaced before it gets critical. Your HVAC tech can also advise you when you should start considering a replacement unit so that you can save up for it.
How You Can Pay For Unexpected Repairs or Replacements
Replacing your central air unit won’t be a small expense. It’s likely not something that will be covered under your homeowner’s insurance unless the unit is physically ruined during a storm or natural disaster. There are many types of loans you can look into based on your home equity that will give you the funds you need with a low monthly payment. Depending on the loan amount you need, a reverse mortgage may be a good idea for you.
If you don’t know how reverse mortgages work, here is a short overview. Based on your home equity, you can get a loan against your home mortgage that doesn’t need to be paid back until you pass or the house is sold. Once you pass or the house is sold, the loan will need to be paid back in full within a relatively short period of time. Your home’s value will remain the same, but your monthly mortgage payments will be nothing. The amount of the loan can be distributed in a lump sum for when you’re trying to cover unplanned expenses or distributed in monthly payments when you need to increase your living income.
Many people don’t know about this option, but it’s a highly viable one if you meet the requirements for the loan. It’s critical to inform the family of the reverse mortgage since the loan will need to be repaid quickly in the event of your death. The amount of money borrowed won’t be critical because it won’t exceed the home’s value. A reverse mortgage borrower can get the money they need without the stress of an additional monthly payment. The exact terms of the loan will be dependent on the current interest rate, home’s equity, and type of loan as well as personal factors.
Testing your unit in the early summer is crucial to ensure everything works properly before the temperatures get brutal. While repairs can get expensive, you’ll want to find a way to afford them before you’re in the dead of summer.
