Is central heat really an amenity that needs to be listed in a real estate ad?

[Bunny]

I've noticed that nearly every real estate ad on Pittsburgh's craigslist shows 'central heat' under the amenities section. Are there really that many houses that don't have central heat? I just assume it's a given, in the same way that 'roof' would be a given. Does anyone know why they do this? :shrug:

[yawnmaster]

1. Don't know about Pittsburgh, but older houses around here don't have central heating...

often a gravity floor heater, or individual wall heaters.
Usually pre 1950's, unless updated.

[Capn Sunshine]

2. many homes have wood fire heaters as well

Central heat is not a given, away from most metro areas or in rural environments.

[gmoney]

3. of course it is

I think that implies not radiators, nor baseboard heaters, but probably forced air through ducts that's been pretty standard.

They probably have to list SOMETHING there, or everyone will ask if it has central heat or central air or what.

Hell, I think it should list whether all the outlets are 3-prong grounded or not. My house is about 50/50, and the 2-prongs are always in the wrong place.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Here in the PNW, many houses only have electric wall or baseboard heat.

So, I would find that kind of information useful. :hi:

[stray cat]

5. No - central heat is a plus - I've looked at apartments without it - no money to look at houses

[david13]

6. Yes it is little miss Bunny. No need to presume that everybody

is rich people, with their fancy central heating and all.
Like the folks say many areas. Here is southern California, all around Los Angeles areas there are many older cheaper houses with wall heaters, etc.
A newer more custom, expensive feature is central heating. An a/c unit can easily be added to central heating, or many listings mention central heating and central air. Central air is far nicer than those window air conditioners we have all suffered with at various times.
If you want to sell the house, you list a feature like that. If you don't want to sell the house, don't tell nobody nothing.
On your fireplaces, many are ... gas. Look for "wood burning fireplace", but some want those, some don't. They can be smoky and make the house walls smoky. Also firewood is so expensive for good stuff, but worth it.
dc

[Zomby Woof]

7. What's with the condescension?

"little miss Bunny"?

And people wonder why DU has gone to shit. No one can respond to the simplest inquiry without acting like a 12 year old with a borderline personality disorder.

Bunny is consistently one of the most pleasant people on DU. She did not deserve that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. geez. who pissed in your breakfast?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. You can get a unit that doubles as AC and heat.

It's called a Heat Pump. Goes in either direction depending on the weather.

[Louisiana1976]

9. My apartment has baseboard heating--it's the first home I've had that...

didn't have central heating.

[Wapsie B]

13. Mine too, and my place is not that old.

The building was put up about 10 years ago.

[crim son]

10. Maybe the realtor is from New Zealand.

I've never lived anywhere without central heating and I've lived in some old homes, but in some parts of the world central heating is a desirable plus!

[carlyhippy]

12. oh yes, definitely, alot of older homes dont have it

I couldn't live without it myself

[grace0418]

14. Lots of older cities (and I would assume Pittsburgh would fall into that category) have

different types of heating systems depending on the ages of the homes. There are still plenty of places in Chicago that still have radiator heat. I had an apartment with these weird wall-mounted room heaters that definitely were not what could be defined as central heat. They could barely be defined as heat at all.

[Captain Hilts]

18. Hot water rads are great. Especially in Europe where the hot water pipes are on the outside

of the wall so you can hang your towels or laundry on them to dry.

Imagine how much energy we'd save if folks used driers less often.

It sounds like the wall-mounted heating system in your case was not fired up enough. That gets old really quickly!

[grace0418]

19. We had radiators in one place and they were pretty great.

The place itself sucked and had horrible drafty windows. But I imagine in a home that's well-built and insulated the radiators would be perfect. I'm pretty used to old drafty buildings in Chicago by now. Our current place was gutted in 1999 so it's much better, but there are still some rooms that get pretty chilly in the winter.

Yeah, that wall-mounted piece of crap was worthless. It was my first apartment in the city and it was a dump. Cheap though, that was all I could afford at the time.

[unpossibles]

24. I love radiators!

less dry than central heat. Heck, sometimes they are too warm for me and I crack the window or turn on a fan!

[GoCubsGo]

15. Yes.

I used to rent a dump that had a gas heater in the middle of the house. The central heat went out years before, and the landlord installed that piece of crap, along with window A/C units. This was in South Carolina, so with the humidity, the everything mildewed. I regularly had to spray the walls in one of the bedrooms with bleach to get rid of it. It got so bad, the front door swelled and couldn't open and close properly. I don't know how I lasted 2 years in that hole. But, I was young and stupid, then.

[SoCalDem]

16. Our paper once advertized a 2 BR washing machine

:)

[Captain Hilts]

20. Wow! I'd like to see THAT!

[Captain Hilts]

17. I, for one, don't think it's an asset. I MUCH prefer hot water radiators. nt

[dropkickpa]

25. I love my radiators!

Central air blows! My allergies hate that nasty shit with a vengence, I can't wait to get home to my non-dust funk house in winter away from people covered in their central air muck. And I always have a heated towel when I get out of the shower in winter, such an awesome feeling.

[Blue Diadem]

27. Same here. Had it in our first house, this house is hot water/radiator

The heating is more even and there is no ductwork to keep clean.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

21. If you live in Florida or Hawaii, it might.

Although I do have central heat which gets used all of about 5 or 6 days a year.

Pittsburgh, probably less so.

[hunter]

22. Central heating covers up major flaws in a home's construction.

A house can be leaking energy all over the place but the central heating compensates for it and the leaks are never patched and the insulation is never increased. The power and gas companies make more money, you have less money to spend on other things, and more carbon dioxide gets dumped into the atmosphere.

A properly sealed and insulated dwelling doesn't need central heating, even in cold climates. Throwing more energy at a problem is easy, but it's usually not the best solution. If we had any sense as a nation we'd update our building codes to make homes more energy efficient and we'd put thousand of people to work upgrading existing structures. At the current rate of unemployment we ought to be creating some kind of WPA or CCC to do this kind of work.

But we won't do that in the USA. The big energy companies have more pull in our government than we the people.

[bigwillq]

23. I would list it. And I would be more interested

if the listing included that the residence had Central Heat/Air.

on edit: I did think it said Central AIR, instead of HEAT, but my response is still the same.

[AbbeyRoad]

26. Yes. I don't have it...

but wish I did