Imagine this scenario; you have gone under contract on a new house and during the inspection you find out that furnace needs to be replaced. This is not an uncommon experience and is an excellent opportunity to lower the operating costs of your new home.

Before you ask the new owners to simply replace the old furnace with a new one, do a little research and be more precise with your request. If you don't, you're likely to end up with the cheapest furnace that can do the job and your chance to save a lot of money will be lost! Even if the sellers are unwilling to replace the existing furnace with a high efficiency model, you can at least save on a substantial portion of its cost by having the sellers subsidize the purchase. At the very least, you should be able to get a credit for what it would cost the sellers to put a cheap furnace in the home, and you can then pay the difference for a high-efficiency furnace. You will likely make up for the difference in expense in the form of lower heating bills after only a year or two.

What to Look For in the New Furnace
Furnaces' efficiency is rated in annualized fuel utilization efficiency, or AFUE. The higher the AFUE number on the furnace the more efficient it is and therefore, the more money you will save heating your home. Try to negotiate a new furnace with an AFUE of 90% or higher. Insist on a sealed combustion/direct vent furnace. These furnaces use air from outside the home for combustion, rather than interior air. If the seller is unwilling to replace the existing furnace with a high efficiency furnace, you could offer to split the difference in costs or take the extra money and improve the ductwork. If the furnace and a substantial amount of the ductwork is located in an uninsulated crawlspace, definitely consider insulating the ductwork. Uninsulated ductwork can squander up to 40% of the energy used to heat the home.

If you have to choose between a high efficiency furnace and a lower efficiency + improved ductwork, weight the situation carefully. However, remember that furnace lifetimes are usually measured in decades. You can always upgrade the ductwork later without having to replace the furnace. Fuel prices are only going up in the long run, so investing in the highest efficiency furnace you can afford, particularly if the sellers are willing to buy it or at least subsidize its purchase, is a wise investment.

This information was brought to you by Boulder Colorado real estate experts - Automated Homefinder.