We are thinking of selling our house in 1-3 years. Our home is 40+ years old, built about 1973, and the HVAC is original to the house. We are doing a lot of stuff to the house, repairs, updates, etc. but we never even thought about the HVAC because, well, it works. It may not be energy efficient, but it's warm in winter and cool in summer. In the 13 years we've lived here we've had two small repairs, totaling about $800. I wouldn't have even thought of it now, but a fellow at the home improvement store today got to talking to us and he kept going on about how no one would buy a house with a 40 year old AC unit and furnace - and he wasn't even trying to sell us one! By the same token, we did mention it to a realtor we consulted, and he wasn't all that concerned.

We don't have tons of equity, maybe $30-$40,000. I can't imagine borrowing more money via our home equity line or even just financing the system. We don't have the cash. Really, we'll still be paying off the windows we replaced for several years after the house is sold. We need our equity for the next house.

Do we bite the bullet and start looking at HVAC systems? I'd love to hear any thoughts on this issue.