Whether selling or refinancing your San Francisco, CA home, several improvements could greatly increase its assessed value. These upgrades can also boost its marketability and make it easier to find qualified and motivated buyers. If you’re thinking about replacing your plumbing system, here is everything you need to know about the related rewards.
High-Functioning Plumbing Systems Have a Universal Appeal
Listing your home as having brand-new plumbing could help you command a significantly higher asking price. High-functioning plumbing systems are a great selling point. Potential buyers know that they can sidestep many issues that commonly plague older plumbing systems, such as whole-house backups, frequent clogs, and leaks.
Your Plumbing Will Easily Pass Lender-Required Inspections
Whether refinancing or selling, plumbing replacement will also make it easier for your property to pass all lender-required home inspections. New plumbing installations performed by licensed plumbers are guaranteed to comply with all current building codes. If you’ve had recurring plumbing problems in the past, replacing your plumbing now could help you avoid frustrating closing delays and other inspection-related hold-ups.
Homebuyers Expect Properties to Have Functional Plumbing Systems
Unless they’re purchasing short-sale properties, foreclosures, or fix-and-flip homes, functional plumbing is a basic expectation of home buyers. While some sources estimate that new plumbing will instantly pay for itself via increases in homes’ assessed values, this isn’t always the case.
What to Know About Plumbing Upgrades and Property Assessments
Increases in estimated market value resulting from plumbing replacements and repairs depend largely upon the magnitude or scope of these projects, the condition of plumbing systems during prior assessments, and the quality of plumbing upgrades. In general, estimated market values don’t significantly increase for individual and minor plumbing upgrades, but when multiple upgrades are completed at once, your home’s value could see a noticeable boost. For instance, your home’s value won’t increase after fixture replacement, but it will rise if you replace your fixtures and have the building repiped.
The Financial Benefits of Repiping Your Home
Whether or not your home is assessed at a higher value after replacing your plumbing, repiping does provide generous financial rewards. In homes with old and failing pipes, repiping can prevent many forms of progressive building damage, including:
- Damaged flooring and baseboards
- Ceiling and wall discoloration
- Electrical hazards
- Blistered and peeling paint
New plumbing can also prevent a host of ongoing humidity concerns including frequent or recurring bouts with mold and mildew, warped furnishings, and warped building materials.
Ensure Safe, Lead-Free Water Supply Lines
According to the California State Water Board, although lead water supply pipes were banned in the 1980s, many lead pipes still exist in homes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This is especially true of homes that were built before World War II. Repiping your home to add all new water supply lines will eliminate the need for lead testing and the fear of lead exposure via your home’s potable water supply.
Get Rid of Terracotta Sewer Lines
Many older, historic homes still have clay or terracotta pipes traveling to the municipal sewer main. These pipes are more permeable than other pipe materials and have a far higher likelihood of being encroached upon by tree roots, weeds, and other underground growths. While replacing a terracotta sewer line won’t add to your home’s value, it could prevent value losses during assessment. It will also greatly minimize your current and future risk of dangerous whole-house backups.
Reduce the Frequency of Plumbing Clogs
Replacing your wastewater pipes will invariably reduce the frequency of backups, clogs, and slow-moving drains. If selling your home, new pipes will also help you avoid embarrassing drain odors, elevated indoor humidity, and other drain and pipe problems common to outdated and low-performing plumbing systems.
Improve the Look, Taste, and Quality of Your Potable Water
Beyond eliminating the potential for lead exposure, new water supply pipes can also improve the look, taste, and overall quality of your home’s water in other ways. Old water supply pipes often have buildups of sediment from hard water minerals such as dissolved calcium and magnesium. If you have rust-colored or cloudy water at your taps, this is a great way to improve water clarity. Getting rid of hard water minerals in pipe interiors will also protect your new fixtures from unsightly limescale buildups.
Optimize Your Home’s Water Pressure
New pipes also optimize water pressure. You and other building residents can enjoy more pleasurable showers and baths, and your dishwasher and washing machine will both last longer and function better.
Add Intrinsic Value With Copper Piping
For the most impressive increases in your home’s assessed value when repiping, you could repipe with copper pipes. Copper pipes add intrinsic value to properties due to the inherent worth of this semiprecious metal. Copper has natural antimicrobial properties that deter the growth of fungi and bacteria. However, copper piping is not without its drawbacks, especially in areas with acidic water or acidic well water. In acidic conditions, copper is prone to developing pinhole leaks and corrosion.
Fixture Upgrades Are Low-Cost Improvements That Could Yield High Returns
Although fixture upgrades as standalone plumbing improvements aren’t enough to dramatically impact your home’s estimated market value, they greatly increase the marketability of residential properties. After all, kitchens and bathrooms are among the first spaces that prospective homebuyers visit when touring a home. Thus, if your goal is to turn heads, this is an easy and inexpensive way to do it.
Replacing your fixtures can also be beneficial if you intend to continue living in your home. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a single faucet leak could waste up to 3,000 gallons of water each year. This is the equivalent of 180 showers. More importantly, it’s water that you’re paying for and that’s flowing down your drains unused. Thus, while new showerheads and faucets might not raise your home’s assessed value, they can definitely have a positive impact on your water bill.
Add Value With Energy-Efficient Appliances
One effective way to give your home’s value a boost via plumbing improvements is by investing in energy-efficient appliances. These additions foster considerable increases in both property values and marketability. Moreover, under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, homeowners who replace low-efficiency, storage-based water heaters with heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, or tankless water heaters may qualify to receive a federal tax credit of up to $2,000. Titled the 25C Tax Credit, this incentive is also applicable when upgrading to high-efficiency electric or natural gas water heaters.
Integrated Accessories
In the Bay Area, water quality is a common concern among prospective home buyers. Thus, you can further boost the value and appeal of your property before selling by consider integrated plumbing accessories such as whole-house water filters and whole-house water softening equipment. These additions improve the taste and quality of potable water. Water softeners also protect all connected fixtures and appliances from hard water damage.
As a family-owned business, we proudly serve homeowners throughout San Francisco and the surrounding cities. You can count on us for expert plumbing, sewer, and drain services. We offer copper pipes, water heater installation, leak detection, and kitchen and bathroom remodeling.
To schedule an appointment or request a free, no-obligation estimate, get in touch with In & Out Plumbing & Construction today.
