I'm renting my parents' house and the oven died.

[no_hypocrisy]

It was built in 1995. No trouble til now.

Repair guy said it was the front control panel which is solely electronic. On December 23, he told me the model was more than 20 years old and the part not made anymore.

As I had tenants and may have to sell the house after they leave, I sighed and bought another gas range/oven two days ago. And while it's tax-deductible, it's also $1,350 with delivery, installation, and removal of the other oven. Ouch.

I just got a call from the repair service. They found the part. The oven can be saved. Nothing otherwise wrong with the oven. Matter of fact, it's like a Cadillac of a unit.

But if I sell the house, I'm undecided whether a newer and new designed oven/range wouldn't make the place more marketable. I don't want to negotiate a lower selling price if the argument of "the oven's more than 20 years old and may need to be replaced".

My question: Even with top-of-the-line oven/ranges, how long do they generally last? I'm evenly split between repair and replace.

Thanks!

[TonyPDX]

1. New appliances appeal to buyers, that's a fact.

[Galileo126]

2. A new oven would appeal to me as a buyer

One less headache for the new buyer. If you spend $1400, you'll probably get $2500 extra or more for the house.

However, I'm clueless as to what oven would be long-lasting. I'm a renter with a double wall unit (GE p7) circa 1975. So much for my 2 cents...

good luck!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Thank you for your input.

I guess it's an investment, not a mere expenditure.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. It all depends on your market and what aesthetic physical condition the old one is in.

And what price range the house is in.

I'm in Chicago. Everybody wants stainless higher end appliances. Here it makes sense to upgrade and have newer appliances.

My partner's mom is in Pekin Illinois and everybody has lower to mid range black or white or even older almond. Hardly anybody has granite. In this market people just want operable and not beat up.

Sellers downstate take their refrigerators and sometimes stoves. That idea is crazy up here.

It also depends on how much money you have invested in this old unit. Was there a service call fee for the diagnosis? What's the pending service and parts fee for the new parts?

Sometimes it's just best to punt and get new.

But boy does doing your own repairs change the landscape. There is so much video and how to information out there. I've been buying parts at repair clinic.com. They have the "top causes" lists for different appliances, how to videos and parts to fit specific model numbers.

I've gotten pretty adventurous as of late making repairs to appliances. The catalyst was my 5 year old LG dryer's drum going bad. People online were screaming bloody murder over the $500 dollar repair that LG wouldn't stand behind even though they knew they had a major design flaw. Some people were on their second repair. I took a crack at fixing it myself and it was ridiculously easy. $100 part and done. The appliances are are designed so slave labor can assemble them so all the wires are color coded and plug n play.

Since then I've done a glow plug for my furnace - I used answer.com as a backstop. It's a fee based site where you can have an expert walk you through it. 25 bucks iirc

I just did a water fill valve on an old washing machine for a buddy. $9 dollar part. Ridiculously easy repair that would have been 150 bucks easy from a tech.

I did an inducer motor for my neighbor's furnace with help from answer .com.

I just did some gaskets and a vacuum switch for my partner's mom's furnace.

It's not even really so much the money but the time and aggravation getting an appointment for a repair. But the money savings is nice

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Thanks!

[LaydeeBug]

6. Also, it kind of depends on when you are going to sell...

My advice from my days in real estate would be to upgrade all appliances right before it goes on the market.

So if you think you'll be there for a few years (or the tenants will) I'd hold off. Even though they keep SWEARING stainless steel will go out of style, it kind of hasn't, so who knows how much longer before something else sweeps in and dates your thousand dollar purchase...