Every summer, I hear someone say, “Portland doesn’t need air conditioning. We only get a few hot days a year.”
Bullshit.
Maybe that was true twenty years ago, but Portland summers have changed. We seem to rack up more and more days in the 90s, and every year it feels like there’s at least one week where we’re all wondering if we accidentally moved to Phoenix. The Pacific Northwest is still an incredible place to live, but let’s stop pretending our summers aren’t getting hotter.
And if you’re thinking about selling your home this time of year, all that heat matters more than you might think.
Buyers Buy With Their Emotions… Especially When They’re Sweating Their Ass Off
One thing I’ve learned after years of selling homes is that buyers don’t just buy houses. They buy how a house makes them feel.
The longer buyers stay inside a home, the more likely they are to picture themselves living there. They imagine family dinners, watching football on Sundays, where the Christmas tree is going to go, and how they’ll set up the backyard for summer barbecues. That’s exactly what you want.
Now imagine it’s 94 degrees outside.
Your buyers walk in, and somehow it’s 87 degrees inside. The dog is panting. Grandpa is sweating through his polo shirt. Little Timmy is one inconvenience away from a complete nuclear meltdown because he’s hot, hungry, and his iPad died fifteen minutes ago. Nobody is admiring your quartz countertops anymore. They’re making a beeline for the front door wondering if the next house has A/C.
Congratulations. Your showing lasted four minutes.
On the other hand, if buyers walk into a cool, comfortable home, something changes. They slow down. They actually open closets instead of sprinting past them. They sit on the couch for a minute. They start talking about where their furniture would go. Comfort keeps buyers in your home longer, and the longer they’re there, the more likely they are to fall in love with it.
Does Air Conditioning Actually Add Value?
This is one of those questions where the answer isn’t as simple as people want it to be.
Will an appraiser automatically add every dollar you spent on central air conditioning back into your home’s value? Probably not.
Will buyers notice it immediately? Absolutely.
In Portland, central A/C has gone from being a nice little bonus to something many buyers expect, especially if they’re relocating from places like California, Arizona, Texas, or anywhere else where not having A/C would be considered some kind of human rights violation.
Even if you don’t recover every dollar directly, A/C can absolutely make your home more competitive. More buyers are willing to schedule a showing. More buyers stay longer. More buyers picture themselves living there. In real estate, those things matter far more than people realize.
Don’t Want to Install A/C? At Least Give Yourself a Fighting Chance
Maybe dropping several thousand dollars on a new HVAC system just isn’t happening before you sell. That’s fair enough. There are still plenty of things you can do to keep your home from feeling like Satan’s Airbnb during showings.
Close your blinds before afternoon appointments to keep the sun from baking your living room. Run your ceiling fans in the proper summer direction. Replace dirty HVAC filters so your system is actually doing its job. If you have portable A/C units, use them. They might not cool the entire house, but they’ll make the main living spaces much more comfortable.
And for the love of everything holy, don’t decide it’s the perfect day to bake chocolate chip cookies. I know Realtors have been recommending that trick since dinosaurs roamed the earth because “buyers love the smell of fresh cookies.”
Yeah… in December. In July, all you’re doing is turning your kitchen into an Easy-Bake Oven and making everyone sweat even more.
Keeping Your House Cool This Summer
Whether you’re selling or just trying to survive another Portland heat wave, a few simple changes can make a noticeable difference.
- Open your windows overnight and early in the morning, then close everything before the afternoon heat rolls in.
- Install blackout curtains on west-facing windows. They’re ugly if you buy the cheap ones, but they work.
- Cook outside whenever you can. Fire up the grill or the Blackstone instead of heating up your kitchen.
- Replace dirty furnace filters regularly so your HVAC system isn’t fighting for its life.
- If you’re lucky enough to have mature shade trees, appreciate them. They’re basically free air conditioning.
Sometimes it’s the little things that keep your electric bill from looking like a car payment.
Let’s Talk About My Ongoing War Against Houseplants
Completely unrelated… but kind of related.
Every summer I become convinced that this is the year I’m finally going to become one of those people with beautiful, thriving houseplants. You know the people I’m talking about. They have monsteras the size of a Honda Civic, fiddle leaf figs that belong in magazines, and somehow everything in their house is green and alive.
Meanwhile, I’m over here negotiating with a plant that’s hanging on by what can only be described as sheer determination.
Apparently watering plants isn’t as simple as… watering plants.
If you’re trying to keep your indoor jungle alive through Portland’s hotter summers, move plants away from windows that get blasted by afternoon sun because, yes, plants can actually get sunburned. Water deeply instead of giving them tiny little pity sips every day, and always check the soil before watering again. Most houseplants would rather be a little thirsty than sitting in soggy soil wondering why you’ve declared war on their roots. I’ve recently discovered the importance of drainage!
I’m getting better. The plants probably disagree, but I’m getting better.
The Bottom Line
Portland summers aren’t what they used to be, and buyers aren’t either. More people expect air conditioning than ever before, and if your home has it, they’ll notice before they notice your fancy countertops or freshly painted walls because they’ll literally feel the difference the second they walk through the front door.
If you’re planning to sell during the hottest part of the year, don’t underestimate the power of comfort. Sometimes getting buyers to stick around for another ten or fifteen minutes is all it takes for them to fall in love with your home. And in today’s market, every little advantage matters.
Kevin’s Take
If I’m selling a home in Portland during the summer and it doesn’t have A/C, I’m at least getting bids before I list it. In today’s market, buyers have options, and the last thing I want is for them to rush through a showing because they’re sweating their ass off. The longer they stay, the more likely they are to picture themselves living there.
No, you probably won’t get every dollar back that you spend on A/C. But if it helps your home sell faster, attract more buyers, and keeps you from making another mortgage payment while it’s sitting on the market, I’d call that money well spent.
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