SERIOUSLY...COOL IT!

It may be time to consider air conditioning

Northern Utah is hotter than the hinges on the gates of Hades right now — not just the real estate market, which has been hovering in the triple digits for some time,?but the actual outside temperature as well. While this is not unusual for Utah to see warm weather in the summer months, this year has been record setting, in both arenas. In fact, on June 15, the Salt Lake City airport hit 107 degrees. This has only occurred two other times in Utah’s history, both in the month of July, never in June. We are smack dab in the middle of making history.

We tend to see a mild temperature drop during the month of July in Utah — not with the weather, by any means, but with the real estate?market. The Utah market is unique in the tradition of cycling on the same track as our children’s school schedules. As Realtors, we are busiest during the spring, so the kids can stay at the same school until the end of the school year; the market slows a bit in July, while everyone goes to Disneyland, and then it picks back up in late summer so the kids can settle in before the school year starts. Job changes, divorce, family growth, educational opportunities, marriage, and financial situations keep us busy through the rest of the year. This year is no different, with the exception of the record-breaking numbers.

Shifting back to the weather, there are a few options to keep us cool in our homes and workspaces?while awaiting our 2-minute?fried egg on the sidewalk.?Traditional central air?conditioning units, the?box outside that transfers?hot air inside to the

outside, while simultaneously cooling air with refrigerant and releasing the cool air back into the home through a ventilation system, is both the most effective, as well as the most expensive, route.

In fact, it is so effective it can make a room feel like the Alaskan tundra (said the girl with the space heater by her feet right now).

Of course, there is also the option of installing a window air conditioning unit. Besides blocking the window and the difficulty of disguising it as wall art, I can’t help but make reference to the classic Seinfeld episode in which Kramer knocks the window unit loose from Jerry’s high-rise apartment and it falls to the ground, crushing a dog?who had bitten Elaine. No animals were actually injured during the filming, yet valuable lessons were learned about window units.

An easy fix, for a smaller space or individual room, is a mini split system. This is a great way to incorporate air conditioning into a space without ductwork. I had a system like this recently installed in a room above my garage. Before, it was simply a storage space, too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter to access for any length of time.

Since installing the mini split, this space can serve as a legitimate living space. It’s pricier than a window unit, but far less perilous for the animals?beneath.?Another interesting option is the eye-catching swamp cooler. A swamp cooler on the top of a home is certainly eye-catching but definitely not attractive. Whoever had?the good idea of putting?a box that requires water?to run through it into?the house atop a roof,?which only works when?the humidity is low and?then only by a difference?of 10 degrees, could literally?sell ice to an Eskimo.?It is low cost, however,?and a viable option when?another unit doesn’t fit?the budget, but so is?an industrial-sized fan.

Either can also moonlight as a noise-making device.

The payback in value is rarely going to be dollar for dollar, but in my experience, a home is much more pleasant to tour during the proverbial and literal hot summer months when it is appropriately cooled.

Meantime, as they say in the South, “that heat slaps hard.”

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and realtor with Ascent Real Estate. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or?[email protected].