House without a fireplace/chimney

I would say that for a summer home, a chimney/fireplace is a detriment. just one more way for air conditioning to escape, rodents to get in, and birds to nest inside. This year we had a squirrel eat thru our chimney's steel wire baffling and fall down the chimney. he was injured and managed to crawl out but died on the oriental rug. If he hadn't been injured, he would have done thousands and thousands of dollars of damage.

where is the house? miami? hamptons? vermont? is that the only thing it lacks compared to others in the price range? how about a pool, screened in porch, guest baths, garage, en suite master bath? Location relative to others: corner (not so good due to traffic in many cases and car lights), cul de sac (preferred), proximity to desirable features of the area such as town, shopping, beach, markets?

In a vacuum I don't think this question can be answered.

Personally I would always prefer having a working wood-burning fireplace. Is the 'summer house' to be used only during the warm months? Or do you want to be able to go up there for cozy fall or winter weekends? Doesn't really answer your question I know--just spouting my opinion...

KW has it all covered, but I would add that I don't think this is a precentage issue, since it is likely fixable, even if expensive, so I don't know what price you are measuring 5% off of. But I am also not clear whether you are only wondering about sale pricing, or actual cost/use of a fireplace. I personally would not have a house in the northeast without one, but our "summer house" is used year-round, and we go through at least a cord of wood in our fireplace each year. And, even if your house is at the "beach" and only used seasonally, it is chilly at night in May, early June and September, and if you like fires you may like a fireplace. In most places around here, code requires glass doors on the fireplace to Rosina's comment (you would not have to retrofit existing fireplaces absent a new c of o).

I don't think you can ascribe any "resale" value to a fireplace without knowing all of KW's questions, as well as just what kind of fireplace. The cost of building the fireplace itself could vasy from a few thousand to many, many tens of thousands for a masonary firebox and chimney.

I should have called it a vacation home in the Hamptons. We will definitely be using in the fall, winter and spring. It has a vinyl pool, 4 bed, 3.5 baths, 2 car garage, en suite master. It is .75 mile from the center of town and the location is great. Excellent views. 3 miles from the beach.

Kitchen and 2 of the bathrooms are recently renovated. The place was built in 1999. it is on .6 of an acre but has a reserve that makes it feel like neighbors are further away.

I have learned that a gas fireplace could do the trick and would jot be as expensive as adding a chimney due to the masonry costs. Just want to be sure this is jot something definitely want/need. I know we would like a fireplace and chimney but do not think it devalues the property. Just looking for others thoughts.

Also we will look to rent it 1 or 2 months a summer. Is a fireplace important to someone in the summer? I would think not but would love to hear thoughts.

I'm not a Hamptons person so I don't represent your prospective renter. I have vacation homes in Massachusetts and the Jersey Shore. IMO, a wood-burning fireplace is vastly overrated these days. It's a mess, you have to buy and store the wood (which usually has bugs in it), I would worry that renters would burn the place down. If you must have a fireplace, gas is fine but I wouldn't bother. We didn't build one into our Berkshire house, we don't miss it and have been able to rent it out without a fireplace (yes, even to skiers!)

I wouldn't get too hung up over the fireplace. It isn't going to impact price very much. And you DO NOT want renters using a fireplace. You didn't ask about this, but as for the renting of the house, be aware that rentals can be hard to come by some seasons and depending upon renting it out to make the finances work is a tricky proposition out there the last 4 seasons. The basics of the home you outline are very good. But again, in a vacuum, value is hard to estimate without knowing price and more precise location (Hamptons are full of "micro markets." (This is not to say I am suggesting you post that information here.)

In addition to a gas fireplace, you can always install a wood burning stove if you decide you need it, which does not require a masonry fireplace.

Again, though, be wary of dependence upon renting the place out.

No dependance, just something we will likely do to generate income from our investment/home in the beginning. the home is in bridgehampton north of the highway but still in the village.

I think I feel comfortable not having the fireplace/chimney.

Thx all.

Also not in the Hamptons, but have a home on the Jersey shore and have NEVER used my wood-burning fireplace. Hope that is reassuring.

We do have a wood burning stove (glass door) which is wonderful at heating and the romantic glow thing, but we are pretty spotty about ordering wood. Some seasons we do, some we don't. For last 2 years we didn't get to it. It is nice to have though. Requires about a foot of clearance from the wall, a ceramic or other fireproof base to sit on (we have tiles set into the floor) about 4x4 feet, and a pipe chimney that rises straight up the cathedral ceiling and through the roof. There are fancier electrified models that circulate air better, etc, but the basic I've got can't be that much to install if you want to and have the space.

welcome to the modern days

>Also we will look to rent it 1 or 2 months a summer. Is a fireplace important to someone in the summer? I would think not but would love to hear thoughts.

I rented at least a dozen houses in the Hamptons. Fireplaces are a big plus. It's romantic and it's cozy.
It does actually get cold at night in the Hamptons, when you hit that huge american flag on the Expressway around exit 65, you can feel the temp drop 5 degrees just there.

Did rent 1 year a house with a propane fireplace. What a disaster, between the pool and the fireplace, propane bills were obscene! Stay away from that as your asking for middle of summer arguments with renters who won't believe the bill is for that month's use and argue with you that it is a yearly prorated figure from YOUR winter use. (I did not cause a commotion as I actually calcualted the therm use on the bill and saw it was our use. But others will I guarantee.)

A possible alternative compromise; If you have the right outdoor space, a nice fire pit. Ive seen some really nice "permanent" in backyards and decks.

Our place is upstate rather than the Hamptons but does get used year around and is occasionally rented out during the winter to skiers. We have a wood-burning stove in the living room, a propane fireplace in the master, and a fire pit in the yard. We probably go through about 1-1.5 cords per year.

Nothing touches the wood stove for actually heating the space and nothing is better in the winter than curling up in front of it with a good book and a (beverage of choice). It will literally raise the temperature in that room 20 over the thermostat in a couple of hours. Also, because the door closes, we are comfortable loading it up with wood before going to bed or leaving it going if we need to run out for a bit. It gets used every single day we are there between Labor Day and Memorial Day and although we don't rent it out that often, we don't worry about it being used either. I think I probably prefer it over a regular fireplace unless you are talking about an enormous lodge sized room.

The propane fireplace is in a bedroom wall and is open to both the bedroom and bathroom (behind glass) and is great for ambiance or when you want to run it for a short period of time and not deal with dragging in and starting wood, etc. It doesn't really put out too much heat though and is frankly a glorified yule log video - although it is really nice when taking a bath in the winter and it probably does help heat up the bathroom a bit on brisk mornings.

The fire pit is great and that would be the last to go probably. We use it from early spring through late autumn and have shared more fond memories sitting around it with friends a few bottles of wine than pretty much anything else in our lives. It is amazing the peace and tranquility that comes from sitting around an open fire and staring at the stars. We think it is left over in our dna when a fire represented safety from wild animals in early man and it is also great at keeping the mosquitoes away.

Anyway, I for one think you would regret not having a fireplace.

My parents own a shore house in Avalon, NJ and they installed a gas fireplace in the living room. It's actually really nice because there are only a couple months out of the year that are too hot to use it and we go to the house all the time for holidays like Thanksgiving, New Year's etc. It definitely makes the house more cozy, yes you can just turn the heat up but a fire is always so nice to look at.