Buying A Home
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Did You Buy an Older Home?
Long-time lurker. My husband and I are moving soon, and the area we are relocating to has a glut older homes on the market. (Early 1900's up through the 1960's.) If you bought an older home, what are some important things to look for with regard to planning for updates/costs? Is there anything you would avoid altogether? Anything that you found pleasant about your older home? Just looking for some input. We haven't even started looking physically yet (just online), but wanted to get ready for a time when we do start walking around.
Re: Did You Buy an Older Home?
To me, the biggest was to make sure wiring/plumbing is updated because I did not want to mess with that and it can be harder to find someone to insure it if it still has knob&tube wiring.
One special old house thing I love about our house is that the walls and ceilings are wood plank behind the drywall/plaster. Our house is SOLID. That's something we needed to mention special to our insurance company though because it does up the rebuiling cost.
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Our house is from 1926. The foundation is totally solid, and there are very few cracks at all in the cement in the basement. The inspector was impressed. He said to keep an eye on them, but he didn't expect them to be an issue, the house is over 80 years old, any settling it's going to do has already been done.
It's also been entirely gutted and remodeled. Nothing in the house is original but the foundation, roof (tin!), and the wood planks in the walls. Brand new wood floors in 2010, brand new completely remodeled kitchen in 2009, new windows 2011, double-decker trex deck 2009, new 2.5 car garage in 2005, etc. No central A/C but we conducted our inspection on one of the hottest days of the year and the window units made it chilly inside!
When the house was appraised the effective age was estimated at 20 years.
Just because a house is "old" doesn't mean it can't be in great shape. The original house we had offered on was a 1960s house and it was in a lot worse shape than this one.
Then again, we have a friend who bought a house from 1899 and it's a hellish nightmare with all of the issues they run into, no updating was done so they've been doing it along the way. So it's always something different for everyone.
Life and Love at #16 | our married life blog
You asked what do you like about the old home? For me, it's the charm. It has loads of charm from the outside, but it's comfortable and modern (for a house from the 20s) on the inside.
Here are some pics if you're interested: http://gallery.me.com/brea.sisk#100033&bgcolor=black&view=grid
Life and Love at #16 | our married life blog
You have a beautiful house and I love the built in china wall!
OP - Our house was built in the 40's and I love it. We moved in 2 months ago and it is really the best built house. The plumbing was all galvanized and DH has replaced that with PEX plumbing. Also, look at the wiring and see that it's been updated (grounded with modern outlets). Ours does not have knob and tube but it's not up to code so DH has been updating that.
Things I love: the character. We have some lovely archways, high ceilings, plaster walls and a huge lot! You do not find most of this in the newer homes. Our home is/was in need of cosmetic updating so we're doing that. We're finding some suprises as we open things up and peel off the layers of wallpaper but we love the house and enjoy working on the projects.
Wiring- especially for homes with Knob and Tube wiring. Old 60amp homes can't handle the electrical demand of today.
Plumbing- make sure it's all solid
Roof- Make sure it's got life left in it
Insulation- make sure it's there!
Windows- yeah... windows
The list makes me giggle
My father's house is from 1895. Fantastic in terms of character, although sometimes you have to laugh about the amount of character. When he replaced two upstairs windows, they found that the house is insulated with newspaper! There are some incredibly well maintained older homes, and then there is my father's. You either need to only go for the well maintained, or accept that you will have a lifetime of repairs and expenses.
Our first house was built in 1900. But it had been rehabbed right before we bought it, so everything was up to date, etc. LOVED the house. It was a rowhome in the city and on the main floor, one entire wall was exposed brick.
The house we're in now was built in the 60's, but same thing- had been heavily updated in the past 4 years. It's a split level home, so it doesn't have quite the same character and charm that our first house had. But, in general, I love older homes. There is a quality to them that I don't feel in newer homes.
There is also a uniqueness. Once you start rehabbing, adding additions, etc, it makes your home totally unique. Our first home - couldn't find another home in the city that looked like it inside.
Our present home - there are many homes in the neighborhood w/ the same layout, but due to what the previous owners did to it, it's definitely unique.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
This is what I was going to say. Find an inspector who knows older houses. It needs to be solid in terms of foundation and framing. The rest can be fixed, but it will cost you. Our 1900 bungalo is solid as can be with a solid field stone basement and lots of support beams in the basement, new wiring and AC. We will need to upgrade the roof, heat and plumbing, but we were happy to do that with all the craftsman archetecture we will get with the house. They don't build them like this any more.
met DH 1995 ~ married DH 2006 ~ completed our family 2008
Life is good!
We made sure to find an inspector with lots of experience with older homes. We bought a 1920s home and decided to completely renovate the kitchen and take out the wall between the kitchen and dining room. We discovered that the floors had a 4" height difference which was very expensive to fix. Renovations are costing more than we bargained for. I recommend taking photos when you go see homes, and bring a note pad to jot down the repairs/renovations you want to do. Use costhelper.com to estimate costs. That was very helpful!
We found a lot of pleasant surprises though--original hinges, doors, moldings that were very charming. We also discovered that the gigantic oak tree on the corner of the property is on a historical registry. There's a plaque on it dating it back to the Civil War. I have always loved older homes and the one we bought is built like a tank. It only needed some cosmetic work. When we're done it's going to be so lovely! Happy hunting.
Our house was built in the '70s, so it's really not all that old. We looked at one old home in particular, and it was falling into a river (I kid you not). Structurally, it was a disaster, although almost everything else had been upgraded. It looked great online, but pictures can be deceiving.
I'd say with old homes, get a really good inspection. Check the electrical and plumbing, for mold or insect damage. Make sure permits have been pulled on any additions that have happened throughout the years. Know that looks can be deceiving - for the better or for the worse.
The thing I dislike about older homes is how closed in they can feel, even if they are quite large, due to an awkward layout. I know that can be fixed, but it's a major project.