Purchasing an "older" home vs a newer one

[ChristusG]

We are looking at new homes. I have found a home on nearly 2.5 acres of land that is actually in a really nice area....close to our homeschool group, our doctors, dentists, etc. I've always dreamed of having a few acres but didn't want to move out to the country because I dread the long drive of getting to homeschool group, shopping, etc. But this home is in a perfect location. In a "country" area of the city LOL.

 

The house was built in 1976. So while it is not ancient, it is older than the ones we've been considering. I love the newer amenities of newer homes....shower stalls instead of a tub/shower, breakfast bar, storage areas, open floor plans, etc. This home does not have those things. The plus is that it is an all brick home, which we love because it takes minimal upkeep. Plus, it has wooden floors and tile, which will be awesome for my allergies. That in itself would cost a lot to redo in a home. It also has two awesome sun rooms that were added to the house and a brand new roof. The house seems to have been very well taken care of over the years.

 

Our only issues are that it is "older." And it is a bit smaller than what we were originally considering. Houses back then were not usually built as big as the ones today. We have been considering a 4-5 bedroom home with about 2800-3000 square feet. This home is 3 bedrooms and 2000 square feet. We are a family if 4, but we will probably have 1-2 more children in the future.

 

If we buy a house, it is going to be our forever home.

 

I guess it all comes down to the fact that I need to decide whether I want to sacrifice the acreage and location for a newer house with newer amenities. Ugh, the decisions!!!

 

Has anyone else been in a position like this? What did you do?

[Dmmetler]

What has been replaced already? Our home was built in 1980, and in the past year we've replaced one of two furnaces, the windows, and are, right now, getting the roof reshingled. And the other furnace and repainting are also likely in the next few years. If those older systems haven't been replaced yet, I'd make sure the price is low enough to allow you to have the work done.

[The Girls' Mom]

With the exception of one house, we've always lived in 'older' homes. Honestly, I like them better..lol. You do have to be willing to do a little more upkeep though. I would take acreage over a newer house in a heartbeat. In fact, we are currently waiting on our house in TN to sell so we can do just that!

[mom4him]

We have always gone for the older home. They have so much more character than most new homes. The things that you mention can always be added or added to in the future especially with that kind of ackerage.

My dh is very handy and we have remodeled every home we have been in. Some major projects some minor but we have made it ours. We have lived in the home we are in now for 20+ yrs and there are a couple of things that I would like to be different but we have gotten the open area, shower stalls etc. The only thing I would really like is a toy/family room. Our lot is to small for any additions.

[CalicoKat]

oder homes were built better (IMO) than newer construction. We bought a brand newly built home and while it's nice we have decided that it wasn't built a solidly as our older home.

 

Our previous home was 30 years old. We had alot of upkeep on that house: new furnace, new windows, new siding, mold in the attic. But it was solid.

[Avila]

You can always add on and remodel and older home, but you can't add that kind of acreage onto a newer one.

[rafiki]

.

[milovany]

Honestly, I like them better..lol ... I would take acreage over a newer house in a heartbeat.

 

:iagree:

[elise1mds]

My house was built in '65, and as long as an older home has been well-cared-for, it'll last forever. I love my house. We made sure to have a thorough inspection done before we bought the place, and there was only very minimal damage to anything. We've never had trouble with the heater/AC unit, roof, pipes, etc. The roof needs replacing now, but that's due to sheer age, not leaks or hail.

 

If you're planning to add on, you could also go ahead and ask what the requirements would be. I live outside of city limits, so that makes things easier.

 

Have fun house shopping!

[Matryoshka]

The house was built in 1976. So while it is not ancient, it is older than the ones we've been considering.

 

Well, my house was built in 1880, and the house I grew up in was built sometime in the late 1600's, I'd guess. So that seems brand-spankin'-new to me! :D

 

I took buying an old house as license to redo things like the kitchen and bathrooms the way I liked. If it had been "good enough", I wouldn't have been able to do that. This house had actually last been updated in the '70s, so I actually was ripping out the avocado and harvest gold everywhere.... :ack2:

 

ETA: Location is so important. My old house is in a wonderful location - we only have an acre, but we can only see one other house from ours, and I'm on an old street with lots of woods where lots of people have poultry and cows and even a few llamas, but I'm also just over a mile from the highway and 45 minutes from a major city (and 15 minutes from a smaller city). I'm also less than a mile from the library (that's key!) So if it's in a great location, that would be a huge factor.

Edited March 10, 2010 by matroyshka

[fairfarmhand]

My ? would be how easy it would be to add on to the house. Some floor plans are easier to do this with than others. We have 4 children in a 2000 square ft 3 br. house and while it is doable, it is a tight fit. In the future we will definitely need more space, but right now the oldest is just 12 . You can pack more kids together when they are smaller.

[Crimson Wife]

What has been replaced already? Our home was built in 1980, and in the past year we've replaced one of two furnaces, the windows, and are, right now, getting the roof reshingled. And the other furnace and repainting are also likely in the next few years. If those older systems haven't been replaced yet, I'd make sure the price is low enough to allow you to have the work done.

 

:iagree:

The home we just bought was built in '88 and while the inside was move-in ready (including a relatively recently remodeled kitchen), we're looking at quite a bit of money to replace the roof & the siding, and we'll need a new furnace in the next few years.

 

OOH, recently built houses have the whole toxic Chinese drywall issue and most of them around here are on ridiculously small lots (literally 10 feet from the edge of the property).

[Chris in VA]

I agree with everything everyone else has said about older homes! Location would be the big thing for me, and this one sounds perfect for you.

 

As you say it will be your forever home, I'd look at how well an elderly person could handle the house. You can always get someone to do your yard work, so the acreage wouldn't bother me, but inside the house--When you are older, could you possibly convert one of the sunrooms to a master bedroom? Are the hallways super narrow or would they accommodate a wheel chair? I'd just look at how easily the house could be changed or what would need to be changed, should you ever need to.

 

And also, thinking of the far future, I'd really rather have a smaller house when everyone except hubby and me has moved out of it. 3 bedrooms with 4 kids is very doable, esp as you have 2 girls now who could possibly share a room.

 

It's so exciting to think of having such a nice place, isn't it? :001_smile:

[milovany]

My ? would be how easy it would be to add on to the house. Some floor plans are easier to do this with than others. We have 4 children in a 2000 square ft 3 br. house and while it is doable, it is a tight fit. In the future we will definitely need more space, but right now the oldest is just 12 . You can pack more kids together when they are smaller.

 

Very true! Layout (and the possibility of adding on) can be important. We have seven children in a 1500 sf house and that's pretty tight too. But if the house were laid out better, I could almost see making it work. As it stands, we're looking for a bigger place -- 2000-2400 sf or so would be very do-able as long as it's laid out well or if it's smaller can be added onto easily.

[SproutMamaK]

Well, I bet you know my opinion! ;) I say go for it. You can't buy acreage like that with a huge house for an afforable price, but you CAN remodel/add on to an older home - and when you're done, it'll have more character than a brand new home in a subdivision.

 

As a point of interest, if you want you can take a look at the pictures of our renos on FB. We added 900 sq ft, and hired someone to do the framing but did the rest (drywalling, mudding, painting, etc) ourselves. It's taking a loooong time, but since we don't NEED the space yet, we're in no hurry, so there's no stress. We've added a large living room, a new bathroom (and are reno-ing the old one), and three bedroom, all with closets, one of which is large enough to be considered a master. Total cost - about $35K. I'm not sure what the price of this place is, but I'm betting there's no way you could buy the sort of house you want on that amount of land (in that perfect area) for the current listing price of your home +35K - or even +50K if you contracted it all out.

 

Go for it. You can change a home by renovating/adding as your money and time become available. You can't add land.

[lea1]

The one thing I would check into is how much it cost to heat/cool. Around here, all the newer homes are all Energy Star rated homes, which includes all appliances, heater/cooler, windows, doors, insulation, etc. It is a pretty certain bet that cost of energy is going to go up so this seems an important thing to consider.

[ConnieB]

We are looking at new homes. I have found a home on nearly 2.5 acres of land that is actually in a really nice area....close to our homeschool group, our doctors, dentists, etc. I've always dreamed of having a few acres but didn't want to move out to the country because I dread the long drive of getting to homeschool group, shopping, etc. But this home is in a perfect location. In a "country" area of the city LOL.

 

The house was built in 1976. So while it is not ancient, it is older than the ones we've been considering. I love the newer amenities of newer homes....shower stalls instead of a tub/shower, breakfast bar, storage areas, open floor plans, etc. This home does not have those things. The plus is that it is an all brick home, which we love because it takes minimal upkeep. Plus, it has wooden floors and tile, which will be awesome for my allergies. That in itself would cost a lot to redo in a home. It also has two awesome sun rooms that were added to the house and a brand new roof. The house seems to have been very well taken care of over the years.

 

Our only issues are that it is "older." And it is a bit smaller than what we were originally considering. Houses back then were not usually built as big as the ones today. We have been considering a 4-5 bedroom home with about 2800-3000 square feet. This home is 3 bedrooms and 2000 square feet. We are a family if 4, but we will probably have 1-2 more children in the future.

 

If we buy a house, it is going to be our forever home.

 

I guess it all comes down to the fact that I need to decide whether I want to sacrifice the acreage and location for a newer house with newer amenities. Ugh, the decisions!!!

 

Has anyone else been in a position like this? What did you do?

 

 

 

After looking at a million (ok, maybe only 1/2 million) brand new developments and realizing that though they are shiny and new they are CHEAPLY built....and also visiting friends who bought one of those shiny new homes a few short years ago and the CHEAP is showing as VERY cheap now in the form of cracked walls, uneven floors, unsquare, kitchen and bath cabinets that are wiggling and a little pulled from the ceiling, roofs and pipes that leak after just a few years and on and on. All little things, but the maintenance to keep up with these little things adds up fast.

 

So when we'd had enough of the rented country living, we bought a house built in 1969....the main portion of this part of town wasn't finished until the mid-1970s. The house is solid. You can't hear the outside traffic/neighbor noise like you can at my friends' homes. The walls are thick inside as well, so children in the bedroom next to the master aren't bothered, lol. My DH can watch TV in the living room and although our bedroom door faces towards the living room I can't hear it with my door closed (except for the war movies explosions on occasion, lol). When the wind blows wicked our friends complain about worrying they were the three little pigs waiting for it to blow in.....we sometimes have storms pass us and don't even realize it.

 

There is a LOT to be said about location. We tried the "country" living where we were 20 minutes to anything more than a corner market. The library was 50 minutes away. I love to drive and have no trouble traveling to something we want to do/see. But I do NOT want to have to drive a long distance just to get to the library, grocery, bank, and post office. Being near your HS group means they would be willing to come over for a playdate....living further away they just won't find the time to come out to you, so you end up either lonely, or always being the one to do the playdate driving. Think of not only the wear and tear on your vehicle, the cost of gas, but the wear and tear on your schedule. While we made use of those long drives listening to stories on audio, it really wrecks havoc with a schedule when a trip to the parkday with your group becomes all day out because you have to do every errand possible that same day. We got home exhausted and cranky (the kids AND me). And of course, dinner was thrown together because I forgot to start something in the crock pot, lol. I miss the acreage and room for the kids to run, but I do not miss the long drive to everything and I love having a houseful of hs friends because we're just around the corner from the park where we meet. Rainy or high heat days are automatically at my house now. We are so close to the park that the kids have all that space (which someone else waters and mows) to run and play...I just bring along papers to grade or my laptop to talk to you guys, lol. Most times they're perfectly happy running in our 20x20 yard.

 

Consider also the commute of your DH. When we lived in the country his 8-10 work day was 10-12 hours away from home. Now it's 20 minutes for him to commute in rush hour traffic....sadly not enough to come home for lunch, but close enough for US to occasionally invade his office for lunch. Reversing the wear and tear on HIM was enough to make me know our choice to move closer to town was the right one.

 

We chose an older house because it was what we could afford here in town.....we bought a fixer upper.....but it mostly paint and flooring so it probably would have happened if we'd bought a newer home, though maybe not as urgently or quickly, lol.

 

You will get used to the space you have...if it's thousands of extra square feet, you'll accumulate "things" to fill it....if it's smaller you'll keep only the truly important things. And you'll be happy because you are near those you care about, you can easily get where you want to go, and if the price was right, you'll have the money needed to add on to that house when those extra babies come along....if you really find you need it.

[ChristusG]

Wow, looks like everyone would choose an older home over a newer one!

 

I would love for my kids to be able to step outside and I dont have to say "don't go in the road!" They would just be able to run free on 2.5 acres. Right now they have nowhere to ride their power wheels truck....we wouldn't have to worry about that at this place.

 

DH and I have an appointment to go walk through it on Friday evening. Right now I've just seen photos online. It's hard to visualize it with our stuff in it. Right now I'm pretty sure that "older" folks live in it, just due to the decor. So it's kind of hard to see around that too LOL.

 

The only issue with adding on to this house is that there is a pool in the back....that's one thing I'll have to look at. I'll scope out the layout of the home in case we ever want to add on.

 

And can someone please tell me.....what is this? I know I'm going to look clueless LOL. But is it some sort of stove? Heating device? Fireplace? I have no idea. No fireplace that I have seen looks like that. And the house has central heating and air, so I know that's not what is for. I'm really not as dense as I seem right now LOL. But this is a photo I pulled from the listing website for the house.

 

[Susan in KY]

I would take acreage over a newer house in a heartbeat.

 

:iagree:

 

Me three. Kids can always share rooms.

[The Girls' Mom]

oooh...that's a bonus in my book! It's a wood burning stove. Can be used for heating AND cooking ;)

[Liz CA]

I would prefer wood and tile floors over anything else as well as a low maintenance exterior.

Perhaps making a list and listing pros and cons will help. Compare it to another house you think comes close to what you want / need and see how the points stack up. When you compare, put estimate figures in there for replacing carpet with hardwood/tile, etc.

 

Also, sounds like this is a nice lot with 2.5 acres if you like a little outdoor space!

Connie B mentioned that newer homes are cheaply built and this is ever so true unless you are the builder yourself or have influence on what material is being used. I don't know what area of the country this is in but check out zoning requirements if you possibly like some livestock and see if heating/cooling is up to par. A whole house fan can cut down significantly on A/C cost and a nice woodstove will almost eliminate the need for running the heater.

[Susan in KY]

You can't add land.

 

 

True! Also, it's very freeing to send the dc outside ("Go play!") without a second thought to their safety. That is worth waaaay more than amenities in my book.

[ChristusG]

oooh...that's a bonus in my book! It's a wood burning stove. Can be used for heating AND cooking ;)

 

Ahhh! Thank you VERY much!! :D

[SproutMamaK]

It's a woodstove. It's likely in the basement. In homes with central heating, the basement is often cooler than the rest of the home, so the woodstove can be used as a little extra heat for the basement. With where you live though, it's not like you're cranking the furnace year-round, ;) Honestly, for most the year it could probably do ALL of the heating for your home with that woodstove, and not have heating bills. BIG bonus, imho.

[justamouse]

I JUST made this decision myself. I was a land gal. Land, land, land, that was all I cared about. It came about slowly, but I am moving to my dream house (a gorgeous old Victorian-a total Painted Lady) on .6 acres. It was SUCH a turnaround that my realtors were very worried I was making a bad decision.

 

I have lived in the 'country' for 9 years. I have to drive everywhere to see my friends, and over those 9 years I barely saw ANYONE. I didn't make it to the library, it was hard for people to visit, and eventually we became very insular. My friends made an effort, but the stretches became longer and longer. And it's hard homeschooling when a trip somewhere takes half the day. I am not a farmer. I have no desire to farm for a living and I think THAT was the crux. If I was a farmer, my life would be different, full of people and farmers markets and all that good stuff, but it was me and a garden and some chickens.

 

I MISS my friends. I love them, and I miss them. I want my kids growing up with their kids. I'm the last to move back to town, and all of the people I love will be within walking distance. I have enough land to put a substantial garden on, it's my dream house and huge, inground pool, screened porch, I can walk anywhere I want. The library is half a block away and the farmer's market is a spit.

 

I gave away my chickens, and I loved them, but you know what? I love my friends more. And I've been buying myself adorable skirts to walk around town in. ;-)

[mom2abcd]

A country home in the city would be ideal!!! You could always add on, couldn't you?

 

We have friends who moved a small old house very near their small old house and put in a great room to connect the two houses. It's neat!

[Laura Corin]

It sounds lovely to me. But I grew up in a house built in 1796. Is there the option of extending the house in the future?

 

Laura

[Saille]

AFA square footage, we've got a family of five in a 1500 square foot house, and we rub along all right...but, we only have one bathroom. I would not recommend that. In the event that we move again, we'll be looking, optimally, for a 1500-2000 square foot house with four bedrooms and 1.5 baths. We'd do more if we could afford it, but have no plans to pay more for a house than we have for this one. Our goal is to move to an economically cheaper area and buy a bigger house for less money.

 

That said, we like old houses. And when we say old, we mean 100+. Most of those have already been renovated a few times. The main thing with buying a house from the seventies is making sure it doesn't have any very old things about to crap out for the first time...roof, heating or air conditioning system, etc..

Edited March 11, 2010 by Saille

[Saille]

...

[Momof1plustwins]

You can always add on and remodel and older home, but you can't add that kind of acreage onto a newer one.

 

:iagree:

[DawnM]

Our first house we purchased was built in '61

Second house was built in 1920

Third house was built in 1989 (currently live in)

 

We have always gone for good bones over new. For one thing, we don't like the cookie cutter houses and have always lived in neighborhoods that had private builders for each home.

 

Our current home is on 2.5 acres. I thought we were moving to the middle of nowhere when we got here....but the town has come to us now and most things are close by.

 

We moved into this 1989 home 5 years ago and we knew it would need some work. Since moving in we have had the house painted (well paint stained....it is cedar sided), a new roof, two new heat pumps (one for each floor), new flooring, and we are currently updating some bathrooms.

 

BUT, this house has 4x6 exterior walls and is well insullated. Our electric bill is about half of many of my friends in subdivisions with the same size house. It is very well built.

 

Dawn

[Teachin'Mine]

Another vote for the older home. :001_smile:

 

Nothing wrong with two children together in a bedroom, or maybe doing an addition in the future if necessary. Bath remodels can do wonders if you want the separate shower. It sounds like a wonderful house which will make a great home. :001_smile:

 

Smaller house ... smaller bills too.