Quiver0f10 Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 We are along way from being ready to buy, but I found "the" house the other day by accident LOL and I am praying it stays on the market until we are ready. The only bad thing is it was built in 1850 an probably has had little to no updating LOL. Tell me if this can be done or am I completely nuts? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 lay out the cash. We bought only a 1970's house - not even an 1880's - and it needs remodeling. Gosh, this is the kind of thing that really eats up the money. Thankfully my husband has learned so much about woodworking/wiring/plumbing, we are able to do so much ourselves. BUT - it is still expensive - feels like the money pit. We still have 1 bathroom (ours and it is huge), the kitchen (can you say OUCH that's going to hurt), the basement (needs only things like carpet and minor stuff - but is still money) and then, a roof, siding, and a deck that is 1400 square feet! (who builds a deck that is 1400 sqft??? and we need it, it wraps around the house). Not to mention landscaping that is in dire need. We figure we're still about $75K out from being done. Fortunately, we underpaid for the house, we live on 6.5 acres in a rapidly growing area and the house is huge - so hopefully we'll more than get our return! Just be sure to think about money. I'm not sure I would have gone through all this if I would have realized at the time (not to mention that it is such a SLOW process - I am impatient to have it all done NOW!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinmom Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 We bought an old house just last year, however...it had all the major renovations finished. Not necessarily cosmetically the way we'd like, but the electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. had all been done. We'll be redoing the kitchen and baths and are currently spending WAY too much time redoing the yard, which was nearly completely left alone for several years during the redo. I'll tell you the experience of the folks that had the house before us, if that helps! They just got divorced, after spending 23 years and almost all their available time and money on the house. Yes, it's a great house. Yes, it was a good investment considering they bought it condemned and sold it for a decent price. However, the costs in terms of their health (his), their marriage and their day to day finances while raising their children were very high. Even with all the work that has ALREADY been done, we are still working on the home constantly. Now, that's fine for us because it is in great condition and we like working on it, but I can confidently say that we would never have considered the house had it not already been in such great shape. With all the kiddos that you have and all the stuff you have going on, I'd say pass on this one (but of course, that's just my thoughts on the matter!). Old houses are cool, but there's so much to deal with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Yes, it can be done. My dh, he's a contractor, and I are on our 2nd fixer upper (70's). I kid that we've been married 15 years and remodeling ever since :D. I think an untouched 1850 house would be a gem. I think it would a great long-term project for your family. However, be prepared with a large budget and be prepared for hidden costs. My first concerns would be foundation, plumbing, and electrical. Those can really dip into your budget. My questions would be... how much of the work can we do on our own can I afford to hire out "surprises" am I committed to a long-term project do I have the support of my family how patient am I can I live in the midst of updating I would love to redo an old home. This 1970's one just doesn't have the charm of a truly "antique" home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jail warden Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Make sure you get estimates from several contractors before you even consider buying and then plan on more. Unfortunately when remodeling, sometimes you run into needing to do things that weren't in the original plans and then it costs more money. If you can live in the house and just do a little at a time, it becomes much more manageable because you do one room at a time and then you can save for the next room. It's costly so don't do it if you can't get a good deal on the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bess Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Remember, just because the house might be a good price, fixing up a house costs a LOT of money. Also, it will eat all your time. Yes, we've done it (1850's house-1500 sq.ft.), and regret that year of our life. To us, it felt like wasted time. We are not good though, about just living in things unfinished, so it felt neccessary to us to do things as fast as possible. We just wanted it all done. It was just too stressful, time consuming, and not worth it. After that, we ended up moving to a newer house (6 years old) and it has been the most freeing feeling. If we didn't have children, and we felt we had lots of time on our hands, I think it would be different. Hope that helps, and it doesn't burst your bubble too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 25, 2008 Author Share Posted May 25, 2008 Thanks everyone. We should be able to do most of the work ourselves as Dh has years of construction expereince and we put in 3 bedrooms and a bathroom in our house in NH, doing 95% of the work ourselves. My biggest worry is foundation, if that's shot it can really get pricey to fix. I haven't been inside the house and for all I know the wiring and stuff has had some updating, but I am not betting on it. Ideally we would want to live there and work, but it will depend on how much work needs to be done. I do think the house is overpriced for the condition it's in, even with the land ( 55 acres) so it will have to depend on if they came down some and exactly how much work would need to be done. Time will tell. We need to keep paying down our debt and see what happens in a year. It will probably get sold next week LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 25, 2008 Author Share Posted May 25, 2008 Remember, just because the house might be a good price, fixing up a house costs a LOT of money. Also, it will eat all your time. Yes, we've done it (1850's house-1500 sq.ft.), and regret that year of our life. To us, it felt like wasted time. We are not good though, about just living in things unfinished, so it felt neccessary to us to do things as fast as possible. We just wanted it all done. That's probably a problem we will have-both Dh and I would want to get it done asap and I can see this being a stress factor for us. Definitely something to consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Think this through very, very, very carefully. It is unbelievably expensive and disruptive. Our home is just over 100 years old. Any "updates" appear to have been done by amateurs--so we either deal with 100-year-old mess or we deal with fixing an amateur's mistakes. Ugh. Absolutely EVERY project we have ever done on this house has run badly over budget, for totally legitimate reasons. The fact is you cannot predict the course of a project until you open up the walls and actually see what's going on in there. We originally thought that dh and I could do a fair amount of work. We are both handy kinds of people, in different ways. I envisioned myself stripping woodwork and painting, etc. The reality is that I absolutely do not have time for most of that, and also that often health issues prevent me from doing that work. Chemical fumes set off my asthma/allergies. Repetitive motion (scraping or plastering, for example) set off tendonitis and arthritis issues. Also, both dh and I have found that while we do enjoy creating things and fixing things up, we neither of us enjoy the scale of the work required on the house. It's just too much, too big. Hiring all that work out is quite expensive. We are lucky to be able to do it because dh's salary is comfortable. Even though I now do not do much of the rehab work, I still have the work of overseeing the work. This is a headache in and of itself. Every year we have workmen essentially "living" with us (here all day for the duration of the project). We adore our contractor--he is easy to live with. BUT he's still an outsider. Other workers haven't been as easy to live with. Our contractor's brother, for example, just doesn't work very hard or very well unless someone is directly supervising him, AND he plays loud country music while he works, AND he leaves early but charges us for a full day's work. Be prepared for expensive surprises. Last year our expensive surprise was three (yes, 3) gas leaks. The city shut down our gas until it was fixed. That one hurt--$1000. That was AFTER the bathroom rehab that was DOUBLE the original estimated cost due to plumbing and electric issues. We have had expensive, need-to-be-addressed-immediately surprises every year that we have been in this house. (9 years) The house is gorgeous--if we survive the rehab it will be a real gem. It has three sets of bay windows. It has high ceilings and large rooms. There is woodwork everywhere. There is a large, gracious front porch. I would advise you to count the cost very, very carefully--both the cost of rehab and the cost to you in time and effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 That's probably a problem we will have-both Dh and I would want to get it done asap and I can see this being a stress factor for us. Definitely something to consider. I agree, an old house can consume your life. We owned a 1600sf farmhouse with an old threshing barn built in 1840. We were there for 15.5 years and were still not done. We completely gutted the kitchen and bath. Dh built kitchen cabinets from scratch because we just couldn't afford to buy them all. The kitchen took six years. We still had unfinished projects when we moved. The house looked great, but it didn't function great for a modern family. One of the biggest rooms was the dining room that hardly ever was used and there were no closets and no heat upstairs. It did have an acre of very fertile land, lovely window boxes and perennial gardens (which I added), an inviting front porch, and charm, charm, charm. But, charm doesn't make up for a second bathroom when you really need it! It was a charming house and we always received compliments on it. We even had someone come to the door one day and give us his business card so we could contact him if we ever wanted to sell! We moved three years ago to a ranch that was completely updated. Everything is new and DONE! Do I miss the old house? Nope, not one bit. I want to own my house not have it own me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G5052 Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Even if DH and I could do the work, I wouldn't. It ALWAYS is harder and more expensive to renovate an older place than it is to add on, and the skills are often different. The types of things you will encounter are so much more complicated and difficult, and your ongoing upkeep will also be more complicated and difficult. Then when you sell, keep in mind that your market will be somewhat narrow. Even in the area where we live where there are many beautifully renovated historical houses, various folks in real estate have told me that they're a hard sell even if they've been updated. One of the houses down the road from us was beautifully updated and was on HGTV and in various magazines, and it still sold for less than a new house of the same size (and this was 1/3 less than the price they started with). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percytruffle Posted May 25, 2008 Share Posted May 25, 2008 Even if DH and I could do the work, I wouldn't. It ALWAYS is harder and more expensive to renovate an older place than it is to add on, and the skills are often different. The types of things you will encounter are so much more complicated and difficult, and your ongoing upkeep will also be more complicated and difficult. Then when you sell, keep in mind that your market will be somewhat narrow. Even in the area where we live where there are many beautifully renovated historical houses, various folks in real estate have told me that they're a hard sell even if they've been updated. One of the houses down the road from us was beautifully updated and was on HGTV and in various magazines, and it still sold for less than a new house of the same size (and this was 1/3 less than the price they started with). All very true. We sold our house in five days, but they were our only interested party too. We got lucky. Also, the renovations are very difficult and different than new construction. Nothing is square. Our walls were a poor non-professional drywall installation, over top of horsehair plaster and lath, over top of solid wood plank walls with no studs. A very difficult construction technique to work with. We had to tear off all the layers of plaster and then route grooves in the planks to run the wiring. We gave up after two rooms and left the rest with the bad drywall job just so we didn't loose our sanity. Then, let me tell ya how much carpenter ants love old wood... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Share Posted May 26, 2008 Thanks everyone. We are considering everything you have said and will keep that in mind when we are ready to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelaniePA Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I don't suppose you have a link? MLS? I love drooling over houses, especially old ones, and 55 acres??:drool:!! I'd love to hear what you decide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Share Posted May 26, 2008 I'd rather not post a link because it has the address, but I wil try to post a picture later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 We are along way from being ready to buy, but I found "the" house the other day by accident LOL and I am praying it stays on the market until we are ready. The only bad thing is it was built in 1850 an probably has had little to no updating LOL. Tell me if this can be done or am I completely nuts? :D From where I sit, you are completely nuts. We were once nuts, now we have recovered, but we still have the house.:D We moved into a 1940's house 10 years ago and this is what I have to say: Before you make any decision get it inspected by a structural engineer and a regular home inspector. Just that alone may make you change your mind. But if it doesn't, prepare to dump tons of money into the house, and don't expect to ever get that money back in resale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelaniePA Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I'd rather not post a link because it has the address, but I wil try to post a picture later. Oohh right, sorry, didn't even think of that. Love to see a pic though! We are doing this right now. Our house we guess was built about 1888. I'd like to go search at the courthouse but haven't really had the time. Anyways, the people who had it, had really let it go. In a way it was kind of good for us that they had let it go because they hadn't gotten rid of all of the character, like you see a lot of people do. Granted, there were holes galore in the plaster, no downspouting, rooms that had leaks and were just closed off, etc. We did enough to get it into move in condition,(27 sheets of drywall)moved in, and are fixing it up as time and finances go. It can be a pain, but I really try to keep in mind the end result. We were able to get it for a lot less than it is worth now, only 3.5 years later. We haven't had any huge issues, structurally or otherwise, although we did just put new beams up in the basement since it was sagging a tad. All in all, I think it is worth it, especially when you step back at certain times and think of how far it has come even though sometimes it doesn't really look/feel that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackie in AR Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 From where I sit, you are completely nuts. We were once nuts, now we have recovered, but we still have the house.:D We moved into a 1940's house 10 years ago and this is what I have to say: Before you make any decision get it inspected by a structural engineer and a regular home inspector. Just that alone may make you change your mind. But if it doesn't, prepare to dump tons of money into the house, and don't expect to ever get that money back in resale. Quit sugar-coating it, will ya? :lol::lol::lol: Jean, I once talked dh into making an offer on a 100 yr old home. That was the day I knew that my practical, down-to-earth dh really, really loved me. :lol: He made sure that we had the inspection clause in the offer, and when the inspection report came back, I quickly came to my senses. He and I both knew at that point that it wasn't for us. I wish you peace and discernment as y'all look for a home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lisawa Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 We are along way from being ready to buy, but I found "the" house the other day by accident LOL and I am praying it stays on the market until we are ready. The only bad thing is it was built in 1850 an probably has had little to no updating LOL. Tell me if this can be done or am I completely nuts? :D Our first home was built in 1941. So we have about 100 years on ya.... but we fixed it up. It was such a dump when we bought it. We planned to live in it 3-5 years, fix it and then sell. We wanted to buy our won property and build. well, 9 years later we fixed it up "enough" and sold. It can be stressful at times, but it was worth every effort. The value tripled by the time we sold. We miss that house a lot! RyLee was born and brought home to that house and Christian was 3 when we moved in. Its what they grew up in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbac Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 We bought our fixer upper built in the 1880's just over 5 years ago. We were making good progress doing most of the work ourselves, with a little help from an hvac friend when we installed the a/c upstairs (it only had a furnace). Then a few years ago we decided to home school the kids. So progress has slowed to a crawl the past few years. I don't know that I'd have been as excited about taking it on if we'd been homeschooling when we bought it. On the other hand, I have always loved older homes. They have a character all their own which intrigues me. And it has been fun to turn a house that had been divided into four apartments, back into a home. That said, I really have nothing significant to add to what's already been said. Just that if you can prepare yourself for worst case scenarios all the way around, and still feel that you want to/are able to take it on. Go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Share Posted May 26, 2008 Thanks again for the warnings and the encouragement :D Who knows what will happen by the time we are ready to buy. If we do go ahead with this house or any house for that matter, we will be have a thorough home inspection done. Here are 2 pictures I got from the realtors page: The yard is really over-grown now and it loooks like it's been empty for a while. There aren't any inside pics and I am assuming it's in rough shape. Off to the right there is a 2 car garage in OK condition and a old barn that's in bad shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Is that stone? My dad bought an old stone house, it is terrific. Let us know when you get to see the inside. My dad's house is paneled with real oak, the closets are lined with cedar and it has an absolutely fabulous stone fireplace with woodstove insert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted May 26, 2008 Author Share Posted May 26, 2008 Is that stone? Yes! I think it's really neat! We wont be looking at it for real until we are ready so it will be a while lol. For now, I get to just dream :) Do you know what year your dad's was built? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I think dad's house was built in the 1920's. It used to be someone's summer vacation home in the NC mountains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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