DH and I are going on a second viewing of a 150 year old home this weekend and we're considering making an offer. We're both nervous about buying an older home (current house is 17 years old) but it's got great bones and could really make for a beautiful place to live. Tell me what you love and hate about your older homes!!
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We don't own but we live in a house built in the 1920's. Its awesome! Super high ceilings, large windows and rooms, beautiful moldings, nice floors, great character! The home is built solidly and you can tell from the thickness of the walls and the neatness of the built-ins that it was quality construction. We've been looking for a place, and it seems like the newer constructions are by and large inferior to our current place.
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Our house is over 200 years old but has been majorly renovated. Our previous house was a condo converted from a 120ish year old 2-family house. Love the character in our old condo (a lot is missing from our current home because of the previous owner's gutting everything but it's one of our long term goals to try to bring back some of it) and I feel like things were just built better back then. Plus just the history of it is cool. Our current house was finished the year after George Washington died. I mean I think that's kind of crazy! The previous owners left a note with stories and photos from the owner prior to them which dated back to the early and mid 1900's.
Hate how it is less energy efficient/seriously lacking in insulation and how you have to be super careful about lead paint. Also nothing is level - adds to the character but kind of a pain too. -
Our home was built in 1910. It is charming a beautiful, but it is expensive to work on for a few reasons.
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We lived in a house built in the 1920's for a few years. I loved the character - the doors, the mouldings, the unique features like the 2nd stairway to the kitchen that houses today don't have.
That being said, it was very $$$ to upkeep and upgrade. When we moved we swung the opposite way and bought a house that was only 5 years old. I miss the character, but not the maintenance bills!
ETA: I forgot about the heating bills in the winter. OMG, those were enough to make me cry !!!
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Ours is nowhere near that old, only about 60 years, but I can say we have issues with the plumbing and wiring because they're original. The pipes are all tiny, so they get clogged easily. And the wiring in the older part of the house (there's an addon from the 90's as well) is all the old 2 prong plugs. We're going to have it all redone eventually, but it'll be pricey.
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We just moved into a 1920's house. We love it but are project people and plan to stay in it so are willing to invest in making it more energy efficient. I'd only recommend buying an older home if you guys are handy and enjoy doing the work that's inevitable in an older home. Otherwise it will be very costly.
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My house is young compared to everyone else at 50 years, but it has issues of its own. It's poorly insulated, for example and it also has the small pipe and old wiring problem.
We bought the house for the location.
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Ours is almost 200 years old. It is cute with great character, and very different from the new condos that are being built up everywhere around my neighborhood. I love the old brick, inside and out. The bad parts are that even though it was basically gutted in the 80s, it still has terrible HVAC so our utility bills are really high, and the rooms are small with an awkward layout.
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@looch: We were in a similar situation as our former home was just under 60 years old.
Based on our experience there, I will never again buy an older home. Yes, it had character and I miss that charm in our new home. But it seemed like right and left we were spending $ to fix major problems and it was always cold in the wintertime and our utility bills were outrageous. The house had been entirely renovated before we bought it with new electrical, plumbing, etc. and we still spent over 15k on a house that we lived in for less than 2 years just on repairs. Never. Again.
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Our house is 40 years old and has great bones. We are worried that we will have to make major repairs or move when we get old, tired and gray and hubby can't diy. But for now, we are happy knowing we did pretty good for the financial situation we were in and it has appreciated already so it was a smart move.
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1942 Cape Cod. We love it, but there is definitely the upkeep aspect and lack of closets!
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@coopsmama: DH and I always say that character is overrated!
We had a 60 year old home and despite the great bones, it was not a good house when the weather dipped to -30/40. We then ended up with a new build. No character but less things to worry about.
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I grew up in an older home and something always came up that needed to be fixed. The location was perfect though and that's why we continued to live there. We always talked about how nice it would be to demolish the old house and have a new build on the same lot. It has scared me away from older homes.
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@Freckles: I agree with you and your husband! Our brand new build has no character and isn't particularly amazing exterior-wise but man have we already loved living here - it's felt so stress free compared to the old house!
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@coopsmama: Congratulations on the move to your new house! Were you able to sell that older home with the tree issue?
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@Kimberlybee: We were!! Thanks for remembering!
DH ran into the new owner and evidently the guy is a single dad with boys who LOVED our old home - it's crazy how that worked out so perfectly. He really felt like that was the place they needed to be because it's where they most wanted to be. Everything just worked out so well in terms of putting it on the market and who ended up with it. We just couldn't be happier and I just hope that they never have to deal with the same sort of tree issues!!
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Our house was built in 1890. It had an overhaul in the 2000-sies and is super solid! Love older homes!
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My house is 45 years old. Upkeep hasn't been terrible, but we have had some significant fixes in the almost three years we've lived here (new roof and a necessary bathroom reno). The Reno was due to the carelessness of the former owner who let leaks go unattended and it resulted in a rotting subfloor, but we are happy for now.
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Our house was built in 1939 and I love it. It is much better built than some of the newer ones.
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Our house was originally built in the 1850s, if I remember right. It's all brick and the exterior walls are all almost 3 feet thick. So our utility bills are AWESOME. Overall, our house has cost us much less in repairs and maintenance than my brother's 10 year old house. There have been some drawbacks, mentioned above. Two prong outlets, a very outdated bathroom, both of which we redid. The old plumbing caused increased costs when we redid the bathroom. The basement can't be finished due to the ceiling height. And there is VERY little storage. But overall, it's been a fantastic first house for us. We are definitely looking for something much newer as we look to move this year, though.
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We are in a 1940's cape, but rent rather than own. Love the quality of older homes, honestly, and feel that the majority of new builds lack a lot on that regard. The only thing we do complain about is poor insulation, but if we were to buy this house we would invest in fixing that.
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