a house build in 1920s and renovated in 2016 by a flipper

[Anonymous]

does this carry big risks verse self renovated house？ I typically don't like flipped houses but this one has been almost 10 years, so I am thinking maybe most problems have been exposed? or they are actually coming soon? Would like to hear your opinions

[Anonymous]

Too many variables. I have a 1920s house that was renovated by a previous owner but to high standards. I've seen excellent "flips" and terrible flips.

Have an excellent home inspector walk you through the house and study everything carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too many variables. I have a 1920s house that was renovated by a previous owner but to high standards. I've seen excellent "flips" and terrible flips.

Have an excellent home inspector walk you through the house and study everything carefully.

+1 and understand that the inspector cannot inspect inside walls. Inside walls could be great or awful, but no way to inspect inside.

[Anonymous]

It’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Things you want to check: electricity and plumbing. This will be your biggest expense. I was the lucky one to buy a 1920s house and be told all was good by the home inspector only to find bootleg grounded outlets and knob and tube in the walls. $25k to fix. Just the electricity not the new drywall. Months later my sewer line collapsed and I was told had a huge tree root in it and was probably like that for years leaking underground. $15k for that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things you want to check: electricity and plumbing. This will be your biggest expense. I was the lucky one to buy a 1920s house and be told all was good by the home inspector only to find bootleg grounded outlets and knob and tube in the walls. $25k to fix. Just the electricity not the new drywall. Months later my sewer line collapsed and I was told had a huge tree root in it and was probably like that for years leaking underground. $15k for that one.

Similar situation. I’d also recommend getting a licensed structural engineer out there to look at the basement or crawl space if there is one. It’s $500-750ish for the visit and report. You can even add a structural inspection contingency to the home if you want (we did that and the buyer accepted).

[Anonymous]

It’s hard to say but you might have a lot of appliances, water heater, etc at the end of their lives, as long as you know what you’re getting into? In general, 20s construction was great

[Anonymous]

There is just as many mess ups with new homes being built.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things you want to check: electricity and plumbing. This will be your biggest expense. I was the lucky one to buy a 1920s house and be told all was good by the home inspector only to find bootleg grounded outlets and knob and tube in the walls. $25k to fix. Just the electricity not the new drywall. Months later my sewer line collapsed and I was told had a huge tree root in it and was probably like that for years leaking underground. $15k for that one.

How could there be knob and tube in the walls but a modern circuit box?

[Anonymous]

I’m confused by the post.

Every 1920s home that exists has been renovated by either the homeowners or a contractor in the business of renovating or flipping.

In my experience, the homes that have just been renovated by owners end up with bigger problems than the flippers.

In particular, homes where the owner has lived in it for 50 years are the biggest red flags. For whatever reason, owners from the 1960s - 1980s were the worst in terms of doing non-permitted work and other cheap fixes.

Our neighbor built an entire 2-story addition and he joked it was a “20 year addition”…he did it on the cheap and wasn’t expected to last more than 20 years.

He passed away and sure enough the new owners tore it down and built a proper addition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by the post.

Every 1920s home that exists has been renovated by either the homeowners or a contractor in the business of renovating or flipping.

In my experience, the homes that have just been renovated by owners end up with bigger problems than the flippers.

In particular, homes where the owner has lived in it for 50 years are the biggest red flags. For whatever reason, owners from the 1960s - 1980s were the worst in terms of doing non-permitted work and other cheap fixes.

Our neighbor built an entire 2-story addition and he joked it was a “20 year addition”…he did it on the cheap and wasn’t expected to last more than 20 years.

He passed away and sure enough the new owners tore it down and built a proper addition.

I know this by experience…my home is 130 years old but it’s only the stuff that was “updated” in the 70s/80s that’s scary! It’s like people lost their minds during that period— and probably the bad economy didn’t help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused by the post.

Every 1920s home that exists has been renovated by either the homeowners or a contractor in the business of renovating or flipping.

In my experience, the homes that have just been renovated by owners end up with bigger problems than the flippers.

In particular, homes where the owner has lived in it for 50 years are the biggest red flags. For whatever reason, owners from the 1960s - 1980s were the worst in terms of doing non-permitted work and other cheap fixes.

Our neighbor built an entire 2-story addition and he joked it was a “20 year addition”…he did it on the cheap and wasn’t expected to last more than 20 years.

He passed away and sure enough the new owners tore it down and built a proper addition.

I know this by experience…my home is 130 years old but it’s only the stuff that was “updated” in the 70s/80s that’s scary! It’s like people lost their minds during that period— and probably the bad economy didn’t help.

Same. We’ve seen some truly janky stuff in our 100 year old home from the owners who had it for 50 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things you want to check: electricity and plumbing. This will be your biggest expense. I was the lucky one to buy a 1920s house and be told all was good by the home inspector only to find bootleg grounded outlets and knob and tube in the walls. $25k to fix. Just the electricity not the new drywall. Months later my sewer line collapsed and I was told had a huge tree root in it and was probably like that for years leaking underground. $15k for that one.

How could there be knob and tube in the walls but a modern circuit box?

It connects somehow. I don't know exactly but my knob-and-tube house also had a modern panel. We knew it had knob and tube, though, so bought knowing we would rewire. I don't think the panel was replaced though all the wiring was.

[Anonymous]

The reality is that most houses need periodic full overhauls, where you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) live in the house while it’s happening, and most people can’t afford to can’t afford to finance two houses and a renovation at a time. So “flippers” are the only way that gets done unless the house is very low value in which case it gets torn down if the math supports a new house or very high value in which case maybe the owners do it themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things you want to check: electricity and plumbing. This will be your biggest expense. I was the lucky one to buy a 1920s house and be told all was good by the home inspector only to find bootleg grounded outlets and knob and tube in the walls. $25k to fix. Just the electricity not the new drywall. Months later my sewer line collapsed and I was told had a huge tree root in it and was probably like that for years leaking underground. $15k for that one.

How could there be knob and tube in the walls but a modern circuit box?

Electrician did not follow code OR flipper had some worker who is not a licensed electrician do the work.