Tell me about living in a historic (old) home

[Anonymous]

This is OP, and I guess we still have to gauge what “updated” means - yes, new kitchen and bathrooms, but it looks like previous owners (flippers) put a lot of money into updating the property. If it’s more fully updated - and gosh I hope it is - should we still anticipate headaches/needing to provide costly updates ourselves? (I’m talking structural/foundational things like the foundation, electrical, plumbing etc - if these are all relatively new, can we trust that we’re generally in the clear? FWIW I never intended to own an old home but in our very limited inventory town, it’s either 100+ year old homes or new, ticky-tacky new builds. I would very much like to avoid the latter.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assume lead paint. Read about encapsulation of lead paint. If you are parents decide your comfort level with regard to your children. I'm the prior 3 old houses poster.

I'm the person who brought up lead in the windowsills. I know it can be elsewhere. But that's a good place to start and if it comes up hot, they can look for more places.

Realistically, many of us grew up with exposures but were not harmed because we didn't mouth, didn't hang out at windows, etc. A lot depends on the source of the lead and the child's behavior.

[Anonymous]

It’s not for perfectionists. I grew up in a home built in 1802 and there has been a ton of work done and still no level floors and the best is there’s no hot water in the kitchen unless you go to the powder room and turn on the hot water in there. But there are pre civil war floor boards that are over two feet wide, which is cool. My parents moved in right before I was born in 1974 and my mom died here and my dad says he’ll leave feet first. Dirt floor basement rumor is a body is buried there

[Anonymous]

We lived in a beautiful home built in 1854 and loved it. The home still had the original slate roof and copper gutters. Make sure plumbing and electrical are up to date. Obviously you want the windows to be new - with the exception of stained or other original ornamental glass. Get the foundation checked - expect some wonky floors, and as long as the foundation is okay, some slope in the floor (especially on upper floors) can be normal. I love old homes, they have so much character.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and I guess we still have to gauge what “updated” means - yes, new kitchen and bathrooms, but it looks like previous owners (flippers) put a lot of money into updating the property. If it’s more fully updated - and gosh I hope it is - should we still anticipate headaches/needing to provide costly updates ourselves? (I’m talking structural/foundational things like the foundation, electrical, plumbing etc - if these are all relatively new, can we trust that we’re generally in the clear? FWIW I never intended to own an old home but in our very limited inventory town, it’s either 100+ year old homes or new, ticky-tacky new builds. I would very much like to avoid the latter.)

Yes. I wouldn’t expect foundational issues. And if plumbing and electrical have been updated, why would you need to update them again?

No house is ever in the clear, whether it’s 15 years old or 100. The 100 year old homes tend to have better bones but you don’t know what you’ll get for electrical and plumbing, if there has been lead remediation. But sounds like there has, in this case?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and I guess we still have to gauge what “updated” means - yes, new kitchen and bathrooms, but it looks like previous owners (flippers) put a lot of money into updating the property. If it’s more fully updated - and gosh I hope it is - should we still anticipate headaches/needing to provide costly updates ourselves? (I’m talking structural/foundational things like the foundation, electrical, plumbing etc - if these are all relatively new, can we trust that we’re generally in the clear? FWIW I never intended to own an old home but in our very limited inventory town, it’s either 100+ year old homes or new, ticky-tacky new builds. I would very much like to avoid the latter.)

I was the PP who mentioned buying the 1920s bungalow with structural issues. It was flipped by a flipper who told us at the time of purchase all electrical and plumbing was new. Didn’t end up being the case once we had a big leak and had to rip open walls. Saw quickly the only “new” electrical and plumbing was what was in our faces - eg anything behind walls hadn’t been touched. The electrician we hired to fix some of it said the flipper must have hired random guys from the 7-Eleven because none of the new stuff was to code either.

So all that said - look at permits for the property - that will tell you what has and hasn’t been updated properly. If you don’t see permits for the big stuff and it’s been updated recently, run. We did check permits, didn’t see any, said “Hey that’s BAU in Arlington” and have paid the price for that decision (literally). All said and done we’ll need to put another $150-250K in.

Also make sure to hire an actual structural engineer (PE) if there’s a hint of structural concerns. Make sure they are an actual PE licensed with the state.

[Anonymous]

The term historic house is almost meaningless, it just means anything above a certain age (let's assume anything built before the 1960). It can be a 18th century farmhouse, it can be a grand 1880s Queen Anne rowhouse, it can be a 1920s stone tudor or colonial, or a 1940 brick box.

What's important is how the house has been maintained over the years. Not every historic house is an estate sale. Not every house is a money pit. Many have been beautifully updated and are in better shape than any new build. I can walk into any older house and immediately know what kind of maintenance will be required and it comes down to how the house was built and the care it's had over the years. I understand not everyone is capable of doing this and I had the virtue of growing up in older houses in older neighborhoods and seen just about everything you can see in an older house. If there is a rule of thumb, the more expensive the neighborhood, the better shape the house will be in due to likely history of better remodels and maintenance (flip side is the higher expectations for the said updates).

If you are someone who breaks out in sweat at the notion of old lead paint and 1940s asbestos tiles, then old houses aren't for you. Even though entire generations grew up with lead paint and asbestos tiles and are just fine and dandy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term historic house is almost meaningless, it just means anything above a certain age (let's assume anything built before the 1960). It can be a 18th century farmhouse, it can be a grand 1880s Queen Anne rowhouse, it can be a 1920s stone tudor or colonial, or a 1940 brick box.

What's important is how the house has been maintained over the years. Not every historic house is an estate sale. Not every house is a money pit. Many have been beautifully updated and are in better shape than any new build. I can walk into any older house and immediately know what kind of maintenance will be required and it comes down to how the house was built and the care it's had over the years. I understand not everyone is capable of doing this and I had the virtue of growing up in older houses in older neighborhoods and seen just about everything you can see in an older house. If there is a rule of thumb, the more expensive the neighborhood, the better shape the house will be in due to likely history of better remodels and maintenance (flip side is the higher expectations for the said updates).

If you are someone who breaks out in sweat at the notion of old lead paint and 1940s asbestos tiles, then old houses aren't for you. Even though entire generations grew up with lead paint and asbestos tiles and are just fine and dandy.

This is OP. The house is designated my the state/municipality as a historic residence, hence the post title, but I understand your point.

My husband is worried about the money pit potential, but our current house was built in the 1940s - either before or since we bought, it’s had asbestos remediation, lead remediation, updated HVAC etc. So I think understanding the long term history of the property will be key.

Thanks all for these helpful and thoughtful responses. I am kind of already in love with it and we look later today. Have a good day

[Anonymous]

LOL at the lead comments. Any house built before 1978 will have lead everywhere.

[Anonymous]

It depends. Old homes have work but I fine most new homes go be poorly built.

To all the commenters about mead and asbestos those can be dealt with. Don’t you think all the new cheap materials will in future have major issues like lead and asbestos. Remember the drywall issues years ago? I do!

My grandmother owns a home from the 1700s. It’s a lot of work but it is so well built. They didn’t add central air but it stays pretty cool. They have window air conditioners on the second and third floor, don’t need on the 1st.

I own a home from early 1900s. We did a big Reno and I find our home go be well built. We added on and paid good money but the new area of the home is hotter in the summer and colder in winter than the older part of the home (that we will renovated).

Get a good inspector and look into electrical and plumbing. I redid our electrical and plumbing and it was not cheap. The gas company and water company also redid both laterals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and I guess we still have to gauge what “updated” means - yes, new kitchen and bathrooms, but it looks like previous owners (flippers) put a lot of money into updating the property. If it’s more fully updated - and gosh I hope it is - should we still anticipate headaches/needing to provide costly updates ourselves? (I’m talking structural/foundational things like the foundation, electrical, plumbing etc - if these are all relatively new, can we trust that we’re generally in the clear? FWIW I never intended to own an old home but in our very limited inventory town, it’s either 100+ year old homes or new, ticky-tacky new builds. I would very much like to avoid the latter.)

I was the PP who mentioned buying the 1920s bungalow with structural issues. It was flipped by a flipper who told us at the time of purchase all electrical and plumbing was new. Didn’t end up being the case once we had a big leak and had to rip open walls. Saw quickly the only “new” electrical and plumbing was what was in our faces - eg anything behind walls hadn’t been touched. The electrician we hired to fix some of it said the flipper must have hired random guys from the 7-Eleven because none of the new stuff was to code either.

So all that said - look at permits for the property - that will tell you what has and hasn’t been updated properly. If you don’t see permits for the big stuff and it’s been updated recently, run. We did check permits, didn’t see any, said “Hey that’s BAU in Arlington” and have paid the price for that decision (literally). All said and done we’ll need to put another $150-250K in.

Also make sure to hire an actual structural engineer (PE) if there’s a hint of structural concerns. Make sure they are an actual PE licensed with the state.

I am sorry but this was on you. Did you have a realtor? Pull permits. Our realtor looked over the permits with us and we saw they didn’t get any for some work.

Any plumbing and electrical needs permits. We redid ours for my 1950s home and did all permits. Friends who bought from flippers had issues.

We had to put in about $65k in new plumbing/ sewer line and all new electrical. Our quote was $25k when we bought the house but of course when you open walls other things pop up so if you get a quote for work double that quote! It stinks but it’s done now and we have all permits so when we sell the house it will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP, and I guess we still have to gauge what “updated” means - yes, new kitchen and bathrooms, but it looks like previous owners (flippers) put a lot of money into updating the property. If it’s more fully updated - and gosh I hope it is - should we still anticipate headaches/needing to provide costly updates ourselves? (I’m talking structural/foundational things like the foundation, electrical, plumbing etc - if these are all relatively new, can we trust that we’re generally in the clear? FWIW I never intended to own an old home but in our very limited inventory town, it’s either 100+ year old homes or new, ticky-tacky new builds. I would very much like to avoid the latter.)

I was the PP who mentioned buying the 1920s bungalow with structural issues. It was flipped by a flipper who told us at the time of purchase all electrical and plumbing was new. Didn’t end up being the case once we had a big leak and had to rip open walls. Saw quickly the only “new” electrical and plumbing was what was in our faces - eg anything behind walls hadn’t been touched. The electrician we hired to fix some of it said the flipper must have hired random guys from the 7-Eleven because none of the new stuff was to code either.

So all that said - look at permits for the property - that will tell you what has and hasn’t been updated properly. If you don’t see permits for the big stuff and it’s been updated recently, run. We did check permits, didn’t see any, said “Hey that’s BAU in Arlington” and have paid the price for that decision (literally). All said and done we’ll need to put another $150-250K in.

Also make sure to hire an actual structural engineer (PE) if there’s a hint of structural concerns. Make sure they are an actual PE licensed with the state.

This. Flipped homes are suspect IMO, as they do it cheaply for a profit rather than with an eye to staying there themselves. Although I lived in a home where the guy did live there for 15 years but did everything himself and absolutely nothing was correct or to code. Every time a professional came over to fix something, they'd say "what the hell is going on here?" It was expensive and sucked.

Agree you want to pull the permits before anything else, at least for anything related to plumbing, electrical, or structure. In our current house (not the one above) we redid 85% of the plumbing and the permit guy came out for a serious inspection. The prior owner finished the basement for rental and had to get permits - we pulled them. Same with the expansion they did. All above-board. The basement was cheaply done in terms of finishes but it's all up to code and solid and that's what matters.

[Anonymous]

To the OP, I would really appreciate it if you could update us after your viewing. Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The term historic house is almost meaningless, it just means anything above a certain age (let's assume anything built before the 1960). It can be a 18th century farmhouse, it can be a grand 1880s Queen Anne rowhouse, it can be a 1920s stone tudor or colonial, or a 1940 brick box.

What's important is how the house has been maintained over the years. Not every historic house is an estate sale. Not every house is a money pit. Many have been beautifully updated and are in better shape than any new build. I can walk into any older house and immediately know what kind of maintenance will be required and it comes down to how the house was built and the care it's had over the years. I understand not everyone is capable of doing this and I had the virtue of growing up in older houses in older neighborhoods ....

This is such an excellent post.

OP, you are so wise to ask for advice. There is really no reason those unfamiliar with historic renovation/restoration could be expected to know the right questions to ask. Our first old house (18th c) and forty years ago was DIY and we learned a lot. With later houses we were in a position to hire restoration experts. And I read and read everything available. My advice to young families who ask me about old homes is that it makes financial sense to buy someone else's renovation, a renovation done by a contractor specializing in this area. And I agree this house is more likely to be in a very expensive neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

Awful you can't tear it down and make it liveable