Old Colonial Homes/Country Living/Schools in CT (Hartford, West Hartford: wood floors, big house)
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I’ve seen them too and they are beautiful. Country Carpenters builds post & beam sheds. The post & beam home division is called Early New England Homes and is based in Bolton. There is a model home there. They are gorgeous but pricey. Here is a link to their website. Jay
I called Early New England Homes. They said turn key build is $200 per sq. ft, plus site work like well/septic etc. Their smallest home is a Cape at 1400 sq. ft. so only the home build is about 280K. Plus land of course. So a brand new home on a site you choose can up to $500.
How would taxes be calculated? Land + improvements? Would the tax be higher for a brand new home as it is a "improvement"? Have no idea if that even makes sense.
Also, does anyone know how one can finance a house built? It is not a mortgage...
I’ve seen them too and they are beautiful. Country Carpenters builds post & beam sheds. The post & beam home division is called Early New England Homes and is based in Bolton. There is a model home there. They are gorgeous but pricey. Here is a link to their website. Jay
Yes, thanks Jay! I was typing on limited internet yesterday so I couldn't link. The house I stayed in was in Hebron, and I've seen what looks like some of the houses in their gallery in the Hebron area, not far actually from their location in Bolton (I specifically remember the white cape). I think it was in the West St area. Last time I drove through there, I wondered if it was sort of a planned development like Settlement Hill in Windsor.
I also think that around the corner and just down the street from their location, there is another one (Hebron and Loomis). It's still a vacant lot on google maps.
I called Early New England Homes. They said turn key build is $200 per sq. ft, plus site work like well/septic etc. Their smallest home is a Cape at 1400 sq. ft. so only the home build is about 280K. Plus land of course. So a brand new home on a site you choose can up to $500.
How would taxes be calculated? Land + improvements? Would the tax be higher for a brand new home as it is a "improvement"? Have no idea if that even makes sense.
Also, does anyone know how one can finance a house built? It is not a mortgage...
Interest only loan converts to conventional post construction.
Too many headaches, don't do it.
So I haven't posted on here in a long, long time, and now live in CT.
Sounds like I'm the only one to respond so far who actually lives in an "old" house.
We moved to Brookfield with our two little girls 2.5 years ago, as I work in the Danbury area. We love old homes and that is pretty much exclusively what we looked (from 1690-1900) for around Danbury and surrounding towns. We saw few homes that needed substantial work. For instance, we saw not a single house with any trace of knob and tube wiring.
Our understanding is that people that own older homes tend to care about them a lot, and usually make the necessary changes to modernize them and make them "live-able". Sure we saw a few houses that could have used renovations to certain aspects, but overall we were SHOCKED how relatively updated (mechanically and system-wise the houses were)almost all the houses we saw were. There were very few what we would call "fixer-uppers", where you likely couldn't live in the house until you worked on it some. Where we had previously lived on the west coast you were much more likely to find houses that need massive electrical work, plumbing etc. And those were often houses built in the 1940s and 1950s.
We ended up buying a house built in 1850, which was the right mix of historic and modern for us. Likely helps that the twice removed previous owner was a local builder and did a good job renovating much of the house (and adding a nice addition with attached garage, laundry room, etc.). So our house was originally built pre-electricity and pre-indoor plumbing. Maybe we've been lucky, but the overall maintenance has not really been that bad (no worse than a house that had been mildly neglected from the 1970s or 1980s.). Sure we've had to spend some on certain things (new water softener, a little bit of brick work, etc.), but overall nothing really that out of the ordinary. We even had a solar system and new heat pump install last year to REALLY modernize the house (and save a ton of money on utilities.). For the solar panels they just sistered up on the older rafters that we have in our attic. Contractors and specialists around here are used to these kind of homes so they usually know what to do.
But as I said, we looked at probably over 30 properties around here, and only saw a handful that looked really "sketchy". As a previous poster said, we tend to think of ourselves as the "caretakers" and not really "owners". So I would encourage you to go out and see some properties and see what you think. (on a side note my wife is a local real estate agent and loves looking at old houses, so feel free to DM if interested).
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned though, is the cost of utilities and "start up" of buying a home here. We moved from a small city 5,000 ft lot to almost 2 acres. You need to get a LOT of stuff to maintain that much land (riding mower, leaf blower, etc.) or be ready to pay someone to maintain it for you. Most homes in this area are still heated by oil, and it can get pretty pricey. Also our electric rates are quite high. And the town will charge you a pretty hefty yearly car tax (based on value of the car).
One other comment. You'll be hard pressed to find much in Ridgefield for close to $400K right now (heck you'll be hard-pressed to find that in Brookfield right now!).
Were it me I would recommend looking a little further north in Litchfield county, where property taxes are lower. New Milford is nice and has a lot of options for different types of houses since it's so big.
I put a filter on Zillow for houses build before 1800, and there are so many! Some of them are in a really bad shape, you can tell even from the pic. For some, there is a huge clash of old exerior and too modern interior, which is worse.
An FYI - many towns do not categorize their houses properly. Many realtors do not put the right info in ads, presumably to get more hits. I am always looking for acreage and I can't tell you how many city lots show up in a 50+ acre search (this is nationwide). Depending on what part of the country I look at, I will search for pre-1820 or pre-1930 and again, will get a variety of results.
Many towns seem to have 1900 as a default age when they crossed into the computer age. If you can see corner posts, the house is most likely pre-1850. Some towns used "old" on the paper cards, but now says "1800" because that is the date that town used for all their "old" houses when they computerized. I looked at a house awhile back that the realtor dated as 1690, yet it was clearly dated 1790 in a 1930s survey. Someone along the way hit the wrong key.
Sometimes a house is dated by its oldest portion, sometimes the newest portion. I found a house in Hebron dated as 1997 when it was really a 1700s house that had gone through an extensive renovation in 1997. The house is actually listed on their historic home page, yet the next time it sells it will be listed as a 1997.
My own house date managed to be altered by a year thanks to an insurance company. They also managed to give me all drywall, tile floors and a fireplace. And changed my gender on both home and auto policies. I fixed everything but the town still thinks the house is a year newer than it is.
^^^^^ I know this because I live in an old house, and have been doing old house research for many years. But as I've spent a lot of time in town halls chasing records and can tell you there is a ton of human error in the record books, old and new.
When I've looked at pre-1800 houses for purchase, I will look myself and if I am still interested, I bring someone in the old house business in for a consult. They can tell me more about age and condition quicker than it would take me to do thorough records research. I do not trust the realtor on anything like that or a generic inspector.
An FYI - many towns do not categorize their houses properly. Many realtors do not put the right info in ads, presumably to get more hits. I am always looking for acreage and I can't tell you how many city lots show up in a 50+ acre search (this is nationwide). Depending on what part of the country I look at, I will search for pre-1820 or pre-1930 and again, will get a variety of results.
Many towns seem to have 1900 as a default age when they crossed into the computer age. If you can see corner posts, the house is most likely pre-1850. Some towns used "old" on the paper cards, but now says "1800" because that is the date that town used for all their "old" houses when they computerized. I looked at a house awhile back that the realtor dated as 1690, yet it was clearly dated 1790 in a 1930s survey. Someone along the way hit the wrong key.
Sometimes a house is dated by its oldest portion, sometimes the newest portion. I found a house in Hebron dated as 1997 when it was really a 1700s house that had gone through an extensive renovation in 1997. The house is actually listed on their historic home page, yet the next time it sells it will be listed as a 1997.
My own house date managed to be altered by a year thanks to an insurance company. They also managed to give me all drywall, tile floors and a fireplace. And changed my gender on both home and auto policies. I fixed everything but the town still thinks the house is a year newer than it is.
^^^^^ I know this because I live in an old house, and have been doing old house research for many years. But as I've spent a lot of time in town halls chasing records and can tell you there is a ton of human error in the record books, old and new.
When I've looked at pre-1800 houses for purchase, I will look myself and if I am still interested, I bring someone in the old house business in for a consult. They can tell me more about age and condition quicker than it would take me to do thorough records research. I do not trust the realtor on anything like that or a generic inspector.
You really can’t believe what real estate agents put in their listings. They do try to exaggerate thing to their benefit. You have to do your own due diligence on any real estate transaction. I can’t tell you how many times they include basement space in their square footage numbers when the records on file with the town say otherwise.
As for the age of the house, I would again defer to the town records for the year built. That is the most accurate and should be what the listing indicates. Even when a home has had a complete remodel, the houses age does not change. And you better be sure all those improvements and upgrades were permitted and inspected, otherwise there could be issues down the road. Jay
You really can’t believe what real estate agents put in their listings. They do try to exaggerate thing to their benefit. You have to do your own due diligence on any real estate transaction. I can’t tell you how many times they include basement space in their square footage numbers when the records on file with the town say otherwise.
As for the age of the house, I would again defer to the town records for the year built. That is the most accurate and should be what the listing indicates. Even when a home has had a complete remodel, the houses age does not change. And you better be sure all those improvements and upgrades were permitted and inspected, otherwise there could be issues down the road. Jay
I wouldn't even count on town records especially for an older house. It's just a guideline IMO, after what I've found in my years (decades actually) of property ownership research. Somewhere I have a copy of my property card from the first 10 years that I was in the house, showing it was a specific year (which is correct per the building plans). It now says one year newer. Trivial, as it's only a year, but someone changed it at some point and it certainly wasn't me.
You are correct that a remodel shouldn't change the date of the house. I'll see if I can find that Hebron one.
If you are looking at a truly vintage house, there is a process called dendrochronology that can date the wood by core samples. They compare the wood to a database that is still growing (no pun intended). Here's a hint - many historical houses are not quite as old as they claim Core sample testing is one of the most accurate ways currently to date a house. Historic Deerfield was doing this for our area, and I've seen companies in other states too. Worth checking out just for the cool factor.
The comment about dating through wood samples made me think - what type of wood is so resilient that it can stand after 200 years in Northeast bad winter weather, summer humidity etc. It is just inconceivable to me that houses build in 1706 for example, can still stand and be habitable. it is WOOD after all, not brick or stone...Why do these houses still survive to the point where you can dissemble the structure and move it to another location !!
The comment about dating through wood samples made me think - what type of wood is so resilient that it can stand after 200 years in Northeast bad winter weather, summer humidity etc. It is just inconceivable to me that houses build in 1706 for example, can still stand and be habitable. it is WOOD after all, not brick or stone...Why do these houses still survive to the point where you can dissemble the structure and move it to another location !!
Trees survive outside just fine. They don't make wood like they used to. Old homes were made with old-growth trees. Back in the colonial days, New England had trees that had grown for hundreds of years. Certain trees had grown to a size almost comparable to the redwoods in California. There isn't a single old-growth forest left in New England so it's difficult for us to comprehend. The grain structure and strength of old wood is simply better that young wood, and young wood is basically all we have nowadays. Also, timber frame construction uses very thick members. Look at the bones of an old house and you won't see 2 x 4s, you'll see squared tree branches and trunks.
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Core sample testing is one of the most accurate ways currently to date a house. Historic Deerfield was doing this for our area, and I've seen companies in other states too. Worth checking out just for the cool factor.
