Tell me about owning an Antique home (Marlborough, Wellesley: sales, insurance)

[ThinkingThinking]

I have only ever lived in homes built after WWII, and even then the 1940's home was owned and maintained by the US Army.

In my search for our new place, I have found a lovely old home built in 1780 with very nice original details, like beams, floors, fireplaces, and outbuildings, etc, as well as a great location and large lot across the street from the Elementary School. It also appeals to the artist in me because two of the rooms have authenticated Rufus Porter murals.

We have never owned and maintained a home of this age though, and don't know what to expect or even be aware of as far as faults, discomforts, updating (beyond the obvious new appliances and code). So any advice or warnings would be greatly appreciated.

[professorsenator]

I have lived in an antique house (i.e. >100 years old) twice. What to expect? Here are a few headaches:

1. Perhaps the most nerve-wracking is that almost nothing is standard to today's widely available items. Doors, hardware, electrical, plumbing...you name it -- so many things are now standardized in terms of size and dimensions, and the major stores (of course) sell standard sizes. But older homes often don't have things built to contemporary standard sizes. So, for example, those door knobs at Home Depot that are built for 2.5 inch. offset won't work because your door has a 3 in. offset. And they haven't done 3 in. offsets on doors for 50 years. So you have to find a place where you can custom order a (much more expensive) door knob from some antique hardware supplier. This is much easier now with the advent of the internet, but it's still a hassle. Multiply this one doorknob example x 100, and you get my drift...

2. Insulation. There is probably none in the walls. Unless the plaster and lathe have been stripped inside, there is probably no insulation in that old house. And that means drafts and high utility bills. Blowing in insulation in the attic is easy enough and lots of older houses will have that. But you're probably flying blind on all your exterior walls.

3. Not much closet space. They didn't need closets much back then because people just didn't have much stuff.

4. Keep a very close eye on electrical. Really old houses that have been wired for electricity were done so 80+ years ago. The wiring, connections, fuses are all just frighteningly shoddy by contemporary standards. The wiring insulation has hardened and falling off, exposing bare wire., etc. And, of course, there aren't neary enough power outlets in the house (because all you needed to plug in when they wired that house umpteen decades ago was a few lamps, a radio, and -- maybe -- a refrigerator). Unless the house has already been re-wired, be prepared to either make mental peace with the fact that the wiring is probably a fire waiting to happen and/or save your pennies to do a stem-to-stern rewire.

5. lead paint and asbestos. Both are big health issues. The house will almost certainly have lead paint -- you just don't want chipping. Chipping means it's falling off, thus can get everywhere. Look for asbestos in the cellar or crawl space under the house. Removing it costs a fortune, of course.

But most significantly: expect the unexpected. Having an older home is sorta like driving an old Jaguar -- there will be repairs (and a lot of them). You'll know some frequent trouble areas, but anything can crop up at any minute.

The payoff for all this: charm and uniqueness. If your house is clean and attractive, people will ogle it and comment on how attractive your house is.

[Beachcomber4]

It is a constant labor of love. I owned an antique built in 1787 for 15 years and it been in my family for the previous 15. The architecture and workmanship that went into building it and the barn never ceased to amaze me and I was always thrilled to share it with the various contractors we hired. The home was built by a shipbuilder which was evidenced in the construction. My husband had an old chicken coop that was on property refurbished. I gave him grief over it as we could have bought a nice shed for less $ but when you own an old house, sometimes tradition takes over practicality.

You honestly need alot of time and/or money and preventative maintenance is the key. Corny as it may sound, you will never truly "own" and old home, it's more about preserving the past while making improvements to insure the home will be there for the future.

Faults and discomforts- depends on the house and you. For me the faults were lack of closet space and dusty as we had some dirt cellar. I loved everything else about the house. We were willing to "make do" with things that some people might find unbearable. The only warnings: if you have or find a problem, fix it quickly as things tend to get out of hand quicker in and old house.

Good luck in whatever you choose.

[ThinkingThinking]

Thanks, and you bring up some points I hadn't considered. I imagine that it will be pretty expensive to rewire the home if it is needed. Apparently it has been owned by the same family since the late 70's. What about laws regarding preservation? Is this only applicable to homes deemed historic? I know some regions limit what you can do to improve or update a home if it is considered an antique.

[ScituateAl]

Any preservation laws are done locally by the town. Check to see if is in a historic district. Any sort of national historic district is just for recognition and will not have restrictions. It's really the locally by-laws that'll get you.

I'm not in a position to doubt the age of this house specifically, but often houses in the 1600-1700s in New England were often done and redone so that it may really be an 1850s house, for example (still old enough, lol!).

In addition to all the good info above, you'd also want to get a good understanding of the quality of all the renovations in the past 30 years. We all hate paying for other peoples' "remuddling".

Best of luck!

[scarletfire]

professor senator hit the pros and cons right on the head. The other issue with an antique I'm sorry to say is resale. They are not for everyone and they can sometimes take a long time to sell.

Our first home was an antique and I loved it. I knew what I was getting into: drafty windows as well as oddities like slanty floors and sometimes finding it hard to get things to fit quite right. But I can't stand cookie cutter new homes and always loved the charm of an antique. To me it was worth it but it's not right for everyone.

Where are you looking? I remember seeing an antique in Westboro that has a lot of energy efficiency updates but retained the historic character, which I thought was nice, and also somewhat rare to see!

Another thing to keep in mind with the electrical is if it's old knob and tube wiring you may have to pay higher homeowner's insurance. That old wiring is more prone to fire hazards so be careful to know what you're getting into. If you do buy an antique make sure your home inspector has good experience with inspecting older homes like that.

[ThinkingThinking]

The short version: I am looking for a home with a bit of land, at least 3 bedrooms, good schools, and within reasonable commute to Marlborough. We're arty people so we're keen on areas with a bit of funky culture, and would like to steer clear of vanilla suburbs.

The house that caught my eye this morning is located in Townsend, it says it has "circuit breaker electric" and has "Hot water baseboard, oil heating. No cooling. tankless hot water Wired for cable."

I think I am familiar with the one you are referring to in westboro, but it is out of our price range.

[Beachcomber4]

I guess the right answer (rather than my romantic one) is have a GREAT home inspector and know what you are buying. Someon that specializes in antiques is a must as they can see the difference between a job done right and a "cover up" job.

Thank you to Professenator for the reality slap! I love my new home!


In regard to some of the other comments:

Resale- any house that is well cared for, properly marketed, staged and priced will sell. was told our antique would probably take a year to sell. We sold it in a week. Yes the market for an antique might be limited but the same can be said of many styles of homes. I think a reality in owning and eventually selling and antique is you never get as much as you think you should because a good owner puts so much time and emotion into such a home. Just some food for thought.

Major Systems- don't assume the wiring etc. is old. My home had plumbing,heating and wiring installed in 1978 and then we upgraded in the early 2000's. Again, anyone who owns an old home that is well taken care of will most likely have done at least some upgrading if for no reason other than personal safety. The reality is a home of that age is a tinderbox and as such, wiring, heating systems etc. need to be checked to be sure they are not a fire hazard.

Draftiness- Old plaster and lathe were fantastic for noise control and will hold heat well. Icynene insulation is fantastic for blowing into floors to cut down on drafts and tax credits and rebates available for efficiency upgrades make it very affordable. This also pertains to windows, storm doors etc. See how many zones of heat the house has. If you can close doors to areas that are not used often, and lower the themostat in those areas, you can save dramatically on heating costs.

Lead Paint- yep, it's there. You keep the paint intact, watch for rubbing in door jambs etc that could cause lead dust but honestly, in a well cared for home, a child will be more likely to get lead poisoning from a dollar store toy than your home. Deleading is a joke and very costly. The law only states that mouthable surfaces need be deleaded and as soon as you have a chip anywhere, you are no longer considered in compliance.

Structural Problems- Powder Post Beetles are a common problem in the old stand wood that were used to build these homes. They can be controlled and a good inspector can tell if the structure has been compromised.

Radon- a common problem in homes with granite slab foundation. Many homes have enough air exchange (draftiness) to keep levels down but if not, a mitigation system can be installed. This should be part of a home inspection.

[ThinkingThinking]

Is it safe to assume that they are difficult to finance and insure due to all the above issues?

[Beachcomber4]

Not at all. New England is full of antique homes and as such, banks and insurance agents are not put off.

The hardest part is to find comps to make a valuation of the home. The bank that the person who bought our home used sent a specialist from Wellesley who wrote up pages of verbage to explain the various architectural elements and details that made the house valued at the amount he had stated and also offer explanation as to why he was unable to accurately comp it with other recent sales in the area.