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I currently live in a 1880 Victorian Italianate house in Ohio. I would consider a new house only if it was made to LOOK old.
I've heard that in the south it's common for new builders to use crown molding, wide wood trim etc anyway. But, are there any builders that build new houses specifically to look like an old house?
I would think that's rare to find.
You might find it just easier to find an older home from that era that has had a good amount of renovation and updating to it. It'd probably be better quality than a new home, no matter what style it is.
There are tons in North Carolina. Raleigh has a whole neighborhood of them.
Well, that's exactly what I'd LOVE to do, RaleighRob, but convince my DH of that one!
We will be living either in Hickory or one of the smaller surrounding towns of Charlotte. We are looking into Concord, Mooresville, Davidson, Cornelius, Kannapolis, etc.
Someone had posted some BEAUTIFUL old homes from Concord on the HGTV message boards for me, but the "board police" deleted them all.
I may end up driving a realtor CRAZY as well as my husband. It would be VERY HARD for me to live in a new house. I'm an odd bird, I suppose.
I may end up driving a realtor CRAZY as well as my husband. It would be VERY HARD for me to live in a new house. I'm an odd bird, I suppose.
You are NOT odd. We're in the minority...especially here on this forum...but I'm 100% convinced older homes are just plain BUILT better than new ones (as long as they're periodically updated/renovated as needed).
They didn't use cheap immigrant labor back then to build a house in 2 weeks...they took their time, used highly-skilled labor, good materials, and instead of "cookie-cutter", encouraged their well-trained architects to use creativity for each individual house. And this lasted well into the early 20th century too...Jazz-era homes are really unique as well, albeit a bit less ornate than Victorians.
This was when they were building HOMES....not profit-machines for big coorporate developers.
But after WWII and the baby boom....it's been downhill ever since.
I would think that's rare to find.
You might find it just easier to find an older home from that era that has had a good amount of renovation and updating to it. It'd probably be better quality than a new home, no matter what style it is.
There are tons in North Carolina. Raleigh has a whole neighborhood of them.
RaleighRob, is there a particular area of Raleigh to look for these homes?
We will be living either in Hickory or one of the smaller surrounding towns of Charlotte. We are looking into Concord, Mooresville, Davidson, Cornelius, Kannapolis, etc.
Include Salisbury in your prospectus. That city has a preservation attitude that has become stronger over the years, with an inventory of restored homes that might be available http://www.visitsalisburync.com/
http://www.ci.salisbury.nc.us/lm&d/historic/historic.html (broken link)
One restoration in progress is going to be featured on the History Channel in September
http://www.historychannel.com/classroom/victorianreborn/ (broken link)
Be sure to check the video. WHOA! Mass destruction! ]
We lived in Concord for several years. They also have a large historic district with some wonderful homes. It's an area we looked at when we moved down here; we had lived in the Midwest in an 1864 Mansard home built by the first mayor of our hometown. Unfortunately, the historic houses in Concord were beyond our price range and we settled for a small cluster of homes built by a contractor who was inspired by Colonial Williamsburg. If you are interested in that era, ask a Concord Realtor about Brittany Woods.
Kannapolis has a lot of older houses from the mill era. They might not be as old as you'd like. Check this thread where I visited the area and took pictures of the Biotech Campus area and some of the houses I saw http://www.city-data.com/forum/north...ght=kannapolis
If you google, using keywords like "antique real estate for sale", you'll come up with some wonderful links, though the houses might not be in the area you are wanting to relocate. It's still fun to look. This is a house about 75 miles north of Charlotte that overlooks the Yadkin River, has a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and is listed for only $19K (needs a total restoration). It's on a small lot, or Spouse and I would seriously consider it for a retirement project (mods - these are personal pictures)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Dori_Anjin/Jonesvillehouse_1.jpg (broken link)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Dori_Anjin/Jonesvillehouse_23jpg.jpg (broken link)
If you look in the Salisbury area, also check out China Grove. It's south(?) of that town, accessed by highway 29. I did a daytrip around there. I didn't really pay any mind to what they had in the way of historic houses, but there is an old brick mill that is in the process of being restored
RaleighRob, is there a particular area of Raleigh to look for these homes?
For Victorians, Oakwood mostly and some in Mordecai
For post-Victorian, ie early 1900s-20s, Boylan Heights, Mordecai and a few in Oberlin and Brooklyn.
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We're in the minority...especially here on this forum...but I'm 100% convinced older homes are just plain BUILT better than new ones (as long as they're periodically updated/renovated as needed). 
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