How important is build date when house shopping? (Glendale: fit in, appliances)

[urbex]

Last time I bought a house a couple years ago, I took the simple guy route - find me property away from everyone else, with a relatively new house, and I'm happy. Couldn't care less about the rest of the house. Turned out that wasn't the greatest plan, lol. Ended up with a 1400sq foot single story built in 2008. House is nice and all, but there are plenty of things that I didn't think about then that I'm not so happy with now. So I'm paying a lot more attention this time around. Yes, I'm aware that financially speaking, selling/buying so soon after the last purchase isn't necessarily the greatest idea. I have my reasons.

I read recently that home builders changed the way homes were built pretty drastically around the '08/'09 time frame, but I haven't yet seen any real details on what those changes really were other than updated/better insulation methods. But I'm wondering if that really plays a part in what I should be looking at?

I did find one place in Glendale that I really liked, built in 1984. HVAC and roof updated in '07-'09 time frame. Would I be looking at considerably higher electric bills with an older home like this? Right now I'm peaking around $150/month in the summer, though I live alone and have the AC turned off during the day when I'm not home, so I know my bills are artificially low compared to most other people.

I'm just concerned that I'm going to end up with sticker shock come June/July when my electric bills triple, or there's some other glaring issue that I wasn't aware of after buying such a place.

[grmi66]

What I was told is that mechanical systems and roofs last about 25 years. So if shopping for a house built in the mid-90's check to see what's been updated.

[jimj]

What I noticed that changed wherever there was a boom (2005-2009) was quality. It dropped as homes were slapped up faster than ever before. Lot's of "eye candy" like granite,trim,expensive looking cabinets, stainless appliances,whole house sound systems,upscale tile etc. and crap bones underneath...

[urbex]

That was one of the issues I found in my place, specifically that there wasn't a single flat section of concrete anywhere in the house (single story, concrete slab house). Wasn't apparent with wall to wall carpeting, but became VERY obvious once I pulled the carpeting up to install laminate flooring. Low hanging kitchen cabinetry has also been an issue as I've been shopping for a new fridge, and everything I liked ended up being an inch too tall to fit in the fridge space. I also found that of the three houses I had inspected before I bought this one, none of the inspectors noted the issues that became an issue for me later.

I generally haven't fallen into the mindset that everything old was "built better in the old days", but on the other hand, I really don't know what I'll be walking in to with house shopping either.

[Zippyman]

Hvac on a 1984 home will likely have undersized returns & way oversized compressor. Something in the area of r19 in the attic instead of r-38 & much more air leakage at doors and windows- The flex-duct in the attic will be r4 instead of r8 & the ducts are likely not air-sealed very well. Single pane windows & quite likely no actual vapor-barrier behind the stucco. Way higher bills unless you throw some money at sealing & insulation. It can be made pretty efficient, but you’re likely on your own as far as making the updates, most Hvac guys really don’t understand or care about sealing flex duct, routing it properly, getting enough return air into a system or selecting the proper size system. I’d personally assign a value of $0 to any “new” Hvac system, since they’re nearly always just kludged in.

I wouldn’t take on an old house again & I’ve done several.

[JGMotorsport64]

In terms of age I’d agree that older homes may not be sealed, but also that they may lack adequate insulation as the industry standard has changed over time.

However, I’d caution anybody from buying a boom era house. Those things were slapped together to sell and fix later and not much more.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

In terms of age I’d agree that older homes may not be sealed, but also that they may lack adequate insulation as the industry standard has changed over time.

However, I’d caution anybody from buying a boom era house. Those things were slapped together to sell and fix later and not much more.

You can fix insulation you can't fix poor or cheap construction...

[BigEinAz]

Focus on the builder, not the timeframe in which it was built. There are good houses built in the worst of times and crap houses built in the best.