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If you go with an older home, insist on a sewer cam inspection as a contingency of the sale.
We saved ourselves tens of thousands of dollars by doing this as part of the inspection on a 120 year old home. My husband is very handy...he built one of our houses himself but a collapsed sewer main isn’t something ge could do himself.
In my jurisdiction a sewer certificate is mandatory and few homes escape without upgrade...
I bought an 1886 farmhouse in 2005. It is AWESOME. I love everything about it. I feel like I live in my own beautiful bed and breakfast....funny thing is I used to like contemporary... Living in a home with history is a very special wonderful experience
I bought my first home at 23 and it was 3 years old. Our 2nd and 3rd house we built new from the ground up and our current home was a brand new spec home. We prefer new. I don't want to gut or replace anything old and we like open concept with tall ceilings. I don't mind making it my own (such as finishing a basement, backsplash, paint, etc). I just don't like knowing someone else has lived there previously.
Not required here and the repairs to this one were estimated at 20K.
With it being virtually a requirement when a home sells the competition among the underground trenchless sewer companies is intense... prices have fallen as more get into the sewer lateral business.
I had mine done and it was $3200... what helped is I had everything ready and used my Backhoe to expose the city sewer line.. the reason I did not simply dig it all was a driveway and patio was over the line.
The trenchless is standard operation here... very little disturbance and seamless heat welded line goes in right behind the bursting cone... 1 or 2 days max for a 100' of line is typical.
Mine was 80' with a 3 man crew and took 7.5 hours... figure 2k for labor and materials...
Thanks for all of the responses! I'm leaning toward something newer but was curious to see opinions on here. I don't want the house to own me.
Things have really changed - a new shingle roof can now easily run 20K....sometimes more. This is because most houses need the old shingles ripped off.
I was a contractor most of my life...and I promised myself I would never buy an old house. My best friend is a remodeling contractor in an area with lots of old and very well built houses. He'll gladly do some work in your new home for about 400K+.
No kidding.
In most cases I'd take a new house any day...over an old one. But there can also be poorly built newer homes, so you always have to check things out carefully.
But at least you will know some of the systems (wiring, etc.) are up-to-date. My buddy has to deal with knob and tube wiring, lead pipes and all kinds of other stuff that most people never see.
Because proper upgrades are so costly, it's very likely that older houses which have been upgraded were not done in the "top end" fashion. There are exceptions, of course.
Modern building codes mean vastly lower energy use...another bonus.
The energy part is more important in areas where heating or cooling are the norm...
I think the mild climate of my area is the reason there are so many older homes that sell well...
No one in my neighborhood has A/C and only one of the older homes I have lived had anything other than a small 1920's floor furnace... frost is rare and the SF Bay seems to lend itself to micro climates.
When I was in Washington... I had neighbors with nice custom built homes from the 1980's with expansive double pane view windows.... they were all electric homes with a heat pump or two heat pumps and $800 January electric bills were common...
I've looked into solar and double pane windows... etc... but with under a $1000 annual Gas/Electric the payback would take years... I did insulate and wasn't too expensive.
My Grandparents farm has been in the family since the 1700's... it is very nice and big... seems every generation is adding/improving etc... that is a lot of change over centuries...
I'm a potential first time home buyer here and am just in the stage of looking at houses. There are plenty of houses for reasonable prices in my city but many are 80 to 100+ years old. As someone who is not very "handy" I'm curious if that is something I should ever consider. I know there are plenty of factors such as the condition. Of the house, etc, but do you think I should look at old houses or just pass those up in favor of newer ones? And how old is the oldes you would go?
My new neighbors just bought an 82 year-old house. But, it was almost fully rebuilt by its previous owner. Completely new outside walls, roof, plumbing and electrical. And it's fully remodeled and nicely decorated inside, with a big back deck and beautiful landscaping and flower gardens. It's on a 1/3-acre lot, with many trees and shrubs. They were complaining about how much they had to pay, but there were many others behind them in line, who would have snapped it up. Just having me for a neighbor, must have upped its value some.
I'm a potential first time home buyer here and am just in the stage of looking at houses. There are plenty of houses for reasonable prices in my city but many are 80 to 100+ years old. As someone who is not very "handy" I'm curious if that is something I should ever consider. I know there are plenty of factors such as the condition. Of the house, etc, but do you think I should look at old houses or just pass those up in favor of newer ones? And how old is the oldes you would go?
Mine was built in 1906, remodeled in 99'.
I live in a designated historical district, and spent 30 years working in construction.
People think they are getting deals upon buying less expensive, older homes.
What they are really buying are $$$$ pits.
The latest one here was a $15k sewer line.
And now the exterior needs re-painting, again.
And then there was that roof, and the boiler.
Buy new.
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