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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?
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?
Buying a brand new home is based on your finances. Some brand new homes can be affordable based on size and location. I owned an 80 year house and sold it after 17 years. I wouldn't nix the idea of an old home. It all depends on the inspection report. You may be surprised that some old homes may have been well maintained. Stay away from the ones with massive issues and if you find one with minor issues consider the costs of repairs and see if you can work that off the asking price. If you find someone interested in selling quickly, they're usually willing to compromise. When my brother purchased his first house in New Jersey he was able to get the house much lower than the listing price. The owners were already in Florida and weren't happy at the idea of paying two mortgages at the time. Some people would look at that as taking advantage of a bad situation for the seller, but they were able to take $30K off the asking price. It worked out to their advantage.
I'm in a 90y/o house right now, the only big deal is that it's costly to keep the temperatures comfortable (HVAC). Otherwise it lives and functions the same as my parents 100% custom built retirement home from 2009.
BUT, this is my 4th house and it's definatly taken a ton of learned DIY experience to tackle the projects it needed on my own. I couldn't afford this house if I'd needed to hire out everything (nothing is "standardized", it's all custom work, not too many people do good custom work), but I Also bought it in foreclosure.
Now, I've gone house-shopping 5 times in the past 15 years. I don't like "normal" houses from 1990's and newer, they just feel cheaper. There are custom homes without issues, but the "tract" homes seem to be nicer before 1990 or so.
I could write pages on this but generally I think if you don't have a great tolerance for problems but still don't mind an older place, then I would stick to 1960s or later. Maybe 1950s which can also be pretty straightforward. Generally in the 60s, homes became better insulated and reflect more modern building techniques and materials. As you say, it all depends on what's been done to the place over the years.
I'm very comfortable with late 1800s and certainly 20s, 40s and I've owned places in these eras. But they are not for everyone.
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?
You should do what you are comfortable with. My office building, which I own is from 1895 and my personal home is from 1960. What you do depends on your tolerance for quirks, and whether or not the big ticket items associated with older homes have been taken care of.
If you aren't "handy" and don't want to learn to become handy, then you need to shop well below your price point because you will have to hire everything out so take that into consideration when house hunting. You will need to leave extra money to save every month for repairs that you can't do yourself. Even newer homes will need repairs.
You should walk through homes of different eras and see what feels most relaxing and comfortable to you. You will answer your own question when you look at homes.
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?
You buy them one by one.
We had bums building houses 100 years ago, and 150 years ago.
Some of the junk still stands. Much of it has disappeared.
Some older houses are gorgeous pieces of construction, and well-maintained will be here for a very long time.
The determinant is whether you can write the checks needed to maintain and/or update an older house.
By "Update," I don't mean granite countertops or other trendy stuff.
But, can you afford to replace a 40 year old furnace that is made too well to die, but works at about 30% efficiency?
Or, to replace galvanized water pipes, when you learn that they are corroded nearly shut?
There are tons of considerations, but many older homes will pester your pocketbook with surprises more than newer boring houses will.
having purchased and lived in Denver area houses that were built in the 1890's, I had fun and enjoyed all of them. All had been maintained by the owners/sellers, but needed interior remodeling/upgrades and plumbing/heating/electrical upgrades to be "current". Hence, we flipped a bunch of these back in the day when I had the time/resources/energy to do so.
we now live in a rural SE Wyoming farmhouse that started as a homesteader's living quarters built from native rock/sand and lime to form a slip-formed concrete structure. Started in 1880, added on to through the years by various owners/residents. We bought it as a project house but the rest of the ranch/farm was very much up to our needs at the time. Through the years, we've had to replace all the windows, upgrade the bathrooms/kitchen, replace plumbing/heating/electrical systems, remove (ugly!!!) carpet/padding and refinish wood floors, replace the damaged wood heating stove with a recent production (but made on the original 1890's mold patterns) cast iron wood cookstove, insulate, and re-roof the structure. Had to rip out linoleum, dropped acoustical ceilings hiding old lath/plaster damaged ceilings and crown moldings, etc. Add modern lighting and fixtures/switches/wiring. Replace corroded out/obstructed galvanized water supply and drain pipes inside the house and connecting to the "pump house" (which was built large enough to be a hired hand's residence structure). And, come to think of it ... remove some interior walls to reconfigure the bedrooms/laundry room/bathrooms, which included some wall structural work and installing new doorways ... including "French doors" into the master bedroom suite we built out of two smaller bedrooms. Closet space in that suite is still somewhat limited, but we solved most of that shortage by bringing in a huge "captain's bed" with all the drawers and storage cabinet space. Even putting in modern electrical outlets in the kitchen was a huge project given that the walls were lath/plaster, not drywall ... that had to be torn out to allow interior wall access.
None of these projects were for the faint of heart or thin of wallet.
IF you don't have the time, interest, energy, handyman skills, or finances to embark upon an older house project ...
unless the project has been completely brought up to the standards of modern housing that you desire and is in excellent condition now ... and has local tradespeople willing to keep up that level at a reasonable cost ...
DO NOT BUY an OLDER HOUSE from that 80-100 years old era. NO matter how inexpensively that house appears per square foot, it will consume you.
NO matter how well built and/or charming they were in their era of construction, you're looking at structures that pre-date indoor plumbing/electrical systems/central heating systems. Few, if any, were built with insulation or any other energy efficient considerations. Architecturally, they simply didn't have to accommodate the modern conveniences or systems you expect to have in a house today. Floor plan functionality and convenience wasn't in accordance with modern concepts. And many of those house structures were designed to accommodate multi-generational families, so storage and access had different priorities.
It takes a lot of work and dedication to bring one of these houses up to modern standards. A key issue to consider is that many of them have had owners that did perform a lot of maintenance/upgrade work ... but not in accordance with modern code requirements. Electrification may have started in your area in the 1950's ... and the components that farmer John and his family tacked into the old house simply may not be of good quality/condition now. Even when some of it has been upgraded by a pro electrical contractor in more recent years, there still may be old wiring/connectors/outlets in the house.
Again, if you don't know what you're looking for and/or how to do this kind of work properly, you can be looking at a lot of costly surprises in that "old house" which may not give you the luxury of being able to put off correcting them for your convenience.
PS: we haven't even touched upon those miscellaneous issues such as rodent droppings/hantavirus risk in the old walls/ceilings (especially with old cotton/rubber insulated wire which was a feast for the critters), mold hidden in walls that didn't have proper ventilation or exterior moisture proofing, or considerations made for radon gas trapping in the structure. In your area of the country, these are likely health concerns on older houses. As well, lead solder joints on potable water sources, or older asbestos based insulation, or asbestos tile/floor coverings/adhesives, or lead-based paint concerns. Serious health issues, all, which should be mitigated and addressed for your residence. Most of them fairly expensive to deal with if you need to bring in a contractor to address these concerns.
PPS: OP, you mention being a "first time home buyer". In all candor, I wouldn't wish upon you the pitfalls and potential obstacles that present in most of the older houses you'd be looking at. My advice would be to buy as new a house as you can afford and bypass so many of the issues that typically present with the old houses in your area.
Remember older homes have issues. Look for updated plumbing and electrical systems. You should also look at the insulation. Apparently insulation wasn’t a big deal in older homes. Older floorplans tend to be choppy. If open floorplans are your thing you have to see how to renovate so it will suit your needs. Older homes have small closets. Thus the renovation budget needs to be on the larger side. I didn’t even mention kitchens and baths. It may be cheaper to buy a new or newer home....
Remember older homes have issues. Look for updated plumbing and electrical systems. You should also look at the insulation. Apparently insulation wasn’t a big deal in older homes. Older floorplans tend to be choppy. If open floorplans are your thing you have to see how to renovate so it will suit your needs. Older homes have small closets. Thus the renovation budget needs to be on the larger side. I didn’t even mention kitchens and baths. It may be cheaper to buy a new or newer home....
I sell a lot of old homes and most have been fully or partially insulated by now.
People buy old homes because they want the craftsmanship and the charm of older homes. Old house buyers and new home buyers are not the same buyer. The OP needs to figure out which one feels most like home, then get educated from there about issues to watch out for.
We bought a 90 year old house in 2003; sold I at a nice profit in 2014.
When we bought, it had upgraded electric and plumbing.
It was in a high demand area.
About 5 years after we purchased it, the house (and much of the city) was declared and Historic Area and through the state (AZ) we got 50% off of our taxes.
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