Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

Or earlier?

If a house is in mint condition and been maintained...but some things are older; like the boiler, etc....did you still buy it?

Basically, what downsides or upsides have you experienced with buying an older home with charm?

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

Friends of mine have an older house. 1920's ish. Having visited in the house, the only thing I noticed was the rooms tended to be smaller and the ceiling was, imo, really low. I would feel claustrophobic in a house like that

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

Friends of ours have a house that was built in 1910. I agree with PP that the rooms are smaller. I know that they had the door ways raised to accommodate taller people. Her major complaint is that the closets are 2x0. I would just be concerned that the wiring was up to code. Every house will need repairs of some kind or another.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

My house was built in 1930. I agree with PP, with older homes the rooms are sometimes smaller. In my house the basement ceiling is very low. The doorways and stairways are narrow. However, it was fairly well maintained and there are lots of features we like about it, so we went for it. We were lucky...our boiler was pretty new, so we just had the electrical updated after we moved in.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

My home was built in 1931, It has 10 ft ceilings, wonderful archways and milllwork and the rooms are a good size. My master fits a king bed and a furniture set.

The downside is that it's older and older homes tend to have things to fix but if this home is renovated then I would just make sure the important things are done, like roof, electric and plumbing.

Older homes have charm that new ones don't inherently. Things were done differently back then and the construction tends to be better.

People think my walls are plaster because that was done back in the day but they are all sheet rock and solid.

Good luck with your choice.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

I would love for our next home to be an older home, but they seem to be in short supply on LI, at least in areas we can afford and want to be in.

DH and I fell in love with a 100 year old farmhouse in our current town. It was in contract before we had a chance to see it. Our current house was built in the 50s, and as a PP said, you can't find that kind of charm in most newer houses.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

My best friend's home was built in the late 1800's. It was an original Baymen's cottage. The downside was that the rooms were tiny - and even though they had updated the boilers, cesspool sometime during the last century - they were still old. The upside is that what was constructed was constructed REALLY well. Real wood, eye for detail and endurance. The other upside was that they got it SUPER cheap. I think they paid 185,000 back in 2001. And the property was huge. They were willing to invest a ton of time and sweat into the home and after redoing the kitchen and making some changes to the essentials (new cesspool, converted to gas, gutted mudroom, create new bathroom) - they had their house reappraised the following year at over 500,000. They continued to work on it - basically tearing down the upper level and redoing it - adding an entire new front to the home and creating a basement.. and now the home is appraised at well over 700,000. The home looks COMPLETELY different from the outside.. but you go in and you can still see the heart of the home that they started with. It's pretty amazing and it's completely customized to their likes, wants and tastes. Yes.. they could have done that with a newer home.. but it probably wouldn't have given them the same ROI from an equity perspective.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

My house is early 1920s. Aside from the wiring not being fully updated/redone, you would never know it was such an old house. Looks just like much of the newer construction in my area, just with more quality. They don't build houses anymore like they did back then. We have really nice mouldings throughout (some we redid ourselves), high ceilings, and large rooms. Our house, due it having been redone, also has a LOT Of closets and storage space for an older home. Definiltey you can't generalize and say older homes have smaller rooms.

We have all new windows, bathrooms, doors, siding, roof, updated kitchen, etc. And plaster walls which are hard to find nowadays.

Message edited 2/27/2010 4:31:36 PM.

Re: Any ever buy an older home? Like, 1908-ish?

thanks for all the opinions..i am looking at one tomorrow that is around early 1900s tomorrow morning so we shall see!

i just them..so much character