Renovating an Old House - Pros and Cons?

I am living this as I type. I bought a 1923 "craftsman" that was vacant for quite a while...and it was a steal!

The roofers are here (yes...on a sunday) replacing the tin roof. The windows are original, and will be replaced next...but am hoping that the tax breaks will still be in effect this summer when we begin THAT project (24 windows in all...geesh!)

I love LOVE the house...and will continue to do what I am able to 'fix her up'.

My kiddos still at home are older...and can help. I also have help from time to time from my 'older' kids not at home.

I would probably NOT do this if I had younger kiddos...

Best to you whatever you decide!!

Meet with a real estate agent to assess the actual value of the house and how much it would actually be worth post renovations. That will give you a better idea of whether it's worth it.

Eta - we have only ever had old houses - I grew up in one that was from the 1870s, just moved from a 1920s to now a 1910s. Know what it is you are buying and what the potential is, but it can be a very rewarding experience.

My folks bought a duplex/storefront property in a Milw suburb after my sister & I graduated H.S. (but still lived @ home). It was from the 1920's, back when the shopkeeper would live behind the store in the lower unit & rent the upper. It had a lot of potential, but the process to reveal it was arduous, to say the least.

My dad tore down the drywall to reinsulate the walls... there was the original horsehair paper, & that was it! My sister & I would be woken up on the weekends by my dad knocking the lathe/plaster walls with a sledgehammer & have to remove all the debris. The windows were also original, with the plumb weights, which he had replaced with Pella crankouts.

There were tray ceilings & crown moulding that was taken down & restored. The hardwood floors were covered in asbestos tile laid over tarpaper - not your typical restoration project there.

The back porch had been added on later, & was not livable - we started working on it in the fall, & an early winter storm took down the walls! We spent the winter with thick layers of plastic floor to ceiling blocking the doorway to the porch (which was also the way to the main door), like they have in a walkin freezer.

Now, when it was done, the place was gorgeous. Nicer than anything newly built. But it was a 3-year process, & we did almost all the work ourselves - my dad has a lot of knowledge & skill. But I'll tell you, we were not prepared for the "finds" - the tile/tar paper could not just be scraped up like we thought, it was hours & hours with a hot air blower to melt & scrape & then later sand the tar that was adhered to the wood.

No idea that the walls weren't typical drywall - that was a mess & a half! And who on earth expects to have a wall knocked out by a storm!?

So, if you & your husband want to do it, have a professional come in while you are living there currently. Someone who specializes in OLD HOME restoration. You may not use his services for everything, but you need to know what you would possibly be dealing with if you go forward with plans. What type of walls do you have, do plumbing & electrical need to be updated, or fully rewired? What are things about older houses that require different approaches? What are the things you truly can't do yourselves (or shouldn't if you want nice results)?

Get an estimate for how much it will cost to do the necessary things - plumbing, wiring, insulation, window updates, etc. Find out what he would charge, & how much of that is labor, & how much is supplies. You can use that information when making an offer on the house as incentive to lowball on the price. You may also come to the realization that this just isn't for you.

Also make sure that you & hubs are the type that can keep up with renovations. It's one thing to say "oh wouldn't it be awesome if...", it's another to spend EVERY weekend working on the house, & all week long living with the current state of disarray in between.

Best of luck either way! T.

Old houses are never straightforward. I would get an inspector (never buy a house without an inspection!) and find out what would realistically need to be done and what the third party thinks it will cost. Things you might run into are wiring that is not to code, pipes that are not to code, and mold in the walls, especially in a bathroom. You may not want it after you know what the real problems are.

Many people who successfully renovate a house do it either in pieces or they move out while the renovation is being done. It's hard to live in half a house. You could, possibly, un-section off the upstairs, move there, and then move back down and do the upstairs. Find out what NEEDS to be done and what you'd like to have done. Over the past 10 years DH and I have slowly kicked the 1970s out of this house, but the bones were already good.

Also, when you say "old" is it an historic property? Some areas won't allow you to do certain things with historic homes. You need to find out if there are any restrictions on you with materials or changes.

Further, do you want to still be landlords? You need to find out the pros and cons of that in your area.

How good are you with home repairs? Could you and your DH install appliances? Could you retile a bathroom? Those skills will also factor in whether or not you will need to hire someone. My DH and his dad installed 2 windows themselves, but it was so much work DH hired someone to do the other main windows (and we still have 2 big ones we haven't yet been able to afford to change). DH and his dad built cabinets, but we hired people to install the sink and countertop. Etc.

Renovating an old house is a labor of love. It can be a wonderful experience, or it can end in divorce. Hardwood floors and beautiful molding are a plus in older homes. Wiring and plumbing issues can weigh you down.

If you have any handyman friends, talk to them about what needs to be done, what your skills are, and what you are willing to contract out.

Instinctively I would say no to this property because you mentioned foundation issues. Those are expensive and not DIY friendly.

How much to you love renovating?
Seriously - some people divorce over it - it can be very incredibly stressful.
The mess, the expense, project falling behind, extra costs coming up, plaster dust everywhere, maybe finding mold (big major nasty pain in the neck) etc.
How much would you do yourselves vs hiring contractors?
Some people do it but it takes a special kind of person and not everyone can live with it.
I know I am not that kind of person.

Do you ever watch those HGTV renovations, like "Property Brothers", "Holmes on Homes", or DIY "Renovation Addict"? They get in to some awful messes at times that run up higher costs, like asbestos removal, structural issues, wiring, plumbing that add many unexpected expenses.

Unless you can pay cash, you would probably have to have a home inspection before a lending agency would loan money, and you would have to have financing for the renovations.

You are looking at huge undertaking for do-it-yourself projects with time and money. Making an old house like this, energy efficient will require new wiring, circuit box, windows, etc. I would have a contractor come do an estimate of what it might cost to do what you want.

I can certainly understand the emotional connection you have to the neighborhood and location, so wish you the best. But if you are in it for the long haul, it might be worth it. If you are thinking of new kitchen or bath, you have some chance of recovering expenses in a resale, but if you "over do" the reno, you will add value to the house, but may not get back what you will have in it based on values in your neighborhood.

My neighbors completely redid a foreclosure across the street from me and it was totally gutted due to damage by previous owners and the house was appraised about $70,000 over the going rate of the neighborhood, so now after several years, they can't get out or it near what they have in it because of the market.

Reno jobs are stressful and are you willing to live in a "mess" while projects are going on?

Good luck!

Our first house was a real fixer-upper....... every summer we basically took on another room..... we re-did 3 bedrooms and the living room and bathroom before we were done.

Hubby did all the work, though..... that made it much cheaper!

He removed the lath and plaster from the inside walls, re-wired, insulated, and put up sheet rock. He also re-plumbed the entire house with copper (replaced the old galvanized pipes).

At one point, we also replaced the furnace.

In the end, we really didn't get any of that back...we bought the house for $18,000 (in 1983), and sold it for $21,000 in 1992. However, we saw our electricity and gas bills drop dramatically over the years as we added insulation.

Ours was built around 1910, also, I think.....

The house was in a very small town with a huge yard...... great place for the kids to grow up! We only sold it because hubby was transferred to Texas.

I have to say you need to first have some General Contractors who are EPA Lead Safe Certified give you estimates and TEST your home for lead. Honestly I would make sure your place is Lead Free first and has been since you have lived there. *Hopefully your landlord already informed you of it being lead free - if not make sure you are protected.*

Secondly look into what you can and can not do yourself and make sure your time/marriage is worth it or is it cheap/better to have others do it.

It just all sounds so romantic. Buying an old home and fixing it up. The reality of it is that this project can quickly turn into a "MONEY PIT". The more money you put into it the more money it requires you to put into it.

If you can do the repairs yourself that's awesome but will those repairs be up to code? If not then there will be a ton of money you will have to shell out to a licensed professional to get it to code and pass inspection.

Absolutely get a home inspection, get the home tested for asbestos and lead because of its age. Not all fixes are created equally. I have owned 2 homes and will be buying my 3rd before the end of the year. I can guarantee you the new home I buy will be a newer home which I will put the character into for a fraction of what it would cost for me to make "this old house" a beautiful lady.

Pouring the love back into an old house can be very costly in money and time. The pay off in satisfaction can be great but in my opinion from someone who has done this twice is I wouldn't want to ever do it again. It's more trouble than it's worth to me. I don't have the necessary skills to do all the fixing that needs to be done and always have to hire outside help to get it done and that can be frustrating too especially when you are a woman but I'm not going to rant about that.

Get wise advice and then do what is best for your family.

I love old homes with all their character!
The question is can you live with and afford the renovations?
We had a large part of our house flood once because of plumbing problems. It took 2 months of heavy reconstruction to put things back together. That wasn't even a full renovation, just repairing the damage.
But really think if you can live with a constant parade of strangers (that you end up knowing all too well after the length it takes to get things done), the chaos of things being torn apart and not usable.
If you think you can survive it I say go for it! Those homes have so much character and history and are worth the effort if you can do it.

I would seek professional advice on this one. You could get WAY over your head very quickly.

ah, the siren song of old houses with all their charm.
i wanted one so badly. looked at them and sighed. pointed out all the potential wonderful things my dh could have done with them.
and he pointed out that he works a gazillion hours a week, and would like to NOT spend every spare moment doing renovations, not to mention dump our retirement savings into the project.
get an inspection and some estimates. then see if it's worth it.
khairete
S.

I went through a diy reno once, and a small one at that. I absolutely hated it. I now know that I have little tolerance for the mess and disruption and the piecemeal progress that comes with a DIY. The new line in our household is, if the project is anything bigger than refinishing a footstool, we will get the builders in to do it.

If you've got the inclination, and the constitution for it, together with the funds for unexpected extras, by all means do it.

Best, F. B.

My parents live in a 1917 Craftman bungalow in the Twin Cities. They've never done the renovations that NEED to be done because they feel overwhelmed by the following which they know MUST be updated to be up to current code:

Asbestos - it is on their shingles; it wraps some of the pipes
Vermiculite - insulation in the attic needs to be removed and replaced.
Electrical - entire house needs to be rewired and put on a breaker than can support the amp load of modern households
Plumbing - all pipes need to be replaced with copper
Windows - well, you already know that. I've heard that windows can run about $1000 EACH. Wow.

Definitely get a home inspection; have a general contractor come. If you can, make your home bigger and add a bedroom and bathroom to increase your resale value and potential.

Try to retain as much original mill-work as possible, as many buyers are looking for these details when they buy old homes.

Check out the DIY Network/HG TV's show "Rehab Addict," with Nichole Curtis who specializes in restoring old homes. She's from Detroit but has done most of her work in the Twin Cities. You can learn a lot from her show and she interacts with her fans and answers questions on her personal Facebook page.

Renovating can be stressful but it could work. I would se if a contractor could come out just to see what the estimated costs would be. Get an inspection if you can to make sure it is sound. It would be worth the $300 or $400 it would cost to make sure you would not walk into a money pit.
If you hire a contractor to do the work (if you cannot do all yourself), there is some stuff you can have them not do to save money, like painting etc.

We bought a 1970's house that mostly needs cosmetic work.

My tip would be to only take this on if you can afford to hire a professional to do the renovation work for you or if you are serious DIYers (like if you are or know people who do this for a living).

We are doing it ourselves, it is a long process (we can work on it on weekends only), it is frustrating spending all your free time on the damn reno, there is months and there is months and months of construction dirt all about... I HATE it.

It will take longer and cost more than you anticipate - and once you really get into it, there is no telling what "surprises" you will find behind those walls. Budget at least an extra 20% of your reno budget for those unanticipated expenses.

Get a couple of contractors in and have them tell you what the renovations would cost you - then decide if you still think you are getting a good deal.

The pro's of course are that you get a house in your desired neighborhood that has the "old house charme".

Good luck.

Go into it with correct information and realistic prices on renovations. A home inspection is a must. Then take that info and figure out how much each repair or renovation actually costs. Is it work that you can do or would you have to hire professionals? What are the things that need to be done asap vs things that can wait?

Are you guys handy and capable of doing some of the work yourself? Then it could work to your advantage. If you are relying on a contractor and marked up labor I can tell you, the downside to remodel is that you really don't know what its going to cost. Contractors charge time and materials. I've seen a lot of remodel and I've never seen one come in on budget. But if you can get a house for a song and you have vision and are handy, it could be a great investment.