So, I’ve moved, or a I’m in the process of moving. The rest of the family moves in the summer after school is out. I’m tasked with working at my day job, and trying to find a place to live.
Right now, I’m trying to figure out how to deal with the new / old house problem. There are some houses in the price range I’m forced to look at that are older (1967), and have been renovated, and some other places that are more like 2005 for the same price.
The older house has a fantastic view, what they’d call in a richer town a ‘million dollar view’, and is in a more established downtown area, which is somewhat more blue collar. It’s well renovated, and nice, and has all we need, but it lacks some of the things that other people value, like en suite bathrooms and enclosed garages.
The newer places are in more white-collar suburban neighborhoods, and, I presume, are more likely not to have hidden costs that an older house might have, and tend to have more of the add-ons most people expect.
My heart says the older home. My head says its overpriced. After 10 years it’s really the value of the land and the view on the other hand, isn’t it?
Stay tuned for the next thread: how do I negotiate a price?
I love an old house and think most new construction (at least around here) is ugly so I always lean towards the old places. They just have more personality, which is more important to me than an enclosed garage.
My last house was fantastic. Plaster walls, neat archways, crazy old garage with big manual swinging doors. No AC and we had to replumb the whole damn thing, retile the bath and tear up some scary kitchen flooring but well worth it to live in a place with a sense of history. YMMV of course, and it’s all about what you value more.
New homes have hidden problems too. With a well built new home there’s a delay before the expensive stuff starts like roofs and furnaces need replacing, but it will come eventually. I think for the older homes you just have to figure the cost of near term improvements into the value, so the older home for a comparable price probably isn’t a good deal.
Maybe more important are the different areas you’re looking at. What are the chances of your property increasing in value in a down-town blue collar area vs. a suburban middle class neighbor hood in this area?
Whatever you choose, get an inspection.
I had a contract in on a beautiful older home. Nicely renovated, new doors, new windows. It was really nice inside. I knew it needed a new roof, I could include that cost in with the mortgage.
Too bad the stone foundation is crumbling, the wooden supports are rotting and the yard needs to be regraded to have the rain water run away from the house instead of towards it.
While by law the inspector is not allowed to give estimates on the work, he told me I was looking at at least $30,000.
That wasn’t including the leaky roof and whatever else he may have found since I stopped the inspection at that point.
However, one thing he said that shocked me, was that right now he is doing more inspections on homes after the sale instead of before the sale. The new owners move in, start finding problems and then they call him in.
Kind of late.
An inspection is under $400 here, it’s not a lot of money considering the expense of a home. I cannot believe anybody would buy a home without one and I’d even get one on a newer home.
I like older homes better, more character, more charm.
An older home will cost more to insure, and you may have trouble finding insurance. My insurance company won’t insure homes built before 1901. You may want to find out how much it will cost before you put in a contract.
I lost out on a house last year and the replacement cost was calculated to be 4x what I was paying, so the house was going to be insured at the higher amount. All that beautiful woodwork costs a small fortune to replace and it costs more to insure.
Anything built before 1978 may have lead paint. It might not be an issue for you but it can affect you in the future when you try to sell.
Not sure. The bluer collar area has the view, which is amazing, and is closer to downtown. I’m thinking as the 'burbs age, they’re not going to get more valuable.
I looked at some new homes in a new area of my city in the late 80’s. Even then it looked like they cut a lot of corners. The lots cost so darn much. It limited how much the builder could spend building the house. I’ve visited friends that live out there and those houses are showing their age.
I’d seriously look at the electrical system and plumbing. Computers and advanced electronics need good sources of power and lots of outlets. Plumbing, I’ve had to replace nearly all my toilets and sinks because the old galvanized pipes were rusting out.
I have a house from 1969, and other than having the electrical updated a bit (bigger panel, a couple more lines), and getting the walls insulated and siding updated (someday), there’s nothing I’ve had to do that is the result of the house being so old.
People have lived in this house for 45 years so it’s not like all of the parts are 45 years old. It’s been maintained. The roof, windows, furnace and even the electrical aren’t 45 years old here.
I do believe that in many places that seriously outdated stuff like knob-and-tube wiring has to be updated to new code before you can sell a house. Might try to learn about that for the area you’re buying in.
If you think the older house is too expensive, then let that be a dealbreaker. Or if you think all of the mechanicals and the roof are too old for the price. But not the age of the house itself.
Around here, houses from ~1955-1975 are the best mix of affordability, quality and modernness. They are reasonably well built, have standard wiring and plumbing (or can be brought up to modern standards well), etc.
Starting in the late 70s, houses started getting built with cheaper and cheaper methods. Nail guns and chipboards don’t go together well. Too many houses built 10 years ago are really starting to fall apart.
(You can also tell by looking at the concrete driveways. The older ones are in a lot better shape than newer ones.)
It’s usually a question of growth. If people are moving into this area the suburbs grow and the near suburbs tend to increase in value. If urban renewal is going on the downtown property could increase in value too. Hard to say without knowing where it is, but you can probably find some analysis and predictions for the area to help with that.
I get the feeling that million dollar view is tempting you, so maybe you should just make sure it’s affordable with some predictable improvements and go for that. Worst thing to do is buy something else that will make you feel like you let your dream slip away. I have a really old house, had a lot of issues starting out, but it was a great deal for the price and I don’t regret it at all.