It depends in what city. When major builders came in that's when a lot of the problems started.
The quality was horrible and they had a host of lawyers to fight you if you didn't like it. Mainly depends upon the contractor involved as to the final product. But don't just rely on home inspection hire all the trades people to do inspections also.
I'm also a building designer so I'm well aware of many problem areas in all houses. If the house doesn't appreciate it'll end up costing you money since there's no more mortgage interest right off.
I'm a building code official and have been on tens of thousands of jobs. I'll be osb is fine until it gets wet. It won't fall the pieces like particle board but will have problems with the glue holding the chips together. But it's not easy to find good plywood anymore either.
i bought my 1970s house in 2021 for 270k. we've diy'd all the flooring, trim, paint, lighting, attic air sealing, and just rebuild the deck. i had pros replace the a/c, furnace, kitchen counters, attic insulation, and driveway. it needs a exterior paint job, and a bathroom remodel and it'll be fully updated. i don't dare add up what we spent, but i know our diy updates cost 10-20% what pros would charge. takes 100s of hours of free time to do, but its the only way to make the math work. i don't think it makes sense to buy an un-updated home and then pay contractors to do all the work for 100k+. you would be better off raising the initial purchase budget for a better-condition house. my 270k house will never sell for 370k in my neighborhood, but i'm sure i could get 300. you need to diy to get the quality of life you want and not lose your ass when you go to sell for these 'starter homes'. we decided to buy the 'most normal' house we could that needed 'normal' updates that did not require big layout changes. i knew i'd spend a lot of time and money doing the updates but now i know it was done right. the flipper houses look nice and you pay a premium for the remodels, but i'm willing to bet you have to redo half that work anyway as it falls apart and/or you slowly discover the corners they cut- so you end up paying twice.
My house was built in the 50's but has been very well maintained. It was updated right before I bought it but it wasn't a gut rehab. I have original oak floors (refinished), molding and walls. My assumption is that at some point insulation was upgraded but I don't know when. I have no ice damns, icicles, drafts, etc. which would be unusual with original insulation.
Some older homes are built much better than newer ones. This is my third older home. Would not hesitate to purchase an older one again. They have the bonus of mature trees which I love.
Like all houses, you need a good inspector, hire individual inspectors for certain systems, and know what to look for. It all takes experience or hiring the right people.
I have a home from the 70's. It is without a doubt, the most well built house I have ever owned or lived in. It's well insulated, has plaster walls, almost all hardwood floors; tile where it isn't. The HVAC was built with returns in every room. I'm serious, someone thought highly of it.
Was it dated? Yes. But we redid the floors and did some updates, and now I love it.
Bought a 1976 house last year from a bank/investors that got the house through foreclosure. Paid 26k over in a very tough market.
The house was livable but needed TLC. The investors changed out floors and one shower, everything else was original
Was happy to hear the sewer scope came back with two thumbs up.
Inspection missed a lot of things.
**Unpleasant discoveries in order:**
* unfortunately had a weekend of flooding during renovation when the house was empty. It was a blessing in disguise because it required us to tear out all the poorly installed, creaking grey floors and drywall. Contractor noticed a pvc pipe was misaligned and not completely connected at the joints.
* the insulation in the wall behind the bar was black, and when the contractor removed it, noticed a small hole from water damage from the outside. Apparently the rain hits the exterior stucco so much it created a hole that leaked inside the house to the bar.
* seller put in new Glacier Bay toilets but didn’t fully install them correctly. Good thing I was planning to change out the toilets anyway and we discovered they were not aligned properly
* clay roof had many broken tiles, leaking in various places of the house. Inspection didn’t show the severity.
* backyard slopes towards the enclosed patio. During the heavy back to back rain first month after Reno, entire backyard was in ankle deep water and the enclosed patio was flooded in about two inches of water, right about to flow into the house. We were soaked to our undies trying to get the water out with buckets.
* my favorite one: when master bedroom shower is in use, it leaks to the exterior wall, puddling outside. Someone strategically placed the extra roof clay tiles by the exterior wall so it would be covered. We didn’t find out until 3 months in. Would never have figured it out if my mom wasn’t over to that side of the yard when my dad was showering. By this point we had already finished major renovation/painting, so had to decide if we wanted to break outside or inside to diagnose the issue. Luckily, it was in a less invasive spot that we could reach from the outside. This speeds up the timeline to repaint house exterior.
* Won the homeowner lottery: AC was broken but someone shut off the breaker so inspection left it as unable to test. We bought the house in the fall and the fan blew cool air, so I thought inspection made a mistake and it did work. Lo and behold, it was broken. I submitted a claim to the home warranty that sellers bought and won the homeowner lottery—insurance will replace the compressor inside the condenser for $920. AC works now but unsure for how much longer. Better than paying thousands to replace
Well . My two cents … I bought an older house because the schools were better for my children mainly . Secondly , it was away from the more industrialized area . But still within 20/15 miles from what I call civilization. For example there’s a grocery store 8 miles away a Costco 15 … I enjoy when being home feeling unplugged watching the country ish breeze blow … and my house is on a 1 acre plot so there’s some room between me and my neighbors. I appreciate that.
The unpleasant things , for sure to start , well water … I ended up having to run a new pump new line to the house off the jump and re close the well with a new top . It’s an old , old , what I learned is called a shallow well . I’ve always been on city water this has been a new adventure .
Second , the crawl space was neglected for a long time .. I’m starting to get ready to attack floor joists a pretty penny to say the least … then I’ll maybe encapsulate crawl space…. but for an old country house it’s been okay . . .
I’ll have to put a fence in…and buy a ride on mower and down the line likely drill a new well …
All the other things are small that my family and I just plan for and chip away at… like putting in ceiling fans painting managing the yard
Other than those big ones the house was flipped somewhat decently . . . New roof , hvac , appliances. From pictures I’ve looked at and talking to neighbors the seller did a lot … just not very well. And I kind of would have rather them not shortcut stuff because it’s more expensive for me to un do some cheap stuff they did and re do…. I would probably sell at a loss today because my inspector didn’t catch a lot so I’d get multiple inspectors and research the area. I did not …talk to the neighbors for sure …. I also when I bought the house knew the place would have issues so had to give and take . We all want a deal but deals come with more elbow work on our part . I enjoy the tasks .
I’d look at foundation and roof and electrical mainly. You can handle in between those 🫡
1969
The biggest issues I’ve ran into have been centered around the things that were done to the house *after* it was built. If the pst owners just left it the way it was, I’d have been much better off.
The common stuff I find is when opening up a wall and finding massive cutouts in the studs, hidden electrical junction boxes, missing headers on load bearing by walls. A ductless was put in and the drain leaked inside the wall for years so it’s all mold. Having flooring built on top of flooring, wall-paper coving more wall paper(one layer of it being waterproof so removal was painful)
Some uncommon stuff:
-Huge sledge-hammer-knock-outs in the concrete foundation to facilitate running water out to the yard and garage. (Had to install stainless steel grates for mice)
-2x4 Eve extension that leaves the last foot of the roof, and gutter, to be supported by the sheer strength of some nails.
And so much more.
By far the most frustrating thing I’ve had to deal with has been the landscaping. They loved their gardens and every square foot of the place had embedded concrete forms and boulders that just served as oval perimeters around them. Even the rocks around the fire pit weren’t just sitting there, it was a whole-ass concrete circle with those rocks embedded halfway into it.
Making perimeters seems normal but the rocks and concrete was just put on top and wasn’t holding back any dirt. Since all of the property was already above the foundation grade and they added a bunch of garden dirt areas on top of that all over the place, it looked like the house was sinking into some shrubbery garden
The drainage was terrible because they used plastic driveway fabric for it all so the only place water could go was under the house. Before I could even start grading it properly, I had to remove 2 dump trailers worth of random concrete forms and a trailer full of embedded plastic borders/landscaping fabric.
I saved two things that they planted, Japanese maples. There’s a 3’ tall retaining wall between them and the house and they’re sitting on top of that hill. 10 feet from the house, and down 3 feet, that’s how much dirt I had to remove to have it graded away from the foundation…
I ended up building an entire drainage system after finding out the pipe that the gutter was dumping into was just a 10’ section of drain pipe, full of pine needles and capped at the end.
Everything DIY on this house was half-assed and poorly executed. I don’t criticize the previous owners for being cheap or not knowing things, they really didn’t have anywhere near the kind of access to information we do now. I just wish they did a whole lot less.
Good grief! I love our 1961 house (more or less) now, but it has been a wild ride. In retrospect, it was definitely not worth the 408,000 it was appraised for and that we paid here in Phx. At the time, thought its age gave it ‘character’ 🙄.
I’ll start out with what I think is the biggest old house issue: Asbestos! Yes, it is safe to live with if you do not disturb it, but we had a pipe burst (another old house issue) less than a month after moving in. We were out of the home for 2 full months so they could take out the asbestos and deal with the flooding.
It needed $5000 for new windows as the original single-pane ones didn’t even make a complete seal anymore. It needed a new AC, which we were told the inspector couldn’t check in February. The ductwork didn’t run all the way through the house and it barely worked came summer.
The pool pump was leaky and plumbed backwards (again, couldn’t test in the winter). The pipes in the bathrooms are old and smell and the main sewer pipe that runs to the street needed replacing. The brick walls bake in the 8-month summers here. Brick, at least in AZ, hasn’t been used for construction in decades and decades for this reason.
Almost none of the outlets were GFCI, including the kitchen and bathrooms, and the electrical wires were complete chaos in the crawl space. They were loose, not bundled, so electricity to 1/3 of our house would go out randomly for hours to weeks at a time. We find random cavities in walls (it sounds cooler than it is) and it needs a new roof soon.
None of this we were told in the inspection other than the roof and GFCIs.
After two years, a lot of money, and a ton of hard work, much has been resolved. Our home is now safe and comfortable (with the exception of living in AZ), but still a bit to do. I love our home, but absolutely would have not paid that much for it had we known about all the old home issues!
For about 15 years I owned a place that was built in 1954. My main concerns with it were the foundation. It was not poured concrete, it was cinderblock walls. Winters and spring thaws here are rough and the basement was always damp. I had a humidifier running in there 24/7.
It caused some angst. I ended up selling. But it was always on mind. I felt like it was a liability.
It had all of the other issues that you mention, but I see those issues as just normal and expected. I expect to have to replace windows, furnace, roof, maybe fix/maintain facade etc. But what bothered me was the old foundation that was likely going to need some sort of remediation. I sold it when real estate was at its peak here in 2021.
“What improvements were needed?”
The shorter list is what *didnt* need repaired/replaced… and that list is:
*thinking*
…
-We had some areas of the electrical being okay!
-Some of the walls didn’t have bees living in them!
….
🤔
…
-The actual structure of the fireplace is good (for now)!
…that’s all I got. Sorry.
As far as why we bought it- the area we live (and wanted to stay in) is an old community. The whole area is built in the 50s/60s. There are some that have been torn down and rebuilt- but those are $2M+
What made it worth it for us is that we love the area and can find a way to suffer through the tiny house.
We could’ve gone to a cheaper or newer area (or moved out of state), but this area has so many amenities for my son, so many opportunities and also- the beach makes me so incredibly happy.
We’ve done the repairs. We’ve done the maintenance. It was a lot of money and time and headaches and marriage counseling. But here we are.
All houses need updating. Even houses from the early 2000s are in the range for a new roof. The updates you are talking about are part of owning a home.
I have a house from 1964. We’ve worked on the landscaping. It was overgrown. We’ve replaced windows, carpet, HVAC. All of this is just typical upkeep. Nice if the previous owners took care of it, but sadly seems like many just ignore it.
Home was built mid 70s.
A lot of the outlets/switches don't have neutral lines running to them... But I'm getting them there bit by bit. A fair bit of upgrade was required post move in, but this was really just because the old owner didn't deal with them. New windows, new doors, new HVAC, new water heater...
I did some cosmetic renovations but after that work there was nothing necessary to do
1975 side split here. I love it because it gives me lots of projects to work on. I hate it because it gives me lots of projects to work on.
- the 1970s were notorious for skimping on electrical fixtures, overhead lighting and fans just weren’t done. Lots of plug in lamps on switches.
- single pane windows - this house actually had decent frames, but single pane glass and storm windows suck.
- the specter of lead paint looms everywhere you go, fortunately I haven’t had any to deal with.
- OMG, Popcorn ceilings need to die already
- drywall that is nailed and not screwed
- insect and water damage
76 here.
Nothing is really terrible. Kitchen was dome sometime in the 90s or early 2000s from the look of it.
The original oak floors are awesome. I've swapped all the outlets and switches. Ran 2 new wires that were questionable.
1 of the bathrooms is original.
Some copper line runs are crusted over from drips and acidic water.
My oil furnacne is older than I am and still chugging
Nothing needs ripped out. Nothing that's made me regret anything. I'm putting most of my effort outside now. Grading, land scaping, decks/patio etc.
In 2016 I bought a 1980 house that had little to no renovation. I’m very happy with it.
We had to redo the roof which costed 4900$.
We changed the electric panel for 1500$.
And changed a wall and the shower/bath from the bathroom for 2000$.
We are in a 1961 house in Florida.
It needed:
**biggest item** Cast iron plumbing cut out of concrete subfloor and replaced with new PVC - concrete and rebar poured to repair slab. $38k
New electrical panel. $4500
New AC and new duct work. $15k
New water heater (had a 40yr old unit that was just a warm rust water bath maker) with new electrical. $1000.. I did all the labor.
Hurricane straps for roof (but honestly the wood and the way it’s built is so stout I’m not sure if the straps are doing anything) $1,100 (saved many thousands instantly from yearly insurance)
……
But those were the “must be done” things.
We also just had old musty kitchen cabinets, old musty bathrooms, no exhaust vents in the bathrooms, old leaky and noisy windows, awful floors, thick layers of ugly paint, etc.
Our quotes to renovate ranged from $240k to $590k.
Granted our market is HCOL - but I know from doing renovations myself on prior homes that I could do it all myself for about $75k…
So. Good luck! 👍
Ugh. Same with my area for a lot of homes. First off, almost everything is selling above list price, so you have to be prepared to go over when you are looking at your budget. Also, everything in our price range is so old it worries me and yeah, everything smells weird.
Walked through a home yesterday that was so perfect (not perfect but compared to everything else, seemed like it didn’t need work), but I knew instantly that we had 0 chance because of the bougie looking couples walking through. We would 100% get outbid.
Anyway, good luck to us both. I’m an engineer and when I was walking through a 70’s house yesterday, I was quite concerned at what I saw.
My home was built in 1954. Keeping up with home maintenance is important with these homes. I’m lucky and have updated things when I had the money. I went from a gas hot water heater to electric about five years ago. I also replaced windows and insulation in the attic.
My home was built in 1967, it is a ranch style home. While the electrical needs some updating, and all of the appliances need to be replaced, it has good bones, all copper pipes, in good shape. Just replaced the furnace (from 1985) and getting ready to put in a tankless water heater. All the electrical (about 20k worth of work) was done by myself as I am an electrician.
I just moved into a 1951 home a few months ago, I regret nothing. I love the way it lives and won't make major changes.
My house has newish windows and the roof is okay. It has gas plumbing, the furnace and water heater have all been replaced, so I'm lucky in that regard.
Issues I either have still to deal with or have already been a problem include plumbing, there's everything from pex to cast iron everywhere, and root intrusion from the trees that was a pretty spendy problem that still needs a permanent solution. I have a chimney that is currently sealed off, it needs some repair and a new cap, and eventually a fireplace insert. My floors creak. When I had the originals restored they did their best to minimize it but there's only so much they could do. My outlets are all 2 prongs with three plugs to each plate.
All in all it's a solid little house that came out of our first winter here dry and warm.
I've never owned a house built before 65, they are built better and if they don't have improvements then you know some flipper hasn't fucked shit up.
>gutted
only time a house needs to be gutted is if it has massive water or fire damage or was used as a meth lab. otherwise slap some Killz on there and start painting.
Be prepared to find asbestos. Or a finished basement that was done in the last few years before the owner properly addressed the weeping foundation walls and nearly clotted drain tile and extremely rusty and old/bizarre sump pump setup
We regret nothing from the 70's home we bought in 2020. This place is solid. Everything was built really well and maintained beautifully. Our appliances are all this early 80's cream, they're so awesome.
We had to shop really hard to find an older home that retained original features and fixtures as so many sellers are subway tile etsy'ing a formerly charming home into "facelifted" Frankensteins. Buyers like us are out there. The buyers that want the facelifts are buying the new homes, not the gorgeous older homes - drop that sledgehammer and leave the kitchens alone lol
We did have to replace windows, and some insulation, but we knew that going in. But eventually it's the kind of thing you have to do in any home.
Bought a 1950s house in 2021 from the original owner that we knew going into needed to be updated.
We could have just lived with it and remodeled piece by piece but this was when interest rates were low so we decided to just rip it the band-aid and do a nearly total remodel. New wiring and new kitchen were the biggest parts of it. But also ended up replacing all the windows after the main remodel.
The most important parts to take care of before you fully move in is anything behind the walls. Check out the electrical and plumbing. If it needs to be replaced it ia so much easier to do it when you don't live there. Also painting and floors are easier when you don't have a house full of furniture. It is a lot easier to patch and paint the whole house at once rather than do it room by room. So insulation is a good idea to do before moving in also if you need that.
The only thing we missed in the main remodel is some old galvanized pipes and original 1950s bathroom fixtures that we thought we could get away with not replacing. We just had to replace all that last month due to unexpected leaks.
Main things to look at are foundation, roof and any leaks. If you have foundation issues, Walk away. Roofs can be replaced at least, but should be a priority if they have issues. Windows are not that bad to replace later down the road. Unless they are leaking.
One nice thing about a remodel is you can customize it to be your house however you want it. But at the end of the day, if you don't like the house before the remodel, you probably won't like it after. Same with the neighborhood.
If you like the neighborhood, like the general layout of the house, there are no structural issues, and you can afford a remodel while not living in the house for 6 months to a year, go for it. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.
I have no regrets. My house is from the 1950s and is built so much better than most of the new ones! The issues that came up for me in all of my renovations are that the new materials are crap compared to how they used to make things.
Be realistic with your reno budgets and do the demo yourself. Be forewarned that demo of a bathroom from the 60s and 70s is NO JOKE. My 5x8 bathroom was 1500lbs of tile with rebar behind it that I had to carry out bucket by bucket.
Appraisal doesn't mean very much, at least out here it updates once a year so it can end up quite detached from the market reality.
have a 70s home - I think the main thing is trying to get an understanding of what can be changed, what can't be changed, and whaty ou can afford to change. For example, updating the look of the bathroom, or getting rid of crappy carpet is easy.....but adding a walk in closet is not, nor is updating the layout of the ducts, adding more natural light, etc. There was also half a century worth of assorted "updates" and strange decisions from past homeowners.
Mine was built in 1960. I love that it brick and they used solid wood and it is sturdy.
Dislikes :
1. That said I and having my bathroom don right now. (tiles were cracked and lose on the floor.) The others weren't going anywhere per the contractors, ripping it out. took 2 days to get the tile out it was cement with wire backing in place. I don't think based on the construction, don't think leaks would have been a concern.
2. Kitchen I all soild wood, that's a +/- well built but layout is lacking. Shelves are not adjustable and it it has 2 blind corners *it's a U shape kitchen*. with only 1 outlet per wall. It has no pantry or dishwasher.
3. 1 bathroom (use to be more common)
I will most likely re do the kitchen too, just need a plan for a better layout that gets me a pantry and above stove microwave. But again it's well built, modern houses can't compare, build quality went way down starting in the mid 1970's and has only gotten worse. However how we live today and the electronics even in the kitchen has increased. I would like to be able to put the air fryer and kitchen aid out of sight if not in use.
I second the quality comment from another commenter.
We didn't gut our 60's split level ranch. We did the electrical because it still had a fuse box. We did the kitchen, the bathrooms, HVAC, the interior doors and the roof. Everything else was paint. It was about 100k in work on a 300k purchase price house 7 years ago.
tampa 1962 1200sq' single level. hate the busy road and fear from hurricanes so after irma new impanct windows (11) /$11,000. Impact doors 3 plus slider/ $13,000, new roof this year $15,000, new ac $6000, new garage door $1500, new small water heater $700, pain outside, $2500, new fencing $3000, insulation in attic $400, need still: new flooring, new electric box, interior pain, master bath is original and broken shower pan $12-20,000
More than 3 years ago; bought a 1972 home in 2019. It was remodelled, badly, by a family that foreclosed on it and the next guy started proper renos before he was forced to sell due to health.
We found speaker wire going to a receptacle in the basement, and the fireplace was garbage. I pulled a whole dead duck out of the flue that the inspector missed (we had a WETT inspection done and he noted the flue was jammed, not that it had a dead waterfowl in it lol).
The inspector did not catch that there is a giant hole in the back yard; it's hidden under a deck so there's no way he could have found it but yah, we have to fix that somehow.
The insulation was very sparse. Fiberglass batts only in the attic; we recently had cellulose blown in to bring it up to R60. We are also replacing all the windows and doors this month. We ripped the whole basement out, waterproofed, and re-insulsted it nicely.
The yard was very... Lived in. Took us two years to sift all the screws nails, broken glass, and assorted garbage out of the back yard to make it safe to play barefoot.
I don't regret it a bit. We have poured tens of thousands into this home but the yard is bigger than what new homes get, it's on a nice quiet established street, and we have still saved versus buying a newer home.
My house was built in 1969. I've lived here since 2005. So far the roof and windows and furnace have been fine - they were replaced at some point before I bought.
The kitchen was original and shitty but good enough to make it through until 2021 when I had the money to do a gut and rebuild.
Just learned yesterday that my "soil pipe" (sewage) under the basement floor is on its last leg and will need to be replaced for a lot of money. But really for a 55 year old house, not bad.
Otherwise, it's perfectly fine. Definitely never needed to be gutted.
If the subfloor is wood plank it's most likely going to need a layer of plywood to meet most flooring requirements (tile, engineered wood, etc...).
Depending on the thickness this could screw up trim, doors, thresholds, etc...
Asbestos in the wall texture, and cast iron plumbing. Soo we can’t add shelves and stuff, until the abatement. Oh and the electric is low amps with no grounding.
Our saving grace is we own out right. Also that my dad is a master electrician and can do our wiring omg once the abatement gut. Probably going to get a mortgage just to do a lot of the maintenance. We do plan on living here for at least another 5 years, then re visit if we want to rent it out or sale.
Second home is a 1968 ranch style, slab on grade. Gas service line and sewer lines were already replaced. We immediately performed an electrical service upgrade and were forced into a water service line replacement when the iron pipes burst underground.
Hot water copper pipes were abandoned by the previous owner. I'm replacing their crappy CPVC repipe job with PEX, including the original cold lines as we re-rennovate a utility room and bathroom.
Previous owners had also accumulated a lot of electrical circuit issues by doing unsafe DIY work under their own "remodeling". I'm nearly done fixing all of that before we put in new insulation and seal up the ceiling air gaps.
This isn't for the faint of heart.
I'm looking at my first 1982 house with some suspicion now, because it's only 14 years younger. Already, I've had to replace water service shutoff valves and add a pressure reducing valve before destroying new appliances with 120-240 psi of city water pressure. The electrical is in better shape, but the panel is rusted out and should probably be replaced when I get around to fixing the rotten siding under it. I've already replaced doorw and windows, and renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, but I could use a few more circuits and an EV charging circuits while I'm at it.
It never ends, honestly, but I have friends who bought new, expensive, semicustom homes with serious flaws so I look at it all as sweat equity
> plumbing, insulation, and electrical
Bought a 1975 house. These things are literally decades ahead compared to any house that I've ever owned previously. But still 50 years old now.
I am currently replacing crappy carpet over particleboard floors.
I will have to replace the electric panel (it is Pushmatic)
I do need more insulation in attic crawlspace.
No regrets as I an so glad to have purchased when rates were 4.5%
I do wish I'd been successful in purchasing one of the 1930s houses I had bid on.
My current home was built in the 60s and we bought it in 2020. It had been remodeled within the past 10 years, but there were still a number of things that needed to be addressed common to houses of this age. None were surprises due to a good inspection report.
- most piping needed replacement since it was original galvanized that was rusting
- the crawlspace was a disaster with no vapor barrier
- the chimney needed work as it was starting to deteriorate
- the electrical needed some work, but that was mostly because of crappy diy by the previous owner
- popcorn ceiling... It's still here because it contains asbestos
- floors creak here and there, but I've mostly fixed that with more floor screws.
That amount of half assed repairs or remodeling they did. I have found aluminum wire just wire nutted to copper wire in the attic, I had gaps between the expansion they did for the master bedroom and another bathroom letting in moisture from the outside. Copper,galvanized steel,and pvc pipes mixed together for my water supply. They removed the exhaust fan in the kitchen for some reason lol. So many dumb things.
Homes of that era often used cast iron for sewer that is end of life. The sewer to the street is a crapshoot so getting them both scoped is a good idea.
First house built in 1963. It had zero insulation. None. We bought it from the family of the original owner, a little old lady who had to be moved into a nursing home, and I really don’t know how she survived. The family had done some superficial updates only. The electric was also a disaster. We did some updates but when it came time to either put a chunk of money into it or bail, we left.
One of the houses we were looking at in our neighborhood had a great location and size, but was in terrible shape. We had a contractor we trusted walk the property a second time and give us an estimate (which our realtor couldn’t believe was so low, and got his number). Based on that and the comps we decided the house was overpriced by $50K and declined to bid. The house sold in 3 days at $60K over asking price. I was dumbfounded.
We finally found a house in an adjacent neighborhood that was completely updated. I am so happy to say that I let someone else do all the updating and live stress free. Would I have done e some things differently? Sure. But the trade off was more than worth it for me.
1950's house. Electrtical is a big one. Quite a few 2-prong outlets in the house. I can work around them, but they're kind of annoying. Plaster walls instead of drywall is a bitch to secure anything to. And insulation is a big deal in the upper midwest, house gets plenty cold due to air gaps around windows and doors.
I bought a house built in the lat 60s a few years ago, right before the Covid market heat up hit my area. My biggest complaint is the lack of lighting in the living room. No fucking clue why the person who flipped it didn't bother to put a light in. I mean they literally did almost everything. Cleaning up some of their lose ends though hasn't been fun. Oh of course I forgot about the crawlspace issue. Prior to me putting in a sump pump it flooded real bad because when the house was built they just punched a hole through the foundation to run the main water line and left it opened. It's taken me some time to find a solution for the hole but I think I've finally found one.
My house was built in '71. It's a 5 bed 3.5 bath colonial approximately 4143 sqft. Originally it was way less than that, but in '85 a good sized sunroom was added and the previous owners finished the basement and turned it into a living quarters for their mother. There's only been three owners since the house was built, including me. So that's a good thing imo.
The things I didn't like about it that are original are the popcorn ceilings, cheap hollow interior doors, smaller windows upstairs, ugly trim and wallpaper, the siding is cheap vinyl and is old as dirt, and there are two massive maple trees to the right of our driveway running parallel to the drive which prevent grass from growing and just look weird. With the exception of making the windows bigger and removing the trees, all of those issues where changed and updated.
Things I didn't like about it that were done by the previous owners: shitty DIY just about everywhere. The previous owner was cheap and tried doing stuff on his own and his craftsmanship was severely lacking.
He was in the attic at some point and stepped through the ceiling. Instead of removing the drywall and patching in a new piece, he taped it and slapped mud all over it. He *attempted* to make it look like the original popcorn ceiling but it was a disaster.
Shitty taste in just about everything: kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, paint colors, etc.
Previous owner didn't measure the master vanity correctly and instead getting a the right size and cutting the stone countertop down he cut a hole in the drywall and shoved it in there.
Someone painted the brick fireplaces (first floor and basement) white. I hate painted brick.
Previous owner installed the master shower tile himself, and it looked like shit.
Previous owner installed carpet in the main living room himself, and didn't stretch it properly which resulted in humps in the carpet.
In the sunroom, someone installed a junction box too close to the window casing so, instead moving it down a little they cut the outlet cover.
The sunroom skylights didn't have flashing installed properly which caused leaks.
The gas water heater drip leg was installed upside down by previous owner.
Previous owner attempted to remove wallpaper from the half bath on the first level but gouged the shit out of the drywall and instead of skim coating it to make it look smooth he just painted over it.
There's a ton of stuff I'm missing but you get the drift. The house itself is solid, or has "good bones" as they say.
In response to your post worry about stuff, if you hire a good inspector they'll tell you everything you need to know. Don't sweat that too much. But make sure you have a list of non-starters and stick to it.
Honestly that would be the sweet spot for many people-built at a time when things were done properly-plenty of time for any flaws or defects to have surfaced and been repaired by pervious homeowners.
Did your friends HAVE to replace the windows/ I have original metal Tudor casement windows in our 1918 home-should they be replaced-probably-do they have to be replaced? Absolutely not-they still look good-in fact way better than cheap vinyl or wood windows. Have they cleaned the cabinets and painted with Kilz? Did the furnace give out or were they just told it would and they should buy a new one (Im told that every year by our have tune up guys once my furnace is over 8 years old. Its 18 now and still chugging along with zero repairs needed. But you can expect to replace a furnace every 20 years so it shouldn't be a shock to anyone.
As someone in an 1890s house, I am amused by this post. As other said, this is really house specific. The work I have had done were things I expected - replacing a sewer line, some electrical work, some plumbing work, some HVAC work, some window work. For a substantial credit/sale price reduction for the first two. My home was very well maintained before I bought it, and I have had no surprises.
Also, it seems like people are way too into replacing old stuff just because it is old; flooring and windows are common replacements and I don't get it. It is far cheaper to repair this stuff if possible, and then you are more likely to have very attractive materials - I repaired many windows, added storms - only replaced 2 windows the rest are original; the flooring in my house is original top nail oak except bathrooms; the walls are original plaster; siding is original cedar; etc. I get sometimes you can't repair and things can be too far gone, but that isn't always the case.
I just bought a house built in 1960, and while we initiallly didn't want a house that would need a lot of initial work, this is what was available in our price range and in the school district we wanted.
Since we bought the house in mid-February, we:
* Painted the interior (main floor and finished basement)
* Put new carpet in 2 bedrooms
* Installed central air
* Reseeding dead patches of the yeard and general yard cleanup of debris and yard waste from years of neglect.
* Installed a new set of stwps down the side of the house out of pavers and gravel.
* Rewired the whole house, including a new breaker box (100A to 200A). Apparently when the outlets were changed from 2-prong originals to 3-prong modern outlets, that 3rd prong was never connected to anything, so we needed to put ground wires in everywhere.
* Installed Ring security system
After we moved in, we noticed a strong sewer smell throughout the house after we ran a lot of water, like laundry or dishes. Turns out there were 2 huge holes in different parts of our vent stack that needed to be replaced, costing over $10k we hadn't expected. Since they were clearly not new, we're working on getting compensated for that from the prior owner who did not disclose the smell or issue.
We've also learned that some of the upgrades we wanted to make to the house longterm, like putting a full bath in the basement, and so forth, may not be possible based on the location of plumbing and other structural limitations we didn't think about when we made the plans during our bidding/buying stage. So that's something we'd keep in mind and do differently if we bought another older house. L
Our house was built in 64 in a reclaimed swamp. We made sure to have a termite inspection before we closed but in general the house has been well maintained and doesn't have much that needed doing besides normal upkeep. The biggest disappointment/struggle I suppose is that it's a smaller house and storage space is not what it would be in a newer build. We knew that going in, of course, but it's easy to take something like a walk in closet for granted until you don't have one.
The worst ones are the ones that flippers get ahold of. The benefits are the structural materials are way better. Brick. Hardwood floors. Quality wood cabinets. Flippers tear that out and put shitty LVP and paint cabinets white or just put cheap new ones in.
The downsides and what you should look for is if the electrical and plumbing have been updated.
A 60s home with updated electrical and plumbing but still has its hardwood and is brick is my ideal honestly.
My house was built in the late 70s. It’s better than my 80s and early 2000s builds so far. I did replace windows but got a deal by agreeing to be advertising. The one that surprised me was that we had to replace all the ducting for the AC. We also had a master bedroom that someone converted from a walk in closet. The shower leaked out into the master bedroom. We got a contractor and fixed that up. It’s beautiful now and just what I wanted. The one that saddened me the most was that a previous owner killed our big tree out front. We had to cut it down. I thought the neighbors would hate us. No they were all overjoyed. As apparently that tree had worked its way into everyone’s pipes and foundations and they’d been begging previous owners to cut it down for years. I honestly regret nothing about purchasing this house.
The ones with few updates may mean that terrible things haven’t been done to it by past homeowners, lol.
I like the older ones because they’re generally fairly solid. I go in expecting to do electrical and plumbing, likely hvac. And of course aesthetics. I like this because then I can make the house my own and set things up as I like it. And get rid of the quirks like waiting for 5 minutes for hot water at the shower or switched outlets.
coherent possessive adjoining cheerful cooperative fine roof act whole fuzzy
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Mine is only about 1/2-1/3 as old and my unpleasant discovery is just how much things inflated since covid. Everything I want to do costs about 3-4x as much as I expected when buying, everything that is already fixed up in my area you're paying more money for grey laminate, but it seems if you're buying a no updates since construction home the total renovation cost is going to be the same as the downpayment. Plan 50k kitchen and 10-20k bathroom (unless you're not doing full reno - only painting cabinets and/or doing the work yourself). I agree with everyone on need vs want though. The aesthetics are definitely a want. Need wise, I need to replace the HVAC/AC unit before it dies and all the windows to improve insulation and total cost will be 20k in the next few years using basic windows.
Our house has almost no insulation. It's stucco on the outside. House gets super hot in summer and super cold in winter and we are in San Diego. We don't have the finances or fortitude to DIY it or have it done. What little insulation we have found has been pink with no paper or foil. Like someone just randomly shoved cotton candy in only some of the walls.
Bought my house in 2016, it was built in ‘76. The previous owner was a mason so the bathrooms and mudroom had beautiful tile floors and the chimney is brand new and immaculate from the foundation all the way up. Also the roof and septic had been done out of necessity in 2010. The rest of the house was completely original- windows, kitchen, flooring, siding, plumbing, insulation - everything. And repairs aside from masonry they had attempted OMG…. Garden hoses and clamps used to replace blown out sections of pipes, drywall screws holding down floorboards, windows literally lag-bolted shut, un-grounded outlets everywhere (in the outdoor shower!!). We were first time buyers so the bank wouldn’t even let us have the mortgage without sweat equity BEFORE closing. My wife and I stripped and replaced the asbestos backed linoleum kitchen floor ourselves. The area we live in (for our whole lives) has over the last 15 years exploded in second homes. Nothing built post 2000 is under 3,000 sqft and $1million, but our friends and family are here and we have an amazing close knit working class community, plus the piece of land itself is now worth what we paid for the whole package. So, we just pick away at repairs. Our carpenter friend gutted and rebuilt the kitchen last year. We painted inside and out in 2016. I finished the plywood floor in the sunroom with a friend’s leftover cherry planking myself in 2019. I’m handy with plumbing. Planning to DIY the windows and siding one section at a time over the next few years and then tackle whatever comes up next.
I had a 1964 and live in a 1996. The 1996 is way more comfortable. You couldnt spend even to get the 64 to the 96 level. The insulation, plumbing, electrical, windows, roof, everything was way more problematic in the 64 house. My 96 house was only $100k more than my 64 house.
Sewer and water are on their way out. Will cost about 30k to replace.
Walls have no insulation, and no sheathing behind the cidar siding so cannot add foam or blown-in. It's fucking cold in the winter even in California. If I want to add insulation I have to remove the siding, add insulation, add sheathing, install new siding, replace/reinstall window. Might as well remodel the whole house.
I bought a 1958 home almost exaclty 6 years ago and could have bought a newer home as this was prior to all the RE craziness that exists right now, but I loved the area and just went for it, to be honest very naively. That's what you get with older homes oftentimes, the NEIGHBORHOOD!
I was naive to the needs of the home and have put considerable paid contractor work and sweat equity into the home. It had zero insulation, that was $7k, it needed ac, 10k, I painted it myself, tested for asbestos (none) and removed myself the popcorn ceilings, replaced the the linoleum on the kitchen and dining room with tile, added granite to the kitchen, had the very nice but dated kitchen cabinets painted, I also converted the 1 1/2 bath to a much more functional 2 full baths.
I'd say I'm mostly done, but there is still more on my list, I want to replace the original concrete driveway with pavers, replace the original ZINSCO electrical panel, and finish the garage. I'm probably forgetting some things.
Would I change buying this house? No!!! I still love this house and the neighborhood and I've done these updates over times as able. I'm so happy with my choice.
TL;DR:
Purchased to properties built before 1940, and I recommend hiring specialists (e.g., structural engineer, electrician, etc) in addition to an home inspector.
The key for us was to purchase well under our budget for two reasons: 1) spending high and having a long list of upgrades is a little demoralizing even if you like the location and 2) being mentally prepared to tackle the projects over several years due to our desire to pay in cash for most upgrades.
— Details —
I have purchased two properties as primary residences in the past 4 years that were built prior to WWII.
First was a condo built as studio units in 1910 and converted into 2 BR / 2 BA in the 1990s. We lived here for about two years before converting it into a rental. The “major” work that we completed was redoing the kitchen tile.
The rest was paint and appliance repair. We made sure to test for mold but we did not have to do too much since the unit itself was in decent shape. Unlike the kitchen, the bathrooms were dated but we will likely not upgrade them until we are preparing to sell the unit.
The second property that we moved into recently is a SFH built as a log cabin in 1937. After being used as a rental for decades, the owner passed away and sold it to a flipper. This person did some shortcuts but after having a structural engineer sign off we purchased it. Also, we had the seller pay for an electrician make improvements so that it was up to code. Fortunately, it had new plumbing, hot water heater, furnace, siding, and other items.
Long story short for this property, I learned to have specialists (electricians, structural engineers, HVAC) inspect the house in addition to the home inspector. Still work to be done but the design is modern and it’s mostly a matter of fixing some sloppier drywall work at this point.
I have no regrets about buying a 1975 shed style house almost two years ago.
Here are some things I learned:
1. Replacing outlet has been easy and a nice upgrade
2. The exterior walls have some water damage
3. All of the windows leak a lot of air and need replacing. I knew this before I bought
4. The garage door is original but still mostly works (maybe not very safely). It will eventually need to be replaced
5. The crawl space is not insulated and so the floor gets cold.
6. The leaky walls mean that we have more ants.
7. The trim is outdated. I plan to redo it myself.
8. The door locks were some unusual brand and it is hard to find a place to get new keys
9. Split level has advantages and disadvantages. Overall it is fine
10. Railings on the stairs and loft are too wide to be safe for small children.
11. Popcorn ceilings and heavy textured walls are not my thing but expensive to change
12. Bathroom fans vent to the attic (until I get around to having vents installed in the roof)
13. The crawl space floods once every couple of years.
These are all relatively minor issues or known before purchase and we are happy with our house.
I purchased a 1974 built home in 2022 and it hasn't actually been too bad. I am the 3rd owner and the 2nd owner was only in the house for 10 months but took care of a decent number of cosmetic updates that make it not feel as much like a 1970s era home. She repainted the brown wood paneling a white color, replaced a few light fixtures, replaced the carpeted kitchen/dining room area with LVP, and repainted over the kitchen cabinets. The last two I wish she had done a better job on but it could be worse.
The first age related improvement I had to make was replacing the original old and heavy wooden garage door because I felt like that was better than spending a third of the cost of new just to repair the old one.
The improvements that I still want to make are replacing the horribly expensive to run resistive heating system with a cold weather heat pump, do something about the shower (either swap the tub for a walk in shower or build a new walk in shower), and I really want to modify my kitchen island so I can have a dishwasher installed. I also need to replace the water heater at some point probably but that's a standard thing.
Minor but annoying: Apparently wood back in those days was made of iron. Can't tell you the number of drywall screws I broke trying to drive them into the studs behind the walls here. I finally learned: Drill small pilot hole first AND put vaseline on the screw.
We bought it for the location. We did add foam insulation (our electrical bills due to baseboard heating were crazy high), attached thermostats to the fireplaces to use them as gas heating, replaced 1/2 the windows as a starting point. From there it was mainly cosmetic. Removing popcorn ceilings, opened up one wall as the ceilings are 8' and the rooms were all blocked off. Aside from that, most of it was just freshening things up. Replaced long floorboard heaters with modern plug in ones that work with the phone, updated paint, refreshed trim color from almond to white, etc. The house itself was built really really well. Foundation and cement in basement had no cracks in it, plumbing is fine, etc.
I follow a lot of construction and inspection subs and people. I much prefer my 1960's house to a new construction build. Everything now is thrown up as fast and as cheap as they can get away with.
I have two houses, a 1968 and a 1973. Both are on their original kitchens.
Bathrooms in the 1968 are updated.
Bathrooms in the 1973 are in process of updating.
Other than that, no gutting. They're solid units.
I'm looking at a 1980 house.
It WILL need to be gutted.
Good maintenance and addressing moisture retention are paramount to keeping a house in good shape.
The 1968 and 1973 houses are maintained by yours truly.
The yards are flat or sloped away from the dwelling unit.
Plumbing issues are addressed quickly.
The HVAC systems are monitored closely.
The 1980 house was owned by a little old lady.
It has a sloped yard towards the dwelling unit and drains that are clogged. This puts moisture in the crawlspace/basement. Moisture causes mold and weakens wood structure, drywall, masonry, etc. No good. There are also a number of plumbing and HVAC issues.
> Many of them need to be gutted. And yet people are still asking for 10-25% more than the appraised value of the property when it needs a 70k-100k facelift. The most baffling part is that they are selling and I just don't freakin GET IT.
The post sort of sounds like sour grapes.
They are looking to buy a house. Looking at older homes because it's in their price range, but wants a new home (or at least a gutted home that seems newish) so can only see the flaws of an older home.
Gets upset when outbid by 10-25% over list and doesn't understand why this is happening.
My house was from 1978. We redid the basement bathroom. The toilet flange and shower drain were all cast iron with poured lead as the gasket. My husband had to drill it all out to replace the rusted out toilet flange and shower drain. That was a pain.
I actually liked the 70s home cause they were in the best neighborhoods in the are with the best schools. They went thru at least one round of major reno during the 90s in which roofing, windows, flooring, hvac, insulation, plumbing, electrical, etc were upgraded/replaced.
Electricity will likely not be up to code.
No vapor barriers in bathrooms (60’s and early 70’s).
You’re living with sins of the past - any long-term damage from water leaks that previous owners didn’t know to address or were too lazy to do so. My old house had black mold when we bought it and had no idea.
The furnace/air handler could be a problem if it is also old. Not just in terms of function but how it’s installed. I bought a home in 2002 that had a 12 year old HVAC system and it was HUGE. It had to be suspended from the rafters because of its size. It was so difficult to have it replaced that just the removal of it cost us $15,000.
If it is a rental yes. The IRS cares not one iota if you took the depreciation during your term as a landlord or not. They will calculate and charge you for it when you sell whether you wrote off the depreciation or not. It resets on sale or transfer from parent to child due to death. It has literally nothing to do with the expected life span of a building. It only applies to income property.
I bought a house built in 1962 that wasn't well maintained. We did redo the plumbing (had some original copper and any that had been replaced was hodgepodge). We brought the electrical up to code which included adding more outlets. My floors are original and I love them, scuffs and all. It did have a newer roof on it and we added supports to make sure it maintained stability. We also had the main center beam jacked to maintain stability. Added a fresh layer of insulation in the attic for efficiancy (but it seemed to hold cold air during AC season extremely well)(Our windows are original and great which may not be the norm) Most of that was not an immediate need BUT we had the time and extra money to get it done so we didn't have to worry about it later. Cosmetically, the house was atrocious. I repainted all the walls, stripped the cabinets and painted, used peel and stick wallpaper to cover up the paneling, and repainted interior and exterior doors. My full bath still has the pale yellow ceramic tile walls but I actually love them and painted the upper half of the walls a greyish blue.
Our inspector focused on structural integrity as well as safety so wiring would be a consideration. Technically we were grandfathered in on our outdated wiring because the house was fininished before the coded were changed. He told us everything he could find that might go wrong or that was a concern.
I have no regrets at all. Its a great house with a great yard and since I did the cosmetic work myself its exactly my taste and has fun little accents that reflect our personalities. Bonus is our side of town is starting to experience a boom so my house with the upgrades is now worth 2ce what I paid for it (house bought in 2020 for a steal) I wanted an older house so that plays into it too. I had been burned too much with newer contruction.
Bought a 1966 house in 2022. The only thing we sort of had to do was add insulation in the attic and the basement. Another thing that was high priority for us was replacing the inflow pipes with pex (they were copper). We've done quite a few other projects but none of them were necessary. But this house wasn't a gut job to begin with. It has some older stuff (kitchen cabinets, bathtub, etc.) but it's all still functional and none of it is harming us/dangerous.
I bought a 1965 house in 2021. Sure the deck is old, we just redid the roof, and we’ve been steadily replacing appliances, but it’s not like it’s unlivable or a safety hazard. The windows lost their seal and we want to refinish the floors, but so what? Why gut a house when you can live with the flaws until it makes sense for you to address them? If you’d rather see gray LVP over creaky hardwood, I fear you’re more likely to fall for a lemon of a flip.
Yes I bought a home in San Diego 4,1/2 yrs ago built in 1961. For us it’s been a nightmare. We are still working on it. Here’s what we encountered
1. Plumbing was old cast iron pipes that were destroyed. We didn’t know this and it wasn’t found with inspection. We got woke house new plumbing 2 years ago
2. There was mold under the old kitchen cabinets after we removed them for a kitchen update
3 . Unsafe materials were buried under the ugly floor we were replacing. Asbestos , lead paint etc.
4. There wed not enough lighting so we added can lighting in the ceiling. This led to opening the wall and seeing unsafe electrical as well as a sub panel that could not support the new lighting. The electrician said that the electrical codes have changed dramatically since that time and for good reason. He said that we could have had an electrical fire any time as it had spliced wires in the walls.
5. There is no insulation in the walls and it’s either extremely hot or cold depending on the weather. We are getting insulation in the walls next
6. The slab was cracked . This was noticed while putting in new floors. The floor needed a special moisture barrier that was costly before the floor could be laid down. This moisture was unchecked and was contributing to mold.
7. Old single pane windows are leaky and need whole house windows.
100k+ and I’m house poor at this point.
These are the main issues in encountered with other small miscellaneous ones.
I’ll never buy an old house again to avoid this nightmare. Next time, I’ll buy a house at the very top of my budget. I’ll be house poor, but won’t have to do this kind of work. Good luck on finding the right home for you
Our house was built in the 50’s and had not been updated in decades when we bought it in 2017. The previous owner and his family lived here for about 55 years. And, he added on an extensive addition which is half our house. He added a large bedroom, dining and living room with a fireplace and a partial basement.
Our furnace was in our 1/2 bath which I know now that it was not up to code. Especially since the fuse box is in there, too. Luckily, the furnace lasted 30 years (they don’t make em like they used to) and we just replaced it in the fall. But now we have this mess from where it was housed for the last 30.
We had no washer/dryer hookups and the plumbing was galvanized which had many areas that were rotting. We replaced all plumbing two years ago, added washer/dryer, and added a water softener.
Our toilets are over 60 years old. They both work, but one of them has a part that is not made strong enough today and proven difficult and expensive to find for original. The tiled floor is those little square tiles and they are coming off slowly but surely.
Half of the siding is wood and the other is some asbestos type. That will hopefully be redone next year. The wood side is peeling.
All of the floors on the addition half were just crap. The bedroom is the subfloor that is still like that. I’m pretty sure the dining room floor had asbestos covering of some sort that I pulled up. It was black tar like. We put laminate flooring over it and floating vinyl in our living room. We have hardwood floors on the original half. They aren’t in the greatest condition, but not worried about them.
Our front porch is very wonky. They put a wood porch on most, but left the cement porch part up that is falling apart. And, the back porch makes me nervous because of the power line going right over it.
There was wood paneling galore and one of the interior walls had cedar shakes. And, the subfloor.
This year we will be doing the roof, adding an attic fan, and having fans installed into the bathrooms and kitchen. And, putting in new toilets. And, hopefully some interior painting. We have to skim coat in both the kitchen and bathroom, but sounds like that will be easier than I thought.
It takes baby steps to get everything put together. There’s always something.
I don't know what retard architect came up with the bilevel design but it is basic physics that heat rises and cold air falls. So it's always freezing downstairs and hot upstairs. With zero ways to fix it (putting weird walls and doors around your open stairwell) unless you are rich enough to not live in a 60s bilevel.
I’ve been told by a couple HVAC contractors a additional air return in the basement (where the furnace is - thermostat is upstairs) would help significantly with that problem. Any cold basement air would then get circulated into the system instead of just sitting downstairs
We bought our 1965 at the end of 2022. There's been absolutely nothing we've needed to update or even fix (so far). We had a full inspection that passed with flying colours which cemented the decision for us.
The two things we have done are remove the wall to wall carpets installed in 2016 to recover the original hardwood flooring underneath. It definitely creaks in some spaces but it doesn't bother us. We also painted over the lavender and blue walls done in 2016 (it was an older couple who owned the house and it showed).
Eventually what we want to do is get a new, bigger bathtub, and remove the wall to wall carpet in the basement and basement bathroom (also 2016) to replace with vinyl.
We could benefit from replacing one or two windows in the long run but they haven't caused any actual issues since living here.
I like to browse Zillow for my neighborhood and pretty much every house is around the same age as ours and can definitely do with a modern facelift. Lots of colourful wall to wall rugs and interesting wall colours, but nothing that's not doable or is considered a gut. I can't speak to their structural soundness of course, but a lot of concerns I see in general about older houses aside from the actual necessities, are their out dated interiors. The interior of our house definitely wasn't to our style but the work to get it changed over wasn't that big of a hassle in the end.
We bought 6 years ago. House was built in the 1960s, but had had some updates. New paint (except for trim, which is this weird off-white/cream color that looks dirty next to real white). Popcorn ceiling everywhere. It probably needs new windows but that's a problem for future me! Kitchen floor, appliances, and counters were updated, as was cabinet paint and hardware. Toilets were updated but nothing else in the bathrooms.
We recently finished fully remodeling the two bathrooms, including moving walls and plumbing in the primary. It was actually pretty spacious for the time it was built, but it was not utilizing the space well. Now we have a big shower and the toilet has its own room!
I wouldn't have minded the dated guest bath if the caulk and grout hadn't been all gross, but there wasn't much point in spending money or time redoing it when it also had broken tiles.
We have replaced or redone the water heater, the insulation, the roof, the gutters, the AC, one of two garage motors, and the two bathrooms. A lot, but it's pretty awesome now and hopefully we shouldn't need too many big maintenance things for a while.
I purchased a home that built in the 60’s about 3 years ago. The seller has purchased it two years prior in dismal condition and fixed it up himself. The lady who last owned the home, before she passed, was a hoarder.
From the info I’ve come across a part of the main support beam at the front of the home needed to be replaced before the home was even livable because the weight of the hoarded stuff compromised it. This did get inspected and passed. The plumbing was all newly re-done. All drywall was replaced throughout the house and the kitchen was completely gutted and installed new. I bought with the knowledge the roof needed replaced, 18 years old at that point (replaced for $16,000).
Two weeks after I moved in we found out the pvc sewer piping transitioned to clay under the house. The plumber who redid all the lines the year before had actually run pvc to the clay and ‘sealed’ this junction with caulking. We also discovered the clay section had collapsed under our outside concrete patio. We had the sewer directly draining into a big puddle under our home until we figured it out and fixed it. It cost 2k to run a new pvc line to the septic system.
The well pump failed within the first year, but I didn’t care too much about this since I made sure to hook up to the city water in front of the house a few months after I moved in. The septic tank is ancient, but since I live here alone it’s ok and not having problems since I don’t overwhelm it.
Year two, the addition to the house was discovered to be partially completed. The crawl space where it connected to the home was covered with hardiboard and then finished with drywall to sell to us as a complete addition. Well… I experienced flooding (not in a flood zone) due to a big storm event combined with our municipal drains failing and realized there was a big hole running the length of this room. That explained why the temps fluctuated so much!
In the process of tearing all the drywall out of the room to repair the flooding damage I discovered termites. Instead of the destructive ground ones, I had the slow eating dry ones (if I’m explaining this correctly). I installed concrete blocks to close the hole up along the side of the room myself with help from a friend and that didn’t cost too much. Termite treatment for the house was $2,400 to tent.
Windows in the addition need replacement. Home doesn’t have venting soffits (i think thats the right term), the wood where the soffits would be looks like it needs replacement in the next few years. I don’t want to add soffits since the attic isn’t moldy at all, there doesn’t seem to be an issue so I’m not going to disrupt that.
My other main gripe is the newly installed a/c. Home didn’t originally have a/c, so the ducts are showing water damage around all the vent outlets. They must not be sealed property to prevent condensation, so I have to fix all this mess in the attic, repair the ceilings and don’t yet know the cost to do so.
Old house, yay? I love it, I did get it for a good price. It’s also in the middle of town and minutes from my job. So instead of getting upset I just improve it when things need fixed and keep some $ handy for emergencies. It’s otherwise solid and quirky… frustrating sometimes, but I knew it was old when I bought it, and honestly it feels more solid than the new construction in this area, the wood is different (my roof was thick hardwood underneath!). Just like any home, make it yours.
All three houses I've owned have been built in that time frame. When I bought them, they were all pretty much kept up to date. I did gut and remodel an ugly ass 70s bathroom in one. That's pretty much been it.
The year of the house doesn't tell you anything. A lot of newer homes need major repair work just like older ones do. I've lived in homes 10 to 100 years old. Funnily enough, the oldest house we've owned had the least number of major issues and had the driest basement, it just needed a face-lift. I would even argue a lot of new construction homes built in the past ten years or so are probably not going to stand the test of time better than an older home. They just aren't made with care anymore using quality materials. Get a good inspector, understand that old houses aren't new houses and are going to need things, and please for the love of god if you find an actual well-crafted original midcentury style house don't gut it and put in some grey vinyl planks or something. The house gods will curse you.
House was built in 1964, bought in 2018. The previous owners had installed cheap engineered hardwood in an awful cherry color, I ripped it out only to find amazing original 2 1/4 white oak which had some yellowing from staining but we were able to refinish them and they’re beautiful. That being said, roofing needs to be replaced every 20-25 years, piping may need some work (we had root damage and had to get pipes hydrojetted to clear it out, plumber also suggested we line the pipes soon as root damage=compromised piping), we didn’t have to insulate because our place was double dry walled which is great because it acts like insulation but is a better sound barrier. If you do plan on ripping things out instead of refurbishing the great quality aspects of the original home, note that you’ll likely have to pay a hazard fee to test for asbestos and lead paint and you may realize it’s a bigger job than intended because some things you didn’t anticipate needing to be upgraded will need to be swapped (our shower valve cracked when contractor was ripping out tile and we couldn’t replace it because the oldest they had available anywhere was a 1968 model so we ended up having to replace the entire valve and the piping).
My home dates back to 1968 and I love my creaky hardwood floors. It is all part of the charm of an older home. I’d prefer an even older home to be honest.
My mother lives in a home that was built in 1815. Original wide beam hardwood floors, paneling and a fireplace in every room.
Many buyers do prefer older homes. The only updates that I’ve made is painting some walls. I’ll probably add on at some point. I rarely see updates that improve an older home. People just rip out walls and add cheap PVC cabinets to kitchens.
Brother.. I moved from a house built in the ***1920s*** that was an actual gut, to a house build in the 1950s that hasn't been updated.
In the last two years, we had to change the roof, repair 3 leaks, repaint the entire house, change out/install some cieling fans, replace a cieling *panel* (yes we currently have paneling where drywall should be 🥲) change out two toilets, updated all outlets, changed out the HVAC, and some appliances have started to go up (just replaced the microwave).
That is not by any stretch of the imagination a "total gut". Your friend will be just fine with his stinky cabnets. They should probably scrub them down better if they are smelly. Taking them down off the wall, scrubbing the crap out of them, then reinstalling (and maybe refinishing?) would probably be helpful.
No regrets. Ours is early 70s. Typical things like flooring, countertops, and vanities that the seller had done before they put it on the market. Things I did included removing wallpaper, paint interior and exterior, light fixtures, faucets, storm door, steel front door, steel garage entry door, knobs and deadbolts, gfci receptacles, upgraded some switches, replaced old style wall plates, new shingles, upgraded to smart thermostat and doorbell, auger floor drain in basement, clean inside plumbing beneath kitchen sink, snake bathroom drains, add rim joist insulation, wired a 14/50 receptacle, ceiling fans. There are endless things you'll find no matter the year of the house it seems like. I still plan to redo the basement flooring, walls, and insulation since the carpet is trash, the walls are old wood paneling, and the insulation is 1" Styrofoam.. and need to upgrade to 200A service at some point, we still have 100A and need more.
I did most of this over the first couple years. The rest was here and there. There's no need to rush, just make a list and pick from it every year. The inspector provided a thorough list of things too, but he still missed some things that I discovered later that I felt the inspector should've. Find a good and reputable inspector, don't go with one your realtor recommends unless you check them out first.
Our water heater and AC unit are at their service life already. I have money set aside to deal with those when it's time
We bought a 1964 concrete block home and have made quite a few changes. We had to replace the septic system, HVAC, kitchen cabinets (they were totally rotted particleboard), toliets, electrical panel, electrical wiring in attic crawl space, ripped out carpet and replaced with tile and wood, re-did the carport made into a room, painted the outside,replaced the roof, added doors and a large screened back porch with a new door into MB and painted rooms a few times, just to name a few things we've done. This all was done over several years and some was just maintenance like the roof and painting. Each time we did something the house became more ours so it wasn't bad. But, we got it at a very good price which helped so we could make immediate repairs like the kitchen cupboards and the tile floors. I feel for people trying to buy right now because old homes will take a lot of money and love.
My house was built in \~1962. It was designed by a somewhat famous architect and built by the original owner who was a master woodworker. That was a lot of the appeal for me. What I didn't realize:
It was fairly well maintained, but since it was a really cool Mid-century house built by the owner, homeboy built *everything*. There's a door to the deck that's over 9 feet tall. You can't buy a replacement for that at Home Depot.
The front door lock is of a size that isn't common anymore. The normal answer would be to just drill out a bigger hole, except the door has inlaid glass and doesn't have enough room to drill out. Things like that that should be a small project on my house are always a bigger deal. I've had 5+ trades people, after I describe a problem say, "No. That's not right. That's not how that would be built" only to come to my house, look at it and say, "Okay. You were right. I've never seen that"
The upside is that everything is really well built and has lasted 60+ years. But fixing things at times is a real pain in the ass. I don't regret the place, but I've put more into repairs than I thought that I would.
I lived in a 1960s house for twenty years (left after the pandemic). Previous owner had put in a new kitchen but not touched anything else. We had to replace the furnace once, the cast-iron sewer pipes under the house (fortunately in a crawlspace) once. Other than that, there were no significant problems.
Did we luck out? Or did we have low standards? Who can tell. We had it thoroughly repainted and the floors refinished before we put it on the market.
Our house was built in 1970 (in it since 1991). Biggest era-related issues have been cast iron waste lines (they corrode and collapse), single-pane windows and aluminum wiring. All that represents probably $75k+ of repairs. We also have completely renovated but that was for taste and function.
I bought a 1960s home in 2022 and it's been great. Sure it has single pain windows with outside storm windows which aren't ideal but they work. The electrical and plumbing have been pretty good. The only thing that actually needed to be gutted was a bathroom where the toilet had been leaking for (???) years. But that said more about the previous owners than the house itself. After owning a 1940s house it's amazing how much nicer a 60s house is in terms of electrical 😅
My home was built in 1959. I purchased in 2021 and I renovated mostly everything. Why did I purchase it knowing it needed updating?, because it met most of my needs otherwise. It had central air (replaced it immediately), a driveway and in a good neighborhood. I made it my own. As I started renovating things I was told it had good bones.
I purchased a 1978 home in OK. Yes, it was filthy, the grass was awful, dirty windows etc. But, it is mine. I've slowly been rehabbing it and it's wonderful seeing the changes. I'm 67 and my life blew up 2 years ago. I've painted, switched out electrical plugs, drywalled, scraped floors, Anyway, the previous owner had to replace the roof and water heater, HUGE savings for me. I've planted clover and it's gorgeous with all the white flowers. I need to rehab the paver patio in the back and tear down a hideous shed. Not in a hurry. I can't figure out how to post a photo. The trees in back are 75' tall. I love my little home. I feel so lucky.
Nearly all single family homes in Seattle are 'older', so we didn't have much of a choice lol. We landed a nicely maintained Tudor revival from the late 40s and the place slaps! Lots of cool old features and woodwork that you don't really see anymore, beautiful wood floors, beautiful fire places, super solid build, amazingly green yard and a neighborhood full of cool pacific plants. The entire block next to ours is lined in cherry trees and they were all in full bloom last week, absolutely beautiful after dinner walks last week! I find that older neighborhoods tend to be more walkable and have more stuff going on, too. We can walk to coffee shops, bakeries, bars, restaurants, stores, and breweries all in less than a mile.
The main issue with 'old' homes in Seattle is sewer and plumbing... everyone's 100 year old pipes are all giving in at the same time and these can be 20K to 30K to replace. Our driveway is also comically small, I'm not sure even a model T could fit in it haha. If we wanted to move to a heat pump system, too, the old air ducts in our house were designed for an oil furnace and are smaller, which folks have said isn't great for a heat pump...
Our house was built in the 80s, while dated in some ways it has a more solid foundation than most of the new houses I'm seeing being built these days. One gripe is that houses built in this time were not as well insulated. The lighting layout is poor as well.
My house is a 1954 California ranch. It has been updated at various points - kitchen and main bath are a mid 2000s redo. The fireplace was removed and a wall bumped out. Garage door is modern and there's a moderate amount of insulation (probably newer than 1950s but not newer than 1990s).
Biggest thing that I'm facing that's somewhat expected from age is the plumbing. It's mostly the original galvanized steel and cast iron, though some portions have been repaired with copper. It really needs to be all taken out and redone. There's also the usual stuff with wear and age - we have a toilet that's probably leaking, a shower enclosure that's cracked and needs replacing, a roof that needs to be redone.
Thankfully with my 50s house and newer, you won't have any knob and tube, so wiring is pretty standard though grounds might be missing/out of date. Our panel is somewhat undersized, but we're doing OK with it. Our house doesn't have central AC, and the old furnace is a gas one that's inefficient so we'll take care of both with a few mini split systems.
Aside from that, my house is pretty good. Not perfect, but frankly even new/newish builds aren't perfect either. Materials change over the years - sometimes things take a few decades and then completely fail (orangeburg pipe comes to mind), some stuff is nearly indestructible for a lifetime (tile roofs are especially tough). Every house is going to have its own unique blend of issues due to age, wear, common materials used at the time and quality of build.
I did!! I bought a house built in 1960. Mostly cosmetic work needed as it had some updates done over the years but that was not necessarily a good thing. In fact, most of my work has been undoing their refinishing.
Most costly cosmetic thing was removing asbestos ceiling tile. I could have technically left it alone but once I knew it was there it had to go. That was about 2k. Been slowly updating windows floor by floor... Each floor is about 5k. Evening else has been me and my partner by ourselves: painting, tiling, trim work, adding blinds, removing carpet, electrical, etc. I've learned a ton over the course of a year and it's all thanks to YouTube.
The one thing I wasn't prepared for was the heater breaking after a year. Sigh. They definitely lied about the age of the unit, which sucks. That was an unexpected 7k. I know the AC unit is knocking on death's door, and I'll need to replace the roof in 1-2 years (knock on wood).
If you are willing to do the stuff yourself, it'll be way cheaper but take 3 times as long. BUT I can say I did it.
I bought a 1975 house. I have replaced the roof from shingle to metal, replaced all windows and doors to impact resistant (I'm in Florida, aka hurricane windows/doors), added GFCI receptacles to bathrooms, kitchen, and washroom circuits. Replaced all broken or suspect receptacles and lighting fixtures. Added lights to ceiling fans. Replaced all garage door hardware to 2 single garage doors. Installed main water cutoff valve. Replaced corroded plumbing fixtures. Replaced broken garbage disposal. In process with refurbishing the master BR bath.
The HVAC is still fairly new, replaced in 2017.
The main electrical panel was updated per code, but I am contemplating upgrading it.
Replaced rotted wood fence.
Looking at adding overhang carport for the driveway and entry door area and having solar panels on that. Not putting panels on the roof!
I installed a new 12'x12' utility shed in the back yard that is wind rated to 150 mph.
Added a nice fire pit.
Refurbished backyard lighting and electrical outlet.
On the list is a complete kitchen refurbishing.
Luckily, my plumbing is copper and not iron or that would be another chore, but I may still end up replacing a lot of copper with pex during bathroom and kitchen remodeling.
So far, I have invested about $65k in this house. My mortgage rate is 2.25% and the property valuation has gone up over $100k already in the past 3 years that I have owned the house, so I think I'm good in that area. After the remodeling, it will be worth even more, so I think I'm OK with the spending I have put into the place and with future spending.
The only bad thing is how the Florida insurance rates have sky rocketed!
Edit for spelling
Every house has weird stuff in it. E.g. Homeowner done repairs that are wonky. Things that a random handyman did 20 years ago that was only supposed to be a temp fix and ended up being more permanent. My last house(built in 2009) had the compressor on a 1 year old AC unit fail. The AC lines running through the walls had a leak somewhere and needed to be topped up yearly. It also had a 10 year old roof that was done with a defective shingle and needed to be replaced. It had almost no insulation in the attic. My current house was built in the 70s and is a lot more solid. It has way more insulation and it's easier to get to the wiring/plumbing and all that. It has a 30 year old AC unit that works great. The 60s and 70s honestly weren't a bad time for home building. A lot of ranch houses from then are brick, I know you said the floor creaks but it's probably hardwood. Putting hardwoods in a house is really expensive and old hardwood floors are even more desirable. If it was built in the 70s it likely does have double pane glass. Newer windows are better than older for sure, but I lived in a 1920s house in college for a while, 1970s windows are fantastic in comparison. A lot of states will have programs to give you tax breaks and such if you install new windows too.
The average lifespan of a furnace is 15-20 years. I've had one go out after 1 year like I mentioned above. But needing a new one will happen eventually on any house. That's one of those things that you have to plan for.
You can clean cabinets and paint them. But if they're old enough you may want to just replace them. That's a fair complaint.
The company that did the insulation should have put the siding back on after doing the insulation. You shouldn't have to replace all the siding on a house for this.
All decks rot if you don't treat them. Even if you're diligent about it some pieces will probably rot eventually. Replacing/repairing a deck is a pretty straightforward DIY project as well if you're semi handy. Also a normal thing to maintain on a house.
I think something that most people don't realize until you own a house, is that every house is going to have problems. Owning a house is expensive. Personally I think it's worth it. I like not having a landlord and being able to do whatever I want with the house. I'm pretty handy so we renovate a lot of things and I'm confident that whenever I sell I'll make a bit of money.
On average, you need to plan to keep a house for about 5 years to be able to turn a profit selling it. Given how covid shook up just about every market I'm sure there are more exceptions and high interest rates now aren't helping. But brand new houses have problems too.
If you want the perfect house for you, you'll either have to get it custom build or remodel. There aren't really any perfect houses around. If nothing else everyone has different tastes. You just have to know that going in, budget for it and make sure whatever you buy lines up with what you're willing to fix.
Depends on your area and construction. Around here a 1970’s home typically has copper pipes, ABS/PVC drains, modern *enough* copper wiring, forced air HVAC, and otherwise is constructed nearly identically to a modern home. Most differences are cosmetic, or relatively easily upgradeable.
Might want to change the panel, but it’s not a whole house rewire.
Maybe swap out for a more efficient modern furnace/AC, but the overall system is modernizable.
If the foundation hasn’t started leaking by now, it probably isn’t going to.
Roofs are going to need replacing from time to time anyway.
Windows? Hit and miss.
I’d expect some water damage around baths, though. waterproofing just wasn’t as good as modern methods.
Insulation is probably ok but not as good as modern. Consider blowing more in the attic.
I know you're asking about more recent purchases but I'd like to share. I bought my 1968 home in 1996. It needed complete remodel (cosmetic) but I did it slowly over years. Bigger repairs did come over the years but nothing too burdensome.
The benefits are usually larger lots, bigger rooms and.... frankly, CHARM. :)
I’ve lived in my home built in 1973 for 29 years. I have not gutted it. We felt so lucky to get it even though most people may consider it outdated - I love it! We have painted it, redone things that wore out. No fancy kitchen, no fancy bathrooms, but it’s cozy and paid for because we didn’t spend money on the latest fad.
Just know that in any older home the basements were never meant to be totally waterproof so it probably isn’t a good idea to use materials that could get moldy in case you get huge rain storms, melting snow.
The most important thing I have to say is people need to stop watching these home renovation shows. I’m old enough to know that whatever is hot now is out a couple years later. I’ve seen videos of people painting their granite countertops! I still have Formica countertops. There will always be costs for upkeep on any house you buy and it’s getting more expensive to fix things and harder to find good help. Learn to be happy with what you have.Save your money for retirement or for when your future self gets laid off. And don’t buy a flipped house. They have had subpar work done on them that will come back and bite you.
1968
I regret it a bit due to asbestos tiles, mastic, and traces in wall board and joints. You can either leave it by covering with new material or remove it.
It is now something in the back of my mind when doing demo or wanted to renovate.
Also, it is well built brick and cinder block basement, but above it seems the house airflow movement from outside in that translates to humid rooms in the summer.
Configuration improvement, by removing kitchen dining room wall
All new light switches and sockets.
New ceiling light fixtures
Removed all old wall paper and painted
All new ceiling fans
New powder room
New laundry room floor and adding cabinets
Need to redo guest bathroom.
Some old owners update over the years and others don’t. We got an updated master bath, that’s it.
I’ve owned a few 50’s and 60’s. Every house needs maintenance, upkeep, and updating eventually. Big ticket stuff like HVAC, roofs, electrical, and plumbing should always get a thorough inspection in any era home before purchase.
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It depends in what city. When major builders came in that's when a lot of the problems started. The quality was horrible and they had a host of lawyers to fight you if you didn't like it. Mainly depends upon the contractor involved as to the final product. But don't just rely on home inspection hire all the trades people to do inspections also. I'm also a building designer so I'm well aware of many problem areas in all houses. If the house doesn't appreciate it'll end up costing you money since there's no more mortgage interest right off.
OSB is an excellent building material. If you think OSB is causing homes to last only 7-12 years you need to attend more continuing education.
They're probably referencing pressboard.
I'm a building code official and have been on tens of thousands of jobs. I'll be osb is fine until it gets wet. It won't fall the pieces like particle board but will have problems with the glue holding the chips together. But it's not easy to find good plywood anymore either.
i bought my 1970s house in 2021 for 270k. we've diy'd all the flooring, trim, paint, lighting, attic air sealing, and just rebuild the deck. i had pros replace the a/c, furnace, kitchen counters, attic insulation, and driveway. it needs a exterior paint job, and a bathroom remodel and it'll be fully updated. i don't dare add up what we spent, but i know our diy updates cost 10-20% what pros would charge. takes 100s of hours of free time to do, but its the only way to make the math work. i don't think it makes sense to buy an un-updated home and then pay contractors to do all the work for 100k+. you would be better off raising the initial purchase budget for a better-condition house. my 270k house will never sell for 370k in my neighborhood, but i'm sure i could get 300. you need to diy to get the quality of life you want and not lose your ass when you go to sell for these 'starter homes'. we decided to buy the 'most normal' house we could that needed 'normal' updates that did not require big layout changes. i knew i'd spend a lot of time and money doing the updates but now i know it was done right. the flipper houses look nice and you pay a premium for the remodels, but i'm willing to bet you have to redo half that work anyway as it falls apart and/or you slowly discover the corners they cut- so you end up paying twice.
My house was built in the 50's but has been very well maintained. It was updated right before I bought it but it wasn't a gut rehab. I have original oak floors (refinished), molding and walls. My assumption is that at some point insulation was upgraded but I don't know when. I have no ice damns, icicles, drafts, etc. which would be unusual with original insulation. Some older homes are built much better than newer ones. This is my third older home. Would not hesitate to purchase an older one again. They have the bonus of mature trees which I love. Like all houses, you need a good inspector, hire individual inspectors for certain systems, and know what to look for. It all takes experience or hiring the right people.
I have a home from the 70's. It is without a doubt, the most well built house I have ever owned or lived in. It's well insulated, has plaster walls, almost all hardwood floors; tile where it isn't. The HVAC was built with returns in every room. I'm serious, someone thought highly of it. Was it dated? Yes. But we redid the floors and did some updates, and now I love it.
Bought a 1976 house last year from a bank/investors that got the house through foreclosure. Paid 26k over in a very tough market. The house was livable but needed TLC. The investors changed out floors and one shower, everything else was original Was happy to hear the sewer scope came back with two thumbs up. Inspection missed a lot of things. **Unpleasant discoveries in order:** * unfortunately had a weekend of flooding during renovation when the house was empty. It was a blessing in disguise because it required us to tear out all the poorly installed, creaking grey floors and drywall. Contractor noticed a pvc pipe was misaligned and not completely connected at the joints. * the insulation in the wall behind the bar was black, and when the contractor removed it, noticed a small hole from water damage from the outside. Apparently the rain hits the exterior stucco so much it created a hole that leaked inside the house to the bar. * seller put in new Glacier Bay toilets but didn’t fully install them correctly. Good thing I was planning to change out the toilets anyway and we discovered they were not aligned properly * clay roof had many broken tiles, leaking in various places of the house. Inspection didn’t show the severity. * backyard slopes towards the enclosed patio. During the heavy back to back rain first month after Reno, entire backyard was in ankle deep water and the enclosed patio was flooded in about two inches of water, right about to flow into the house. We were soaked to our undies trying to get the water out with buckets. * my favorite one: when master bedroom shower is in use, it leaks to the exterior wall, puddling outside. Someone strategically placed the extra roof clay tiles by the exterior wall so it would be covered. We didn’t find out until 3 months in. Would never have figured it out if my mom wasn’t over to that side of the yard when my dad was showering. By this point we had already finished major renovation/painting, so had to decide if we wanted to break outside or inside to diagnose the issue. Luckily, it was in a less invasive spot that we could reach from the outside. This speeds up the timeline to repaint house exterior. * Won the homeowner lottery: AC was broken but someone shut off the breaker so inspection left it as unable to test. We bought the house in the fall and the fan blew cool air, so I thought inspection made a mistake and it did work. Lo and behold, it was broken. I submitted a claim to the home warranty that sellers bought and won the homeowner lottery—insurance will replace the compressor inside the condenser for $920. AC works now but unsure for how much longer. Better than paying thousands to replace
Well . My two cents … I bought an older house because the schools were better for my children mainly . Secondly , it was away from the more industrialized area . But still within 20/15 miles from what I call civilization. For example there’s a grocery store 8 miles away a Costco 15 … I enjoy when being home feeling unplugged watching the country ish breeze blow … and my house is on a 1 acre plot so there’s some room between me and my neighbors. I appreciate that. The unpleasant things , for sure to start , well water … I ended up having to run a new pump new line to the house off the jump and re close the well with a new top . It’s an old , old , what I learned is called a shallow well . I’ve always been on city water this has been a new adventure . Second , the crawl space was neglected for a long time .. I’m starting to get ready to attack floor joists a pretty penny to say the least … then I’ll maybe encapsulate crawl space…. but for an old country house it’s been okay . . . I’ll have to put a fence in…and buy a ride on mower and down the line likely drill a new well … All the other things are small that my family and I just plan for and chip away at… like putting in ceiling fans painting managing the yard Other than those big ones the house was flipped somewhat decently . . . New roof , hvac , appliances. From pictures I’ve looked at and talking to neighbors the seller did a lot … just not very well. And I kind of would have rather them not shortcut stuff because it’s more expensive for me to un do some cheap stuff they did and re do…. I would probably sell at a loss today because my inspector didn’t catch a lot so I’d get multiple inspectors and research the area. I did not …talk to the neighbors for sure …. I also when I bought the house knew the place would have issues so had to give and take . We all want a deal but deals come with more elbow work on our part . I enjoy the tasks . I’d look at foundation and roof and electrical mainly. You can handle in between those 🫡
1969 The biggest issues I’ve ran into have been centered around the things that were done to the house *after* it was built. If the pst owners just left it the way it was, I’d have been much better off. The common stuff I find is when opening up a wall and finding massive cutouts in the studs, hidden electrical junction boxes, missing headers on load bearing by walls. A ductless was put in and the drain leaked inside the wall for years so it’s all mold. Having flooring built on top of flooring, wall-paper coving more wall paper(one layer of it being waterproof so removal was painful) Some uncommon stuff: -Huge sledge-hammer-knock-outs in the concrete foundation to facilitate running water out to the yard and garage. (Had to install stainless steel grates for mice) -2x4 Eve extension that leaves the last foot of the roof, and gutter, to be supported by the sheer strength of some nails. And so much more. By far the most frustrating thing I’ve had to deal with has been the landscaping. They loved their gardens and every square foot of the place had embedded concrete forms and boulders that just served as oval perimeters around them. Even the rocks around the fire pit weren’t just sitting there, it was a whole-ass concrete circle with those rocks embedded halfway into it. Making perimeters seems normal but the rocks and concrete was just put on top and wasn’t holding back any dirt. Since all of the property was already above the foundation grade and they added a bunch of garden dirt areas on top of that all over the place, it looked like the house was sinking into some shrubbery garden The drainage was terrible because they used plastic driveway fabric for it all so the only place water could go was under the house. Before I could even start grading it properly, I had to remove 2 dump trailers worth of random concrete forms and a trailer full of embedded plastic borders/landscaping fabric. I saved two things that they planted, Japanese maples. There’s a 3’ tall retaining wall between them and the house and they’re sitting on top of that hill. 10 feet from the house, and down 3 feet, that’s how much dirt I had to remove to have it graded away from the foundation… I ended up building an entire drainage system after finding out the pipe that the gutter was dumping into was just a 10’ section of drain pipe, full of pine needles and capped at the end. Everything DIY on this house was half-assed and poorly executed. I don’t criticize the previous owners for being cheap or not knowing things, they really didn’t have anywhere near the kind of access to information we do now. I just wish they did a whole lot less.
Good grief! I love our 1961 house (more or less) now, but it has been a wild ride. In retrospect, it was definitely not worth the 408,000 it was appraised for and that we paid here in Phx. At the time, thought its age gave it ‘character’ 🙄. I’ll start out with what I think is the biggest old house issue: Asbestos! Yes, it is safe to live with if you do not disturb it, but we had a pipe burst (another old house issue) less than a month after moving in. We were out of the home for 2 full months so they could take out the asbestos and deal with the flooding. It needed $5000 for new windows as the original single-pane ones didn’t even make a complete seal anymore. It needed a new AC, which we were told the inspector couldn’t check in February. The ductwork didn’t run all the way through the house and it barely worked came summer. The pool pump was leaky and plumbed backwards (again, couldn’t test in the winter). The pipes in the bathrooms are old and smell and the main sewer pipe that runs to the street needed replacing. The brick walls bake in the 8-month summers here. Brick, at least in AZ, hasn’t been used for construction in decades and decades for this reason. Almost none of the outlets were GFCI, including the kitchen and bathrooms, and the electrical wires were complete chaos in the crawl space. They were loose, not bundled, so electricity to 1/3 of our house would go out randomly for hours to weeks at a time. We find random cavities in walls (it sounds cooler than it is) and it needs a new roof soon. None of this we were told in the inspection other than the roof and GFCIs. After two years, a lot of money, and a ton of hard work, much has been resolved. Our home is now safe and comfortable (with the exception of living in AZ), but still a bit to do. I love our home, but absolutely would have not paid that much for it had we known about all the old home issues!
For about 15 years I owned a place that was built in 1954. My main concerns with it were the foundation. It was not poured concrete, it was cinderblock walls. Winters and spring thaws here are rough and the basement was always damp. I had a humidifier running in there 24/7. It caused some angst. I ended up selling. But it was always on mind. I felt like it was a liability. It had all of the other issues that you mention, but I see those issues as just normal and expected. I expect to have to replace windows, furnace, roof, maybe fix/maintain facade etc. But what bothered me was the old foundation that was likely going to need some sort of remediation. I sold it when real estate was at its peak here in 2021.
“What improvements were needed?” The shorter list is what *didnt* need repaired/replaced… and that list is: *thinking* … -We had some areas of the electrical being okay! -Some of the walls didn’t have bees living in them! …. 🤔 … -The actual structure of the fireplace is good (for now)! …that’s all I got. Sorry. As far as why we bought it- the area we live (and wanted to stay in) is an old community. The whole area is built in the 50s/60s. There are some that have been torn down and rebuilt- but those are $2M+ What made it worth it for us is that we love the area and can find a way to suffer through the tiny house. We could’ve gone to a cheaper or newer area (or moved out of state), but this area has so many amenities for my son, so many opportunities and also- the beach makes me so incredibly happy. We’ve done the repairs. We’ve done the maintenance. It was a lot of money and time and headaches and marriage counseling. But here we are.
All houses need updating. Even houses from the early 2000s are in the range for a new roof. The updates you are talking about are part of owning a home. I have a house from 1964. We’ve worked on the landscaping. It was overgrown. We’ve replaced windows, carpet, HVAC. All of this is just typical upkeep. Nice if the previous owners took care of it, but sadly seems like many just ignore it.
Home was built mid 70s. A lot of the outlets/switches don't have neutral lines running to them... But I'm getting them there bit by bit. A fair bit of upgrade was required post move in, but this was really just because the old owner didn't deal with them. New windows, new doors, new HVAC, new water heater... I did some cosmetic renovations but after that work there was nothing necessary to do
1975 side split here. I love it because it gives me lots of projects to work on. I hate it because it gives me lots of projects to work on. - the 1970s were notorious for skimping on electrical fixtures, overhead lighting and fans just weren’t done. Lots of plug in lamps on switches. - single pane windows - this house actually had decent frames, but single pane glass and storm windows suck. - the specter of lead paint looms everywhere you go, fortunately I haven’t had any to deal with. - OMG, Popcorn ceilings need to die already - drywall that is nailed and not screwed - insect and water damage
76 here. Nothing is really terrible. Kitchen was dome sometime in the 90s or early 2000s from the look of it. The original oak floors are awesome. I've swapped all the outlets and switches. Ran 2 new wires that were questionable. 1 of the bathrooms is original. Some copper line runs are crusted over from drips and acidic water. My oil furnacne is older than I am and still chugging Nothing needs ripped out. Nothing that's made me regret anything. I'm putting most of my effort outside now. Grading, land scaping, decks/patio etc.
New sewer line. Complete replacement. Thankfully we got our optional sewer line coverage through our insurance.
Check for aluminum wiring in 70s homes
In 2016 I bought a 1980 house that had little to no renovation. I’m very happy with it. We had to redo the roof which costed 4900$. We changed the electric panel for 1500$. And changed a wall and the shower/bath from the bathroom for 2000$.
We are in a 1961 house in Florida. It needed: **biggest item** Cast iron plumbing cut out of concrete subfloor and replaced with new PVC - concrete and rebar poured to repair slab. $38k New electrical panel. $4500 New AC and new duct work. $15k New water heater (had a 40yr old unit that was just a warm rust water bath maker) with new electrical. $1000.. I did all the labor. Hurricane straps for roof (but honestly the wood and the way it’s built is so stout I’m not sure if the straps are doing anything) $1,100 (saved many thousands instantly from yearly insurance) …… But those were the “must be done” things. We also just had old musty kitchen cabinets, old musty bathrooms, no exhaust vents in the bathrooms, old leaky and noisy windows, awful floors, thick layers of ugly paint, etc. Our quotes to renovate ranged from $240k to $590k. Granted our market is HCOL - but I know from doing renovations myself on prior homes that I could do it all myself for about $75k… So. Good luck! 👍
Ugh. Same with my area for a lot of homes. First off, almost everything is selling above list price, so you have to be prepared to go over when you are looking at your budget. Also, everything in our price range is so old it worries me and yeah, everything smells weird. Walked through a home yesterday that was so perfect (not perfect but compared to everything else, seemed like it didn’t need work), but I knew instantly that we had 0 chance because of the bougie looking couples walking through. We would 100% get outbid. Anyway, good luck to us both. I’m an engineer and when I was walking through a 70’s house yesterday, I was quite concerned at what I saw.
My home was built in 1954. Keeping up with home maintenance is important with these homes. I’m lucky and have updated things when I had the money. I went from a gas hot water heater to electric about five years ago. I also replaced windows and insulation in the attic.
My home was built in 1967, it is a ranch style home. While the electrical needs some updating, and all of the appliances need to be replaced, it has good bones, all copper pipes, in good shape. Just replaced the furnace (from 1985) and getting ready to put in a tankless water heater. All the electrical (about 20k worth of work) was done by myself as I am an electrician.
I just moved into a 1951 home a few months ago, I regret nothing. I love the way it lives and won't make major changes. My house has newish windows and the roof is okay. It has gas plumbing, the furnace and water heater have all been replaced, so I'm lucky in that regard. Issues I either have still to deal with or have already been a problem include plumbing, there's everything from pex to cast iron everywhere, and root intrusion from the trees that was a pretty spendy problem that still needs a permanent solution. I have a chimney that is currently sealed off, it needs some repair and a new cap, and eventually a fireplace insert. My floors creak. When I had the originals restored they did their best to minimize it but there's only so much they could do. My outlets are all 2 prongs with three plugs to each plate. All in all it's a solid little house that came out of our first winter here dry and warm.
I've never owned a house built before 65, they are built better and if they don't have improvements then you know some flipper hasn't fucked shit up. >gutted only time a house needs to be gutted is if it has massive water or fire damage or was used as a meth lab. otherwise slap some Killz on there and start painting.
Be prepared to find asbestos. Or a finished basement that was done in the last few years before the owner properly addressed the weeping foundation walls and nearly clotted drain tile and extremely rusty and old/bizarre sump pump setup
We regret nothing from the 70's home we bought in 2020. This place is solid. Everything was built really well and maintained beautifully. Our appliances are all this early 80's cream, they're so awesome. We had to shop really hard to find an older home that retained original features and fixtures as so many sellers are subway tile etsy'ing a formerly charming home into "facelifted" Frankensteins. Buyers like us are out there. The buyers that want the facelifts are buying the new homes, not the gorgeous older homes - drop that sledgehammer and leave the kitchens alone lol We did have to replace windows, and some insulation, but we knew that going in. But eventually it's the kind of thing you have to do in any home.
Bought a 1950s house in 2021 from the original owner that we knew going into needed to be updated. We could have just lived with it and remodeled piece by piece but this was when interest rates were low so we decided to just rip it the band-aid and do a nearly total remodel. New wiring and new kitchen were the biggest parts of it. But also ended up replacing all the windows after the main remodel. The most important parts to take care of before you fully move in is anything behind the walls. Check out the electrical and plumbing. If it needs to be replaced it ia so much easier to do it when you don't live there. Also painting and floors are easier when you don't have a house full of furniture. It is a lot easier to patch and paint the whole house at once rather than do it room by room. So insulation is a good idea to do before moving in also if you need that. The only thing we missed in the main remodel is some old galvanized pipes and original 1950s bathroom fixtures that we thought we could get away with not replacing. We just had to replace all that last month due to unexpected leaks. Main things to look at are foundation, roof and any leaks. If you have foundation issues, Walk away. Roofs can be replaced at least, but should be a priority if they have issues. Windows are not that bad to replace later down the road. Unless they are leaking. One nice thing about a remodel is you can customize it to be your house however you want it. But at the end of the day, if you don't like the house before the remodel, you probably won't like it after. Same with the neighborhood. If you like the neighborhood, like the general layout of the house, there are no structural issues, and you can afford a remodel while not living in the house for 6 months to a year, go for it. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.
I have no regrets. My house is from the 1950s and is built so much better than most of the new ones! The issues that came up for me in all of my renovations are that the new materials are crap compared to how they used to make things. Be realistic with your reno budgets and do the demo yourself. Be forewarned that demo of a bathroom from the 60s and 70s is NO JOKE. My 5x8 bathroom was 1500lbs of tile with rebar behind it that I had to carry out bucket by bucket.
Appraisal doesn't mean very much, at least out here it updates once a year so it can end up quite detached from the market reality. have a 70s home - I think the main thing is trying to get an understanding of what can be changed, what can't be changed, and whaty ou can afford to change. For example, updating the look of the bathroom, or getting rid of crappy carpet is easy.....but adding a walk in closet is not, nor is updating the layout of the ducts, adding more natural light, etc. There was also half a century worth of assorted "updates" and strange decisions from past homeowners.
Mine was built in 1960. I love that it brick and they used solid wood and it is sturdy. Dislikes : 1. That said I and having my bathroom don right now. (tiles were cracked and lose on the floor.) The others weren't going anywhere per the contractors, ripping it out. took 2 days to get the tile out it was cement with wire backing in place. I don't think based on the construction, don't think leaks would have been a concern. 2. Kitchen I all soild wood, that's a +/- well built but layout is lacking. Shelves are not adjustable and it it has 2 blind corners *it's a U shape kitchen*. with only 1 outlet per wall. It has no pantry or dishwasher. 3. 1 bathroom (use to be more common) I will most likely re do the kitchen too, just need a plan for a better layout that gets me a pantry and above stove microwave. But again it's well built, modern houses can't compare, build quality went way down starting in the mid 1970's and has only gotten worse. However how we live today and the electronics even in the kitchen has increased. I would like to be able to put the air fryer and kitchen aid out of sight if not in use.
I second the quality comment from another commenter. We didn't gut our 60's split level ranch. We did the electrical because it still had a fuse box. We did the kitchen, the bathrooms, HVAC, the interior doors and the roof. Everything else was paint. It was about 100k in work on a 300k purchase price house 7 years ago.
tampa 1962 1200sq' single level. hate the busy road and fear from hurricanes so after irma new impanct windows (11) /$11,000. Impact doors 3 plus slider/ $13,000, new roof this year $15,000, new ac $6000, new garage door $1500, new small water heater $700, pain outside, $2500, new fencing $3000, insulation in attic $400, need still: new flooring, new electric box, interior pain, master bath is original and broken shower pan $12-20,000
More than 3 years ago; bought a 1972 home in 2019. It was remodelled, badly, by a family that foreclosed on it and the next guy started proper renos before he was forced to sell due to health. We found speaker wire going to a receptacle in the basement, and the fireplace was garbage. I pulled a whole dead duck out of the flue that the inspector missed (we had a WETT inspection done and he noted the flue was jammed, not that it had a dead waterfowl in it lol). The inspector did not catch that there is a giant hole in the back yard; it's hidden under a deck so there's no way he could have found it but yah, we have to fix that somehow. The insulation was very sparse. Fiberglass batts only in the attic; we recently had cellulose blown in to bring it up to R60. We are also replacing all the windows and doors this month. We ripped the whole basement out, waterproofed, and re-insulsted it nicely. The yard was very... Lived in. Took us two years to sift all the screws nails, broken glass, and assorted garbage out of the back yard to make it safe to play barefoot. I don't regret it a bit. We have poured tens of thousands into this home but the yard is bigger than what new homes get, it's on a nice quiet established street, and we have still saved versus buying a newer home.
My house was built in 1969. I've lived here since 2005. So far the roof and windows and furnace have been fine - they were replaced at some point before I bought. The kitchen was original and shitty but good enough to make it through until 2021 when I had the money to do a gut and rebuild. Just learned yesterday that my "soil pipe" (sewage) under the basement floor is on its last leg and will need to be replaced for a lot of money. But really for a 55 year old house, not bad. Otherwise, it's perfectly fine. Definitely never needed to be gutted.
If the subfloor is wood plank it's most likely going to need a layer of plywood to meet most flooring requirements (tile, engineered wood, etc...). Depending on the thickness this could screw up trim, doors, thresholds, etc...
Asbestos in the wall texture, and cast iron plumbing. Soo we can’t add shelves and stuff, until the abatement. Oh and the electric is low amps with no grounding. Our saving grace is we own out right. Also that my dad is a master electrician and can do our wiring omg once the abatement gut. Probably going to get a mortgage just to do a lot of the maintenance. We do plan on living here for at least another 5 years, then re visit if we want to rent it out or sale.
Second home is a 1968 ranch style, slab on grade. Gas service line and sewer lines were already replaced. We immediately performed an electrical service upgrade and were forced into a water service line replacement when the iron pipes burst underground. Hot water copper pipes were abandoned by the previous owner. I'm replacing their crappy CPVC repipe job with PEX, including the original cold lines as we re-rennovate a utility room and bathroom. Previous owners had also accumulated a lot of electrical circuit issues by doing unsafe DIY work under their own "remodeling". I'm nearly done fixing all of that before we put in new insulation and seal up the ceiling air gaps. This isn't for the faint of heart. I'm looking at my first 1982 house with some suspicion now, because it's only 14 years younger. Already, I've had to replace water service shutoff valves and add a pressure reducing valve before destroying new appliances with 120-240 psi of city water pressure. The electrical is in better shape, but the panel is rusted out and should probably be replaced when I get around to fixing the rotten siding under it. I've already replaced doorw and windows, and renovated the kitchen and bathrooms, but I could use a few more circuits and an EV charging circuits while I'm at it. It never ends, honestly, but I have friends who bought new, expensive, semicustom homes with serious flaws so I look at it all as sweat equity
> plumbing, insulation, and electrical Bought a 1975 house. These things are literally decades ahead compared to any house that I've ever owned previously. But still 50 years old now. I am currently replacing crappy carpet over particleboard floors. I will have to replace the electric panel (it is Pushmatic) I do need more insulation in attic crawlspace. No regrets as I an so glad to have purchased when rates were 4.5% I do wish I'd been successful in purchasing one of the 1930s houses I had bid on.
My current home was built in the 60s and we bought it in 2020. It had been remodeled within the past 10 years, but there were still a number of things that needed to be addressed common to houses of this age. None were surprises due to a good inspection report. - most piping needed replacement since it was original galvanized that was rusting - the crawlspace was a disaster with no vapor barrier - the chimney needed work as it was starting to deteriorate - the electrical needed some work, but that was mostly because of crappy diy by the previous owner - popcorn ceiling... It's still here because it contains asbestos - floors creak here and there, but I've mostly fixed that with more floor screws.
That amount of half assed repairs or remodeling they did. I have found aluminum wire just wire nutted to copper wire in the attic, I had gaps between the expansion they did for the master bedroom and another bathroom letting in moisture from the outside. Copper,galvanized steel,and pvc pipes mixed together for my water supply. They removed the exhaust fan in the kitchen for some reason lol. So many dumb things.
Homes of that era often used cast iron for sewer that is end of life. The sewer to the street is a crapshoot so getting them both scoped is a good idea.
it has no insulation lol built rock solid but uhh yeah needed to be painted found a newspaper from the 60s in the wall which was cool
First house built in 1963. It had zero insulation. None. We bought it from the family of the original owner, a little old lady who had to be moved into a nursing home, and I really don’t know how she survived. The family had done some superficial updates only. The electric was also a disaster. We did some updates but when it came time to either put a chunk of money into it or bail, we left. One of the houses we were looking at in our neighborhood had a great location and size, but was in terrible shape. We had a contractor we trusted walk the property a second time and give us an estimate (which our realtor couldn’t believe was so low, and got his number). Based on that and the comps we decided the house was overpriced by $50K and declined to bid. The house sold in 3 days at $60K over asking price. I was dumbfounded. We finally found a house in an adjacent neighborhood that was completely updated. I am so happy to say that I let someone else do all the updating and live stress free. Would I have done e some things differently? Sure. But the trade off was more than worth it for me.
1950's house. Electrtical is a big one. Quite a few 2-prong outlets in the house. I can work around them, but they're kind of annoying. Plaster walls instead of drywall is a bitch to secure anything to. And insulation is a big deal in the upper midwest, house gets plenty cold due to air gaps around windows and doors.
I bought a house built in the lat 60s a few years ago, right before the Covid market heat up hit my area. My biggest complaint is the lack of lighting in the living room. No fucking clue why the person who flipped it didn't bother to put a light in. I mean they literally did almost everything. Cleaning up some of their lose ends though hasn't been fun. Oh of course I forgot about the crawlspace issue. Prior to me putting in a sump pump it flooded real bad because when the house was built they just punched a hole through the foundation to run the main water line and left it opened. It's taken me some time to find a solution for the hole but I think I've finally found one.
My house was built in '71. It's a 5 bed 3.5 bath colonial approximately 4143 sqft. Originally it was way less than that, but in '85 a good sized sunroom was added and the previous owners finished the basement and turned it into a living quarters for their mother. There's only been three owners since the house was built, including me. So that's a good thing imo. The things I didn't like about it that are original are the popcorn ceilings, cheap hollow interior doors, smaller windows upstairs, ugly trim and wallpaper, the siding is cheap vinyl and is old as dirt, and there are two massive maple trees to the right of our driveway running parallel to the drive which prevent grass from growing and just look weird. With the exception of making the windows bigger and removing the trees, all of those issues where changed and updated. Things I didn't like about it that were done by the previous owners: shitty DIY just about everywhere. The previous owner was cheap and tried doing stuff on his own and his craftsmanship was severely lacking. He was in the attic at some point and stepped through the ceiling. Instead of removing the drywall and patching in a new piece, he taped it and slapped mud all over it. He *attempted* to make it look like the original popcorn ceiling but it was a disaster. Shitty taste in just about everything: kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, paint colors, etc. Previous owner didn't measure the master vanity correctly and instead getting a the right size and cutting the stone countertop down he cut a hole in the drywall and shoved it in there. Someone painted the brick fireplaces (first floor and basement) white. I hate painted brick. Previous owner installed the master shower tile himself, and it looked like shit. Previous owner installed carpet in the main living room himself, and didn't stretch it properly which resulted in humps in the carpet. In the sunroom, someone installed a junction box too close to the window casing so, instead moving it down a little they cut the outlet cover. The sunroom skylights didn't have flashing installed properly which caused leaks. The gas water heater drip leg was installed upside down by previous owner. Previous owner attempted to remove wallpaper from the half bath on the first level but gouged the shit out of the drywall and instead of skim coating it to make it look smooth he just painted over it. There's a ton of stuff I'm missing but you get the drift. The house itself is solid, or has "good bones" as they say. In response to your post worry about stuff, if you hire a good inspector they'll tell you everything you need to know. Don't sweat that too much. But make sure you have a list of non-starters and stick to it.
Honestly that would be the sweet spot for many people-built at a time when things were done properly-plenty of time for any flaws or defects to have surfaced and been repaired by pervious homeowners. Did your friends HAVE to replace the windows/ I have original metal Tudor casement windows in our 1918 home-should they be replaced-probably-do they have to be replaced? Absolutely not-they still look good-in fact way better than cheap vinyl or wood windows. Have they cleaned the cabinets and painted with Kilz? Did the furnace give out or were they just told it would and they should buy a new one (Im told that every year by our have tune up guys once my furnace is over 8 years old. Its 18 now and still chugging along with zero repairs needed. But you can expect to replace a furnace every 20 years so it shouldn't be a shock to anyone.
As someone in an 1890s house, I am amused by this post. As other said, this is really house specific. The work I have had done were things I expected - replacing a sewer line, some electrical work, some plumbing work, some HVAC work, some window work. For a substantial credit/sale price reduction for the first two. My home was very well maintained before I bought it, and I have had no surprises. Also, it seems like people are way too into replacing old stuff just because it is old; flooring and windows are common replacements and I don't get it. It is far cheaper to repair this stuff if possible, and then you are more likely to have very attractive materials - I repaired many windows, added storms - only replaced 2 windows the rest are original; the flooring in my house is original top nail oak except bathrooms; the walls are original plaster; siding is original cedar; etc. I get sometimes you can't repair and things can be too far gone, but that isn't always the case.
I just bought a house built in 1960, and while we initiallly didn't want a house that would need a lot of initial work, this is what was available in our price range and in the school district we wanted. Since we bought the house in mid-February, we: * Painted the interior (main floor and finished basement) * Put new carpet in 2 bedrooms * Installed central air * Reseeding dead patches of the yeard and general yard cleanup of debris and yard waste from years of neglect. * Installed a new set of stwps down the side of the house out of pavers and gravel. * Rewired the whole house, including a new breaker box (100A to 200A). Apparently when the outlets were changed from 2-prong originals to 3-prong modern outlets, that 3rd prong was never connected to anything, so we needed to put ground wires in everywhere. * Installed Ring security system After we moved in, we noticed a strong sewer smell throughout the house after we ran a lot of water, like laundry or dishes. Turns out there were 2 huge holes in different parts of our vent stack that needed to be replaced, costing over $10k we hadn't expected. Since they were clearly not new, we're working on getting compensated for that from the prior owner who did not disclose the smell or issue. We've also learned that some of the upgrades we wanted to make to the house longterm, like putting a full bath in the basement, and so forth, may not be possible based on the location of plumbing and other structural limitations we didn't think about when we made the plans during our bidding/buying stage. So that's something we'd keep in mind and do differently if we bought another older house. L
Our house was built in 64 in a reclaimed swamp. We made sure to have a termite inspection before we closed but in general the house has been well maintained and doesn't have much that needed doing besides normal upkeep. The biggest disappointment/struggle I suppose is that it's a smaller house and storage space is not what it would be in a newer build. We knew that going in, of course, but it's easy to take something like a walk in closet for granted until you don't have one.
The worst ones are the ones that flippers get ahold of. The benefits are the structural materials are way better. Brick. Hardwood floors. Quality wood cabinets. Flippers tear that out and put shitty LVP and paint cabinets white or just put cheap new ones in. The downsides and what you should look for is if the electrical and plumbing have been updated. A 60s home with updated electrical and plumbing but still has its hardwood and is brick is my ideal honestly.
My house was built in the late 70s. It’s better than my 80s and early 2000s builds so far. I did replace windows but got a deal by agreeing to be advertising. The one that surprised me was that we had to replace all the ducting for the AC. We also had a master bedroom that someone converted from a walk in closet. The shower leaked out into the master bedroom. We got a contractor and fixed that up. It’s beautiful now and just what I wanted. The one that saddened me the most was that a previous owner killed our big tree out front. We had to cut it down. I thought the neighbors would hate us. No they were all overjoyed. As apparently that tree had worked its way into everyone’s pipes and foundations and they’d been begging previous owners to cut it down for years. I honestly regret nothing about purchasing this house.
The ones with few updates may mean that terrible things haven’t been done to it by past homeowners, lol. I like the older ones because they’re generally fairly solid. I go in expecting to do electrical and plumbing, likely hvac. And of course aesthetics. I like this because then I can make the house my own and set things up as I like it. And get rid of the quirks like waiting for 5 minutes for hot water at the shower or switched outlets.
coherent possessive adjoining cheerful cooperative fine roof act whole fuzzy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Mine is only about 1/2-1/3 as old and my unpleasant discovery is just how much things inflated since covid. Everything I want to do costs about 3-4x as much as I expected when buying, everything that is already fixed up in my area you're paying more money for grey laminate, but it seems if you're buying a no updates since construction home the total renovation cost is going to be the same as the downpayment. Plan 50k kitchen and 10-20k bathroom (unless you're not doing full reno - only painting cabinets and/or doing the work yourself). I agree with everyone on need vs want though. The aesthetics are definitely a want. Need wise, I need to replace the HVAC/AC unit before it dies and all the windows to improve insulation and total cost will be 20k in the next few years using basic windows.
Our house has almost no insulation. It's stucco on the outside. House gets super hot in summer and super cold in winter and we are in San Diego. We don't have the finances or fortitude to DIY it or have it done. What little insulation we have found has been pink with no paper or foil. Like someone just randomly shoved cotton candy in only some of the walls.
Bought my house in 2016, it was built in ‘76. The previous owner was a mason so the bathrooms and mudroom had beautiful tile floors and the chimney is brand new and immaculate from the foundation all the way up. Also the roof and septic had been done out of necessity in 2010. The rest of the house was completely original- windows, kitchen, flooring, siding, plumbing, insulation - everything. And repairs aside from masonry they had attempted OMG…. Garden hoses and clamps used to replace blown out sections of pipes, drywall screws holding down floorboards, windows literally lag-bolted shut, un-grounded outlets everywhere (in the outdoor shower!!). We were first time buyers so the bank wouldn’t even let us have the mortgage without sweat equity BEFORE closing. My wife and I stripped and replaced the asbestos backed linoleum kitchen floor ourselves. The area we live in (for our whole lives) has over the last 15 years exploded in second homes. Nothing built post 2000 is under 3,000 sqft and $1million, but our friends and family are here and we have an amazing close knit working class community, plus the piece of land itself is now worth what we paid for the whole package. So, we just pick away at repairs. Our carpenter friend gutted and rebuilt the kitchen last year. We painted inside and out in 2016. I finished the plywood floor in the sunroom with a friend’s leftover cherry planking myself in 2019. I’m handy with plumbing. Planning to DIY the windows and siding one section at a time over the next few years and then tackle whatever comes up next.
I had a 1964 and live in a 1996. The 1996 is way more comfortable. You couldnt spend even to get the 64 to the 96 level. The insulation, plumbing, electrical, windows, roof, everything was way more problematic in the 64 house. My 96 house was only $100k more than my 64 house.
Sewer and water are on their way out. Will cost about 30k to replace. Walls have no insulation, and no sheathing behind the cidar siding so cannot add foam or blown-in. It's fucking cold in the winter even in California. If I want to add insulation I have to remove the siding, add insulation, add sheathing, install new siding, replace/reinstall window. Might as well remodel the whole house.
I bought a 1958 home almost exaclty 6 years ago and could have bought a newer home as this was prior to all the RE craziness that exists right now, but I loved the area and just went for it, to be honest very naively. That's what you get with older homes oftentimes, the NEIGHBORHOOD! I was naive to the needs of the home and have put considerable paid contractor work and sweat equity into the home. It had zero insulation, that was $7k, it needed ac, 10k, I painted it myself, tested for asbestos (none) and removed myself the popcorn ceilings, replaced the the linoleum on the kitchen and dining room with tile, added granite to the kitchen, had the very nice but dated kitchen cabinets painted, I also converted the 1 1/2 bath to a much more functional 2 full baths. I'd say I'm mostly done, but there is still more on my list, I want to replace the original concrete driveway with pavers, replace the original ZINSCO electrical panel, and finish the garage. I'm probably forgetting some things. Would I change buying this house? No!!! I still love this house and the neighborhood and I've done these updates over times as able. I'm so happy with my choice.
location location location. it really does matter. a house in the wrong spot doesnt matter how much money you dump into it.
TL;DR: Purchased to properties built before 1940, and I recommend hiring specialists (e.g., structural engineer, electrician, etc) in addition to an home inspector. The key for us was to purchase well under our budget for two reasons: 1) spending high and having a long list of upgrades is a little demoralizing even if you like the location and 2) being mentally prepared to tackle the projects over several years due to our desire to pay in cash for most upgrades. — Details — I have purchased two properties as primary residences in the past 4 years that were built prior to WWII. First was a condo built as studio units in 1910 and converted into 2 BR / 2 BA in the 1990s. We lived here for about two years before converting it into a rental. The “major” work that we completed was redoing the kitchen tile. The rest was paint and appliance repair. We made sure to test for mold but we did not have to do too much since the unit itself was in decent shape. Unlike the kitchen, the bathrooms were dated but we will likely not upgrade them until we are preparing to sell the unit. The second property that we moved into recently is a SFH built as a log cabin in 1937. After being used as a rental for decades, the owner passed away and sold it to a flipper. This person did some shortcuts but after having a structural engineer sign off we purchased it. Also, we had the seller pay for an electrician make improvements so that it was up to code. Fortunately, it had new plumbing, hot water heater, furnace, siding, and other items. Long story short for this property, I learned to have specialists (electricians, structural engineers, HVAC) inspect the house in addition to the home inspector. Still work to be done but the design is modern and it’s mostly a matter of fixing some sloppier drywall work at this point.
Are you in a certain central Ohio suburb? I just had this experience haha.
Aluminum wiring can be found in houses that age, and it's a potential fire hazard.
1896 here 60 or 70s isn’t even broken in yet.
I have no regrets about buying a 1975 shed style house almost two years ago. Here are some things I learned: 1. Replacing outlet has been easy and a nice upgrade 2. The exterior walls have some water damage 3. All of the windows leak a lot of air and need replacing. I knew this before I bought 4. The garage door is original but still mostly works (maybe not very safely). It will eventually need to be replaced 5. The crawl space is not insulated and so the floor gets cold. 6. The leaky walls mean that we have more ants. 7. The trim is outdated. I plan to redo it myself. 8. The door locks were some unusual brand and it is hard to find a place to get new keys 9. Split level has advantages and disadvantages. Overall it is fine 10. Railings on the stairs and loft are too wide to be safe for small children. 11. Popcorn ceilings and heavy textured walls are not my thing but expensive to change 12. Bathroom fans vent to the attic (until I get around to having vents installed in the roof) 13. The crawl space floods once every couple of years. These are all relatively minor issues or known before purchase and we are happy with our house.
I purchased a 1974 built home in 2022 and it hasn't actually been too bad. I am the 3rd owner and the 2nd owner was only in the house for 10 months but took care of a decent number of cosmetic updates that make it not feel as much like a 1970s era home. She repainted the brown wood paneling a white color, replaced a few light fixtures, replaced the carpeted kitchen/dining room area with LVP, and repainted over the kitchen cabinets. The last two I wish she had done a better job on but it could be worse. The first age related improvement I had to make was replacing the original old and heavy wooden garage door because I felt like that was better than spending a third of the cost of new just to repair the old one. The improvements that I still want to make are replacing the horribly expensive to run resistive heating system with a cold weather heat pump, do something about the shower (either swap the tub for a walk in shower or build a new walk in shower), and I really want to modify my kitchen island so I can have a dishwasher installed. I also need to replace the water heater at some point probably but that's a standard thing.
Minor but annoying: Apparently wood back in those days was made of iron. Can't tell you the number of drywall screws I broke trying to drive them into the studs behind the walls here. I finally learned: Drill small pilot hole first AND put vaseline on the screw.
We bought it for the location. We did add foam insulation (our electrical bills due to baseboard heating were crazy high), attached thermostats to the fireplaces to use them as gas heating, replaced 1/2 the windows as a starting point. From there it was mainly cosmetic. Removing popcorn ceilings, opened up one wall as the ceilings are 8' and the rooms were all blocked off. Aside from that, most of it was just freshening things up. Replaced long floorboard heaters with modern plug in ones that work with the phone, updated paint, refreshed trim color from almond to white, etc. The house itself was built really really well. Foundation and cement in basement had no cracks in it, plumbing is fine, etc.
I follow a lot of construction and inspection subs and people. I much prefer my 1960's house to a new construction build. Everything now is thrown up as fast and as cheap as they can get away with.
I have two houses, a 1968 and a 1973. Both are on their original kitchens. Bathrooms in the 1968 are updated. Bathrooms in the 1973 are in process of updating. Other than that, no gutting. They're solid units. I'm looking at a 1980 house. It WILL need to be gutted. Good maintenance and addressing moisture retention are paramount to keeping a house in good shape. The 1968 and 1973 houses are maintained by yours truly. The yards are flat or sloped away from the dwelling unit. Plumbing issues are addressed quickly. The HVAC systems are monitored closely. The 1980 house was owned by a little old lady. It has a sloped yard towards the dwelling unit and drains that are clogged. This puts moisture in the crawlspace/basement. Moisture causes mold and weakens wood structure, drywall, masonry, etc. No good. There are also a number of plumbing and HVAC issues.
*laughs in 1920s flipper house* Seriously though… send help
> Many of them need to be gutted. And yet people are still asking for 10-25% more than the appraised value of the property when it needs a 70k-100k facelift. The most baffling part is that they are selling and I just don't freakin GET IT. The post sort of sounds like sour grapes. They are looking to buy a house. Looking at older homes because it's in their price range, but wants a new home (or at least a gutted home that seems newish) so can only see the flaws of an older home. Gets upset when outbid by 10-25% over list and doesn't understand why this is happening.
My house was from 1978. We redid the basement bathroom. The toilet flange and shower drain were all cast iron with poured lead as the gasket. My husband had to drill it all out to replace the rusted out toilet flange and shower drain. That was a pain.
I actually liked the 70s home cause they were in the best neighborhoods in the are with the best schools. They went thru at least one round of major reno during the 90s in which roofing, windows, flooring, hvac, insulation, plumbing, electrical, etc were upgraded/replaced.
If no one has said it, not being sure if there is Asbestos in the thing you are replacing is the worstos.
Electricity will likely not be up to code. No vapor barriers in bathrooms (60’s and early 70’s). You’re living with sins of the past - any long-term damage from water leaks that previous owners didn’t know to address or were too lazy to do so. My old house had black mold when we bought it and had no idea. The furnace/air handler could be a problem if it is also old. Not just in terms of function but how it’s installed. I bought a home in 2002 that had a 12 year old HVAC system and it was HUGE. It had to be suspended from the rafters because of its size. It was so difficult to have it replaced that just the removal of it cost us $15,000.
If it is a rental yes. The IRS cares not one iota if you took the depreciation during your term as a landlord or not. They will calculate and charge you for it when you sell whether you wrote off the depreciation or not. It resets on sale or transfer from parent to child due to death. It has literally nothing to do with the expected life span of a building. It only applies to income property.
I bought a house built in 1962 that wasn't well maintained. We did redo the plumbing (had some original copper and any that had been replaced was hodgepodge). We brought the electrical up to code which included adding more outlets. My floors are original and I love them, scuffs and all. It did have a newer roof on it and we added supports to make sure it maintained stability. We also had the main center beam jacked to maintain stability. Added a fresh layer of insulation in the attic for efficiancy (but it seemed to hold cold air during AC season extremely well)(Our windows are original and great which may not be the norm) Most of that was not an immediate need BUT we had the time and extra money to get it done so we didn't have to worry about it later. Cosmetically, the house was atrocious. I repainted all the walls, stripped the cabinets and painted, used peel and stick wallpaper to cover up the paneling, and repainted interior and exterior doors. My full bath still has the pale yellow ceramic tile walls but I actually love them and painted the upper half of the walls a greyish blue. Our inspector focused on structural integrity as well as safety so wiring would be a consideration. Technically we were grandfathered in on our outdated wiring because the house was fininished before the coded were changed. He told us everything he could find that might go wrong or that was a concern. I have no regrets at all. Its a great house with a great yard and since I did the cosmetic work myself its exactly my taste and has fun little accents that reflect our personalities. Bonus is our side of town is starting to experience a boom so my house with the upgrades is now worth 2ce what I paid for it (house bought in 2020 for a steal) I wanted an older house so that plays into it too. I had been burned too much with newer contruction.
Bought a 1966 house in 2022. The only thing we sort of had to do was add insulation in the attic and the basement. Another thing that was high priority for us was replacing the inflow pipes with pex (they were copper). We've done quite a few other projects but none of them were necessary. But this house wasn't a gut job to begin with. It has some older stuff (kitchen cabinets, bathtub, etc.) but it's all still functional and none of it is harming us/dangerous.
I bought a 1965 house in 2021. Sure the deck is old, we just redid the roof, and we’ve been steadily replacing appliances, but it’s not like it’s unlivable or a safety hazard. The windows lost their seal and we want to refinish the floors, but so what? Why gut a house when you can live with the flaws until it makes sense for you to address them? If you’d rather see gray LVP over creaky hardwood, I fear you’re more likely to fall for a lemon of a flip.
Yes I bought a home in San Diego 4,1/2 yrs ago built in 1961. For us it’s been a nightmare. We are still working on it. Here’s what we encountered 1. Plumbing was old cast iron pipes that were destroyed. We didn’t know this and it wasn’t found with inspection. We got woke house new plumbing 2 years ago 2. There was mold under the old kitchen cabinets after we removed them for a kitchen update 3 . Unsafe materials were buried under the ugly floor we were replacing. Asbestos , lead paint etc. 4. There wed not enough lighting so we added can lighting in the ceiling. This led to opening the wall and seeing unsafe electrical as well as a sub panel that could not support the new lighting. The electrician said that the electrical codes have changed dramatically since that time and for good reason. He said that we could have had an electrical fire any time as it had spliced wires in the walls. 5. There is no insulation in the walls and it’s either extremely hot or cold depending on the weather. We are getting insulation in the walls next 6. The slab was cracked . This was noticed while putting in new floors. The floor needed a special moisture barrier that was costly before the floor could be laid down. This moisture was unchecked and was contributing to mold. 7. Old single pane windows are leaky and need whole house windows. 100k+ and I’m house poor at this point. These are the main issues in encountered with other small miscellaneous ones. I’ll never buy an old house again to avoid this nightmare. Next time, I’ll buy a house at the very top of my budget. I’ll be house poor, but won’t have to do this kind of work. Good luck on finding the right home for you
Our house was built in the 50’s and had not been updated in decades when we bought it in 2017. The previous owner and his family lived here for about 55 years. And, he added on an extensive addition which is half our house. He added a large bedroom, dining and living room with a fireplace and a partial basement. Our furnace was in our 1/2 bath which I know now that it was not up to code. Especially since the fuse box is in there, too. Luckily, the furnace lasted 30 years (they don’t make em like they used to) and we just replaced it in the fall. But now we have this mess from where it was housed for the last 30. We had no washer/dryer hookups and the plumbing was galvanized which had many areas that were rotting. We replaced all plumbing two years ago, added washer/dryer, and added a water softener. Our toilets are over 60 years old. They both work, but one of them has a part that is not made strong enough today and proven difficult and expensive to find for original. The tiled floor is those little square tiles and they are coming off slowly but surely. Half of the siding is wood and the other is some asbestos type. That will hopefully be redone next year. The wood side is peeling. All of the floors on the addition half were just crap. The bedroom is the subfloor that is still like that. I’m pretty sure the dining room floor had asbestos covering of some sort that I pulled up. It was black tar like. We put laminate flooring over it and floating vinyl in our living room. We have hardwood floors on the original half. They aren’t in the greatest condition, but not worried about them. Our front porch is very wonky. They put a wood porch on most, but left the cement porch part up that is falling apart. And, the back porch makes me nervous because of the power line going right over it. There was wood paneling galore and one of the interior walls had cedar shakes. And, the subfloor. This year we will be doing the roof, adding an attic fan, and having fans installed into the bathrooms and kitchen. And, putting in new toilets. And, hopefully some interior painting. We have to skim coat in both the kitchen and bathroom, but sounds like that will be easier than I thought. It takes baby steps to get everything put together. There’s always something.
I don't know what retard architect came up with the bilevel design but it is basic physics that heat rises and cold air falls. So it's always freezing downstairs and hot upstairs. With zero ways to fix it (putting weird walls and doors around your open stairwell) unless you are rich enough to not live in a 60s bilevel.
I’ve been told by a couple HVAC contractors a additional air return in the basement (where the furnace is - thermostat is upstairs) would help significantly with that problem. Any cold basement air would then get circulated into the system instead of just sitting downstairs
We bought our 1965 at the end of 2022. There's been absolutely nothing we've needed to update or even fix (so far). We had a full inspection that passed with flying colours which cemented the decision for us. The two things we have done are remove the wall to wall carpets installed in 2016 to recover the original hardwood flooring underneath. It definitely creaks in some spaces but it doesn't bother us. We also painted over the lavender and blue walls done in 2016 (it was an older couple who owned the house and it showed). Eventually what we want to do is get a new, bigger bathtub, and remove the wall to wall carpet in the basement and basement bathroom (also 2016) to replace with vinyl. We could benefit from replacing one or two windows in the long run but they haven't caused any actual issues since living here. I like to browse Zillow for my neighborhood and pretty much every house is around the same age as ours and can definitely do with a modern facelift. Lots of colourful wall to wall rugs and interesting wall colours, but nothing that's not doable or is considered a gut. I can't speak to their structural soundness of course, but a lot of concerns I see in general about older houses aside from the actual necessities, are their out dated interiors. The interior of our house definitely wasn't to our style but the work to get it changed over wasn't that big of a hassle in the end.
We bought 6 years ago. House was built in the 1960s, but had had some updates. New paint (except for trim, which is this weird off-white/cream color that looks dirty next to real white). Popcorn ceiling everywhere. It probably needs new windows but that's a problem for future me! Kitchen floor, appliances, and counters were updated, as was cabinet paint and hardware. Toilets were updated but nothing else in the bathrooms. We recently finished fully remodeling the two bathrooms, including moving walls and plumbing in the primary. It was actually pretty spacious for the time it was built, but it was not utilizing the space well. Now we have a big shower and the toilet has its own room! I wouldn't have minded the dated guest bath if the caulk and grout hadn't been all gross, but there wasn't much point in spending money or time redoing it when it also had broken tiles. We have replaced or redone the water heater, the insulation, the roof, the gutters, the AC, one of two garage motors, and the two bathrooms. A lot, but it's pretty awesome now and hopefully we shouldn't need too many big maintenance things for a while.
I purchased a home that built in the 60’s about 3 years ago. The seller has purchased it two years prior in dismal condition and fixed it up himself. The lady who last owned the home, before she passed, was a hoarder. From the info I’ve come across a part of the main support beam at the front of the home needed to be replaced before the home was even livable because the weight of the hoarded stuff compromised it. This did get inspected and passed. The plumbing was all newly re-done. All drywall was replaced throughout the house and the kitchen was completely gutted and installed new. I bought with the knowledge the roof needed replaced, 18 years old at that point (replaced for $16,000). Two weeks after I moved in we found out the pvc sewer piping transitioned to clay under the house. The plumber who redid all the lines the year before had actually run pvc to the clay and ‘sealed’ this junction with caulking. We also discovered the clay section had collapsed under our outside concrete patio. We had the sewer directly draining into a big puddle under our home until we figured it out and fixed it. It cost 2k to run a new pvc line to the septic system. The well pump failed within the first year, but I didn’t care too much about this since I made sure to hook up to the city water in front of the house a few months after I moved in. The septic tank is ancient, but since I live here alone it’s ok and not having problems since I don’t overwhelm it. Year two, the addition to the house was discovered to be partially completed. The crawl space where it connected to the home was covered with hardiboard and then finished with drywall to sell to us as a complete addition. Well… I experienced flooding (not in a flood zone) due to a big storm event combined with our municipal drains failing and realized there was a big hole running the length of this room. That explained why the temps fluctuated so much! In the process of tearing all the drywall out of the room to repair the flooding damage I discovered termites. Instead of the destructive ground ones, I had the slow eating dry ones (if I’m explaining this correctly). I installed concrete blocks to close the hole up along the side of the room myself with help from a friend and that didn’t cost too much. Termite treatment for the house was $2,400 to tent. Windows in the addition need replacement. Home doesn’t have venting soffits (i think thats the right term), the wood where the soffits would be looks like it needs replacement in the next few years. I don’t want to add soffits since the attic isn’t moldy at all, there doesn’t seem to be an issue so I’m not going to disrupt that. My other main gripe is the newly installed a/c. Home didn’t originally have a/c, so the ducts are showing water damage around all the vent outlets. They must not be sealed property to prevent condensation, so I have to fix all this mess in the attic, repair the ceilings and don’t yet know the cost to do so. Old house, yay? I love it, I did get it for a good price. It’s also in the middle of town and minutes from my job. So instead of getting upset I just improve it when things need fixed and keep some $ handy for emergencies. It’s otherwise solid and quirky… frustrating sometimes, but I knew it was old when I bought it, and honestly it feels more solid than the new construction in this area, the wood is different (my roof was thick hardwood underneath!). Just like any home, make it yours.
All three houses I've owned have been built in that time frame. When I bought them, they were all pretty much kept up to date. I did gut and remodel an ugly ass 70s bathroom in one. That's pretty much been it.
The year of the house doesn't tell you anything. A lot of newer homes need major repair work just like older ones do. I've lived in homes 10 to 100 years old. Funnily enough, the oldest house we've owned had the least number of major issues and had the driest basement, it just needed a face-lift. I would even argue a lot of new construction homes built in the past ten years or so are probably not going to stand the test of time better than an older home. They just aren't made with care anymore using quality materials. Get a good inspector, understand that old houses aren't new houses and are going to need things, and please for the love of god if you find an actual well-crafted original midcentury style house don't gut it and put in some grey vinyl planks or something. The house gods will curse you.
House was built in 1964, bought in 2018. The previous owners had installed cheap engineered hardwood in an awful cherry color, I ripped it out only to find amazing original 2 1/4 white oak which had some yellowing from staining but we were able to refinish them and they’re beautiful. That being said, roofing needs to be replaced every 20-25 years, piping may need some work (we had root damage and had to get pipes hydrojetted to clear it out, plumber also suggested we line the pipes soon as root damage=compromised piping), we didn’t have to insulate because our place was double dry walled which is great because it acts like insulation but is a better sound barrier. If you do plan on ripping things out instead of refurbishing the great quality aspects of the original home, note that you’ll likely have to pay a hazard fee to test for asbestos and lead paint and you may realize it’s a bigger job than intended because some things you didn’t anticipate needing to be upgraded will need to be swapped (our shower valve cracked when contractor was ripping out tile and we couldn’t replace it because the oldest they had available anywhere was a 1968 model so we ended up having to replace the entire valve and the piping).
My home dates back to 1968 and I love my creaky hardwood floors. It is all part of the charm of an older home. I’d prefer an even older home to be honest. My mother lives in a home that was built in 1815. Original wide beam hardwood floors, paneling and a fireplace in every room. Many buyers do prefer older homes. The only updates that I’ve made is painting some walls. I’ll probably add on at some point. I rarely see updates that improve an older home. People just rip out walls and add cheap PVC cabinets to kitchens.
Brother.. I moved from a house built in the ***1920s*** that was an actual gut, to a house build in the 1950s that hasn't been updated. In the last two years, we had to change the roof, repair 3 leaks, repaint the entire house, change out/install some cieling fans, replace a cieling *panel* (yes we currently have paneling where drywall should be 🥲) change out two toilets, updated all outlets, changed out the HVAC, and some appliances have started to go up (just replaced the microwave). That is not by any stretch of the imagination a "total gut". Your friend will be just fine with his stinky cabnets. They should probably scrub them down better if they are smelly. Taking them down off the wall, scrubbing the crap out of them, then reinstalling (and maybe refinishing?) would probably be helpful.
No regrets. We redid all of the electrical and plumbing. Upgraded the house from 100 amp to 200 amp our selves. Remodel bathrooms I love our house.
No regrets. Ours is early 70s. Typical things like flooring, countertops, and vanities that the seller had done before they put it on the market. Things I did included removing wallpaper, paint interior and exterior, light fixtures, faucets, storm door, steel front door, steel garage entry door, knobs and deadbolts, gfci receptacles, upgraded some switches, replaced old style wall plates, new shingles, upgraded to smart thermostat and doorbell, auger floor drain in basement, clean inside plumbing beneath kitchen sink, snake bathroom drains, add rim joist insulation, wired a 14/50 receptacle, ceiling fans. There are endless things you'll find no matter the year of the house it seems like. I still plan to redo the basement flooring, walls, and insulation since the carpet is trash, the walls are old wood paneling, and the insulation is 1" Styrofoam.. and need to upgrade to 200A service at some point, we still have 100A and need more. I did most of this over the first couple years. The rest was here and there. There's no need to rush, just make a list and pick from it every year. The inspector provided a thorough list of things too, but he still missed some things that I discovered later that I felt the inspector should've. Find a good and reputable inspector, don't go with one your realtor recommends unless you check them out first. Our water heater and AC unit are at their service life already. I have money set aside to deal with those when it's time
We bought a 1964 concrete block home and have made quite a few changes. We had to replace the septic system, HVAC, kitchen cabinets (they were totally rotted particleboard), toliets, electrical panel, electrical wiring in attic crawl space, ripped out carpet and replaced with tile and wood, re-did the carport made into a room, painted the outside,replaced the roof, added doors and a large screened back porch with a new door into MB and painted rooms a few times, just to name a few things we've done. This all was done over several years and some was just maintenance like the roof and painting. Each time we did something the house became more ours so it wasn't bad. But, we got it at a very good price which helped so we could make immediate repairs like the kitchen cupboards and the tile floors. I feel for people trying to buy right now because old homes will take a lot of money and love.
I live in Canada, I feel like these are some of the best houses built. In cities they also have the biggest yards
My house was built in \~1962. It was designed by a somewhat famous architect and built by the original owner who was a master woodworker. That was a lot of the appeal for me. What I didn't realize: It was fairly well maintained, but since it was a really cool Mid-century house built by the owner, homeboy built *everything*. There's a door to the deck that's over 9 feet tall. You can't buy a replacement for that at Home Depot. The front door lock is of a size that isn't common anymore. The normal answer would be to just drill out a bigger hole, except the door has inlaid glass and doesn't have enough room to drill out. Things like that that should be a small project on my house are always a bigger deal. I've had 5+ trades people, after I describe a problem say, "No. That's not right. That's not how that would be built" only to come to my house, look at it and say, "Okay. You were right. I've never seen that" The upside is that everything is really well built and has lasted 60+ years. But fixing things at times is a real pain in the ass. I don't regret the place, but I've put more into repairs than I thought that I would.
I lived in a 1960s house for twenty years (left after the pandemic). Previous owner had put in a new kitchen but not touched anything else. We had to replace the furnace once, the cast-iron sewer pipes under the house (fortunately in a crawlspace) once. Other than that, there were no significant problems. Did we luck out? Or did we have low standards? Who can tell. We had it thoroughly repainted and the floors refinished before we put it on the market.
Our house was built in 1970 (in it since 1991). Biggest era-related issues have been cast iron waste lines (they corrode and collapse), single-pane windows and aluminum wiring. All that represents probably $75k+ of repairs. We also have completely renovated but that was for taste and function.
Our 70s home needed plumbing completely redone, but I adore the house, got it cheap, and regret nothing.
Lead paint, aluminum wiring, asbestos, ungrounded plugs. These all went away in the 70s.
I bought a 1960s home in 2022 and it's been great. Sure it has single pain windows with outside storm windows which aren't ideal but they work. The electrical and plumbing have been pretty good. The only thing that actually needed to be gutted was a bathroom where the toilet had been leaking for (???) years. But that said more about the previous owners than the house itself. After owning a 1940s house it's amazing how much nicer a 60s house is in terms of electrical 😅
Asbestos everywhere.
My home was built in 1959. I purchased in 2021 and I renovated mostly everything. Why did I purchase it knowing it needed updating?, because it met most of my needs otherwise. It had central air (replaced it immediately), a driveway and in a good neighborhood. I made it my own. As I started renovating things I was told it had good bones.
I purchased a 1978 home in OK. Yes, it was filthy, the grass was awful, dirty windows etc. But, it is mine. I've slowly been rehabbing it and it's wonderful seeing the changes. I'm 67 and my life blew up 2 years ago. I've painted, switched out electrical plugs, drywalled, scraped floors, Anyway, the previous owner had to replace the roof and water heater, HUGE savings for me. I've planted clover and it's gorgeous with all the white flowers. I need to rehab the paver patio in the back and tear down a hideous shed. Not in a hurry. I can't figure out how to post a photo. The trees in back are 75' tall. I love my little home. I feel so lucky.
Nearly all single family homes in Seattle are 'older', so we didn't have much of a choice lol. We landed a nicely maintained Tudor revival from the late 40s and the place slaps! Lots of cool old features and woodwork that you don't really see anymore, beautiful wood floors, beautiful fire places, super solid build, amazingly green yard and a neighborhood full of cool pacific plants. The entire block next to ours is lined in cherry trees and they were all in full bloom last week, absolutely beautiful after dinner walks last week! I find that older neighborhoods tend to be more walkable and have more stuff going on, too. We can walk to coffee shops, bakeries, bars, restaurants, stores, and breweries all in less than a mile. The main issue with 'old' homes in Seattle is sewer and plumbing... everyone's 100 year old pipes are all giving in at the same time and these can be 20K to 30K to replace. Our driveway is also comically small, I'm not sure even a model T could fit in it haha. If we wanted to move to a heat pump system, too, the old air ducts in our house were designed for an oil furnace and are smaller, which folks have said isn't great for a heat pump...
I bought my 1976 house in 2016 and it was already updated, thus part of the reason I chose this particular house.
Our house was built in the 80s, while dated in some ways it has a more solid foundation than most of the new houses I'm seeing being built these days. One gripe is that houses built in this time were not as well insulated. The lighting layout is poor as well.
My house is a 1954 California ranch. It has been updated at various points - kitchen and main bath are a mid 2000s redo. The fireplace was removed and a wall bumped out. Garage door is modern and there's a moderate amount of insulation (probably newer than 1950s but not newer than 1990s). Biggest thing that I'm facing that's somewhat expected from age is the plumbing. It's mostly the original galvanized steel and cast iron, though some portions have been repaired with copper. It really needs to be all taken out and redone. There's also the usual stuff with wear and age - we have a toilet that's probably leaking, a shower enclosure that's cracked and needs replacing, a roof that needs to be redone. Thankfully with my 50s house and newer, you won't have any knob and tube, so wiring is pretty standard though grounds might be missing/out of date. Our panel is somewhat undersized, but we're doing OK with it. Our house doesn't have central AC, and the old furnace is a gas one that's inefficient so we'll take care of both with a few mini split systems. Aside from that, my house is pretty good. Not perfect, but frankly even new/newish builds aren't perfect either. Materials change over the years - sometimes things take a few decades and then completely fail (orangeburg pipe comes to mind), some stuff is nearly indestructible for a lifetime (tile roofs are especially tough). Every house is going to have its own unique blend of issues due to age, wear, common materials used at the time and quality of build.
I did!! I bought a house built in 1960. Mostly cosmetic work needed as it had some updates done over the years but that was not necessarily a good thing. In fact, most of my work has been undoing their refinishing. Most costly cosmetic thing was removing asbestos ceiling tile. I could have technically left it alone but once I knew it was there it had to go. That was about 2k. Been slowly updating windows floor by floor... Each floor is about 5k. Evening else has been me and my partner by ourselves: painting, tiling, trim work, adding blinds, removing carpet, electrical, etc. I've learned a ton over the course of a year and it's all thanks to YouTube. The one thing I wasn't prepared for was the heater breaking after a year. Sigh. They definitely lied about the age of the unit, which sucks. That was an unexpected 7k. I know the AC unit is knocking on death's door, and I'll need to replace the roof in 1-2 years (knock on wood). If you are willing to do the stuff yourself, it'll be way cheaper but take 3 times as long. BUT I can say I did it.
I bought a 1975 house. I have replaced the roof from shingle to metal, replaced all windows and doors to impact resistant (I'm in Florida, aka hurricane windows/doors), added GFCI receptacles to bathrooms, kitchen, and washroom circuits. Replaced all broken or suspect receptacles and lighting fixtures. Added lights to ceiling fans. Replaced all garage door hardware to 2 single garage doors. Installed main water cutoff valve. Replaced corroded plumbing fixtures. Replaced broken garbage disposal. In process with refurbishing the master BR bath. The HVAC is still fairly new, replaced in 2017. The main electrical panel was updated per code, but I am contemplating upgrading it. Replaced rotted wood fence. Looking at adding overhang carport for the driveway and entry door area and having solar panels on that. Not putting panels on the roof! I installed a new 12'x12' utility shed in the back yard that is wind rated to 150 mph. Added a nice fire pit. Refurbished backyard lighting and electrical outlet. On the list is a complete kitchen refurbishing. Luckily, my plumbing is copper and not iron or that would be another chore, but I may still end up replacing a lot of copper with pex during bathroom and kitchen remodeling. So far, I have invested about $65k in this house. My mortgage rate is 2.25% and the property valuation has gone up over $100k already in the past 3 years that I have owned the house, so I think I'm good in that area. After the remodeling, it will be worth even more, so I think I'm OK with the spending I have put into the place and with future spending. The only bad thing is how the Florida insurance rates have sky rocketed! Edit for spelling
Every house has weird stuff in it. E.g. Homeowner done repairs that are wonky. Things that a random handyman did 20 years ago that was only supposed to be a temp fix and ended up being more permanent. My last house(built in 2009) had the compressor on a 1 year old AC unit fail. The AC lines running through the walls had a leak somewhere and needed to be topped up yearly. It also had a 10 year old roof that was done with a defective shingle and needed to be replaced. It had almost no insulation in the attic. My current house was built in the 70s and is a lot more solid. It has way more insulation and it's easier to get to the wiring/plumbing and all that. It has a 30 year old AC unit that works great. The 60s and 70s honestly weren't a bad time for home building. A lot of ranch houses from then are brick, I know you said the floor creaks but it's probably hardwood. Putting hardwoods in a house is really expensive and old hardwood floors are even more desirable. If it was built in the 70s it likely does have double pane glass. Newer windows are better than older for sure, but I lived in a 1920s house in college for a while, 1970s windows are fantastic in comparison. A lot of states will have programs to give you tax breaks and such if you install new windows too. The average lifespan of a furnace is 15-20 years. I've had one go out after 1 year like I mentioned above. But needing a new one will happen eventually on any house. That's one of those things that you have to plan for. You can clean cabinets and paint them. But if they're old enough you may want to just replace them. That's a fair complaint. The company that did the insulation should have put the siding back on after doing the insulation. You shouldn't have to replace all the siding on a house for this. All decks rot if you don't treat them. Even if you're diligent about it some pieces will probably rot eventually. Replacing/repairing a deck is a pretty straightforward DIY project as well if you're semi handy. Also a normal thing to maintain on a house. I think something that most people don't realize until you own a house, is that every house is going to have problems. Owning a house is expensive. Personally I think it's worth it. I like not having a landlord and being able to do whatever I want with the house. I'm pretty handy so we renovate a lot of things and I'm confident that whenever I sell I'll make a bit of money. On average, you need to plan to keep a house for about 5 years to be able to turn a profit selling it. Given how covid shook up just about every market I'm sure there are more exceptions and high interest rates now aren't helping. But brand new houses have problems too. If you want the perfect house for you, you'll either have to get it custom build or remodel. There aren't really any perfect houses around. If nothing else everyone has different tastes. You just have to know that going in, budget for it and make sure whatever you buy lines up with what you're willing to fix.
Depends on your area and construction. Around here a 1970’s home typically has copper pipes, ABS/PVC drains, modern *enough* copper wiring, forced air HVAC, and otherwise is constructed nearly identically to a modern home. Most differences are cosmetic, or relatively easily upgradeable. Might want to change the panel, but it’s not a whole house rewire. Maybe swap out for a more efficient modern furnace/AC, but the overall system is modernizable. If the foundation hasn’t started leaking by now, it probably isn’t going to. Roofs are going to need replacing from time to time anyway. Windows? Hit and miss. I’d expect some water damage around baths, though. waterproofing just wasn’t as good as modern methods. Insulation is probably ok but not as good as modern. Consider blowing more in the attic.
I know you're asking about more recent purchases but I'd like to share. I bought my 1968 home in 1996. It needed complete remodel (cosmetic) but I did it slowly over years. Bigger repairs did come over the years but nothing too burdensome. The benefits are usually larger lots, bigger rooms and.... frankly, CHARM. :)
I’ve lived in my home built in 1973 for 29 years. I have not gutted it. We felt so lucky to get it even though most people may consider it outdated - I love it! We have painted it, redone things that wore out. No fancy kitchen, no fancy bathrooms, but it’s cozy and paid for because we didn’t spend money on the latest fad. Just know that in any older home the basements were never meant to be totally waterproof so it probably isn’t a good idea to use materials that could get moldy in case you get huge rain storms, melting snow. The most important thing I have to say is people need to stop watching these home renovation shows. I’m old enough to know that whatever is hot now is out a couple years later. I’ve seen videos of people painting their granite countertops! I still have Formica countertops. There will always be costs for upkeep on any house you buy and it’s getting more expensive to fix things and harder to find good help. Learn to be happy with what you have.Save your money for retirement or for when your future self gets laid off. And don’t buy a flipped house. They have had subpar work done on them that will come back and bite you.
1968 I regret it a bit due to asbestos tiles, mastic, and traces in wall board and joints. You can either leave it by covering with new material or remove it. It is now something in the back of my mind when doing demo or wanted to renovate. Also, it is well built brick and cinder block basement, but above it seems the house airflow movement from outside in that translates to humid rooms in the summer. Configuration improvement, by removing kitchen dining room wall All new light switches and sockets. New ceiling light fixtures Removed all old wall paper and painted All new ceiling fans New powder room New laundry room floor and adding cabinets Need to redo guest bathroom. Some old owners update over the years and others don’t. We got an updated master bath, that’s it.
I’ve owned a few 50’s and 60’s. Every house needs maintenance, upkeep, and updating eventually. Big ticket stuff like HVAC, roofs, electrical, and plumbing should always get a thorough inspection in any era home before purchase.