Buying a 100+ year old home.

Pecan trees in the yard is cool, too. But I had an hour-long commute for about three years. It really starts to wear on you after a while. And that was before kids.

it is the monthly payment we need to keep low.
it has to include taxes, insurance, everything... >sigh<

we are applying for an fha loan, and another program .. i dont remember what it is called.. but it is funded by the city of austin for down payment assistance.

yeah, i cant imagine having to do a one hour commute every day.

i have found a few new houses on the website you posted DD..
strangly enough..
they are in austin..
i was under the impression that all cheaper housing was outside of austin.

this.. would be nice to stay in austin to avoid hours of driving just for a grocery store.

Sadly, (well, for buyers anyway) the houses in east Austin have shot up recently.

hamburger touched on a very good idea -- see about hiring a buyer's broker. They sometimes work for a split fee with the seller's broker -- so sellers don't love working with them, but they will advocate for you. They are more likely to get the real lowdown on a house, e. g. why it's so cheap.

Are there liens?
Mold?
Asbestos?
Major structural issues?
Massive noise problems or smells from, say, a cattle feedlot nearby?
Lead paint?

A buyer's broker will research these things whereas a seller's broker wants to unload the property and will not be under an obligation to tell you of defects unless you specifically ask.

It is an omission if you ask about a defect in either title or the property and are not told about it. But it isn't (usually) considered an omission if you don't ask or don't ask the right questions, so title insurance would not necessarily apply. This does not appear to be the kind of place you can go into casually. You really need to get your ducks lined up.

-- Now -- money -- I see you've applied for a loan already and that's terrific. The faster that duck is lined up, the better. You may find that you can be a successful bidder on a better property (and not for a huge amount of money) because you have a guaranteed amount. Sellers want to be paid. They often see pie in the sky when it comes to prices and want, want, want but the reality is that it's better for them to get, say, $80,000 from you in a loan that you know you're going to get, versus $100,000 from someone who is promising them the moon but has not been approved for a loan yet.

Also, check into every other means of financing you can -- down payment loans, borrowing from retirement, whatever it takes -- you may never need this money but it pays to research it so that you have some options.

Oh, and that house here? In very good condition, in my neighborhood (which, I might add, is not an upscale neighborhood): $750,000. In decent but not great shape: $600 - 650,000. In lousy shape: $300,000. Knock it down and start over: $200,000 or more. I kid you not. But this is Boston, and prices are insane. Oh and I know these numbers because a colleague was looking for a house this year, and she looked in my neighborhood. My house could easily be assessed for $700 - 750,000 and I checked, RP and I could probably only get a loan for $500 - 550,000 so, yes, we would not be able to afford this house if we were buying it now instead of back in 1995. But that's the story of every buyers' lives these days.

good gracious....
im glad we dont live in boston.

though, i would love to be that close to the ocean..



So addendum highlights with out real detail-

asbestos exposed in flooring.
Possible cost 1,100 ...

hmm.. ok.. that would be do-able. Espically considering I know a small 3 man contractor group who has done alot of work on MIL's house and we have gone out of our way to be friends as much as possible. He would do the work for me.. maybe even cheaper..

Wood rot -

what the?
So.. this could mean the entire house is caving in .
This could mean small pieces of the structure have rot, this could mean the front door has rot..who knows.

plumbing-

why oh WHY did I just KNOW that was a problem? hehe

so.. this is a bit scary. Definatly not a property I would jump into blindy.. if at all at this point.

But since I do not have ALL details , I can not say for sure exactly what is wrong. But that is a basic run down that I got.
I still want to keep learning about it.
If it is just a bunch of small things that can be fixed for under 5-7000.. it is still a possibility.

There are other homes/properties we are looking at as well. Though, none with this amont of sq ft, wich is its selling point for me. ;-)

actually.. i should rephrase this ..

in a line up of 7 possible places, this one went from #3 to #6...

Jespah's not exaggerating. That neighborhood is VERY expensive, and it's almost all houses around 100 years old. Two major colleges(BC and BU...BU doesn't have a "campus" with a shortage of housing) make it one of the hottest rental markets in MA. Even though it's not, some people jokingly call it a ghetto.

Boston was just voted the #1 most expensive place to buy. It's #2 next to NYC to rent.

To buy a single family home(not a condo) for under $300K here, you have to either go over 30 minutes outside the city, or buy a dump in an undesirable high-crime city.

This is why I almost shat myself when a coworker from Pittsburg told me both houses she owns were around $50K. I didn't even know you could buy a house that cheap anywhere.

Not quite Slappy, look here

CALIFORNIA

Beverly Hills isn't considered a major city. They're comparing LA, San Diego, NYC, ect.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/09/08/report_rates_boston_most_expensive_city/

http://www.baystatebanner.com/archives/stories/2005/091505-3.htm

Handling asbestos is generally not done by general contractors. You need a specialist, and it can turn into much more of a project <and cost> than you can imagine. With that addendum, I'd want a specialty assessment done - in addition to a general property inspection.

I know I'm probably a bit hyper-vigilant on the issue of asbestos - but you've got a small child - and that crap can kill ya. Exposure to asbestos killed hamburger's brother.

yes, unfortunately ! my brother had been exposed to asbestos as a longshoreman in his twenties. forty years later the encapsulated asbestos started to break out and medical science was not able to help him.
stay away from it !!! hbg

Wow.. Im sorry you went through that hmb.


the asbestos in this house is in the adhesive of the flooring.. Not quite sure what that means ?

I know in THIS house ( the one I am in right now) there was a form of that in the flooring here as well.
But.. Im thinking.. to a much LESSER degree then in the home that is for sale..

We removed the 'peel and stick' flooring and scraped off the adhesive. Covered it with concrete and stained it.
That is the remedy I was thinking I could apply to the other home..
maybe not.

I have no idea WHEN the asbestos was used in this other home.
I know that the home Im in right now, the type of 'asbesots' was NOT considered the huge danger that most other is. And that is why we could just remove, and cover it.
If that makes any sense?

theres a bunch of different kinds of asbestos. All are dangerous. We own a house that is 250 years old next tuesday. There is asbestos in the stone. We covered it in a in the basement(the floors were originally dirt), the radon levels were outrageous (this we found later by testing) All the major and minor fixes, remediations and additions have cost us a small fortune over the years. We still love the house cause we got it and the original 22 acres for 43K and it was a total wreck.
The house was a residence, tavern and contained a post office during the early 1800s. It was a meeting place for slave hunters and there was a hanging out in the back in 1849 before the Christiana riots.
Ive often had to be talked out of blowing it up, but when you finish , youll love it. The big houses that they build now are constructed by the cubic, rather than square foot. The extremely high ceilings are an affectation that shall pass in history as the reality of heating a ceiling begins to sink in.
The federalist style house that we have is very symmetrical with smallish rooms and fireplaces all over the place. We once found a small bag of gold coins in the smoke shelf of one of the upstairs fireplaces. There were 10 coins that had to be of real early vintage because one can see that some of the coins had been cut up "for change"

The hardest stuff for us was constructing channels and chases for air conditioning ducts. (The walls are at least 24" thick stone blocks) So we cut the chases and ran conduits that conne cted to floors for the days that we expected to run cable tv or computers. We did that before the time of wireless systems.

old house
,,,MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH...this article gives good info about tile removal. it seems that asbestos/vinyl tiles that have not deteriorated do not present much of a health hazard. perhaps a little extra care will pay off in the long run. the real problem i believe, is loose asbestos insulation and ceiling tiles. why not get an expert opinion - department of health ? hbg

I am glad that you are beginning to understand the pitfalls that just might come with such a house.

I was looking through this thread, when I came upon one of your early posts. What you were reacting to is what is known in the real estate business as, "curb appeal". That is the psychological reaction that a person gets when first looking at a house.

So the owner spent a few hundred bucks on some yellow paint. That was what made you go, "oooh!". The important thing is to look into the other ramifications of buying this, or any other house.

P.S. One of the things that "sold" me on my house was a gardenia bush that was in bloom when I first looked at it. Thinking about it now, I realize how stupid that was. Luckily, my husband was a tad less emotional than I, and realized the value of the house.

What a lot of people will do when selling a house is make inexpensive changes that cause people to have a positive emotional reaction to it. Do you know that some people will bake a bread or an apple pie when they are having an open house?

The pie or bread is not to offer the potential buyers, but to create an illusion. Be careful when you are looking at houses, and don't let ploys like these make you overlook the important stuff, like huge repairs that have to be made.

When we were shown our house, it was a tenant farm house and people cleaned it with a broom. They had some calves in the mud room and a few chickens in the cellar. Thiw shoulda tipped us off that Martha STewart wasnt around.
When I went out to the pasture and found tis huge smelly pit of green slop, the realtor said.
"oh well, remember ,its old, youll probably have to do some minor repairs to the septic system. Well, we later found out that you dont repair septic systems, you replace em.
As we gradually got more land round us and spent the next 20 years working on the place, we can now say.
F**k it, I aint doin any more!!! I did my duty as caretaker (after all, thats all you are)
Would I sell my old lovely ramblin fedderalist house with all the hsitory and charm and great views???





















Whatya got in your wallet?.

22 acres? That's awesome. I know who to call now when I have to dump a body.

You should set up a "Silence of the Lambs" well in your basement and throw chicks down there with their dogs, just so you can play the "put the lotion in the basket" game.

I don't think I bought my place due to any curb appeal. I've read about the baking method before in a sales book...sweet smells stir fond emotions, or some crap.

we ve since bought another 79 acres and these are fields and woods where youd never miss anyone of minor importance in your life. Shovels can be had for a really low price. remeber when Christopher and Paulie Walnuts were trying to wahck that Russian in the Pine woods of new Jersey? My place looks a lot like the "country scenes" they use in the SOpranos.
Course you have to do the heavy liftin, bad back you know.

I was checking the internet for the family of the original owner of our place . It was during the astart of the French and Indian War. Waht I found was that there is a lot more really neat porn on the internet than historial **** about somedead guys.

The home looks lovely and you are certainly getting a LOT of house for the asking price. I would be willing to the buy the house so long as the seller disclosed all defects and the house passed an inspection by an expert. You would want a qualified inspector to examine the house and submit a written report with respect to the roof, structural integrity, insect infestations, mold, water damage, and electrical, heating, and plumbing integrity. If the house is basically sound, you can make cosmetic improvements as you can afford to do so--and that's the truly awesome part of buying an old house and making it your home.

Whenever making an offer to purchase an older house, you should make your offer subject to several conditions including, but not limited to: 1) the seller's full disclosure of all defects, 2) a home inspection by a qualified inspector selected by you with the cost of the inspection paid by the seller, 3) if there are any defects disclosed or discovered that you find unacceptable, that you may withdraw or amend your offer, and 4) contingent on obtaining financing that you find acceptable.