The Historic Home as Retirement Project

[Miss Neecerie]

I have plans ...(vague plans....but still)....to buy a historic house in some state other then california.....and retire there. I cannot afford to buy here. But my job is here, so its a compromise...buy house elsewhere where its cheaper, and still rent here until retirement approaches...there is a whole website of historic homes for sale.....its my daydreamy drool material.

 

[Paisley]

I have plans ...(vague plans....but still)....to buy a historic house in some state other then california.....and retire there. I cannot afford to buy here. But my job is here, so its a compromise...buy house elsewhere where its cheaper, and still rent here until retirement approaches...there is a whole website of historic homes for sale.....its my daydreamy drool material.

http://www.trulia.com/property/1040634186-700-S-Gaylord-St-Denver-CO-80209

Wanna be neighbors? (OK, this house is a little uptown from me. This is closer to home.)

 

[Miss Neecerie]

http://www.trulia.com/property/1040634186-700-S-Gaylord-St-Denver-CO-80209

Wanna be neighbors? (OK, this house is a little uptown from me. This is closer to home.)

heheh...the second one is definatly in the range I am looking at....and I have nice memories of Denver...although I was there in summer

 

[ohairas]

I have plans ...(vague plans....but still)....to buy a historic house in some state other then california.....and retire there. I cannot afford to buy here. But my job is here, so its a compromise...buy house elsewhere where its cheaper, and still rent here until retirement approaches...there is a whole website of historic homes for sale.....its my daydreamy drool material.

You would LOVE St. Joe then! I'm talking friggin mansions and tons of other gorgeous homes, just waiting for people like you to love them again!
http://www.oldhouses.org/

I went to www.realtor.com and did an advanced search for Saint Joseph, MO, under $200,000, homes older than 50 years. Look at the beauts that came up for under $50K!
http://homes.realtor.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctid=10040&ml=3&mxp=20&typ=7&pfbm=40

Wow, this one is extremely similar to the one I mentioned they tore down by my home...
http://homes.realtor.com/search/lis...5430aa6&lid=1084970328&lsn=4&srcnt=626#Detail
Nikki

 

[scotrace]

This really deserves a thread of its own.

 

[ohairas]

Thank you Scotrace, indeed it does!
Nikki

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Now that its moved, (I didnt want to keep hijacking the other thread)...

http://www.historicproperties.com/results.asp


is where I tend to browse.....but I will have to keep Saint Joseph in mind. Heck...some of the super cheap ones....are cheaper then my car...or my teeth payments.....

 

[Diamondback]

Hmmm.... some nice places in St. Joseph... if only it weren't for the cold winters and the humid summers...

This one looks nice for space, I can see why it's almost a megabuck...

 

[ohairas]

And on the flip side... flipping...

There was a house that I loved that had the "pink" roof that I stalked for years, I even wrote the old lady a letter once telling her to keep us in mind if she sold. By the time she died we had bought our current home to fix up. And it went for $80K, made me so sick!

The siding butchers have bought it to flip. I cannot believe the asking price of $265K when I know they only paid about $80K in the first place.
http://homes. realtor.com/ prop/1080339110

All these years I was dying to know what it looked like on the inside. I wish I could've seen it before they gutted it. I went dumpster diving there while they were gutting it and I got a few goodies, such as curtains and the vintage rug in my craft room. There were chairs and such in there burried and I just couldn't get them out.. and no help. :rage: The local antique mall ended up with some of their original peices that were gorgeous but more or less doubles of things we already had.
Here's my pics of the house, hope this link works!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85469550@N00/sets/72157600478003421/detail/

It's such a bittersweet, as I DO want these homes to be refurbished, but if they're being flipped I hope they keep them as original as they can. We are "unmuddling" what folks have done to ours over the years. Such as finding two sets of pocket doors that were enclosed. The list goes on....
Nikki

 

[ohairas]

This ain't bad for a 130g's!
http://www.oldhouses.org/images/424%20south%209th%20street/424%20so1.jpg

But this would be one of my dream homes,
http://www.oldhouses.org/images/1023%20Edmond/1023%20Edmond%20Street.html

Savannah, GA has some wonderful homes in need of help too.
Nikki

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Yea...I don't see this idea of mine as a flipping idea....More a 'invest in something ahead of time'.

I would conceivably spend vacations there or if it was in decent shape, rent it out until I could actually move...etc.

I just know that even a house in Compton (read: where gang members rule the streets) is half a million in LA......

My thought process is to have something that would thus be -paid- for in the 30 ish more years I have until retirement, so that I don't end up paying LA rent prices of the future when I am old and alone. lol

 

[ohairas]

http://www.historicproperties.com/results.asp

I know Miss Neecerie... I could spent countless hours drooling there.
I wish I could collect houses, like shoes........
Nikki

 

[Diamondback]

I've actually been considering real-estate-flipping as part of my retirement funding, but had figured as a historian that a requirement for a "vintage property" would be trying to find an appreciative buyer, and inserting a stipulation into the sales contract that the property be kept reasonably original and if sold, either to a like-minded buyer or that I have right of first option.

EDIT: Inadvertently typed "seller" when I meant "buyer". My apologies. (Ooops, Jimmy, you don't get today's apology of the day, either!lol )

 

[ohairas]

I've actually been considering real-estate-flipping as part of my retirement funding, but had figured as a historian that a requirement for a "vintage property" would be trying to find an appreciative seller, and inserting a stipulation into the sales contract that the property be kept reasonably original and if sold, either to a like-minded buyer or that I have right of first option.

:eusa_clap YES! We would love to do this too....
Nikki

 

[LizzieMaine]

Miss N, you should come to Maine. We have, on the average, the oldest housing stock in the nation, and the town where I live has the oldest housing stock in the state -- the majority of our housing is pre-WW2, and a substantial amount of that is pre WW1. And not all expensive gentrified housing, either -- most of our houses are good old solid working-class dwellings, including quite a few specimens of early 20th-Century Sears-and-Roebuck kit houses.

And with the speculative bubble having well and truly burst, there are still some good values to be found -- plenty of houses for less than $200k.

(Now don't everybody crowd at once!)

 

[hotrod_elf]

Some more links

www.antiquerealestate.com

www.preservationdirectory.com/HistoricRealEstate/HomesForSale.aspx

www.oldhouses.com


I have already starting to day dream.

 

[Twitch]

Those sites have some pretty cool old houses. There's a wide chasm in prices just like in the regular market. While I live in CA where prices are crazy, I have found non-vintage housing to be a lot more than I thought it was around the country too.

People I know that bought elsewhere didn't get any steals in my opinion as the nationwide market wises up. I simply didn't expect $3-400,000 on houses people I know bought. Yeah that same house in the LA area might be $700,000 but a couple of the podunk locales where a newer 1,800 sq. ft. house costs $375,000 is a bit much. And the places will involve high AC and/or heating bills.

I'm skeptical that some of the nice looking vintage houses at lower prices might be money pits as they just seem too low.

 

[Joie DeVive]

My husband and I are currently looking for our first home. We fled California for the exact reason that there was no way we were going to be able to afford anything with more than one bedroom.

Nationally, real estate prices vary greatly. I recently talked to a couple who moved to Colorado from Indiana and were suffering sticker shock. I guess where they had moved from you could get a decent house for about $50K, and a really nice family home for $150K. Here starters are around $150-200K and they go up from there. Where I was in California, you couldn't buy a garage for that. It all depends on where you go.

New homes are in general more expensive than already existing homes. That's just the way it is. That does not necessarily mean that they are better or more problem free. You are right Twitch, that a home that is priced significantly below what other homes of the same area and age are likely to be trouble. Beyond that, homes of any era have troubling things to watch out for. In pre-1950 homes you want to watch out for old asbestos or cloth covered wiring, lead solders in copper pipes, big scary octopus looking heaters, and lead paint among other things. In houses made in the 1950s and 1960s or before you need to watch for paper, wool or vermiculite insulation, flexible conduit wiring, and asbestos insulation and siding. Houses made in the 1970s may have aluminum wiring, and asbestos in the popcorn ceiling.

Modern homes are no picnic either. Have you watched them going up? They are often made with pressboard rather than ply wood. Pressboard is not moisture resistant, so if it is not properly sealed, it can fall apart. I've seen homes with pressboard exteriors that are rotting right off the house! Vinyl is highly sought after, but it actually cracks if it is hit. Newer homes also tend to have PVC pipes as opposed to copper and steel. Plus newer homes are still subject to issues with shifting, foundation problems, radon and a host of others.

In any house you buy, new or old, you have to be careful and know what to look for. Myself, I think you get better quality for your dollar in a pre 1970 home. A buyer just needs to be educated and know what things he/she is willing to put up with, and what are too serious or dangerous. Do your homework, hire a good inspector, and then decide what works best for you.

 

[Paisley]

My 1910 house has been through two 100-year storms without any ill effect. It's just the right size for me, too. I can't see myself living in a 2000-s.f. new house with a jacuzzi and home theater and lot of other stuff I don't need, nor would I want to be cooped up in a condo.

 

[ITG]

Great links! I saw this one here in TX and the main pic on the left reminds me of Graceland or Tara (Gone with the Wind):
http://www.historicproperties.com/detail.asp?detail_key=scsul001