Age of house - how much does it matter

[Account Closed]

Hi everyone,

I am just starting out in real estate investing (mostly multifamily buy and hold), and I'm wondering what everyone's opinion is on the age of houses you buy. More specifically, most of the multifamily houses around my price range (65k in Buffalo NY) were built in 1900-1940.

Do you stay away from older houses (I'm not even sure if that's considered old)? If so, why?

Or should I not let it bother me so much as long as the inspection goes well?

Are there specific things you look for in older houses?

My goal is long term buy and hold, so I'd like to keep houses for the next 50+ years, which is what brought up my concern. Thanks for any input!

[David Niles]

Hi Scott and welcome to BP.

The answers your going to get vary market by market, certain citys/towns are much older or newer then others so what is "old" can vary dramatically.

In our Buffalo area and suburbs, we have very "old" and established communities so the builds in those ranges ( 1900 + ) are the norm. Being a contractor and investor myself, I have no problems with these structures and just like anything, if they have been taken care of, find the old built better and made to last longer then alot of the new.

You will run into certain things though, like nob and tube wiring, nothing square, straight or on dimensional centers ( 16" etc ) as with the old building tech, they weren't worried about 4x8 sheets of plywood or drywall. Any good inspector or contractor is used to working with and seeing these things locally so they should be able to help you.

You are going to find most of our local market is in the range you mentioned.