Wholesaler · Newport News, VA · Member since 2014 · 89 posts · 9 votes
Hi every does anyone have any experience with rehabbing a 100 year old house.. The house that I am considering was built 1905 electric and plumbing is updated but floor plan is a lot of walls and fireplaces. A lot of original crown molding, solid wood doors, bone of the house in excellent condition. Is it necessary to make all rehabs a open concept.
Should I hire a designer for an opinion, or get a partner with experience.
Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
12y
Absolutely not! Strongly suggest you keep it original. You can update fixtures, kitchen counter top and such, but don't blow out walls, especially being new, that can get you over your head real quick, you have no idea what might be inside those walls, you get into EPA stuff and you'll cry and go broke on it.
Take good care of the original woodwork, nicks and scratches add "charm". Don't get modern, stay with the style of the home.
Designer, no, look for a preservation specialist for advice!
There are a few exceptions;
If you have small bedrooms (usually lack closet space) you can open up a bedroom for a master suite, walk in closet, turn a small bedroom into a bath, such are usually upstairs. You also don't need to blow out the entire wall, a large archway can open up an area, sleeping area, sitting area, door into a bath and closet.
You can get away with opening a kitchen with a small dinning room, an archway usually works there as well, if they kitchen is really small, get advice.
Keeping with the style of a home is important to marketability, you don't want a Victorian with a Cali contemporary with white marble floors, you don't rehab to what your taste is as much as to the market and expectations for the type of property. :)
Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes
12y
Absolutely not! Strongly suggest you keep it original. You can update fixtures, kitchen counter top and such, but don't blow out walls, especially being new, that can get you over your head real quick, you have no idea what might be inside those walls, you get into EPA stuff and you'll cry and go broke on it.
Take good care of the original woodwork, nicks and scratches add "charm". Don't get modern, stay with the style of the home.
Designer, no, look for a preservation specialist for advice!
There are a few exceptions;
If you have small bedrooms (usually lack closet space) you can open up a bedroom for a master suite, walk in closet, turn a small bedroom into a bath, such are usually upstairs. You also don't need to blow out the entire wall, a large archway can open up an area, sleeping area, sitting area, door into a bath and closet.
You can get away with opening a kitchen with a small dinning room, an archway usually works there as well, if they kitchen is really small, get advice.
Keeping with the style of a home is important to marketability, you don't want a Victorian with a Cali contemporary with white marble floors, you don't rehab to what your taste is as much as to the market and expectations for the type of property. :)
Rental Property Investor · Bristol, CT · Member since 2014 · 45 posts · 10 votes
12y
I have a 3 family that has all original crown molding as well as the layout 90 years old. DO NOT get rid of the crown molding. Not only does it bring value to the house but its a great look!
The only problem I had was how small the bathrooms were 90 years ago. I actually knocked a wall down to expand the bathroom into the bedroom next door eliminating the closet. I then turned that small bedroom into a walk in closet.
Bedford, NH · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
12y
Bill's archway suggestion is fantastic, and right on. You might be surprised, if you go to an architectural salvage place, how closely you can match the original moldings. Most of that stuff was not actually unique, and if you look at a slavage place in the same area as the house, you can often find a match.
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
12y
@Danielle Jones You might want to post some pics to give us a better idea of what you are working with. Saving as much of the character as you can always is a good idea. Have you ever watched the tv show "rehab addict"? She remodels old houses, on a very tight budget.
The question you need to answer for yourself is what is it you hope to do with the property? Is it buy and hold, fix and flip or ? What are other houses that have been remodeled etc. going for in the neighborhood? Is there a good market in the area and high demand? What do homes rent for? What would the cost of the repairs?
When taking on a real estate project, you need to know exactly what it is you are trying to accomplish, with set goals in mind. Then determine your budget based on actual bids for getting the work done, set priorities on what must be done, and what you'd like to do (big difference) Come up with your strategy and work your plan.
100+ year old properties are common here in the Maritimes and we have a few.
One of our primary objectives is to improve the energy efficiency of these older properties by 40 - 70% {so far they older ones have all turned out near, or above, the 70% mark}. While this means accessing the wall cavities to install insulation, which often necessitates removal of the old lath-n-plaster, we do make efforts to preserve the mouldings and trim as it is integral to the ambiance of the house - tenants looking for flats in Victorian or Second Empire buildings are expecting the ornate.
We also try to strike a balance between the compartmentalised layout of these old buildings and today's trend/desire for "open concept". Removing walls in these old buildings can involve a lot of effort - even walls that were not originally load bearing may have become so as the house settled over time {remember, lath-n-plaster walls are very heavy}. When possible we use enlarged openings - archways, pocket doors, or double french doors to create a greater feeling of openness while curtailing structural (re)engineering costs.
Real Estate Investor · atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 456 posts · 237 votes
12y
@Danielle Jones - did you already buy it or is this just one you are considering? Is it going to be a rental or a flip? Older homes are the most difficult ones to work with but the most fun for me....I grew up in a 200 year old home and cut my "handyman" teeth working on them. First consideration would be whether it's in a historic district. Check with the town and make sure there are no restrictions on use. I just spoke with an investor who paid cash for an awesome old house but now found out that the town..and it's a very small GA town....won't let him make any changes to the exterior beyond paint and it can only be used for approved commercial uses. He thought it would be fine as a residential rental and now he's stuck because there aren't that many businesses interested in renting an non-updated office in that area.
2nd, I'd probably look for some well renovated older homes in the immediate area and try to talk to those owners. People who renovate older homes are very proud of their work. They will also let you know about the headaches, unexpected costs and probably are a good source for what subs to you and not use. Sherman burnt a lot of older Atlanta homes down so it's hard to find them in my area but I love them.
3rd, if there is any kind of historic overlay district, you'll be very limited in what you can do with the house, particularly the exterior. You may be stuck with the drafty old windows for example.
You can do blown-in insulation and not have to open up the walls. Back when this place was built, most people had a couple of sets of clothes so closets were 2' wide and just as deep. You can expand these to modern dimensions - just save any of the crown molding pieces as you'll likely not be able to buy any to match. If my brother were there he could hand cut what we need to match..as that's what we often do on our projects for clients in atlanta.
Chat around in your area and you'll probably find someone who sells old doors and windows and the like. He might even have old trim to match yours.
Have fun and keep us posted. If you haven't bought it yet, just realize to take your estimated rehab budget and double it just to be safe! Love to see the video can't you post it here? Happy Investing!
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 185 posts · 97 votes
11y
Really late to the conversation here - but would love to see how this turned out. I'm in a 140 year old building myself right now. My first single family rental property. I thought I had a good plan for keeping renovation costs down and under $10,000, but as I get into it, I keep seeing things I want to remove and redo "properly". It is definitely a struggle to maintain the balance between smart investing with simple rehabs and "doing it right the first time". Post an update on how this turned out if you have one.
Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 389 posts · 250 votes
11y
This is definitely the most challenging thing for me. If there are more than a few "fix and patch' problems in a system (ie, plumbing is functional but sloppy, and needs 4 or 5 biggish repairs) I would rather just re-do the whole thing right so I can sleep at night. Same with electrical -- no fires, please! My houses are small (1,000-ish sq. ft), but still . . . I do end up spending more than many would, and it's on nothing the tenant sees or cares about.
Flipper/Rehabber · Dallas, GA · Member since 2016 · 147 posts · 39 votes
10y
@Andy Luick This is an old thread, but I was looking for a conversation like this to get advice for renovating a house in a historic district. I'm new at REI and this would be my first flip. I went to see the house and it looks in great shape, since it has been worked on over the years. All mechanicals are updated. The things that give me pause are how small the kitchen is and how small the one single bathroom is. It's 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. I'd like to add a second bath and blow up the wall between kitchen and dining to make it more open. The house is kind of small (2000 sf) too. What do you think of a newbie doing a historic home renovation as his first flip? Will I be in over my head?