Older properties in Milwaukee

[Dwight Frazier]

Hello guys,

I was looking at Duplex's that were for sale on sites like Zillow and Redfin. A lot of the properties were build in the 1900's so 100+ years old. Have any of you purchased properties of that age? what types of adjustments do you make for capitol expenditures in your analysis of the property. any and all tips and advice are welcomed!!

Thank you for your help and insights

[Marcus Auerbach]

The vast majority of our house hacking clients opt for 1920 duplexes here in Milwaukee. Here are the main issues:

- interior walls are made lath and plaster, not drywall. Repairs on cracks or cuts from running wires have to be made by a plaster guy. If its really bad, in rare cases, kock down the plaster and install new 1/2" drywall on the existing lath.

- electrical and plumbing: are usually old. Galvanazed steel pipes and potentially even knob and tube wires (rare). But more and more buildings have already been upgraded.

- basements are hand dug and therefore usually not deep - usually no structural issues (much more in 1960s buildings) but sometimes poor surface water management leading to damp spots. Fix the outside will take care of the problem 9 out of 10 times.

- boiler heat with hot water radiators. While a great source of heat cannot be used for cooling. Make sure all radiators are good (valves).

- interior millwork: often covered in 5 layers of cakey wall paint (not even trim paint), sometimes original and gorgious. Everything was hand made on site. Need a new door? The standard size from Home depot will not fit. Buy reclaimed or build from scratch.

- Windows and siding: often still wood siding. Make sure windows are at least covered with storm windows or have veen replaced. Wood siding will cost you about 1k to maintain per year on average.

Generally most of the 1920 were very well built and are totally worth to restore! Some have bad bones, you can tell right away. More information on YouTube, just look for Milwaukee duplex.