DIY'ers... restorers.. can you imagine the fun it would be...

[iamwhatiseem]

It would be cheaper to tear it down and rebuild it.

Haha... yeah... no.
Not even close. With the materials used, it would cost over $1 million to build this again today. Easy $million.

 

[occupied]

Wouldn't fly here. They would make you do windows with the same material as the original. I own a commercial building built in 1986 in a one-off commission controlled area that had wood windows and only got approval by 1 vote to replace them with custom made vinyl low E's. These were available in 1986 when the building was built mind you. These are the same people who have the historical society mindset. The city community development guy and the city attorney both came up to me afterwards and said they didn't know WTF those people were thinking voting against the windows. We were promised that this would not be the case when they set up this one-off commission and they are JV Historical society wannabe's now.

We live on the Gulf coast. It's one thing to tell individual homeowners they can't put in impact windows but the insurance companies have the clout to force the issue. They tried that kind of thing around here but eventually had to relent as homeowners rightly claimed the right to protect their property from hurricanes.

 

[Dekster]

In Mpls we call them the Hysterical Commission.

We were remodeling a porch and had to be done exactly the same. Their inspector was wondering if we could still use the old posts, but had to point out they were so rotted they had to be junked.
The house itself was essentially a deteriorating piece of crap.
But being within one block of the Historical District was subject to a whole set of unreasonable rules that unnecessarily results in more costs and time.

LOL that is what we call ours too. They actually make the properties undesirable except to bored rich housewives who need something to do. There is one property I drive past that has sort of a victorian gothic mash up exterior that has been under rennovation for over 15 years now because the owner has to fight so many battles with the hysterical society. It is more or less a spite project at this point. They just always keep a building permit current and repaint the fence about once every 8 months or so and that is all they are seemingly doing to it any more.

The one beside it is old Georgian my former boss used to own. It is basically rotting away because the current owners don't want to put any more money into it. When my old boss owned it, his utilities in winter could top $3K a month. The current owners just snowbird it out of there come fall now.

 

[Blues Man]

... to restore this grand home full of history.
Located in a small town south of where I live in a community ravaged by NAFTA and the death of American manufacturing.
It has been reasonably maintained over the 150 years since it was built.
It has been for sale for awhile, sadly there is no way to renovate this home properly and not lose money unless purchased at the very least another $100k less than what it lists for.

What a beauty.

View attachment 628126

1405 M St, Bedford, IN 47421 | Zillow

1405 M St, Bedford IN, is a Single Family home that contains 6177 sq ft and was built in 1872.It contains 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.This home last sold for $269,900 in July 2022. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $461,600, which has increased by $26,242 in the last 30 days.The Rent...

www.zillow.com

The problem with restoring those old houses is you usually have to do what the local government tells you to do.

 

[Dekster]

We live on the Gulf coast. It's one thing to tell individual homeowners they can't put in impact windows but the insurance companies have the clout to force the issue. They tried that kind of thing around here but eventually had to relent as homeowners rightly claimed the right to protect their property from hurricanes.

I know a lady who used to own one of the houses that had "hidden gutters". They refused to allow her to change them. No matter what the owners did to them that was "approved" , every time we had a heavy rain, she had a waterfall inside the front wall of her house. She finally found some out of town sucker to buy it and walked away. She had her insurance agent on speed dial they were handling so many claims out of that poor design that the historical people wouldn't let her mitigate.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

The problem with restoring those old houses is you usually have to do what the local government tells you to do.

Not so much in Southern Indiana. Stone cold conservative-land. All the homes I flipped years ago, all of the extensive remodeling I have done to the homes I have lived in... fences/decks/roofs/siding/garages... you name it. Never once got a permit. Screw that. Not paying $25 for a pink piece of paper so they can come back and raise the property taxes.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I know a lady who used to own one of the houses that had "hidden gutters". They refused to allow her to change them. No matter what the owners did to them that was "approved" , every time we had a heavy rain, she had a waterfall inside the front wall of her house. She finally found some out of town sucker to buy it and walked away. She had her insurance agent on speed dial they were handling so many claims out of that poor design that the historical people wouldn't let her mitigate.

Hidden gutters was one of the worst ideas in home building. Popular in the 30s and 40s. Quickly died out as it's enormous stupidity of expecting, what was essentially, wooden trenches to hold water. As the houses settled, these "trenches" loss their slope and started holding water with no way to fix it.
When I bought and sold homes, I always kept a lookout for them. Never buy a house that still has them.

 

[Blues Man]

Not so much in Southern Indiana. Stone cold conservative-land. All the homes I flipped years ago, all of the extensive remodeling I have done to the homes I have lived in... fences/decks/roofs/siding/garages... you name it. Never once got a permit. Screw that. Not paying $25 for a pink piece of paper so they can come back and raise the property taxes.

I wouldn't buy a house from you then.

The only way to at least have some surety that work is up to code is to get permits and inspections.

I'm surprised you didn't get slapped with stop work orders

 

[petro]

LOL that is what we call ours too. They actually make the properties undesirable except to bored rich housewives who need something to do. There is one property I drive past that has sort of a victorian gothic mash up exterior that has been under rennovation for over 15 years now because the owner has to fight so many battles with the hysterical society. It is more or less a spite project at this point. They just always keep a building permit current and repaint the fence about once every 8 months or so and that is all they are seemingly doing to it any more.

The one beside it is old Georgian my former boss used to own. It is basically rotting away because the current owners don't want to put any more money into it. When my old boss owned it, his utilities in winter could top $3K a month. The current owners just snowbird it out of there come fall now.

In a small town community north of the Twin Cities I pass an old historical house that was once impressive.
Now it is a mish mash of some parts redone while other parts of the house look weathered and rotted. The porch is terribly out of level and there are areas where the foundation has sunk.
You can tell the owners don't have the money to properly fix the issues. Can probably barely afford the mortgage.
Looks like a nightmare to work on. Tall with steep roof lines and a witches hat.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I wouldn't buy a house from you then.

The only way to at least have some surety that work is up to code is to get permits and inspections.

I'm surprised you didn't get slapped with stop work orders

Doesn't happen here. You could put up a pup tent and rent it here.
Codes exist, but no one enforces them. Very typical of small towns.
And you bet that can be a problem, but you need good relationships with reputable realtors to make it work long term.
I did great work. The houses I did sold fast. I had a solid reputation as good restorer.
It all begins with what homes you buy. Doing due diligence in inspection is the only way to avoid the "money pit" houses.
I never bought a house that had foundation issues, termite damage ect.

 

[occupied]

I know a lady who used to own one of the houses that had "hidden gutters". They refused to allow her to change them. No matter what the owners did to them that was "approved" , every time we had a heavy rain, she had a waterfall inside the front wall of her house. She finally found some out of town sucker to buy it and walked away. She had her insurance agent on speed dial they were handling so many claims out of that poor design that the historical people wouldn't let her mitigate.

I know those kinds of gutters. I was repairing some about six months ago. Truly solving the problems they present involves replacing the roof.

 

[petro]

Doesn't happen here. You could put up a pup tent and rent it here.
Codes exist, but no one enforces them. Very typical of small towns.
And you bet that can be a problem, but you need good relationships with reputable realtors to make it work long term.
I did great work. The houses I did sold fast. I had a solid reputation as good restorer.
It all begins with what homes you buy. Doing due diligence in inspection is the only way to avoid the "money pit" houses.
I never bought a house that had foundation issues, termite damage ect.

Even building new houses, the city inspectors are so overwhelmed with the amount of new housing around here, a typical inspection lasts five minutes.
They used to check all the truss specs and bracing, structural blocking, foundation strapping, etc.
Now they just walk in, look around a couple minutes and sign off on it.

One 900K house we built I saw the city permits costs, inspection record and blueprint approval added up to 35K.

 

[Blues Man]

Doesn't happen here. You could put up a pup tent and rent it here.
Codes exist, but no one enforces them. Very typical of small towns.
And you bet that can be a problem, but you need good relationships with reputable realtors to make it work long term.
I did great work. The houses I did sold fast. I had a solid reputation as good restorer.
It all begins with what homes you buy. Doing due diligence in inspection is the only way to avoid the "money pit" houses.
I never bought a house that had foundation issues, termite damage ect.

You can't inspect shit work hidden behind dry wall and siding

I built and flipped houses and owned rental properties for 30 years and I never had a problem getting my work inspected and I had good relationships with all the inspectors in my county.

 

[occupied]

You can't inspect shit work hidden behind dry wall and siding

I built and flipped houses and owned rental properties for 30 years and I never had a problem getting my work inspected and I had good relationships with all the inspectors in my county.

Our inspector walks in takes a quick look around and says we're good because we have always been good. Our reputation as a quality local builder helps us a lot. They are a lot more particular on the out of town contractors they do not know.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

You can't inspect shit work hidden behind dry wall and siding

I built and flipped houses and owned rental properties for 30 years and I never had a problem getting my work inspected and I had good relationships with all the inspectors in my county.

So did I. Not sure why you would allude I didn't?
I was not a part of the 90s flip craze.
It started when I was 15 and I started working for this guy who was painting cars. We did this over a summer and it didn't take him long to figure out he was only making $hundreds of dollars a month. (He worked at a factory, and was working on the cars nights and weekends) He decided to try buying selling houses. I helped him do that, and learned a lot.
Fast forward 10 years, I started my career in newspaper. I wanted to earn more money, and started to flip houses. I learned a lot from the first couple houses, mainly in what houses to buy. In the end I was offered a management position with more than double the money I was then earning. I always wondered if I made the right choice choosing to stay in my career. I progressed and make a lot especially between 2003 - 2015. Enough that, though only 57... I have enough to retire comfortably if I had to.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

True renovation of old homes is anything but fun. Hidden problem after hidden problem.

I avoid working on older homes as much as possible

 

[iamwhatiseem]

True renovation of old homes is anything but fun. Hidden problem after hidden problem.

I avoid working on older homes as much as possible

That's where selective buying comes in.
Foundation #1... foundation problems is the king of no nos. 100% loss of investment.
Roofing #2... water damage is harder to see, and easier to hide with plaster than drywall. Gotta get into the attic and look for water discoloration on support beams and underlayment .
Back in the day, you made the most money off of older homes. They were very desirable. People wanted character back then.
Today, younger folks want nothing to do with them. So yeah, If I was flipping houses I would not likely not buy a pre-1940s house.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Sometimes, I miss my old farmhouse.

Then I remember the tax bills.