Anybody here ever bought old farmhouse and fixed it up?

[Dargo]

If things work out as I hope, I can buy the place for basically what the land is worth. For all intents and purposes, I won't really have anything in the house. I've had two separate builders look at the home for me and they both agreed that it was worth repairing rather than demolishing. Still, it clearly needs work. It does have a new roof and the electric has been brought up to code with 200 amp service about 10 years ago. I'm looking at doing most all of the work myself and likely renting it for while until I decide what I want to do with it.

 

[Bill Barrett]

If things work out as I hope, I can buy the place for basically what the land is worth. For all intents and purposes, I won't really have anything in the house. I've had two separate builders look at the home for me and they both agreed that it was worth repairing rather than demolishing. Still, it clearly needs work. It does have a new roof and the electric has been brought up to code with 200 amp service about 10 years ago. I'm looking at doing most all of the work myself and likely renting it for while until I decide what I want to do with it.

Sounds like your not doing all the work yourself, that would put a different light on it for me. I've done so many I can't tell you the number, but I like doing it.
I live in one that’s 2500 sq ft and over 120 years old. sq, level , and super efficient heat loss of 18,000 BTU at 10 below, so it can be done and cheap if you can do it yourself.
One big thing around here is taxes, I pay 1700.00 because of the age, if I took it down and started over= new house I would be paying over 4000.00 for the same thing!

 

[Dargo]

Sounds like your not doing all the work yourself...

I'm confused by your post. About two lines above this quote I stated that "I'm looking at doing most all of the work myself".

 

[mbohuntr]

One good tip I can tell you is I thickened some of the outer walls and plumbed them at the same time. Makes for a super insulated wall that is straight and ready for sheetrock (a real timesaver as opposed to furring out the old timbers as they used plaster to smooth out uneven studs)

 

[CurlyDave]

I bought a real fixer-upper and lived in it while I fixed it.

If I had it to do over, I would have torn it down and started again.

Sure there is charm to an old farmhouse, but new construction goes fast and easy. Remodels are slow & expensive.

 

[studor]

That area under the front stoop is probably a root cellar or cold room - that is a feature in a lot of new homes
If you are doing it as a business or have no connection to old versus new -- bulldoze it. On the other hand if you have time and like doing the work and don't plan to sell it for some time (all of which you have said is the case)then fix it and you will be proud of the results. Renovations can cost more than new -- it is easy to find new built by framers who use chainsaws, nailers and leave it to the dry wallers to make it look square. .House are just like everything else -- if they were built poorly to start with and not maintained then they have a limited usefull life -- properly built and reasonably maintained they certainly outlast those who built them

 

[Bill Barrett]

I'm confused by your post. About two lines above this quote I stated that "I'm looking at doing most all of the work myself".

Guess when I said "all the work" was because you said you had builders look at it.
Biggest thing I was getting to was the tax issue.

 

[Dargo]

Guess when I said "all the work" was because you said you had builders look at it.
Biggest thing I was getting to was the tax issue.

Thanks. Yes, I plan to do most all of the work but I will take advice from professionals who do such things every day. In other words, I wanted professional opinions as to what they would do.

 

[SuperDuty335]

Don't forget about lead and asbestos.

 

[BobRip]

Take a close look at the electrical (and other) upgrade. My wife's cousin was given her old family home. It had a new electrical panel, but used the old knob and tube wiring. They have basically found that every "improvement" was made as cheaply as possible over the 150 year life of the house. A home inspector had a go at it a few years back and produced a book of needed repairs. The buyer never came back.