Anybody here ever bought old farmhouse and fixed it up?

[Dargo]

After more inspections today; yes to asbestos (shingles on detached garage) but no for lead. The electric setup has a Square D box with mostly 15 amp Square D breakers. The romex is 14/2. I'd prefer 12/2, which I have in my home, but oh well. I'm told that 14/2 is okay for 15 amp circuits. I used 10/2 in my barn. It's really hard to work with but it doesn't heat up at all using 20 amp tools. I don't suppose it a home really needs more than 14/2.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I'm working on a 1977 house now and will have almost $30k in it soon and its small. EVERYthing seems to need fixed. We are generally pretty good judges but this one had issues and I've hired a carpenter, normally we do it all ourselves. But I'm 63, hubby is gone, and some things I just can't do. He rewired it while home and put in the cabinets. Along with my carpenter I'm doing the rest. He hired a crew for the new roof which we knew it needed. However we did not know it only had 3/8" decking, so that is new and is now tech shield. It's going to probably be the nicest house in the neighborhood, sigh.

I can only imagine one that old. I wanted to keep mom and dads old farm house, my grandpa had bought it, but it was a money pit so we sold it.

If you have lots of time and expertise or tons of money go for it, otherwise think twice.

 

[rgood]

I think you are far better off to just put some siding on it, and just do the things absolutely required for sale (Example septic tank). This makes it attractive, sellable, and keeps the price down so the buyer can fix/remodel according to their tastes and budget.


You said the house has 6 acres that joins up with 6 acres you already own. when you sell it, only sell it with 2 acres and keep the other 4.

This way you make money all the way around!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I would love a project like that. my wife wouldn't
My neighbor just did it, bought the original farmhouse next door that our lots came off of, he gutted it, put in 3 apartments.

 

[riptides]

We are still doing this.
Farm House Restoration

We just got our final a few weeks ago, so far it has been a 5+ year project. If you can avoid living in the house while your working on it, , that would be a plus.

After we took off all the additions, we gutted the interiour. All new electric, all new electric and water services, new plumbing, new phone. new CATW, new, new......

We then added new floor space, basically bolted a new construction to the old original, then added a custom new roof, new siding, new, new....

It was fun. It was expensive. It makes you think.

 

[JB4310]

Sounds like a good deal, or at minimum a safe investment, since you said it's for the long haul. The house has been there for this long, it will be there when your gone.
Plus it has a decent amount of land with it.

My first house was built in 1832, we affectionately referred to it as a shack. It was built by tenant farmers who didn't even own the land at the time. It was not the greatest example of house construction. My buddy came over to help me put a window in, he had his level and tape measure and he's measuring 16 inches for the "studs", when we opened the wall the "stud" was a 2" branch with the bark on it still!
It wasn't the best house, but it did make a great home.

That house despite it's low quality construction may still be there in another 170+ years. My "new" house was built in 1937, very high quality craftsmanship, I moved up the food chain 100 years!

JB.

 

[bdeboer]

Currently I am finishing one up, purchased mainly for the 10 Acres it sits on the corner of. We also recently purchased another one (someone elses unfinished project) on 4 acres from the sheriffs auction. Still waiting for a closing date on this. This project has been time consuming, but there is definitely more profit potential in this than in new construction at this time.


Some things I learned:

1. You did not say if this is a gut to the studs project or not. The one we are finishing up had 3 walls that we did not touch. The project did not start out this way but it is sometimes faster to demo, than remove 15 layers of wall paper.

2. Plumb and Level are relative, non load bearing walls are probably faster to replace than fix or shim. Someone else mentioned reframing with thicker dimensional lumber (example 2x6 sistered to the true 2x4), I think this is a cost effective way (new 2x6x8 is < $3).

3. Plumbing especially drain lines and vent lines can be interesting. Especially if they run underneath a slab on a 1960's addition.

4. Electrical, if someone else replaced the all of the old wiring with new. They saved alot of time in the actual running of the wire.

5. Intermittent roof leaks seem to be a problem, with both of these properties. I think the current one is in good shape now, but??

6. It seems that alot time is spent fixing someone elses half a$$ed repairs.

7. Sagging floors can sometimes be fixed inexpensively through the use of bottle jacks and sistering 2x10's onto the existing true 2x8's etc. This is if you have bottom access.


Good Luck

 

[riptides]

1. You did not say if this is a gut to the studs project or not. The one we are finishing up had 3 walls that we did not touch. The project did not start out this way but it is sometimes faster to demo, than remove 15 layers of wall paper.

Has a lot of good points, I remember the wall paper battles from my house. I could not remove the drywall in places, so the wall paper had to come off. Talk about a trip through time!

I averaged 5 gallon mud buckets for each of the rooms I refinished.

Only some of the ceilings got new drywall, overlaid on existing. But I still removed the wall paper.

 

[Cat_Driver]

...My brother had an old farm house completely remodeled and by the time he was done, he could have done it cheaper if he'd just leveled it and started fresh.

No truer words have ever been spoken.

You have to put a price on your time and most of all your frustration. Heck I watched a show where the installed a prefabbed home in two weeks. Is you marriage worth it

You should have seen the building process, 2"x6"s and foam insulation and everything was glued solid.

Like I said I can find a much better way to spend my time than dealing with the amount of frustration involved in doing a farm house.

Get used to the phrase " I found a surprise" oh and.... " HOW MUCH?"

Welcome to Safeway Homes

 

[Dargo]

I guess a couple of major issues about considering demolishing the existing home are 1) the cost of tearing it down and having it hauled off and, more importantly, 2) I'm not building a brand new home for renters to occupy. I guess if there are surprises that I've not found nor have two professional builders with about 30 years each in the business didn't see, if I buy it, I'll just tear it down and have an empty lot for future investment. With there never being an option of me living there, I suppose building a new home is not an option. If any of my kids end up wanting to live there we could always then look at tearing it down and rebuilding. Still, as explained to me by dozens of people in my area, I'd have to keep at least some portion of the existing home in place so it would only be a "remodeling" of the old home. Where I live there are huge tax differences between a new home vs. a remodeled home. It's my understanding that I may just have to leave one portion of a foundation or something. But, still, at this point, that isn't even a remote possibility if I buy it. It will be a long term investment for either just the property or the property along with some rental income.