Anybody here ever bought old farmhouse and fixed it up?

[Dargo]

I'm trying to decide whether to buy an old farmhouse with what is left of the old farm that belonged to my wife's grandparents. The home was built in 1921 and, although not a disaster, it needs help. I'd need to dig around the old basement to put in perimeter drains and seal it up, put in new downspout drains along with all the expected updates throughout the home. Outside I'd need to install a new septic system, fill in an old cistern (now has city water and NG) and tear down several old chicken coups etc.

It's a decent looking, all things considered, story and a half typical farmhouse with a nice porch, mature trees and just a little over 6 acres of property left with it (that actually adjoins another 6 acres I already own). Basically, the price is right and the location is great and is right at one mile outside the city limits.

I'm hoping to hear experiences of others who have taken on similar projects and learn a few more things I may want to do or watch for. My overall goal is just a long term investment. I'm not looking for a quick turn or anything. An additional 'obvious' is that with me having 5 kids, perhaps one of them may one day want to buy it and live close to me. This place is about 2 miles from where I live.

Thoughts?

 

[LD1]

A couple of things that will probabally need done if it hasn't been already.

1. Plumbing. Look it over real good. I like pvc, easier to work with, lasts forever.
2. Insulation. Most older houses had blown in insulation which settles to the bottom and making older houses a bear to heat. If you're up for remodeling the whole house, then I would do batts, otherwise you can take your chances on more blown in.
3. Electrical. Make sure the wiring is up to date and not old, falling apart wires. Which if you have to do the wiring, it's a good time to to the insulation in #2.

If it has a basement, check out the condition of the flooring, and joists. They are probabally ok because they knew how to build stuff back in the day. Rough sawn hardwood lumber is way stronger than the softwood dimensional stuff we use today.

One final thing to check for is the foundation. I noticed you mentioned waterproofing, but really inspect how sound the foundation is. Concrete don't last forever, and the concrete back in the day wasn't near as good as today. I've seen old farm houses that you can go in the basement and with a screwdriver, pick a hole in the concrete very easily, it just crumbles and falls appart.

 

[studor]

I think I am on my 5th complete renovation job. The last one was an 1862 squared log farmhouse with a three foot thick stone basement. One thing is for sure -- if you are near any urban centre, in 10 years the value will be higher -- even with recessions and everything counted in. I have never regretted a property purchase (versus some other things I have) Besides -- you have five kids to "help" you

 

[Dargo]

Thanks for the replies. I just got back from looking at it again and found a surprise. I was actually going around the basement walls looking for problems. There is some work that's going to be required to stop leaking. Some of the foundation looks like sort of stacked stone with cement between them? I'm not used to that. Anyway, I found a small door that looked boarded up. I pried the door open and there was a space behind it! I went back out to my truck and got my flashlight and discovered that there is like a storage area all the way around where they added the concrete porch. It looks like they dug down, used the same sort of stone and cement footer and used bricks, stones etc. to build the wall on the outside wall under the porch. It was surprisingly dry in there and what I thought was a potential problem was just the wood forms they left in place when they poured the porch. Ever heard of such? Heck, I was half afraid I'd fine...who knows what in that closed off area!

 

[MikeInEburg]

I guess a lot depends on what you want to do with the property. It doesn't sound like you plan to live there. Even if the price is right, sitting empty will cost you in property taxes and insurance. Can you see yourself renting it out or are the kids old enough that one may be interested soon? Personally, I'd love such an adventure!

Mike

 

[mbohuntr]

If you have patients, are willing to throw away the level and square, and have the money, time and skill to rip it to the frame and start fresh, them I'd say OK. Trying to fix one or two small problems will likely lead to more issues that will make you mad. My first farm rebuild was started as a remodel, and then the electric service smoked. I had that redone with a new 200 amp. Then the chimney started to crumble.(wood stove) That was around a grand. Then the sump pump failed and flooded the furnace. I fixed that myself for a couple of hundred. Then the septic backed up(Likely my fault for driving across it. $2400. Then, Then, Then. If you are prepared to repair/replace big critical systems that have been limping along for years, then your ready...I ended up with a nice home in the end, but i spent serious money doing it.

 

[Travelover]

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. I admired the fact that he wanted to maintain the original structure and stay true to the architectural style, but he really paid a premium for that.

And when he was done, he didn't have as nice a house as if he'd just copied the style for a new building.

I guess if you are doing the work yourself and just want to get it livable, you may come out ahead, but if you want to upgrade it to a comparable new house, I'd think twice.

 

[mbohuntr]

Yep I got a brand new old house!!, sold it after 14 years and broke even. Came with 25 acres and a huge unusable dairy barn. (new roof on that too) It was worth the knowledge, but not the money.

 

[teg]

We thought about fixing a 1933 house... we ripped it down to the studs... decided it wasn't worth it. Good news, when the house got reappraised the value went WAY down. Have the house looked at by professionals to tell you if it's worth saving or not. I don't know anything about where you live now... but if I could "save" the family farm house??? I would fix it up to live in and sell your other house. Then again almost everything I've bought has been used.

.

 

[EddieWalker]

I never messed with an old farm house, and avoid wood sided houses at all costs. There is just too much that can be wrong with them to make it profitable for me. I've flipped six houses. Each one took on average $20,000 in repairs and upgrades. To make it worth my time, I needed to make at least $20,000 off of the deal. I won't work for that now, but thought it was good money when I was doing it. Then there are commissions, fees and taxes that mean you have to be able to sell it for at least $50,000 more then you paid for it for a minimal profit.

It really depends on what your goals are and how much free time that you have to put into it. The numbers are not there on most homes, and the older the home, the harder it is to break even.

99% of the time, it's cheaper to knock it down and build new.

Good luck,
Eddie