Historic Home Purchase/Renovation

[crabcake]

Anyone have any experience buying/renovating a home that is on a county's historic register? I found a piece of property w/an older home that I'm going to look at that is everything we're looking for size-wise, acreage-wise, etc. ... it needs work, but has incredible potential. I'm just curious what -- if any -- road blocks or clearances one might have to obtain when buying/renovating a 'historial' home. Do I need to have my renovating plans cleared by the county first? Any experiences would be helpful.

TIA!

 

[pvineswinger]

Anyone have any experience buying/renovating a home that is on a county's historic register? I found a piece of property w/an older home that I'm going to look at that is everything we're looking for size-wise, acreage-wise, etc. ... it needs work, but has incredible potential. I'm just curious what -- if any -- road blocks or clearances one might have to obtain when buying/renovating a 'historial' home. Do I need to have my renovating plans cleared by the county first? Any experiences would be helpful.

TIA!

Cleek here

 

[Chasey_Lane]

Crabby,

Are you able to purchase a lot and build new? Personally, I'd much rather buy new than renovate an entire house. Do you just like the "historic" feel of an older home?

 

[AC/DC]

Hmmm.....

What do you think Tater, fix up the old joint or buy a new one and fix it up?

 

[jwwb2000]

Anyone have any experience buying/renovating a home that is on a county's historic register? I found a piece of property w/an older home that I'm going to look at that is everything we're looking for size-wise, acreage-wise, etc. ... it needs work, but has incredible potential. I'm just curious what -- if any -- road blocks or clearances one might have to obtain when buying/renovating a 'historial' home. Do I need to have my renovating plans cleared by the county first? Any experiences would be helpful.

TIA!

Check to see if there are any guidelines you must adhear to keep the house in the "historic" sense.

 

[crabcake]

Crabby,

Are you able to purchase a lot and build new? Personally, I'd much rather buy new than renovate an entire house. Do you just like the "historic" feel of an older home?

Oh yea ... we could do that. But I love older homes ... especially farm/cottage style homes, which this particular home is. There are features and charm in older homes that just don't exist in new construction unless you want to pay an arm and a leg for them. I've bought a new house, and had 5 times the number of problems than I did with the resale house I bought in Tucson. We've seen lots of new construction that is nice and fits the bill as far as what we want, but it just doesn't "feel" right when we tour them.

The other selling point on this piece of property is locaton. It's conveniently located within a couple miles of both the lakes we like to boat on, it's near two major arteries to Raleigh, and it's on almost 3 acres of land out in the country which is perfect. And we're both pretty handy when it comes to home renovation projects, electrical, etc. so much of the work would be done ourselves.

 

[workin hard]

We need pics

 

[crabcake]

Check to see if there are any guidelines you must adhear to keep the house in the "historic" sense.

I found a link off Pvine's link that is specific to North Carolina historical preservation that I'm browsing through to check that stuff out. My intent would be to preserve as much of the "historic" value of the home as possible because that's what I love.

 

[crabcake]

We need pics

It's very similar to the pic I had as my av (before changing it to the puppy pic), except it has 3 fireplaces (one of which is in the master bedroom) instead of one.

 

[SeaRide]

Check to see if there are any guidelines you must adhear to keep the house in the "historic" sense.

It depends on what kind of house. What kind of rules it comes with.

I remember one old 1880s/1890s house in middle Calvert going through some restoration project. The owner and I had a talk. The owner apparently had to go through alot of hoops to get approval from the committee.
Example 1) .. nails has to be made by blacksmith (pricey).. those square ones, NOT the store bought nails
example 2) Windows has to be custom made (pricey) .. NO double pane whatsoever, NO vinyl whatsoever. nothing from home depot/lowes.
example 3) no insulation made out of fiberglass whatsoever or in other word no insulation in the exterior walls
example 4) forget the fancy HVAC/CAC etc
example 5) must rebuilt with exact kind of wood, i.e. oak, walnut, southern pine etc ( pricey) meaning NO MDF, no plywood, no particle board, etc.

and the list goes on and on ..

Bottom line.. it will cost your life, your time, your energy and your sanity.

All kiddings aside, find out if you have to present the restoration plan or the renovation plan. There is a big difference in restoration and renovation.
Find out if you have to get approval for certain hardware(s) that goes in the house. Find out how long does it "NORMALLY" take to get approval (3 months, 6 months?) on certain restoration process.

Personally, I love me some old houses that was built before 1930s. I wouldn't touch those houses marked "historic registered by xxxxx " for sale with a ten foot pole.

 

[crabcake]

It depends on what kind of house. What kind of rules it comes with.

I remember one old 1880s/1890s house in middle Calvert going through some restoration project. The owner and I had a talk. The owner apparently had to go through alot of hoops to get approval from the committee.
Example 1) .. nails has to be made by blacksmith (pricey).. those square ones, NOT the store bought nails
example 2) Windows has to be custom made (pricey) .. NO double pane whatsoever, NO vinyl whatsoever. nothing from home depot/lowes.
example 3) no insulation made out of fiberglass whatsoever or in other word no insulation in the exterior walls
example 4) forget the fancy HVAC/CAC etc
example 5) must rebuilt with exact kind of wood, i.e. oak, walnut, southern pine etc ( pricey) meaning NO MDF, no plywood, no particle board, etc.

and the list goes on and on ..

Bottom line.. it will cost your life, your time, your energy and your sanity.

All kiddings aside, find out if you have to present the restoration plan or the renovation plan. There is a big difference in restoration and renovation.
Find out if you have to get approval for certain hardware(s) that goes in the house. Find out how long does it "NORMALLY" take to get approval (3 months, 6 months?) on certain restoration process.

Personally, I love me some old houses that was built before 1930s. I wouldn't touch those houses marked "historic registered by xxxxx " for sale with a ten foot pole.

Thank you! That's the kind of info I need to find out. I'm not so much concerned about it remaining on some historical register. I'd do the work to retain as much original 'feel' as possible, but certain modern conveniences (i.e., a/c, an additional bathroom, etc) are things I will not do without.

 

[crabcake]

Just got off the phone with the realtor, and he says there are no restrictions with the property in terms of renovations/upgrades/etc! And, he says the family selling it (it's an estate thing) would take $5k less than the listed price! What a change from the real estate market in MD!

I'm hoping to drive out and check out the exterior and land this afternoon but if not, we'll be out to see it tomorrow.

 

[DoWhat]

:would take $5k less than the listed price! What a change from the real estate market in MD!

What is the price?

 

[crabcake]

What is the price?

$65K From talking to the realtor, to make it "liveable", it needs some drywall work in a couple rooms, a new roof, new flooring and a/c ... all of which we can do on our own for a fraction of what it'd cost to contract that work out ... but we'll see what we're in store for when we see it first-hand. But for the amount of house (2200 sq. feet), land (3 acres) and location ...

 

[ylexot]

$65K From talking to the realtor, to make it "liveable", it needs some drywall work in a couple rooms, a new roof, new flooring and a/c ... all of which we can do on our own for a fraction of what it'd cost to contract that work out ... but we'll see what we're in store for when we see it first-hand. But for the amount of house (2200 sq. feet), land (3 acres) and location ...

What's the address? :grabbingcheckbook:

Sounds like a good deal if you have somewhere to stay while working on it and can do the work yourself.

 

[Oz]

What's the address? :grabbingcheckbook:

Keyword = Raleigh

 

[K_Jo]

It's very similar to the pic I had as my av

I thought that was your house.

 

[Nickel]

What's the address? :grabbingcheckbook:

Move to the south. The houses we've looked at in northeastern NC are going for a steal, and my parents have a gorgeous house in eastern Tennessee that they bought for 40k, and put about 10k into it (redoing the floors, ceilings, etc), and it's one of the nicest houses in town.

 

[willie]

I would definitely get some advice from someone other than the realtor or anyone else with a monetary interest in this. In Maryland, if you have a house on the historic list, you need permission to do ANYTHING in or around the house. It is even more invasive than an HOA. A lot will have to do with the current members of the historic committee. You will not own this house all by yourselves. Maybe North Carolina is much different but I wouldn't touch one in Maryland unless I could get it off that list.

 

[dustin]

We Need Pics