Just wondering how many old house folks visit this site. Tell me about your place! Have you searched the history?? :>)
Mine is a ca 1916 Craftsman Bungalow. Owned it since 2007 & absolutely fell in love with the big front porch & all the original light fixtures, wavy glass windows & gorgeous unpainted woodwork. It's built in the middle of a double lot & has wonderful tall Silver Maple shade trees.
I'd love to hear about your old place!!!
Mo
2011-08-06T14:49:34Z
Hey Jerry....I have the hot water boiler system, and how I wish it WERE steam! Had it in an old apartment years ago..skin loved it, plants loved it & I was never sick!
Where is your place? I'm in VA.
2011-08-06T14:52:58Z
I hear ya Robert. I can't believe anyone even BUILT anything during that time.
2011-08-06T14:57:31Z
Sweet Deal Mark! But what did your g'ma do with $200k at 80+ yo?? :0)
2011-08-06T14:59:29Z
Maddie...that's ok...you will one day! Just remember...newer is NOT necessarily better!
2011-08-06T19:01:18Z
Drewfuss! What happened that you "lost" it?? :0(
Drewfuss2011-08-06T18:58:18Z
Favorite Answer
we just lost our old house. it was built in 1837. one of the first houses in our township. it was owned by the same family until we bought it. all the old timers in town knew the previous tennant. we were told that they had a still in the basement during prohibition. the son of the previous owners died in the korean war. the daughter was local beauty queen in 1964.
My house is 41 years old. I bought it in 25 years ago in 1986. There's really not a lot of history here. In 1970, when my grandmother was 70 years old, she bought this undeveloped lot and built the house (That's another story as to why she did that at 70 years old :<) Anyway, when she got to be too old to be able to live here anymore when she was 86, I bought it from her. By the way, in 1970, she paid 20 g's for this place. 16 years later, she sold it to me for 200 g's. (That was the appraised value at the time) Prior to the housing bubble, it was probably worth 800 g's. Now... probably 600 g's. But, even where I live and all the real estate for sale and foreclosures on the market, it would take me a long time to sell it if I wanted to and I'd probably be lucky to get 500 g's for it right now. But the good news is, for whatever it's worth, I probably have atleast 350 g's worth of equity in this place right now.
I have one from 1931. It is built with the full dimension lumber, and it's quite substantial with oak floors which do not squeak. We lived in it for a while, but now I have renters in it. It was originally heated with a steam boiler, but I converted it to electric and replaced the wood windows with vinyl ones.
The walls are lath and plaster. The old wiring was rotten, so I rewired it and installed a new breaker panel. I bought this house in 1968 for $17,000. It now appraises at $155.000. The rent income has paid for it twice already.