From sloping floors to living onsite, here are a few surprises we encountered while fixing up a century-old abandoned house.
Things I Wish I Knew Before Buying a Fixer-Upper
Updated Feb. 16, 2024
Three years ago, my partner and I and bought a 100-year-old home in a rural Colorado town. The pandemic created some emptiness in our lives. We thought a fixer-upper might be the best place to park our savings, grow some equity and maybe even put down roots in a small-town community.
The house we wanted was the cheapest one for sale in the state. It had been on the market for well over a year, so we assumed most people viewed it as a tear down. All the windows were busted out, cedar roof shingles were missing, and the bathroom floorboards were torn up in an apparent attempt to fix broken water pipes.
Despite all that, we optimistically saw it as a charming old home with a solid foundation. There wasn’t a ton of insect, rodent or water damage. And with a little digging through state records, we discovered it had a valid well permit. The real estate agents didn’t know about that, or they would have raised the price.
We’re not house flippers. This was my first fixer-upper, although my husband had done some in-depth work on his previous houses. But we basically knew what we were getting into — a gut to the studs, then a rebuild of every system.
In all, we’ve put about a year-and-a-half of full-time work into it, without hiring much outside labor. (My husband’s dad is a retired plumber, so he came out to help with that.) We’re now working our way through the final list of finishing touches.
Overall, it went well and we certainly don’t regret it. We learned a lot, though there are a few things we would do differently next time.
If you’re thinking about embarking on a fixer-upper, here are a few of the more unusual problems we ran into that you might not have considered. We also asked two experts for the pros and cons of restoring a fixer-upper.
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About the Experts
Samantha Pearl is a licensed residential builder in St. John’s, Michigan and owner of My Handyma’am home renovators. She also teaches women how to DIY through her Facebook group How to Handyma’am.
Bryan Slowick is owner and sales manager of BDS Design Build Remodel in Libertyville, Illinois. He founded the company in 2003 after seven years as a lead carpenter and foreman for a general contracting firm in Chicago.
Level Floors and Plumb Walls
Most old houses feature floors that slope or sag, and walls that aren’t entirely at 90-degree angles. On this house, we knew the floor and wall issues weren’t due to serious foundational problems. But we also didn’t realize the major undertaking fixing them would entail.
It took bags and bags of leveling compound and days of labor to correct them. Had we realized the scope of the task earlier, we would have leveled the floors by jacking them up from beneath instead.
Access to Building Supplies and Support Services
In the excitement of taking on the project, we neglected to consider supply availability.
The closest big-box home-improvement store is more than two hours away. And although we prefer to shop locally, the closest independently owned construction-related stores charged extremely high prices. That really added up over the course of a big project. Finding subcontractors was also nearly impossible.
All this meant paying more for materials, more time learning new tasks we had to do ourselves, and more wear-and-tear on our bodies than we expected.
Dumpsters and Disposals
We ended up using four 40-yard dumpsters to dispose of old wall board, mortar, wood, yard refuse, pipe, wiring and appliances, plus one unexpected component — an enclosure of thirteen 300-pound steel door panels. These were hidden under paneling in a poorly constructed and illegally added room, which we had to remove. Apparently they had once been part of an industrial building.
We were extremely lucky the dumpster company took them. Three months later, the company changed its policy and stopped accepting scrap metal. Had that change come sooner, it would have been an expensive hassle to get rid of those panels.
Living Onsite
We lived in our camper van in the backyard for the first four months until we had the interior gutted, new windows installed and drywall added to a bedroom.
As more rooms took shape, we brought more stuff into the house: a few pieces of furniture, camping equipment, bicycles. What a mistake. Before we knew it, working became a chore because we had to keep moving everything around. Had we realized the hassle it would be playing musical belongings, we would have ditched most of our stuff.
Landscaping With Native Plants
The first spring, we decided to start landscaping, even though the house was far from done. We figured it would give trees and bushes plenty of time to establish themselves.
Though I have some gardening experience, I underestimated the effect the dry climate and cold winters would have on my plant choices. After a summer of close attention and watering to get them all rooted, the winter wiped out every plant that wasn’t a hardy native.
Fortunately, the ones that did make it now need zero maintenance and supplemental water. They’re here to stay … but we are not.
Don’t Assume a Small Town Will Embrace You
At first, we had visions of cozying up with a new community. Not anymore. Now we’ve decided to sell or rent out this house.
It’s in a town with roughly 48 people, plus enough abandoned buildings to be classified as a ghost town on some maps. While we see room for improvement, many residents, whose families have lived here for generations, don’t want change.
We’ve made friends with some residents, but others still won’t talk to us. No sense in pressing the issue. Better to find a place where we fit in.
Are Fixer Uppers a Good Investment?
They can be, especially if you have good time, money and project management skills, a tolerance for risk and time to devote to the project.
“But they’re by no means a sure thing,” says Pearl. “In order to renovate a property and make a profit, there needs to be a lot of room between what you buy it for and what you sell it for.” To find these, you often have to buy the home at foreclosure or other less-than-ideal sales circumstances.
It’s also risky to count on rising home prices to carve out your profit, Pearl says. The market can just as easily take a downward turn before the house is ready to go back on the market.
We still think fixer-uppers are great. But for a number of reasons, our next project is going to be a new build.
We found a lot in a town where we do fit in, and building a new house should be quicker and easier than dealing with all of the quirks of an old one. (Check in with us next year to see if that’s true!)
Plus, the building codes have changed here. Now, if you renovate more than 25% of a house, you have to use updated energy efficiency and insulation standards. This would be cost-prohibitive because we would have to make the house walls thicker.
What Should You Look For in a Fixer Upper?
Ideally, buy the worst house in a nice neighborhood or a neighborhood that’s rebounding, Pearl says. That’s because current and future market values come into play with what buyers are willing to pay.
“If it’s the least expensive house in a nice neighborhood, buyers know it will likely have good growth in value over time,” says Pearl. “If you’re selling a house on the higher end of values in the neighborhood, it has less possibility of growth in value.”
What Should You Avoid in a Fixer-Upper?
Stay away from anything you feel is drastically out of your comfort zone, although YouTube can go a long way toward remedying that! From cracked foundations to leaky roofs, it’s no joke that a fixer-upper can be a money pit. Plus, rural homes have their own set of peculiarities and pitfalls.
Some common mistakes, according to Pearl:
- Not getting a full inspection;
- Falling in love with a house’s possibilities and making an emotional decision;
- Assuming best-case scenario when calculating renovation costs and resale value;
- Taking on projects that require you to hire out everything, which drives up costs.
Are Old/Historic Homes a Good Investment?
Sometimes. But Slowick says there are a lot of pitfalls.
“I think a DIYer can buy a historic home for its value and charm, but I don’t think it has value to a flipper because of the extra work, craftsmanship and intellectual knowledge needed,” he says. “That cost won’t be returned at the same rate as a modern home.
“But there are the things that are not quantifiable, like beauty, nostalgia and quaintness, and those are valued differently and treated differently for different people.”
Originally Published: January 31, 2024
