First-time homeowners become easy prey
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- December 16, 2024
- 183
Not so long ago, the children of some friends of ours decided it was time for them to buy a house. And because their budget was limited, they could only afford to look at the older houses on the market.
It takes experience, money, commitment and more money to handle the challenge of redoing an older house, a place very likely set in her ways.
Though that young couple didn’t know, it is always wise to be extremely wary of older houses, especially if the word quaint is used, which can often mean in dire need of remodeling.
That couple, normally level-headed and practical, fell in love with that place and, in a fit of passion, bought it. That hussy of a house seduced those young folks into a mortgage.
It’s an old, old story — an inexperienced couple taken advantage of by a very experienced house.
Young first-time homeowners are easy prey for needed old dwellings. Often an older place is more affordable than a newer build, and inexperienced house hunters just
don’t realize a dwelling past her prime is no bargain. For instance, old houses have old plumbing, ancient wiring and often a very tired roof.
Living with an elderly house can certainly be stressful but is seldom boring. There is always something needing to be fixed. Our friend’s son-in-law was delighted to find several antique pots in the attic until he realized the antique pots were full of water from antique leaks in the roof.
While trying to find a plug for a lamp, our friend’s daughter made a sobering discovery; older dwellings are not overly endowed with electrical outlets. Two per room is all her old place provided.
Their lilliputian bathroom looks suspiciously like a converted coat closet. The fixtures were crammed, cheek by jowl, leaving about 1 square foot of floor exposed. The closets in that elderly house seemed rationed. There was only one per bedroom, each one less than modest in size.
Despite all her problems, the old place was sturdily built. The young homeowners were confident that once the roof was fixed, the ceilings replaced, the wallpaper stripped, the windows replaced, the bathroom enlarged, the kitchen updated, the plumbing and wiring
brought up to code, new paint applied, and new carpet laid, that house would be just like new.
And it would!