What would you do?

[ninny]

oops 1700 sq feet.

We bought it.

 

[Whispering Winds]

I am a realtor, and right now, if you can afford to heat it, stay there. Wait it out. I personally LOVE old homes, and even though it might be a lot of work, its probably built to last. Four acres isn't much, I see your point, but is there a possibility of buying around you eventually? Get the word out to the land owners around you that you want first dib at being able to purchase more acreage. Also, be prepared for a big down payment, on bare land, at least 30-35%. Check into the USDA for land purchase, still down payment, and lots of paper work, but they loan on the appraised value of the land.

Real Estate in central Illinois has slowed down considerably, or at least in the county where I am working, for the first time since the economy has taken a hit. We lost a lot of realtors in the metro-East area, and probably more this new year because of slow sales.

I hope you can hang in there, usually the end results are so worth it, and all you are doing when remodeling is building up equity for the market when it rebounds!!!

 

[ninny]

Quote:
Thats true. We have to redo all the plumbing, add a second bathroom, update wiring, add a third bedroom and a porch or deck as basics. Anything else to bump up the value.
Does fencing add value? We are going to fence off the backyard so i can open the door and the dogs to go out by themselves and maybe fence the pasture. We also are putting in a orchard and maybe a greenhouse. Id like to get a garage somehow. And our barn is huge but its over 100 yrs old as well and needs heaps of work. Im going to put some horse stalls in it. The land around us is all cropland so it would take a lot of sweet talking and prayer to get them to let it go. Im going to have to landscape as well.

 

[chixie]

I would fix it up... I would love to have a 100 year old house...that would be so awesome

 

[Beekissed]

Grow where you are planted!

 

[Marlinchaser]

Quote:
It all sounds good till you have to fix something, mine is(Main Part) 200 +, ever try to saw through a 200 year old Oak log?

 

[ninny]

Quote:
It all sounds good till you have to fix something, mine is(Main Part) 200 +, ever try to saw through a 200 year old Oak log?

Yup. I love the original floors then the pipes freeze again. I hate having to have jugs of water to flush the potty with.

 

[cmjust0]

Our house is really old, too. It was built in about four different parts, and still only totals about 1100sqft. Two beds, one bath. Kitchen takes up about 3/8ths of the total square footage, which sounds nice, but is actually a gigantic waste of space. It's not built very well, either...downright shoddy in spots. Not like all the 'cool old houses' people think of when they think of old houses...those houses were built by people who had money at the time. The folks who built mine were clearly just regular ol' farming people who used what they had laying around.

For all you carpenters out there...just as a for-instance...the collar ties are 2x4s on 24" centers and span about 16 feet. The rafters rest directly on the ends of the collar ties. The collar ties were EXCISED about an inch to fit over the walls, for no apparent reason whatsoever. So, yeah..the entire roof's basically held up by 2"x3" lumber. It shouldn't even be possible, I don't think, but it's dimensional hardwood instead of modern lumber. That's all that's saving it. That, and a light snow load. At some point, I'm going to get some braces up there but I don't even like going up there...afraid I'll snap a collar tie with my weight and send the whole house crashing down.

So believe me...I hear ya on old houses.

That said...we're not moving. No way, no how. We like it too much out here and this house is working OK for now..

 

[FireTigeris]

my house is almost that old, there are boat ribs as part of the attic- you could tell the age of each part by the windows

Solid
slash/roller - horizontal
slash roller vertical
ballasted half pane


Love my house, wish it had been studded for 2 stories... 'sigh'.

 

[wildorchid053]

we built ours as a modular and love it.. we only had the shell made and the rest we did ourselves.. stairs. kitchen railings.. maybe you could do something small for the time being and work on your old home till you have it the way you want and rent out the smaller one for income later?

for this HUGE home the shell was 190,000 ... i am sure for 70,000 you could get a fantastic home for the time being