I Bought a 129-Year-Old Home in Really Bad Shape (and I Have No Regrets!)

I always said I would never buy a serious fixer-upper. A house that needed some updating? Sure. A home in need of actual top-to-bottom renovation? That’s not something I was interested in living through (or paying for). But then, one day, my partner and I decided to “just check out” what turned out to be a total catfish of a Zillow listing. The photos conveyed cheerfully staged rooms with the phrase “alter it or enjoy it,” ample square footage, and a list of features that seemed to check everything on our wish list — it was worth a look, right?

As soon as we walked in, it was clear there was no enjoying this house in its current state. It would be in need of a total renovation. And I wasn’t the only one that felt that way. I post a lot of my projects on Instagram, and multiple people in the neighborhood reached out to me when I posted photos of the home, saying they looked at the very same house and immediately walked out. 

But we decided to put an offer in anyway, and, much to my surprise, we felt okay about it going into closing.

Why did I decide to take the plunge into a house that looked as if it hadn’t seen a handyman in 50 years? Because, in addition to the inspector, we brought our future contractor to the inspection and had him give us the honest truth about everything we saw. If he’d said walk away, we probably would have.

Instead, he told us,”I wouldn’t buy it, but I don’t think it’s a bad house.”

That’s as enthusiastic a stamp of approval as he could possibly give us. Here are a few of the problems we saw in the house — and the reasons our contractor told us that it would be fine to move forward.

We quickly realized there was a moisture issue going on, and that needed to be addressed. But we also realized there were active leaks — which we’d soon realize was from water streaming in through the dining room ceiling each time it rained. 

To add to our water issues, we had tubs that leaked, faucets that wouldn’t turn on, and sinks that didn’t drain. These were issues that probably could have been addressed, but the bathrooms were in such rough shape that we knew they’d have to be redone anyway.

Our contractor assured us that leaks from rain and bathrooms were things that could be fixed. The bigger potential water issue at hand turned out not to be an issue at all — and it’s why our contractor gave us the vote of confidence at the inspection. 

We’ve lived through a plumbing horror story in a previous home in our neighborhood, and we have countless neighbors who’ve lived to tell the same tales. So finding out that the plumbing had been updated some time in the last half of the 20th century was a giant relief. Plus, we didn’t have lead pipes in the house, so we could cross yet another potential behind-the-scenes project off the list.

In the kitchen, the decades-old appliances had been allowed to fall into disrepair. Old appliances can function, but they have to be taken care of. And these were not. That’s not to mention that our fridge — which did work — was a glorified mini fridge (we realized on move-in day why we didn’t have a full-size fridge, but that — and getting a full-size fridge in through a window — is a story for another day). 

When you buy a pre-1970s home that hasn’t been updated, there’s a chance it still has knob and tube wiring. This type of wiring has to be completely replaced no matter what because it has a high risk of electrical fire. Not only does the original rubber coating often wear off, leaving live wires exposed, but there are no grounding conductors. 

If the house had knob and tube, we knew we were going to be in for an expensive and absolutely necessary electrical project. Once the inspector let us know that our electrical had been updated, it was a giant sigh of relief.

From crumbling plaster to holes in the walls to damaged floors, there was major cosmetic damage hiding behind the sleek staging. But cosmetic damage is just cosmetic, and there was a bigger surface level feature that hinted at a major old house problem we might have been able to dodge.

Luckily for us, our old house had original wood floors. Besides the charm factor — original floors have a beautiful patina, yes — there was another, unexpected reason I was so excited to find out we had original wood throughout every room except the bathrooms.

It was actually because it probably meant the home was safer. Because of those original wood floors, we knew we’d likely dodged asbestos, which is usually found under vinyl flooring installed in the last century. And, when costs are adding up quickly, that’s one costly and complicated remediation project I knew we didn’t have to worry about.

This last reason is a little bit more amorphous, but, regardless of anything our contractor noticed, the house had good vibes. Thanks to big windows and a skylight, there was natural light streaming in on every floor, something you don’t see in a ton of row houses. 

And the idea of a full renovation feels a little bit less scary when you can see all the warts, cobwebs, and crumbling plaster sitting right in front of you — sunlight is the best disinfectant, after all!