Old houses – where do we begin? A romance that is utterly unique, and in every sense of the word too. When you decide to buy an old house, the honeymoon stage fleeting replaced by a complicated but hearty relationship which, with every milestone, grows more complicated. It can feel like the house takes more than it gives at times. It can feel rather, off-kilter. There will be highs, and there will inevitably be lows but, somehow, through it all, that twinkle never seems to dull.
Benefits of investing in an old home
Investing and living in an old home, is not for everyone. In fact, we’d go as far to say that for a lot of people, they just aren’t an attractive prospect. To some it is the shine, the simplicity, the youth of new properties that drives a sale. And that’s totally fine - each to their own.
When you choose an older property, you may not get clean lines, you may not even get straight walls, you may not – and in our experience probably won’t – get a smooth ride during the refurbishment stages, but what you will get is worth its weight in gold. What you get is an experience, an adventure even.
In return for your perseverance, your dogeared determination and persistence for doing things ‘right’, you will get a true one-off. You will be moving into living history. You will have a home with heart, memories, character, stubbornness, and one that has been brought back to life with a shedload of surprises along the way. If you’re one of those people who has a soft spot for heritage, for things there were made with dedication, attention to detail, respect for the old ways, then nurturing an old building will absolutely be for you.
A space in a house’s history is one you will have to earn though. When you do get those stripes though, the benefits you reap will absolutely outweigh your efforts. You’ll have a one-off home, a unique backdrop, one that you created, ready for you to create your own cherished memories in. Far from only delivering sentimental satisfaction, financially, the monetary value you add to a property of age will – in most cases – overtake your initial outlay.
Challenges of an old home
It sounds like it’s all sunshine and rainbows, but there are of course lows. And believe us there will probably be plenty. Like any renovation project, it isn’t always smooth sailing, but older houses do seem to come with their own agendas, their own attitude. We’ve seen projects sail through with barely a hiccup and then we’ve seen ones that encounter issue after issue. From finding dry rot or subsidence, to unearthing drainage problems, damp, even structural instability - not ruling out any cowboys who may have come before you too.
You will face challenges along the way. For most, these boil down to financial and material. As we’ve said, what you put in, in most cases, isn’t wasted investment, but with older properties unless the correct initial surveys and research are undertaken by proven professionals, some buyers can find themselves unexpectedly on top of a money pit. As for materials, prices may have increased on your standard supplies, but when it comes to working in Victorian or Edwardian homes for example, even medieval ones, replacing like-for-like does require time, and effort. Finding the resources you need can be a tricky task. That said, it can also be a rather enjoyable one. Trawling salvage yards, haggling over specific pieces such as coping stones, flagstone floors or fireplaces, finding experts who can repair or recreate damaged original features – plaster ceiling details or coving for example – requires more of that drive and dedication we’ve already talked about. It requires passion.
Old buildings and their refurbishment are not for the faint of heart. They can be all-consuming. They can have you banging your head against a very old brick wall one minute, the dancing on the ceiling the next. We’ve gone on about the lows, but there are so many highs too – and these will be the moments you remember. They can be as simple as pulling back a stained old carpet to find beautifully preserved floorboards, or original tiles lining your hallway. They can be as small, yet deliciously delightful, as uncovering antique spoons hidden under floorboards, or lost marbles behind a skirting from a long unfinished game. Hints of plasterwork, cornicing, corbels and ceiling roses, even hand-painted wallpaper, that have been patiently waiting for their next time to shine.
There’s never a dull moment when restoring an old home
Then, there are the moments that don’t fall into either category. The surprising, unnerving moments. Finding bricked-in knick-knacks that do make you ponder the previous owners reasoning for hiding them in the first place, or bird skeletons choosing the optimum time to drop out of chimney breasts. Children’s shoes dug out of tile floors laid straight onto mud.
There is never a dull moment when an old home is being restored. We use that word specifically because that is exactly what you are doing when you take on an old house. In fact, when you buy an old home and make it your own, you don’t really become the new owner, you take on the role of custodian. Because, really, that is what you are. You may hold the keys, but you are one in a long line of people who have cared for that house.
New homes may have their appeal, but old homes, have grandeur. They have nostalgia. They have mystery and pull at our curiosity. They have some sort of draw that we can only compare to finding buried treasure. To us, that is what heritage homes are, treasure. Not buried, but right on the surface of things, just waiting for someone to turn the key, open the door, and breathe life back into their gilded edges once more.