A short discorse between a client and myself, enjoy...
Matthew, what do you think of this listing for us?
I actually have two answers. The first is short and to the point. I like this house a lot. I like the location and the land that the house sits on, but it is old.
The second answer is a little longer so grab a cup of coffee.
I firmly believe that houses are like human beings. They have a life cycle. Some are short, some are long, and the rest fall somewhere in the middle. Some homes were made to live a long, long time, case in point, the castles in Ireland, Bunratty castle comes to mind. It's hundreds of years old. A little less impressive is the White House, a couple of hundred years of age. Some houses were not built to live quite as long, case in point, my house. My house is a typical brick cape cod. It was built in 1940. It is nearing the end of it's lifecycle, granted it was not well cared for in the past, but there isn't a whole lot you can do to extend the life of one of these old cape cods. You can replace or refinish the hard woods, replace vinyl with ceramic tile(face-lift), replace Formica and wood countertops with granite(collagen injection), extend the house with more rooms(boob job), or you could even go so far as to change out entire bathrooms(liver transplant), HVAC system(lung transplant), or kitchen(heart transplant). There are many of these things that can be done to extend the life of a fifty year old brick cape cod, but it is still a fifty year old cape cod. You can do all of the fixes that there are but you can not turn back time the bones will continue to get old(framing and trusses), and it's soul or essence will continue to get old(foundation). My house is on life support and the doctor(my architect) is asking my wife and I if we want to pull the plug. If we had the money we would. We would build a new house where this one is now. But for now, it's life support for this old house.
So in short a fifty year old house is fine if it is built to last for a hundred years. But the cape cods in this neighborhood were built in the fifties and are getting to the end of there life cycle. You and Jill are looking at some very nice new homes that are in your price range. You would probably be better off going for one of the newer homes. Less yard granted, but who wants to mow the thing. I had to get a riding lawn mower for my 1/2 acre. This is all, of course, my opinion. I hope that answers your question.
The second answer is a little longer so grab a cup of coffee.
I firmly believe that houses are like human beings. They have a life cycle. Some are short, some are long, and the rest fall somewhere in the middle. Some homes were made to live a long, long time, case in point, the castles in Ireland, Bunratty castle comes to mind. It's hundreds of years old. A little less impressive is the White House, a couple of hundred years of age. Some houses were not built to live quite as long, case in point, my house. My house is a typical brick cape cod. It was built in 1940. It is nearing the end of it's lifecycle, granted it was not well cared for in the past, but there isn't a whole lot you can do to extend the life of one of these old cape cods. You can replace or refinish the hard woods, replace vinyl with ceramic tile(face-lift), replace Formica and wood countertops with granite(collagen injection), extend the house with more rooms(boob job), or you could even go so far as to change out entire bathrooms(liver transplant), HVAC system(lung transplant), or kitchen(heart transplant). There are many of these things that can be done to extend the life of a fifty year old brick cape cod, but it is still a fifty year old cape cod. You can do all of the fixes that there are but you can not turn back time the bones will continue to get old(framing and trusses), and it's soul or essence will continue to get old(foundation). My house is on life support and the doctor(my architect) is asking my wife and I if we want to pull the plug. If we had the money we would. We would build a new house where this one is now. But for now, it's life support for this old house.
So in short a fifty year old house is fine if it is built to last for a hundred years. But the cape cods in this neighborhood were built in the fifties and are getting to the end of there life cycle. You and Jill are looking at some very nice new homes that are in your price range. You would probably be better off going for one of the newer homes. Less yard granted, but who wants to mow the thing. I had to get a riding lawn mower for my 1/2 acre. This is all, of course, my opinion. I hope that answers your question.
Photos:
old house courtesy of Library of Congress
house with snow courtesy of Matthew Ryan
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