Renovating an older home can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of stress. There's nothing quite like the empowerment you feel in making an older home more modern. However, you also have to know what to look for when renovating older homes, choosing the specific projects to tackle, and then somehow keeping it all under budget.
Character to Build Around
Older homes are alluring to many people because they're in established and mature neighborhoods. They have great locations and have usually been around long enough for trees to grow up. There is also a unique charm to many older homes. It might be a quaint fireplace, bay windows, or just crown molding in the dining room. Always keep an eye out for such features. Don't just keep them. Build around them all you can and even accentuate them. In an age of cookie-cutter homes and prefabs flooding many markets, lots of buyers prefer something with individual style. You might just be one of them.
Age-Related Risks
Older homes may have stood the test of time, but how well have they really fared? Take a quick look inside any available circuit breakers to see the inspection and installation dates of the electrical system. Have a contractor get up on the roof, check the foundation for cracks and settling, get a technician to look over the HVAC system. Quite a bit of the home's infrastructure may need to be replaced just to bring a home up to code. Even if a lot of it can be grandfathered in, you might want to do it anyway just for peace of mind.
Opportunities for Modernization
After you decide on specific features to keep for character and deal with old-age problems a home might have, it's time to look for ways you can help bring the home into the modern age. This might be a sweeping overhaul of a whole floor by blowing out walls to introduce an open-concept living, but it can also be as practical as adding more electrical outlets, Wi-Fi, and USB ports for recharging mobile electronics.
Give the Lawn a Facelift
After you’ve worked out the inside and are comfortable, don’t forget to update the outside too. If a sprinkler system isn’t already installed, then that might be the first thing you look into. Not only will it help the grass, but you can have other lines set up for flower beds and trees also.
Whether you live there or you sell to someone else, the next residents will be happy you looked out for all of these.
