My house is like a Beverly Hills Socialite

According to real estate records, my house was built in 1911 and is 100 years old. From the street it doesn't look older than 50, and from inside the front door it looks like it could be between 30 to 40 years old.

Like a Beverly Hills Socialite, this house has had a lot of work done on it over the years to hide the age. Unfortunately, it's not subtle and this house has had a lot of obvious facelifts.

As an example, this is what the house looked like last February (2011) before the house flippers got their hands on it:




And this is what the house that I purchased looks like:



If you look at it carefully, you'll notice that the flippers removed the architectural supports to the cupola over the front door, and the spindle posts of the front railing. What you can't see easily are the covered porch and two second floor balconies that were removed.

On the inside of the house, there is a little tiny bit left of the original millwork to hint at the age. There is also some awkwardness in the layout, and lower ceilings in the basement and stairwells that hint that this is an old house.

As a person who likes the handcrafted detailing in old houses, I do think it's a shame that a lot of this was removed from my house over the years. The kitchen cabinets have a sticker on them that say they were built in the 70's, and the cabinets around the fireplace look like they were probably built when ranch-style houses were popular:



This photo was taken before the house flippers purchased the property in March. They painted the wood cabinets a modern grey color instead of refinishing the wood which actually looks okay, but is not true to the period of the house.

The bathrooms were also updated more recently:



It's obvious that previous owners of this house focused more on function than on preservation. With all that it lost, this house did gain something. All of these remodels and renovations means that almost everything in and on the house is new or updated. I don't have to worry about typical old house problems like removing old electrical wiring, or converting from oil heating to central gas heat. Plus, some of the renovations make the house a lot more practical for living than if it were true to the period. For example, the interior walls between the kitchen, dining, and living rooms have been removed and it is all now one big great room.

Going forward, I'm having some more work done on the house before I move in. One of these is to replace the single pane windows of the house with something more energy efficient and secure. Though I'm trying to be cost conscious, I decided to splurge and get better quality windows with some architectural detailing that would be a little more true to its appropriate age. What I'm learning is that replacing architecturally appropriate detailing is $$$.

I'm also replacing the floor and vanity to the main floor bathroom (pictured above). The wood floors in the bathroom are rotting around the bathtub, and the vanity countertop has a crack across the entire length. Now I have a dilemma. I'm not replacing the 70's tub or stone shower tiles because of cost constraints so I'm trying to decide what kind of flooring and vanity to install that would be true to the original (1911) house's architecture but would still match the existing tub and shower tile.

I'm mindful of something the window contractor said after examining all of my windows. He said that at least I don't have to make the painful decision of whether to replace the original beautiful and detailed (drafty and leaky) leaded glass windows. Instead I get to make the decision to re-establish the original beauty to the house.

This house has been on this earth a heckuva lot longer than me, and will probably be here long after I'm gone. As temporary steward of the place, I get to correct the bad facelifts and make the house look more natural. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be so painful that I opt for new condo living afterwards.

An example where spending a little money now can save lots later

The road to closing the purchase on the house was a little bumpy, but it closed on time and I am now a first-time house owner.

The advice that a good house inspector is worth a little extra money was definitely true in my case. During my initial inspection he noted that the sellers, concentrating on building the new house next door, removed my sewer access. This really annoyed my house inspector because it's not legal. After several calls between the real estate agents and sellers, I was told they were planning on putting a brand new sewer line in for me as part of the build for the new neighboring house. To make up for our trouble, the sellers offered to insulate my attic and accepted almost everything on my 10 item contingency (to do before closing) list. I was happy with that.

For the re-inspection, I decided to have the house inspector come back because I didn't have the experience to tell whether some of the items on my contingency list were done properly. One of them was the sewer. My real estate agent didn't think it was necessary for me to pay the extra $50 for a sewer scope (where they feed a camera into the pipes to see the inside) since the sellers were putting in a brand new line. The inspector recommended otherwise. I took the inspector's advice, and it turned out to be $50 very well spent.

While scoping the new sewer line, the inspector found a break between the new PVC sewer pipes and a foot long section of old clay pipe (Video of the sewer-scope with the breakage at approximately 2 minutes). Basically, my sewer was not connected to the city's sewer line and was seeping into the ground. My inspector tracked this seepage to between the sidewalk and foundation of the neighboring new construction.

One call from my agent and the seller's real estate agent was out to the house immediately to see the problem for himself. He said it would be fixed ASAP. If I hadn't paid the $50 for the sewer scope, it could have cost me $10,000 or more to fix this problem and the neighbors would have literally been in deep doo doo.

The sewer connection was fixed the next day and the sewer contractor proved it to me by doing a sewer scope while I watched. I saw all new PVC piping to the street and no obvious breaks in the line. The sewer contractor said that the 'breakage' was caused by soil shifting when the new foundation was placed on top of the pipe and the new connection now has more tolerance and shouldn't fail if the soil shifts.

Since there is a one year warranty on the sewer work, my real estate agent suggested that I talk with the new neighbors and have another sewer scope within a year after the house is built and soil has settled a bit. It's a good suggestion that I'll be sure to do.

My first big house-owner lesson: spending a little money and time now can save you money and grief later.

P.S. My home inspector was Hartman Home Inspections. He's a little more expensive, but his work paid for itself 20x over.