What to Look For & Look Past While House Hunting

Thought I would share this great post about buying an older dated home from the folks at Young House Love.com.

Here in the Williamsburg VA area there are a number of homes that seem to languish on the market due to their need for updating. Most buyers will simply rule them out right off the bat saying they aren’t up to “fixing-up” a house.

For those that appreciate older homes its an opportunity to capitalize on some very unique homes at great prices.

Q: I have a house-hunting question for you. What do you look for? What do you look past? Help! My main complaint of all the older homes that we’re looking at in our price range is that they all feel dated, but that seems to be what you guys look for. How do you know which dated houses are worth buying and which ones are lost causes? I keep worrying we’ll end up in a money pit! – Aviva (not the one from Housewives of NY).

A: First of all, I’m glad you clarified that you’re not NYC Aviva. Haha. And second of all, we actually get this question a lot. So when it comes to what we “look past” in a house (and what we pay attention to) my general answer is to never be deterred by the following things:

• baaaad paint on the walls or the trim
• nasty wallpaper (borders, or entire walls)
• dated or not-your-style furniture
• ugly curtains
• dark brick or paneling
• not-your-cup-of-tea light fixtures
• green/blue/pink toilets

For example, here are a few before photos of our first house to further demonstrate how off-putting those dated features can be… but we all know they can be remedied with a little elbow grease if you’re a willing DIYer:

Read the rest of the story here on Young House Love.com

click here to search older homes in the Williamsburg, Yorktown VA area.