SWMBO and I have entered into an agreement to buy an old house in our hometown. Our current home sits on Main St. and is without a buffer between us, the road, or the neighbors and I am ready for some privacy.
We found a really cool place 6.75 acres, half of a private pond, a herring run, and a house built god knows when, but portions of it are from 1719. The land was originally a gift from Sachemus to Governor William Bradford, Dec 3, 1653. Bradford died in 1657 and in 1664 the property was sold by Alice Bradford, William's widow, to Richard Sears. Oh and the property also surrounds the old Sear's Cemetery on 3 sides. Richard Sears was buried there in 1676. His son Samuel Sears took over the land and built the first home. The property is very interesting with the original Kings Highway (Original Indian Trial) running through the middle of it. A previous owner successfully had the old layout abandoned by the State, then the Town and the land court awarded him the fee in the way without rights. In 1846 the layout was moved to the north, or the back of the house.
The house is in three parts, the original saltbox is the oldest and it's not possible to really ID the age, the wing to the east is from the 1950's and the mudroom to the east of the 1959 addition was done in 1965.
The house needs work, LOTS of work. I've had a contractor looking at it with me and so far it appears that we can stabilize it within our budget, and move the kitchen to a more pleasant room (the 1959 addition is one big room with a fireplace big enough to cook a hog). I am torn between redoing the whole roof structure, or just shoring up what's there. My contractor friend (lots of experience with old houses around here and a childhood friend since about 6th grade) isn't sure what's best yet.
The house was "faithfully" restored in 1964/65 and the electric is good, the plumbing appears to be good. The heating is weird. The old house has hot water from an oil burner and the new addition, and the 2nd floor of the old house is heated by a hot air furnace that's located in the mudroom.
Roughly 5.5 acres are under a Conservation Restriction which is pretty lenient in what I can with the buildings that are within the Restricted area.
The wife and I have been messing about with this for a few months, once the price dropped into our range. And we finally reached a deal after 5 other deals were made and fell apart. The final price will allow us to put a significant amount back into the house for things like, the roof structure on the north side, and the foundation at the SW corner.
For your amusement it is located at 41-44-40.41 N, 70-08-38.44 W, or you can find the listing if you google 46 main st. Brewster ma.
We had quite a chore making offers as it's a Fannie May house that was taken in foreclosure last March.
No pictures yet, as it does need some TLC after a year of neglect.
Does anyone have any hints, clues, ideas, etc, on how to survive re-modeling a house like this?
The last time that this house sold was Nov 2007, for almost twice what we're paying. Funny coincidence, that was the same month and year that I moved into our current residence.
Dtp
Aren't Nahm & the rest of the This Old House crew around anymore?
Checked it out, nice looking place. Then I zoomed out a bit, and... well, let's just say for my way of thinking, you are in a busy part of the world!
Nice outbuildings. Do you have frontage on the pond? Interesting to have an old burying ground in your back yard.
foggyidea, post: 414424, member: 155 wrote: Does anyone have any hints, clues, ideas, etc, on how to survive re-modeling a house like this?
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Warren Smith, post: 414429, member: 9900 wrote: Nice outbuildings. Do you have frontage on the pond? Interesting to have an old burying ground in your back yard.
It's a Private Pond, and we will own half of it. It's really an old reservoir and isn't swimmable, I don't think. Looks like a snapping turtle heaven. The neighbor to the SW owns the other half. He's in Dennis. My westerly PL is also the Town line.
I start stripping wallpaper in the master bedroom tomorrow, I hope to survive that.
Dave Karoly, post: 414436, member: 94 wrote: I start stripping wallpaper in the master bedroom tomorrow, I hope to survive that.
If you can, take care stripping the paper. We salvaged numerous well preserved civil war newspapers during a restoration in the early 70s. We also found 'collections' in the chinking mud. I still have one of the railroad locks and a few other trinkets.
I bought an older home twenty years ago. It is still a work in progress and probably always will be. But in reality it's that way with any home. You have to prioritize your desires...and understand the difference between maintenance and improvements. In my mind the only difference between older and newer homes is when working with older homes you can spend a helluva lot more money on things that don't show. 15K can disappear like a fart in the wind on wiring. 15K spent on a newer home can give you a "Better Homes & Gardens" looking kitchen.
The place you described sounds lovely and it seems you like it. Go for it.
Can you install a ground source heat loop or is the water table too high ?
"First Aid" is to have a SWMBO who can direct you as I do !
Cheers,
Derek
I really think you might want to revisit your decision to live in such an OLD part of the US. I mean, when my ancestor William Brewster stepped on at Plymouth Rock in 1620, if he'd had any idea that folks would just hang around a bunch of worn out farms and turtle ponds instead of moving someplace further inland, he'd probably have asked the skipper of the Mayflower for a special rate on return trip. No, now is the time to move to someplace like Arkansas or Oklahoma to start afresh. You can thank me later.
Kent McMillan, post: 414447, member: 3 wrote: I really think you might want to revisit your decision to live in such an OLD part of the US. I mean, when my ancestor William Brewster stepped on at Plymouth Rock in 1620, if he'd had any idea that folks would just hang around a bunch of worn out farms and turtle ponds instead of moving someplace further inland, he'd probably have asked the skipper of the Mayflower for a special rate on return trip. No, now is the time to move to someplace like Arkansas or Oklahoma to start afresh. You can thank me later.
A wise old Indian Chief on a trip to Washington D.C. sniffed the air as he stepped down from the train and noted, "The air is thick with the scent of many men".
I told SWMBO that when we redo our 75+ y/o kitchen we're going to rent an apartment for the duration of the project - that way MAYBE we'll still be together when it's over......
Sergeant Schultz, post: 414456, member: 315 wrote: I told SWMBO that when we redo our 75+ y/o kitchen we're going to rent an apartment for the duration of the project - that way MAYBE we'll still be together when it's over......
Oh man, nothing tastes better than scrambled eggs with sheet rock dust on them...
and if the wall's not painted you can write your grocery list on it!
Looks like it was and could be again a beautiful place. Zillow's zestimate looks like you have lots of equity going in, congrats! Place sold for double that in '07.
I own a 2-story, 5,000-SF Victorian house built either in 1840 or 1860, depending on who you ask... The county tax records shows 1860, but the original courthouse burned before that. A former resident stated he thought it was built in 1840. It's been added on many years ago.
It once set on 100's of acres. It now sets on 1-ac and is completely surrounded by commercial. It's zoned commercial and houses myself and another business now.
When I purchased it, I spent 3-months repairing plaster walls, hardwood floors, etc., etc....... I literally spent nights here working to get it ready.
Also be aware... you may not be the only residents there... 🙂
thebionicman, post: 414440, member: 8136 wrote: If you can, take care stripping the paper. We salvaged numerous well preserved civil war newspapers during a restoration in the early 70s. We also found 'collections' in the chinking mud. I still have one of the railroad locks and a few other trinkets.
My house was built in 1955. The previous owner must've loved wallpaper but I bought a wallpaper steamer and used it in the guest bedroom. It worked so well that now I'm probably overconfident. I steamed the paper off (2 layers, newer layer, maybe 1970s, on top of 1950s vintage wallpaper). The current wallpaper removal project is in the master bedroom. There is vinyl type stuff on top which rips off then I'll steam the paper off.
surv8r, post: 414462, member: 4 wrote: I own a 2-story, 5,000-SF Victorian house built either in 1840 or 1860, depending on who you ask... The county tax records shows 1860, but the original courthouse burned before that. A former resident stated he thought it was built in 1840. It's been added on many years ago.
It once set on 100's of acres. It now sets on 1-ac and is completely surrounded by commercial. It's zoned commercial and houses myself and another business now.
When I purchased it, I spent 3-months repairing plaster walls, hardwood floors, etc., etc....... I literally spent nights here working to get it ready.
Also be aware... you may not be the only residents there... 🙂
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Right at the moment, "nothing" else is living there, but there's plenty of signs of creatures. One of the first steps will be plugging the holes.
Speaking of "other residents" - before SWMBO & I moved in to our War-of-Northern-Aggression era house (which was built by a War-of-Northern-Aggression wounded veteran) there was the usual work to be done, cleaning, painting, papering, &tc.
We both would almost notice, or not quite catch out of the corner of our eye, motion on entering or leaving a room. Objects laying around would be moved. Doors left open, we'd find closed. Oddly, though, neither of us ever felt anything like malevolence. Now, I'm 'way more skeptical than the next guy (while SWMBO is a true believer) but I will admit there was definitely somethin' weird goin' on. We still have the occasional "what was that?" moment, but it seems that we've been deemed harmless, because we've been allowed to stay.
surv8r, post: 414462, member: 4 wrote: I own a 2-story, 5,000-SF Victorian house built either in 1840 or 1860, depending on who you ask... The county tax records shows 1860, but the original courthouse burned before that. A former resident stated he thought it was built in 1840. It's been added on many years ago.
It once set on 100's of acres. It now sets on 1-ac and is completely surrounded by commercial. It's zoned commercial and houses myself and another business now.
When I purchased it, I spent 3-months repairing plaster walls, hardwood floors, etc., etc....... I literally spent nights here working to get it ready.
Also be aware... you may not be the only residents there... 🙂
Are you still in Lee County?
