Potential Pitfalls Of Older Buildings

[Zach Davis]

Hey Guys, I have a duplex in my area that was built in the 1920s. It has been fairly well maintained but not really updated at all. Its still the original plumbing and electrical, plaster walls, no insulation, all that fun stuff. I was hoping to hear some opinions or experiences with older buildings that I would need to think about before making an offer. Thanks!

[Luke M.]

A lot of my properties are older properties, and a lot in my market are older. I have found newspapers from the late 1800s to the early 1900s, plus ~1950s paper under the flooring. We've done a lot of electrical and plumbing work and run into plaster walls quite often.

Are you just starting out or do you have a network built already ("inspector", contractors, roofers, drywall finishers, etc)? I can make an old house profitable but that's because labor is inexpensive in this market, and government regulations are practically non-existent (though we go above "code" whenever possible and do make things safe).

We took $300-400 worth of copper (scrap value) out of one duplex and replaced the plumbing with PEX and PVC because of holes and splits in the copper. I'm talking 3-4" drains of copper as well as the supply lines. We also nearly re-wired that property and completely re-wired the next one as well as replaced the copper with PEX. If you budget for the work involved, it can be profitable, but it depends on who you have working for you and how much you pay them, of course.

There are definitely potential pitfalls in older properties, but there is also money to be made through them.