100 year old duplex- rental

[Alex Seward]

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum and am attempting to work through a few properties to determine which is going to be the best initial investment.

Starting with the numbers.. The home seems like a solid investment from a cash flow perspective.  $70,000 asking price, gross rent is $1300 a month.  Area of town is acceptable.  For me, those numbers work out.

Concerns.. The house was built in 1894.  It has been owned by the same investor over the past 20 years.  All electric has been updated, plumbing updated, plaster walls have been replaced with drywall, has a metal roof, has 5ish yr old heating/air.

I am not as familiar with structural components to a home, which makes me skeptical on such a old home.  Aside from potential foundation issues/ mold, is there anything I should be looking for on an inspection report.

Thank you!

Alex Seward

[George W.]

Look at the foundation. Every building will eventually have some settling but look for concerning things like bowing basement walls or major cracks. 

as far as framing of a building that old it's probably balloon framed which is bad for fires but on the flip side it probably has nice big joists and solid lumber as long as there's no major water or termite damage. 

if most of the electric plumbing HVAC were changed in the last 20 years it's probably pretty solid. 

hire a home inspector and have a general contractor look the place over if you have bad gut feelings about something.