Trenton investment- Mill Hill section

[Marek Los]

Hey everyone,

I've been a follower of Bigger pockets for years now...but this is my first time actually posting so please bear with me!  I recently started working right outside of Trenton and so rather than go the renting route, I decided to take my chances and jump into becoming a landlord.  I found a property in the Mill Hill section of town which seems to be one of the better parts of Trenton.  This unit is legally a 3 unit house, but it was built pre 1900's and does appear to require a good amount of maintenance work.  I was wondering what your thoughts were here on buying houses that are this old...the asking price of the house is around 185k or so...and so the numbers do add up quite nicely but I feel like the age of the house should be a major concern.  Anyone else on here invested in the area or have any thoughts!

[Robert Webb]

Hey!

Havent invested in Trentom specifically but I have worked with older homes here (as a Realtor) I'm actually selling an older home in New Brubsiwck right now.

I wouldnt be nervious just because it is an older home. But I would definitely get a structural engineer in there during inspection period, as that would be the largest issue. I would also have an electrician look for knob and tube and have someone look for asbestos. Those 3 things are likely to be the most expensive and hardest to fix things. 

Other than that older homes are old, and thus might need a little extra TLC. I wouldnt hesitate due to age just make sure you do your due diligence 

Hope this helps, best of luck!

Robert Webb

[Justin McElroy]

@Robert Webb

I second that. I purchased a home that was built in 1895 up in Guttenberg. I paid to have a “normal“ home inspector come in. Based on his findings he recommended having a structural engineer come in and inspect the foundation (there were some minor issues) and some other things. So I paid for two inspections. The structural guy I hired ended up doing a full inspection of the house as well and it cost the same as the “normal” inspector. Definitely get The structural inspector in there to do 1 full inspection if you can. 

[Marek Los]

Thank you, I really appreciate the feedback.  Inspection went really well...and yes the house is old but no immediate red flags came back.  So I'm really excited overall....now I just need to see what the appraisal comes back as!  One step at a time....