Historic Homes Advice

[Alex Zhu]

Hi everyone,

First post ever here. My wife and I are early on in our real estate investing journey and looking to grow our portfolio. We are based in Texas and recently saw an early 1900s historic property come onto the market. The exterior of the house looks to be in pretty good condition, but the interior definitely needs some work. We're are looking at this through the lens of turning this property into a short-term rental (provided we could stay within the city and state regulations). I'm looking to get some advice from folks who have either gone through this process or have done some research into this fairly niche area of investing. A couple of brief things that I have found based on my preliminary research (and please let me know if any of this is inaccurate): 

- Restoration/repairs can be quite costly simply given the age of the home and the changes in code & technology since the home was built. It seems like there are some trusts or other funding programs that consider contributing to restoration and repair projects, but we'd like to operate on the assumption that we will not be chosen for these types of grants, just in case. It sounds like an archaeologist/restoration specialist may need to be involved, or at least that is what is recommended.

- I've seen opinions on either side regarding appreciation/resale value over time on historic homes. For those who have followed this trend, what have you generally seen as compared to  the performance of newer builds?

- In needing more extensive restoration/repairs and having to navigate the various local and state government rules, project time and holding costs are expected to be higher. Is anyone able to share their experience with this? 

Thank you to the Bigger Pockets community for providing such amazing content and value. Looking forward to reading any insight y'all can share!