House Hacking a 1917 House

[Greg Hansen]

I’m looking into a 1917 duplex in a very attractive part of Jacksonville, FL. The property is around the corner from a strip of several go-to restaurants and bars for the young professional sort of crowd.

The place is a mess and needs major, major work — bugs cracks in the walls, significant water damage in the kitchen floor that has led to dry-rot in floor joists, etc. It seems like it needs a full gut, which will invoke the need to comply with current electrical/plumbing code, which is obviously extremely expensive to update.

Any thoughts on how to proceed with properties like this? It’s hard to estimate rehab costs because I have a feeling as soon as the walls start coming down, there could be some serious (financial) demons trapped in there.

[Kevin T.]

Greg,

In my experience with rough houses plan for the worst and budget accordingly. Also have two or three contractors come and walk the property and crawl under... Express your concerns with them and ask for a detailed breakdown of each could be problem. Once you have a better understanding of a worst case scenario you will have a better grasp on the total scope of the project. 

Also look for contractors familiar with historical rehab experience.