Q: I have a house-hunting question for you. What do you look for? What do you look past? Help! My main complaint about all the older homes we’re seeing in our price range is that they feel dated, but that seems to be what you look for. How do you know which dated houses are worth buying and which are lost causes? I keep worrying we’ll end up in a money pit! – Aviva (not the one from Housewives of NY).
A: First, I’m glad you clarified you’re not the NYC Aviva. Second, this is a question we get all the time. When it comes to what we “look past” versus what we focus on, our rule of thumb is: don’t be put off by cosmetic issues you can change. In other words, don’t let surface details scare you away. Common things we ignore include:
- Bad paint on walls or trim
- Outdated wallpaper or borders
- Furniture that isn’t your style
- Unattractive curtains
- Dark brick or wood paneling
- Light fixtures you don’t love
- Colored toilets (green, blue, pink)
To illustrate, here are a few before photos from our first house showing exactly those off-putting but fixable features. These dated elements were all cosmetic and ultimately reversible for a reasonable cost if you’re willing to roll up your sleeves:
By contrast, these are the features we always pay attention to because they’re costly or difficult to change:
- The neighborhood — you can’t move a house after purchase
- The overall layout and floor plan — relocating rooms is expensive
- Room sizes and number of bathrooms — hard to add square footage or extra baths
- Ceiling height and window placement — major changes are disruptive and costly
- Architectural details — fireplaces, beams, built-ins that add character
- The lot’s terrain — steep slopes or drainage problems can be expensive to remedy
Here are examples from our house that show how a few architectural “diamonds” made the dated shell worth saving. The den that once had dark brick and paneling also had a centered fireplace and exposed beams — features that felt cozy and authentic once the surfaces were updated:
After painting the brick and paneling and refreshing the trim, the same room completely changed in light and mood:
The lot itself was another big selling point: nearly an acre of mostly flat, wooded backyard, which is something you can’t alter after buying. The landscaping was rough, but the privacy and usable space were huge positives:
We leveraged low-cost options to improve the yard — for example, we posted pick-up offers and people removed plants and gravel for free — and transformed it into an easy-to-maintain green space that suited our lifestyle (and made our dog very happy):
We’re far from professional house hunters, having only bought two homes, but we’ve learned to ignore what can be changed affordably and focus on what can’t. Paint, wallpaper, cabinet color and light fixtures are relatively inexpensive to update. Floor plans, window placement, room sizes, lot characteristics and structural features are the decisions that matter most and deserve careful scrutiny.
If you have a harder time visualizing how a dated room could look, collect inspiration photos from magazines or online and save them in a binder or on Pinterest. Compare those images to the rooms you’re considering — often a space only needs paint, new window treatments and some styling to achieve a similar vibe. If the proportions match, the transformation will be much easier than you think.
Finally, to avoid buying a money pit, always get a thorough home inspection. Inspectors aren’t perfect, but a detailed, recommended inspector who spends several hours checking the roof, crawlspaces, vents and systems can expose major issues before you commit. For us, an exhaustive inspection has been essential and has prevented costly surprises.
What about you? Do you keep must-have and must-not-have lists alongside nice-to-have items when house hunting? It’s a useful exercise: it prevents a nice-to-have feature from convincing you to compromise on your non-negotiables.