Top 5 Things to Check When Purchasing a BStone?
When looking to purchase a bstone, what are the top 5 things to check out/evaluate? Electrical? Plumbing? How can you quickly evaluate those items during an open house walk through? I ask because so many brokers say things like “it has good bones” and as I realized I need to know how to, at least…
When looking to purchase a bstone, what are the top 5 things to check out/evaluate? Electrical? Plumbing? How can you quickly evaluate those items during an open house walk through?
I ask because so many brokers say things like “it has good bones” and as I realized I need to know how to, at least preliminarily, assess if this is actually true.
If anyone has good articles to read on this subject, let me know!
Re location only vs. condition of house – probably depends on who the purchaser is. If you are an indvidual looking for an owner occupied situation the conditions matter because you are paying to remediate, probably out of a limited budget. Also quality of life is important -hence neighbors. If you are purely investment minded – then what is your time horizon. When I bought my b’stone in PH it was an iffy neighborhood. Now it is very desirable. But it was always a ‘good block’ with lots of owner occupied homs. People who are looking for investment results only and have access to loans can take on buildings in questionable condition and be sure of a profitable investment but that is not necessarily true for people looking for a home. Which kind of buyer are you?
every old house needs work, so who cares about anything except location? unless you are willing to pay a PREMIUM and the house does have new electic, plumbing, kitchens, baths, roof, boiler and windows it really doesn’t make a difference.
When brokers say “it’s got good bones” they mean “it’s old”.
If the house is in good condition, it is a good thing. It means it is old and irreplaceable.
If the house is in bad condition, it is not. It means it is old and parts of it are expensive or irreplaceable.
To make an analogy, just because grapes are old, it doesn’t mean they’re fine wine.
The 5 things in my book are:
-Location (it’s not superfluous or necessarily obvious – use the NYC OASIS map to get more information about the specific location. Google Earth is great for this too. Actually walking around the area is even better.)
-Structure (foundation, water damage, dry rot, termites, masonry)
-Plumbing/Heating (plumbing is difficult and expensive to replace – heating is expensive but not as difficult to replace, but can cause a lot of damage if it’s in bad shape. Check the waste pipe and water main.)
-Electrical
-Neighbors
Forget to add that there are structural issues a layperson can identify:
i) Does the staircase feel solid? Does it list away from the wall?
ii) Do the ceilings, and floors, slope towards the wall that runs the length of the house from front to rear?
iii) Are there any visible horizontal cracks in either the plaster of the interior walls or in the exterior of the rear wall? Btw, vertical cracks are usually much less serious.
iv) How do the beams in the cellar look? Have they been extensively patched or drilled through to run heating pipes, BMX etc?
v) What about the columns in the cellar? Crumbling brick could be a sign of rising damp.
vi) Do the floors on the top floor of the house show signs of water damage (eg. blackened wood)? That would indicate a roof leak, past or present.
Isn’t the OP asking only about structural and mechanical issues, not issues like location?
Anyway, I would put at #1 major structural issues with beams, posts, walls etc. Only an experienced inspector or structural engineer will be able to identify these problems. Unfortunately, sometimes even a professional will not be able to detect them since they may only be revealed when floors and walls are opened or removed for repair or modification.
Then electrical and plumbing should be at #2 for this reason: they both require opening walls to fix. Fixing a roof, replacing windows or a furnace or hot water tank can all be done with a relative minimum of invasive work. Not that they are cheap exactly, but if you have rewire or replumb a house you’re really talking about an extensive renovation.
same as any house anywhere:
LOCATION
Roof
Boiler/Hot H2O
Windows
Electric/Plumbing
Hmm… top five, for a first visit:
1. Location
2. Location
3. Location
4. Layout
5. Width
After you like a place (but don’t love it just yet), take a pro back with you to look for the usual suspects.
–an architect in Brooklyn