The One Thing I Regret Not Doing Before Buying My 129-Year-Old Victorian Home
Take it from me, someone who renovated my own 129-year-old Victorian home: Buying and renovating a home is not a limitless process. While you can let your imagination run wild when you’re touring your dream property, the reality is that you can’t just do anything you want once you have it.
There are structural walls, plumbing limitations, and, of course, your budget. Historic zones and building codes have to be considered. All of these snags tripped me up plenty of times. You can create your dream home, sure, but it’s a process that is not going to be without a few bumps along the way.
But if you want to save yourself a few headaches and possibly some money along the way, there’s an expert that you can bring along in the process, and they might even open your eyes to possibilities you couldn’t have imagined. Learn from my mistake, and bring along an architect while you’re looking at old homes. I wish I had thought of it when I was searching for my own home — and regret not having an architect with me early in the buying process.
“Most people include an architect at the very end of the buying process, when they are preparing to make an offer on a home that needs some work, or after they’ve already closed on a home and want to explore the changes they had on their vision board,” says Chesley McCarty, a Realtor with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, D.C., who earned both her bachelors and masters of architecture.
But by bringing on an architect or architectural expert when you’re still dating around with houses, you put yourself in a position to find the right home faster and with a clearer vision of what will actually work for the house — and for you. They can immediately tell you whether it seems realistic to extend the house to create a larger kitchen, or whether widening doorways for a more dramatic look is even structurally possible.
How an Architect Could Help You in the Home-Buying Process
Imagine walking through the house as someone else quickly sketches up a new rendering for the bathroom or what it might look like if you added an extra window to the main bedroom. What if someone else was there to point out to you that the interior doors are solid wood and original to the home — or that the transom in the entryway is still functioning?
“Architects are trained to notice and observe — if you know one personally, you might laugh at how on a walk together, your architect friend points out random observations about rooflines and wrought iron,” McCarty says. “I love to bring my iPad along to listing appointments so we can sketch out floor plans and get a sense for the impact of certain changes.”
This detailed and observant perspective is exactly what you need as you’re walking through an open house, overwhelmed at the major (and emotional!) decision of whether this is the house. They can look at the opportunities, challenges, and realistic solutions, while you focus on whether or not the space itself resonates with you.
How to Find the Right Architectural Partner
If you’re looking at houses that will require extensive work, it makes sense to interview Realtors and focus on finding one who has an architectural background so you’re not paying the hourly fee of an architect to accompany you to listings, yet you’re still tapping into expertise.
If cost is a concern, you could also contact an architectural firm about hiring an architectural intern, whose hourly rate could be half that of a professional junior or principal architect. An estimate from Angi (formerly known as Angi’s List) indicates an architectural intern may run $65 to $90 an hour, while a junior architect or professional architect could range from $125 to $250 per hour. Meanwhile, you could also bring in a contractor, who could run between $50 and $150 an hour, depending on experience and location.
But, as McCarty explains, “Once a buyer has narrowed in on a property, and perhaps has a pre-inspection on the books, I’d recommend bringing along a licensed architect or a general contractor to get a stronger sense for how the exact numbers might shake out.”
She notes that just by bringing along this expert perspective, you might find that there are opportunities in homes that you might have otherwise missed. “I try to help buyers see the potential in homes that don’t immediately check all their design boxes, while gauging the plausibility of an idea before moving too far forward, and developing a comfort with buying low, and creating the home you’ve dreamed of.”
Further Reading
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Ashley — Here Are the Best to Suit Your Style and Space
I Just Discovered the Smartest Way to Store Paper Towels in Your Kitchen (It’s a Game-Changer!)
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
