Any modifications you are going to do, if you are able to do them prior to moving in, it will ease up the confusion, mess and disruption to your life more so than if you live in the house when they’re being done.

If you can get rid of clutter and unwanted stuff before you move, that’s helpful.

Stuff you may not want to unpack for a while, put in plastic bins instead of cardboard. That way, you can store it indefinitely without worry about moisture getting to it (if it’s in a damp basement or shed).

I love houses from that era, Mine was built in 71. Some of them had great layouts and others leave you wondering what the architect was thinking. They’re hit or miss.

Really aside from the house what people all too often overlook is the precise location. They don’t look at traffic patterns, what is nearby how easy it is to simply get groceries.
Another thing that is overlooked is how quickly do houses sell in the area, do they go in days or do they typically sit for a year or two.
When you find one that’s a gem they’re hard to beat. Solid construction, great lots, plenty of space. Sure beats the tract housing of the past 25–30 years where you are right on top of everyone and not convenient to anywhere.

The typical old house stuff can be a financial killer though. Windows are expensive and many houses that old still have the original windows. Careful buying a house with them. That all too familiar wood paneling may be something you want gone but putting up sheet rock sucks and will also be expensive. Simply painting the paneling actually looks wonderfull…and it’s cheap. Those gawdy popcorn ceilings are usually asbestos so if you are not ok with the look realize you’ll need more than just a demo crew to get it out. Plumbing in those houses was often iron or at least galvanized. After 40–50 or so years it is reaching the end of it’s lifespan. Typically though most of it was made accessible in unfinished garages so problems are not hard to spot. Be sure to look for that. You want easy access to plumbing. Underneath a lot of shag carpet you’ll find one of three things: particle board subfloor that squeaks, unfinished hardwood and if it is in the basement either a bare concrete slab or resilient tile. If the tiles are 8” they are asbestos and you will want to leave them alone or have them professionally removed. If you have particleboard subfloor consider replacing it if you do any flooring to avoid problems later. On your electrical make sure you atleast have 200 amp service on the main breaker. If not you will regret it. On sewer try to find out if it’s orangeburg pipe. If it is, then at some point expect problems.
Get the radon test if you live in an area prone to it. If it is found make sure they put in a mitigation system.

I have painted paneling in my house. I like it a lot. In one room we took the paneling down. What a bitch. Once I started ripping it off, I was sorry. It came off fairly easily (most of it) but what a mess underneath.

@ARE_you_kidding_me – great list! The upstairs is hardwood floors; most of the downstairs was re-tiled in the early 2000s for the wheelchairs maneuvering. It’s a simple raised ranch, which is common for that area.

We’re definitely getting the radon test, since the realtor, who lives a few doors down, had it.

The property includes a little brook at the bottom of the hill. After Sandy, the current owner was actually able to get the flood insurance requirement removed from the policy, because the water all flowed away from the house.

The house is set quite a ways back from the main road that the police station is on, so they clear the snow and restore power quickly when needed (bonus knowledge when the realtor lives in the area).

The one room downstairs does have dark paneling, and I was thinking we’d paint it. I’ll have to take a closer look at the kitchenette tile down there, though—it might be older.

We’ll look to see what the inspector says about the pipes and wiring, and ask follow-up questions based on what you’ve mentioned.

What upgrades or improvements would you like to do to your own home? Have you done any energy efficiency or technology upgrades?

@jca- Yes, the purge has begun. We intend to streamline a lot before the move, and have vowed that we don’t bring anything into the home unless it has a dedicated space where it will belong – even if that means removing something else to make space for it.

What home improvements or upgrades would you like to do in your current home, or what about in your dream home?

I have gas and would like to put in an on demand water heater. They make ones that run on electric but it’s a really bad idea.
I really want a stove insert for my fireplace too. Just can’t swing 4k for either with my wife out of work right now.

The previous owner put in a raised screened sun room which also left the patio below covered. We have our hot tub and a sitting area there. That was about the best upgrade. We have only been here six months or so. Mostly still settling in. The yard is huge and I have spent a lot of time clearing a couple of areas that are overgrown. I converted the 20×10 shed into a solar powered workshop.

A few other things to look for: look at how the guttering channels the water. Sounds silly but you would be surprised how many houses don’t have water draining away from the foundation. If there are mature trees on the property take a close look and see if they are healthy or not. They are expensive to remove. If it is on a crawlspace make sure that water does not pool up under it when it rains.

Before I moved in to the house I live in now, rugs were torn up and windows were replaced. The kitchen was redone. Old amber colored shower door was removed from the bathroom and new vanity and medicine cabinet was put in. Since living here, I’ve put in a wider vanity (36 inches). New bay window was put in the living room (5k, mid range quality from Home Depot). I added storage to the kitchen and bedroom (by adding cabinets). New hot water heater was put in. Next thing will be a whole house filter.

I have a big expanse from kitchen to dining area. I was considering ceramic tiles but I had an electrician over whose dad did ceramic tiles and the electrician said ceramic tiles were not a good idea in such a big expanse because if the floor below is not perfect, the tiles will end up cracking. I went with vinyl tiles. Durable, easy to clean.

I’ve replaced refrigerator (with one with an ice maker) and dishwasher.

This past holiday season I put in a glass cooktop, replacing the traditional cook top that has grates. Friends that have glass cooktops swear by them. They say they’re way easier to clean. I am thrilled with this thing. It’s very easy to keep clean. $250 half price at Lowes.

One thing I think is a great feature in a house is built in shelving. I feel like you can’t have too much storage space. Books, knick knacks, whatever can go on the shelves. If there are doors below, you could put some cluttery stuff like papers, photo albums, whatever you have.

I wish I had a whole house fan. With one of those, the house feels like it’s air conditioned if it’s not.

When we bought our second house, I drew a schematic of the house, showing where every electric outlet, phone jack, and television connection was. I didn’t do that here, and I regret it.
The biggest alteration I would like to make to this house is building a stairway on the side for easier access to the basement and back hill.

We have the upstairs office wired for CAT 6 from the Gigabit Ethernet router. The line coming from the ISP is 300 Mbps so we have lots of bandwidth. All hardwired cables are CAT 5E or CAT 6.
Have a pantry for your canned goods and dry goods, use rolling wire rack for ease of retrieval and storage if use a narrow closet with permanent wooden shelves.

If I was going to move into this house again, the first thing I’d do is make sure I had the best , most energy-efficient windows I could afford. The money I would have saved by doing that would have paid for other projects I did too soon. Live and learn.

For an upgrade to b-line modern windows I’ll have to spend about $10,000 and the energy savings is likely going to be in the ballpark of $30/month. It’ll take more than 25 years to break even and won’t really add more to the value of the house. I did not replace them.

We are in a region where we use the Air Conditioner a lot (it is February 12 and we have the A/C on, it is unusual but here it is) we had a additional layer of insulation add to the attic. This insulation is a aluminized Mylar sandwich with a foam insulation in between. It will reflect the heat back away from the house below, we also have thermostatically controlled exhaust fans to remove hot air and reduce the attic temperature.

I wouldn’t make too many changes other than infrastructure necessary ones before you move in in contrast to what others have said. It can be worth it to live in the house for a while and get a feel for how you use it before ripping things apart. Definitely you can paint or recarpet if you don’t like what’s there or install more efficient windows but maybe live with the bathroom and office for a bit before remodeling those. I’ve often thought of making my bathroom take over the “boys’” bathroom but that would make the house much less attractive when I go to sell it.

If you are thinking of installing solar panels, make sure you get an analysis from a reputable adviser as to whether they will really help. My house is in a neighborhood of old trees and I was told it might be too shady for solar panels to really work.

I would advise considering the new house’s surroundings.

Is the house in a flood,or disaster prone area?

Are the neighbors tolerable?

Is there a dog that barks all day and night nearby?

Is theft,or violence an issue in the area?

Is there a HOA?

Are the trees in the yard in decent shape, or will you have to have a few cut down?

What shape is the foundation in?

Basically, things you would have trouble dealing with once you committed, and moved in….

Also, consider the house’s wiring. Many older houses have to have extensive electrical work to be able to support current energy demands.

Plumbing, A/C, and pest inspection.

The home inspection report was good – just a few minor things. The well water will be tested and we’ll have the fireplace inspected because the current owners said they never used it. They’ll also have the radon test done.

It’s a single-family raised ranch on a ⅔ acre lot. We are not in a flood zone, even though there’s a brook running at the bottom of our property – the current owner was able to get that removed after Hurticane Sandy demonstrated that the flow goes nowhere near the house.

There are many mature trees, but being winter, it’s tough to know what shape they’re in… I will definitely be checking them out as spring arrives.

Don’t any Jellies have any smart home upgrades?

Yeah, I have several nest cams, a few smart switches connected to a couple of amazon echo devices. Several lights on motion detect both outside and inside. I have a homebrewed weather station outside that radios the readings to a little readout I made in the bedroom. I’m going to connect that to the echo as well. There will be more done later.

If you have a driveway, I know people that have a driveway alarm. Very handy for not having people pop up at your doorstep without you being aware in advance. I heard they’re cheap and easy to install. I think it’s just a beam that gets broken when someone or something comes past.

My advice is don’t make huge decorating and structural changes until you have lived there 6 months if the place is clean and you can just move in. You’re taste and ideas will change over time, and most of all, you will get a much better idea of how you use the space and what you need. Moving is stressful, give yourself time. Making decor type decisions is very stressful usually, because it’s expensive and feels fairly permanent. It’s fun, exciting, and stressful.

Unless you are really sure already what you need and want, then go ahead and remodel first. I would be able to remodel first, but I already have all my furniture, and I think I’m older than you (I don’t remember your age) and I have lived in a lot of houses. I know I want a linen closet with one side of shelves 20” deep, and the other side 12”. I know I want my sofa 16 feet from the wall. I know I like my bedroom to by 15 feet from the head of the bed forward. I know how much closet space I need in my master. I know I want all bachelor height counters. I could go on and on. Even still I would agonize a little over color schemes, exact tile picks, etc. just because I want all those things doesn’t mean a house I’m in might be able to accomidate, but I know what I need. I don’t have a deep linen closet in this house, so I added an upper shelf in my master closet that’s 20”‘s deep. The handyman and the guy at Lowe’s tried to tell me the shelf is for a pantry. But, I know what need. I love my shelf, it’s perfect. My big fat down comforter fits on it when it’s not on my bed.

I recommend being careful to only spend money on things that will increase your property value. Some upgrades only help sell the house, but you never get your money back.

For the first time I don’t have cable I have food I guess?? I have one main place where the modem is, and then all other TV’s and internet are wireless. I don’t need any other “jacks” just electrical outlets. Except, I do have a phone, so I have jacks for that. It’s probably a good idea to have cable jacks though, so you have the option.

I’m very excited for you!

Edit: I think expanding the master bath and closet is a good idea, as long as the other room you take from will be at least 8×10 and have a window.

@JLeslie Some good advice but you want your sofa 16 feet from the wall? You must have really big rooms! And you don’t have cable, you have food? What does that mean? I’m not being snarky, I’m curious.

@janbb The back of the sofa. It could be up against a wall. It’s because my husband likes huge TV’s. Lol. Plus, our TV is older, so if I had a thin screen like they have today, 15 feet would probably be my number. My living room is smaller than that right now and it bugs me, especially because it easily could be bigger if the kitchen island was done differently (open floor plan). The room is fairly wide, it’s the distance in the other direction, how far we sit from the TV, that bothers me.

Fios is what I meant, not food. I’m not sure, because I don’t really know the techy stuff, I might be calling it the wrong thing. They say it’s fiber optics.

I have Prism TV from Century Link and it goes through the phone line. The main “tower” which I guess is a combination modem and wifi is connected into the phone jack and also a regular electrical outlet. The tower is small like a typical modem. Maybe 3“x12”. Then I have wifi boxes for each TV that are 10“X2”. Each box I can get all the channels and the DVR of whatever I recorded. The whole house can see all the same recordings and schedule recordings. I guess because it’s just wifi into the one main source.

We have a small TV we keep in the master bathroom, but when someone visits, we move it to the guest room. All I need is an electrical outlet, and I can put it out on the lanai, another bedroom, the kitchen, anywhere.

I have FIOS too; that’s Verizon’s name for fiber optics.

^^Oh, ok. I don’t have Verizon. I have Centurylink.

Is 16’ big for a living room? My rental was a 1600 sq ft house and the living room was a smidge under 16 ft. This house is 1950 sq ft, and it is supposed to be 15’9”, but because of the floorplan you need at least 2.5’ to walk behind the sofa, so the usable space is just over 13’. I knew it would bother me.

You did not mention the location or the condition of the heating system (or maybe I missed it.) You mentioned Sandy so I’ll figure you are in NJ. If that is the case I would look at the heating system and insulation. If the system is old (pre- 2000) you will likely save a ton of money by upgrading to a newer system. Before you do this however, run the numbers. Look at the previous owner’s heating bills to make sure it is worth the upgrade. You can easily spend a few thousand dollars to upgrade an old 85% efficiency, gas system to a new, almost 99% efficiency system But if your heating bill was only $1000 per year it will take decades for that new system to pay for itself. It is better to run the old one until it needs to be replaced. In 2020 who knows how magical the new systems will be? For sure they will be better than today.
Two things that do pay for themselves quickly are insulation and inexpensive set-back thermostats. $50 worth of weather striping on the doors and a couple of cans of spray foam Great Stuff can work magic. As for the T-stats, the simple 5 day / 2 day, 4 settings per day self contained units for $30–40 do a great job with virtually no maintenance. If you have one already leave it alone. Do not upgrade to a $250 Nest wonder. It is not worth the difference in price and will not save you any more energy.

@LuckyGuy: She’ll be about an hour west of me.

And an hour north of me. I have programmable thermostats with four ups and downs per day. Thought of getting a Nest installed but didn’t see the advantage. Good to have it confirmed.

@jca Ahhh. Then for sure my advice holds. Definitely look at the old bills. The house might already have been updated. If she is spending $1000 per year for gas I’d leave it alone. If the annual bill is $2000 I’d look at the heating system and do the math to see if upgrading is worth it.
I’d do the $100 worth of weatherstripping and spray foam.

If you know someone with a thermal imager you can easily see leaks and areas that need attention. It also highlights mouse and insect pest pathways.

@janbb. The Nest will save virtually nothing.over the 5/2, 4 setting per day stat. It will however allow you to see your temperature (why?) and allow you to set the stat remotely (again, why?) while opening up yet system to abuse and data collection by others. The Nest has proprietary software that tells whether someone is home or not. It also records and reports the temperature of your house. Who else is getting that info? Can you be sure Nest Inc’s system will not be hacked and the data files stolen?
My $40 stat will never be hacked. And the only maintenance it takes is changing a set of AA batteries every 5–10 years.

@LuckyGuy Kind of my reasoning about most Smart Home devices. Do I need something to turn on a light for me? My son got me an Echo fo Christmas and I only use it to play music so far – not sure I want someone to know what’s on my shopping list.

I have nest cams but never got the nest thermostat either for that reason. Only advantage I saw was “alexa set temperature to 78 degrees” Not really worth $250.
The shopping list feature is handy and I use it. I don’t have any real privacy concerns there.
Using echo to switch on and off stuff is neat but it’s a toy. I already had the stuff when I got the echo so I went ahead and integrated it. It was nice to use on xmas lights but I could have just used a cheap timer.
My old place I had a garage door automated and I butt actuated it once remotely. Luckily my wife was home and noticed. I won’t automate things like that. Doorlocks are all secured with hardened steel.

Nobody can accuse me of being a Luddite. I will gladly use tech when it makes sense. But I find many of the connected, Internet-of-things, devices offer very little over stand-alone and open the user to security risks. The perceived advantages are just that, perceived. Do you really need to spend $500 more for your refrigerator so It will see what is inside and automatically order milk and eggs if you are running low? Ridiculous! Spend the $500 on a refrigerator that has better insulation – not 6 cameras.
Do really want a TV to use facial recognition and be listening to your voice 24/7 so you can say “change the channel” without pushing a button? Who know where that info is going? Facial recognition means there are cameras watching anyone in front of the TV! Will you still watch TV in your undies?

I agree, a good bit of the geewhiz stuff is just that.

@LuckyGuy: We’ll be in Rockland County, NY.

The gas heater is fairly new and has hot water downstairs and forced air upstairs. The current owner says he barely needs to run the upstairs heat because enough comes up from the downstairs.

The gas water heater is also just a few years old. Central air was installed a couple years ago and they said they rarely run it because the attic fan draws the cooler air up from downstairs. There is a lot of shade on the house and yard, thankfully.

We currently have a WiFi connected thermostat from Honeywell that we got at Costco for $100. It’s got 4 transitions per day and I’ve liked it because it would alert me if the power was out or if the temp dropped below a certain level. When we were on our honeymoon on October, we left the system off, but a sudden cold front moved through and I got the alert so I was able to remotely activate the heater for the poor kitty. Since I’ll be working from home, I won’t be changing the temps as much, but I’ll also be able to dress more or less to keep the costs down.

@hearkat It sounds like you are all set. Great. Your heat should be around $1000. No worries.
Go for the spray foam and weather striping.

Since you already have the fancy stat, keep it. It is not worth switching to an unconnected design.

The fancy ‘stat is in our current home so it will stay there.

@hearkat Once again, if there are things you can’t stand about the new place, change them before you move in but otherwise maybe live there for a bit and see what you want and don’t want to change.