When my parents retired back to PA after a 5 year stint in NJ they bought a 85 year old house and we proceeded to do major renovations every year for the first 5 or 6 years: 2 car garage, exterior remodel with a covered patio and enclosing an upstairs balcony into a Florida room, new kitchen (flipping the kitchen and dining room), renovations to the upstairs, living room and laundry room. Some of it was done DIY and some by professional builders. All told we put about $50K into the house that cost $50K when they bought it in 1985. After my mother passed we sold it for about $105K. Had we hung on to it for another 5 or 6 years we would have made a lot more money, but none of us wanted to live there. My brother and sister lived in the same town and had built new homes, I lived in NC and my other brother lived in CA.
That house did cure me of This Old House envy. I had wanted them to have an old family friend build them a new house in his subdivision. A nice ranch that would have met all of their needs would have cost about $100K at the time. When they were both gone I'm sure we would have more than recouped the investment without all the blood, sweat and tears involved in renovating the old house. I'm surprised their marriage of 45 years survived all the renovations.
That house did cure me of This Old House envy. I had wanted them to have an old family friend build them a new house in his subdivision. A nice ranch that would have met all of their needs would have cost about $100K at the time. When they were both gone I'm sure we would have more than recouped the investment without all the blood, sweat and tears involved in renovating the old house. I'm surprised their marriage of 45 years survived all the renovations.