Are Older Homes Really Built Better?

I really miss the old house we use to live in on Newning Street in Travis Heights, and the neighborhood. We lived there from 1991 to 1996, when S. Congress was still gritty and not yet “cool”. We certainly didn’t call it “SoCo”. It was still plain old South Austin and Travis Heights.

The home was built in the late 1800’s. We had no dishwasher, no disposal, no A/C, a dirt driveway, single pane windows, bad plumbing and wiring, and no Cable TV. BUT, it was a true vintage home with wood floors, high ceilings, great archetecture, great trees, great location and certain indescribable charms and nuances about it. Our youngest daughter was born at home there in the corner bedroom in 1996. After the second child, it got a bit rougher with no A/C, so we migrated further South to the Cherry Creek neighborhood, where we bought a more modern 1976 home with central A/C (and aluminum wiring).

We’ve subsequently lived in homes built in 1998, 1969, 2003 and now have now moved into another home we just completed this year.

While I miss the old Travis Heights charm and ambience, as a couple in our mid 40’s with school aged kids, Travis Heights and old houses just don’t fit into this phase of our lives, though we hold very fond memories of pushing the kid buggy through Stacy Park and swimming in the pool there. Would we trade in our modern brand new home for an old clunker in Travis Heights? Probably not while we still have kids at home. The old house had a lot of problems, and now that were are spoiled by living in an energy efficient home where everything functions properly, it’s going to be hard to ever go back to Old Time living again.

One of our inspectors, Bob Petersen, wrote an overview of the differences of older homes versus modern homes built today, which I share below.

By Bob Petersen
How many times have you heard ‘they don’t build ’em like they used to’? Why do people say this? Is it true? Absolutely NOT!

Besides a FEW things that were better with older homes (no ‘finger jointed’ studs or trim, better quality wood, no hollow doors or ‘pressboard’, better doorknobs and no computer controlled appliances), modern homes are much better in many ways. Here’s a partial list:

Roofing/Insulation: Before 1982 lasted maybe 15 years. Now roofs last a minimum of 20 and some are hail resistant. Older homes had little or no insulation; newer homes have lots of it & much better attic ventilation.

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Survey says what we already know

This news snippet below is from the Texas A&M Real Estate Center email newsletter. It’s a survey of Houston home sellers and buyers, but the same results would be found if they did the survey in Austin.

The big news?…“Houstonians shopping for a home look for quality neighborhoods, good schools and short commutes to their jobs.” Earth shattering news, right? Whomever commissioned the survey could have just given the money to me and I would have told them that. Nevertheless, there is some interesting info in the survey results.

HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle) – A new survey commissioned by the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) is helping assess the area’s current and future housing market.

According to the survey, which explores the changing habits of local sellers and their buyers, Houstonians shopping for a home look for quality neighborhoods, good schools and short commutes to their jobs.

The survey also showed that Internet use is on the rise, with 72 percent of the respondents who used a real estate agent reporting they searched online before deciding to buy. Local buyers reported using har.com as part of their search more than any other website.

Seventy-two percent of home sellers surveyed were represented by an agent. While 64 percent of the buyers said they used an agent, those who did not said it was because they bought from a friend or relative, were contacted by the seller directly, or did not want to deal with an agent or pay a commission.

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