I grew up in Ann Arbor and believe I even know the house you're looking at! That looks like it's right next to the high school? If all is solid with the structure, I would not hesitate to make an offer on it. It's a wonderful area; if you have kids, do check into the schools in Saline to make sure they're what you want, and spend some time in the house during rush hours / school hours to gauge the traffic noise on Saline-A2 Road, to make sure it's not too much from the bedrooms etc. The great thing about no updates is that you don't have to undo bad work from the 70's, while retaining as much of the original structure as you like. The bad thing is that it's expensive to bring systems up to code. We just bought an old house in Maine and are spending quite a bit replacing the old knob&tube wiring (c. $12k) and ancient original boiler (c. $15k). But if you factor this into your offer, you will be good to go and have plenty of time to schedule the work before snow flies this fall. I grew up in a 1960's ranch but have lived in older houses my entire adult life: absolutely no comparison. As brickeyee says, we're sitting pretty while the cheaper materials on the newer homes are failing at a rapid rate. The best thing about old houses? Anything that can break can be repaired. This is not the case with McMansions and their scary vinyl windows, plastic doors, plastic trim, cheap drywall, hideous siding and manufactured flooring.

The peeve of mine that gets the best workout has to be improper detailing of porches or porticos that folks are trying to make appear classically-inspired. Seems like most of the time the lintels are larger or thicker than the column underneath - a big no-no. Then, the entablature is compressed to fit under the eaves or second floor window line so much so that the proportions are further distorted. It is also likely that the columns are some mishmash of style, composition or proportion. If the beam is arched, it appears it was cut freehand with a jigsaw, without regard to any evenness or flow to the curving line. The overhanging portions are quite often botched, too. From zero overhang to a fascia that is equal in visual weight to the lintel, we see it all around here. You might expect this on starter homes or where an owner/builder is in charge, but on houses double the median price? I do go on, but I'll finish with this-- good proportions don't cost more than poor ones. Casey

The land was originally 500+ acres on a land grant from the Governor of NC before the Revolutionary War. So, it's been in my family for 200+ years. We're exactly the same, even the same state. Also have friends that live 30min away from our city because they "wanted to be by their parents, wanted to be out of the city, wanted cheap land with woods..." but nobody goes to their houses for entertainment and they're always the ones driving everywhere. Ick. I grew up in that type of area, and we moved to a more populated area with better schools while the kids were growing up ... but now we're looking to go back. However, I can't relate to the "nobody goes to their houses" part; our family tends to gather out in the country. It's easy to host gatherings: No parking problems, space for cookouts and picnics, kids love playing in the woods and have a barn instead of a playhouse, people feel free to bring their dogs, and we have a go-cart track, an archery range, and a rifle range shared by the family. You can't have a bonfire in the city. When we build, we're going to add a pool to the mix. Also, most kids don't like growing up in BFE, parents end up having to drive them everywhere.. Having grown up in the aforementioned "BFE", I understand you: We couldn't walk to friends' houses, going anywhere required a car, part-time jobs as teens weren't plentiful. However, growing up out in the country comes with some benefits that kids tend to overlook: ample space, learning old-fashioned skills, and programs like 4H. I think it's unfair to say that MOST kids don't like growing up in a rural area. We have no way to verify that.

@Janie it's a funny disparity, but my husband drives home from work every day in his $3700 car, wearing a $7000 watch (company gift for length of service) and when our kitchen is finally finished, he will walk in and make himself a coffee on a machine that doesn't cost a car payment, it cost almost as much as the CAR. Our total expense, hopefully around $30k, will be a title less than 15% of the current value of our home. We're in the Houston burbs, so pretty low COL. Ours is mostly DIY, but wth lots of structural changes. We put about 1/3 of our budget in plumbing and electrical. We knew the espresso setup would be $3k. And I knew I wanted 2 ovens and Marmoleum for the floor. We worked everything else around that, including getting our cabinets from Craigslist and then 16' of counter from ikea clearance for under $100 We got married in our backyard, my youngest daughter was born upstairs, and we love the neighborhood and neighbors and schools and we're about 15 minutes from most of my family. Unless we have to relocate, we're not going anywhere. We used the 15% number as a guide to not overimorive for the neighborhood. I wouldn't have thought a minimum was really applicableto any kitchen though. Because there's so much variation in what needs to be done. Some kitchens might need new counters and a coat of paint. Ours required rebuilding 3 load bearing walls.