Take some more pics of the entire exterior and go over to the Home Decorating forum. You'll get a TON of suggestions and advice there.

I am and old-house enthusiast because they tend to have been better built and have a lot more character. That house could be beautiful, but you definitely have to put some labor and $$ into it. For instance, get rid of the awnings and the railings. Paint the steps. Replacing the cement walkways with something softer and more appealing would be good. Flower boxes for the windowsâ¦

Lots of options.

Thanks! I guess I'm getting ahead of myself! Before I'm ready for the decor forum I have some technical questions.

How do you know when brick needs repointed? To my untrained eye, this looks like it might need it. How much of a priority is that?

I also hate the concrete perimeter around the house but what effect does busting it out have on drainage?

If you get rid of the awnings (which I also hate), what do you replace them with to achieve covered entrances?

There's a piece of what looks like 1X6 around the top of the house right under the eaves. What is that all about?

Here's a pic of the front of the house. more awnings! If I remove all the aluminum siding around the porch, what's likely to be under it?

Is there a better place for these kinds of questions? Thanks!

I'm telling you, go to the home decorating forum with all of these questions! You'll be happy! It's a busy forum.

Thanks Tibbrix--going there!

Jenny,
It's all about the price of the house. You like the square footage.
This is an old house, and what I would do is hire an inspector who really knows his stuff, (try to get someone older, experienced with old homes), to inspect this house BEFORE you even offer anything.
You don't have to do anything to the house when you move in you know, you just have to have a solid good bones house.
The fact that a couple offers have fallen through is a red flag by the way. It probably means the financing wasnt approved for the home, and you have to wonder what the problem was.
If you were a contractor, I would say, go ahead and buy it.
But it costs so much today to get anything done, so have it inspected first. He will tell you all about the house before you bid on it, and then you will know what to bid.

Does the front porch have a proper roof...with shingles? That roof awning could simply go if the roof is good. I have never seen a brick 4 square that didn't have brick columns at the front corners of the porch. You probably have brick and wood under that siding.

If the house needs repointing, do NOT let a young, inexpensive mason anywhere near the house. Old mortar is not the same as new mortar. A mason familiar with old homes should be consulted.

The folks on the HOme Decorating forum will spend your money faster than you can blink. make sure the structural things with this house are good...or can be repaired, before you worry about decor related items.

As butterfly said, get an inspector who knows old homes. Good luck.

Thanks for all the input! I've done inspections pre-offer before and that might be a good idea in this case! I was hoping to find someone with experience with a similar house who could maybe share some of what to expect.

My feeling is a homely exterior is (relatively) easy to fix. What matters is location, square footage, the "bones" of the house...those are much harder to fix. If it's a brick house with a lot of square footage and a livable basement, that has a lot to recommend it.

Modern "brick" houses usually just have brick facades...or maybe one layer of bricks. Old brick houses often used actually bricks, sometimes two layers. This takes a while to heat up on the first couple days of a heat wave, and takes a while to cool down in the Fall.

I don't see re-pointing the bricks as a huge deal.

I do agree the awnings are terrible...largely because of the color. The steps also look somewhat cheap.

This post was edited by edlincoln on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 9:32

The mortar joints look like they are raked; mortar purposefully removed to a uniform depth to give a texture to the wall, and make shadow lines at each course. This looks like mortar has washed out, but it was a design feature.
The thing that always happens with porches where the columns are sitting atop tall plinths is that they start to buckle/bend at the knee, The plinths start to lean out at the corners and it is a relatively simple job if it is a wood frame, but if the plinths are brick, they have to be taken down, new footers poured, and rebuilt. Hopefully you have wood under the siding not brick. The concrete front steps have got to be replaced, they are pretty hopeless to repair, and they are breaking down.
A "proper"roof over the porch would be standing seam metal, not shingles or slate; soft or brittle shingling will be wrecked as icicles drop or ice slides off the main roof and hits the porch with force.
I am quirky, but I kinda like the front awning with its curved/skirted corner treatment. Surely once they are sent to recycling they will never make a comeback. I'd think about running some strings from them to the ground in the spring and letting morning glories climb up them for a privacy screen.
The back stoops and awnings need something else. Maybe a pergola on the side connecting the two doors, and a wooden deck to replace the concrete?( Delete the twin facing staircases; it would be replaced by a continuous wood deck), maybe one stair coming down toward the front, and another down into the back yard if needed.
Casey

"I am and old-house enthusiast because they tend to have been better builtâ¦"

Tibbrix:

I have to respectfully disagree. I love old houses and have worked on them extensively. Sure, a 2x4 was really 2" x 4" in the old days, big deal. Unfortunately, these "real" 2x4s were installed without fire stopping and with balloon framing a "chimney" from foundation to sill plate was created in each uninsulated stud bay. This is just one example of many of why the lack of codes and inspection means that "they don't build 'em like they used to" a good thing.

I am and old-house enthusiast because they tend to have been better built

I've rehabbed a dozen or so, from 1880s to 1930s ... and \the quality varies wildly.

Those that have survived are often the better built ones, because the jerry-built ones have fallen apart, but I've found plenty of shoddy workmanship in them.

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This house - the location and size make it worth a serious investigation. It will never be a sshowpiece, but it could be an attractive simple place IF and only IF the structure is sound.

You are in the right forum because the most critical remodeling issues will be the condition of the wiring and HVAC and possibly the windows and foundations. These are not things that were likely to have been built better in 1912 although in New England the fire blocking of the wood framing would have been done with brick.

Surface drainage does not look like a problem.

Check for diagonal cracks in the brickwork especially near the corners. If the wiring is knob & tube or ungrounded metal BX cable it could be a major cost to upgrade it. The condition of everything is important. Check the doors for warpage and if wood flooring has been sanded too far to be refinished again. The big decision will be whether to remove all plaster in order to more efficiently upgrade wiring and insulation.

Hire a good home inspector. I doubt the brick needs pointing but it might need some repair.

The easier part will be making the exterior look better because it is a simple handsome structure.

Hire a good home inspector as noted above. I agree with other poster, red flag if agreements/contracts have fallen thru. It tells me that there may be some serious bldg issues.

The bottom line for me is I don't like buying a flipped house. Buying as is or a wreck is easier because I can see many of the issues, nothing recently covered up.

Flippers expect a profit which comes out of my pocket. Fine if the house is done and work looks good. However I do have to assume they cut every possible corner and hid whatever they could.

For example...most of the time a house will need a new roof. $15-20K off the selling price for that and I can do the work myself for $2-3k. If I buy a flipped house the roof has already been replaced...maybe not so well, maybe low grade shingles, lowest allowed felt, etc. So to me it just doesn't make financial sense.

There's always another perfect location.

However, carrying a house is no fun for flippers. Possible they'd take a loss. Can't hurt to make an offer based on worst possible case.