If it's been reasonably well maintained and there's no water damage it should be fine. 11 years old is hardly broken in. You might be looking at furnace and/or AC replacement in a few years. Just get a good professional inspection done. There's no particular reason to worry about an 11 year old house. My current house was built in 1986 and I think of that as fairly newish.

I'd say that is a pretty good age to buy, your inspector would be able to find anything that would be wrong with the house as it would start showing at that time if the house had foundation issues or anything else structurally wrong.

The one thing about that age though is that it tends to be when appliances, water heaters, and AC's like to give up their life, but this isn't anything to do with how the house is built.

Also check what type roof it has. If it has the flat (20 year) shingles those tend to last around 15 years in TX, so you might be looking at a new roof in a few years if it still has the original roof.

11 years after build is an old house???
This reminds me of a friend from Atlanta who refers to "new" versus "used" for houses.
It is imperative you get a good inspector. As mentioned above, appliances and roof (likely a separate inspection by a roofing professional) are items to check. You also want to get a good look at the exterior, as a full paint job can be pricey. Structural faults are possible with any age of home, the disadvantage of a brand new home is that they may not have become evident yet.
All that said, you may find that well maintained houses that are even older than (gasp) 11 years, may have more upgraded appliances and superior construction.
Good luck - heed the advice above: research the best inspector in your area. Inspection is NOT a place to cut corners.

Before we bought, we quickly narrowed down our search to homes at least 5+ years old, and wound up buying one 13. Simple reasons being: Older ones much better built for the price, established neighborhoods, landscaping, for the most part, more desirable parts of the area we were looking in.

Many people are amazed at the house we got, neighborhood, the lot, etc. for the money, compared to the houses being thrown up in new subdivisions around here. BUT...many people want NEW. But so many houses around our town look so shoddily built at the same price. And the neighborhood, forget it.

And yes, our HVAC system may need replacing in the next very few years (or not). Also appliances, etc. as well. But we figured that they are not all going to die at the same time! That was a chance we were willing to take. Those are just things you have to weigh out.

And, regardless of the beef some people have with home warranties, we were given one buy our seller, and believe that it WILL help at least some with breakdown of these things. Our realtor went over it with us and says that many people she knows have had to use them, and been satisfied with dealing with them. It was given by the seller, so no money out of our pocket so to speak, and I will file a claim if need be. It covers many things, not just a broken appliance. And, our heat and air system are covered.

And yes, definitely a home inspection is a must.

Find an independent inspector, NOT someone recommended by a real estate agent.

I am chuckling reading this thread. Where I live, "old" homes were usually built just before the turn of the century, the twentieth century, that is. You should be fine with a home that is 11 years old. Just make sure the inspection is thorough.

Good luck.
Jo

When we purchased our home 2 and 1/2 years ago, it was 9 years old. Structurally the house was sound but the owners had not maintained it. The price we purchased the house for reflected the lack of maintenance.

We knew a builder who gave us the name of a top notch inspector. Yes we paid alot, but we also knew everything about the structure, the mechanical systems, the septic system and the well. We had a 57 page print out on the house.

We did replace all the appliances - we knew we would have to. The central A/C was replaced this spring but we knew that one too.

So 11 years young is our house/ home. You should have no problems with a quality building inspections.

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

I also got a chuckle out of the 11 year "OLD" house...

We bought our house 3 years ago; it was built in 1910 and was owned/lived in by the original owners when we bought it. The place was structurally immaculate but only barely updated -- and you know what? It has unbelievable character.

For example: the "new" kitchen range is a 1955 Tappan Dough-Boy that looks like the front end of a vintage Cadillac; it still works like a charm and is so old that it's "new" again. Price online for a reconditioned one? About $6K. (The "old" range was reinstalled in the basement as a backup for holiday cooking-- I'm pretty sure THAT one is circa 1920's-1930's.)

We remodeled a bathroom and discovered old newspapers from the 1930's that had been used as insulation; we even found a handwritten homework assignment dated 1923. It really gives the sense that the house itself is like a living being; If the walls could talk, I can't even begin to imagine the stories they could tell.

I love our "old" house and the history it comes with... An 11-year old house is barely even a toddler. "Used" maybe, but certainly not "old"!!!

I'm a first time home buyer. I have no experience.I may not be using the correct words but also mentioned "11 YRS" so i hope you are getting what i'm trying to ask.
Thanks for your input.

I don't think anyone was trying to be mean or condescending. Those of us who own old houses just think differently about building age. Mine's 140+ years old. I don't even think of mid-century stuff as "old." LOL

I'm another old house owner, 170 plus years. I wouldn't trade my old place for anything new.
I love the charactre my house has, it's history and the fact that it's over built. You can walk in my basement and see the trees they used to support the floors. They barely removed the bark and not one "beam" is less tha twelve inches across.
New homes, the foundations haven't settled so walls can crack, the chemicals inside from the new materials, you hope the contractor knew what he was doing and didn't skimp but you won't know till you've been there awhile, wall to wall carpeting, with what underneath? concrete, plywood, new house you have to add landscaping, maybe even grass and all those fancy extras you have to wonder if they work and for how much longer.

I'm a first time home buyer. I have no experience.I may not be using the correct words but also mentioned "11 YRS" so i hope you are getting what i'm trying to ask.
Thanks for your input.

I have a home built somewhere around 1820 to 1830, and I've also had brand new houses and some "in between". My ex is an engineer and for awhile he did home inspections. I bought a house for speculation several years ago and asked him to come along as I looked at a couple of older homes because I wanted his input as to what it would cost me to equalise the equation. It's hard to compare apples to oranges and essentially that is what you are doing when you try to compare old to new homes.

The bottom line is to look at what is going to have to be done to make any home to your liking........then look realistically at what that is going to cost. No matter what age home you look at, certain things you want to avoid ........period. Foundation problems for example. Water problems can be a hassle as well. My parents avoided several homes when they were looking because of fault they correctly identified. BUT some of those faults weren't expensive to correct and if you get the house cheaply enough, you might even come out ahead if it does have some warts........so in a way that attitude everthing has to be perfect is penny wise and pound foolish.

One brand spanking new home we bought ended up having the drywall fall down in the finished basement area, the roof sag because of the distance between joists and the wood siding start to pull loose because it was held on with a glorified staple. LOL. But, on the other hand, not all older homes were well built, either. I have seen some real doozies and they were doozies from day one.

I wish I could give you wonderful guidelines to follow, but you know after you have bought and sold a few you get to know what things you want to consider. I remember the first house we ever bought (that new one I was talking about) and how danged scary it was signing a stiff 30 mortgage on it at hideous interest rates then.

If you have someone whom you trust who has been down that road a few times, you may even want to ask them to tag along when you go looking and play devil's advocate.

The newest house I have owned was built in 1950, the oldest sometime around 1740.

Get recommendations for an inspector from friends.
Many of them are just plain hacks, but there are some decent ones around.

Honestly, I'd be much more comfortable buying an 11 year old house over a brand new one. I have heard and experienced too many horror stories regarding shoddy construction of new houses - unless you really bone up on good building practices and are there supervising every day, you really have no idea if your new house is built well or not. My sister-in-law just spent $400K on a new Pulte townhome (a big tract builder around here). In one year, she has had about 5 separate plumbing leaks, a basement leak, several leaks at the windows, her kitchen floor has heaved and had to be torn up and replaced twice, and her heating bills are running over $500/mo because the houses weren't insulated correctly and the HVAC was sized wrong. And everyone in her development is having similar problems. They just don't build new homes well anymore.

Even "slightly old" houses can have really bad problems. We bought a 3 year old house that was custom-designed and built with very high end materials (cedar roof, 4-side stucco siding). We ended up having to spend upwards of $140K fixing it because it leaked like a sieve. We are now in litigation with the builder trying to recover our repair costs, but have spent over $10K in lawyer fees with no end in sight.

I will never ever buy a brand new house again - in fact, I've sworn that any house I buy will be at least 80 years old, LOL! But by the time a house is 10 or 11 years old, any serious problems will probably have shown up - our house had been leaking from day 1 but it took until the house was 6 years old before we discovered it, since all the leaks and damage were confined to the insides of the walls for the first several years.

I'll link to our saga for anyone who's interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our house...

If I understand you correctly, you wish to know if spending $40,000 to $50,000 is worth getting a house that is simply 5 years younger than another. I think that all things being the same (rooms, baths, sq ft), that the additional $40,000 to $50,000 could be put to better use by you in ways that YOU choose.

The difference in wear and tear on the current appliances and mechanical items in the home, are simply not worth that much money. Remember you are talking about a difference of 5-6 years, not new appliances vs. those that are 10 years old.

I believe that the "older" home will be more ready to show any structural issues, that may not be as evident in a younger home. Any issues involving the settling of the house should be clearer in the older home.

I would recommend you get a good home inspector and address any particular concerns you have with him. I would suggest that you be there when the house is inspected, and any questions be addressed AFTER he has completed his inspection, while you are still on the premises.

Our house is a custom built 12 yo in a very nice neighborhood of other custom built homes between 5-15 yo . It's great that the houses all look different since everyone used their own builders. Around here, new neighborhoods are all built by 1 or 2 builders. So the in new neighborhoods, houses all look the same. The landscaping is mature and the lots are larger (land values have risen so much that new houses have much smaller lots). People have added on decks, pools, and stone patios.
The bad news is that the HVAC and WH are on their last legs. We've replaced all the appliances and the installed a new kitchen. The house is just old enough to begin to look dated. The bath tile and cabs need to be replaced, the carpet color and texture is from the 80's, even the light fixtures aren't current. It's a beautiful built house, but we're going to invest over 30K in the first 5 yrs of ownership for repairs and upgrades. If we're here 10 yrs, we may need a new roof too.
But, to replicate this house (with all new finishes and fixtures) now would cost about 100K more than what we paid.

Get a really good inspector and have at least 2-3K saved in a "House Repair Only" fund, just in case.

You need to be very careful about houses that are old, but not really old.
In the ~1970s green board was used in some places as a backer for ceramic tile in wet areas. ALL of these installations fail at some point.
Houses built before ~1960 almost always have a full mud bed (mortar a few inches thick) for the ceramic tile.
Cement board occurs starting around the mid 1950s, depending in the area. It is still used.

Electrical wiring has periods after WWII when 2 wire without a ground was run, then a reduced size ground, then full sized grounds.
The long term aging of the insulation has generally gotten better (no more rubber) but there have been minor dips.

Galvanized steel plumbing persisted well into the 1960s in some areas.

Even exterior flashing changed from galvanized steel to aluminum over the years.

The overall quality of finishing seems to have generally gone down over the long run. Moldings have gotten smaller, and the wood quality has decreased. Even paint grade wood never had knots or joints until the 1960s. Baseboard and quarter round pieces in length up to ~30 feet could be had.
Plaster has fallen to veneer (one coat) at best in most places with drywall being the 'modern' replacement.

In a newer house paint grade trim will have finger joints and pieces over 16 feet long are very rare. Small knots may also be present.

I prefer older places (>50 years) since they tend to have better structure (2x4s that measure 2x4 net, joists that are a full 2 inches thick, hardwood floors that started off a full inch thick with offset tongues for multiple sandings, etc.) than more modern houses.

Older places come with their own set of problems though.
Plumbing and electrical leading the list (though cast iron DWV tends to last WAY past its original 30 year life).

brickeye -- It would be interesting to see "time lines" for each housing component, showing what was prevalent in electrical, plumbing, insulation, windows, HVAC, appliance life, etc. No way to account for skills, I suppose. Seems to me codes are better, but useful life has declined.

May I ask where your 1700's house was/is?

Alexandria, Virginia.
The 'old town' section still has many structures dating to this period, though in various states of authenticity.
Some of the least modified are actually used as business buildings.
Not needing every modern convenience allows them to be left more 'as is' than a typical residential structure.
Bathrooms did not exist at that time, plumbing was a pitcher on the sideboard, and cooling was done 'out back'.

I made the house place usable without destroying the basic characteristics that make it what it is.
Moldings repaired with matching work that only a real expert can tell from the original (the grain lines are to wide).
Plaster repaired using the same techniques though horse hair is not exactly available any more so we used chopped fiberglass, but it is three coat over wood lath.
The exterior looks exactly like it did when the place was built, despite many features that are a maintenance problem.
The old exterior soffit trim with dentil molding is very prone to weather damage. It measured about 14 inches tall with the cornice trim above, but it is made from multiple pieces of wood.
Electrical was up to date as of the mid 70s, as was plumbing and HVAC.
Try running modern ducts (pre high velocity) in a structure like this. I designed more custom ductwork than you would even believe. The stud spacing was varied enough that almost every run ended up being a custom.

brickeye -- Wow, that was a labor of love. How did you ever sell it? (Well, maybe you didn't!)

Depends upon where you live. Homes build 11 years ago in my community are total garbage. They have turned into money pits. I wouldn't want anything build later than 1985 here. Know the area, know the construction. If it's in a development, talk to homeowners with houses built by the same company and see how they are holding up.

Gloria

Too funny! 11 years old is a tween house; it's not even starting to get old!

THat being said, I wouldn't buy a brand new house unless I had built it and was there every step of the way. I like how after the first ten years the houses that are built like crap REALLY start showing their age, and not in a good way.

My 40 year old house (that was a rental for the last 10 and was REALLY neglected) has held up better than my friend's 11 year old house. Her concrete front porch has separated from the house and appears to be tumbling into the front yard and all her trim work on the house was done with interior grade trim and is rotting/peeling disintegrating. Crazy, but when she bought it new it was *gorgeous*.