victoriandream, My DH is an attorney & banker. He is NOT a handyman although he tries...Bless his heart. We are both gardeners &, if I do say so myself, accomplished gardeners. So, we've done the garden restoration & hired 95% of the home renovations. It took us about 15 minutes with a heat gun to realize that we were never going to be able to strip all that paint off the millwork ourselves. And, if we did we would ruin the woodwork! :) There are times in economic & societal cycles when historic homes ARE a good investment. We are not now nor have we been in that type of cycle for, maybe, the past 8 years thereabouts. Will it again turn in favor of historic homes? Sure, but who knows when? Just like...if one had such a desire...avacado-green carpet is again available. (Ugh!) Everything is cyclical. You should, IMO, never purchase an historic home with the intention of making a bundle. That's not realistic. Facts are that it costs considerably more to restore these homes than it would to bulldoze & build new on the site. Those pesky appraisers & lenders don't share our emotional attachments so they often block our dreams of grandeur. In many cases, they save us from ourselves! Yes, we had kids. The ranged in age from 8 to 13 when we purchased that 1848 colonial. Our son is a pro at stripping wallpaper! During their teen years they had great ghost stories to entertain their friends! They may have suffered from things we did as parents (?); but I don't believe living in a period home did them any lasting damage. LOL You will know your stewardship is over when you hesitate before starting the next project. Or, you'll know when the checkbook is running on fumes because you can't even stay in a period home, much less restore it, without being bankrolled. They suck money like a vacuum from your wallet. Your daughter is precious! And, what a grand lady your home is! Wonderful that you've got old pictures for a guide. Did you have to strip ALL that millwork? OMG! I think you've done a lovely job of maintaining the 'feel' for the kitchen while still bringing to a 21st century functionality. I love the windows. The windows in our 1848 home were narrow & tall. Window treatments were like trying to dress spaghetti! Yes, our East Lake, Brilliant Period Cut Glass, & tapestries would have worked wonderfully in your home. The auction was sorta fun...we've actually done that thing twice (auctioning off our entire household...that's how we've managed to upgrade our collections...buy, sell & then re-purchase fewer but higher quality pieces). I've got a cupboard that would be lovely in your kitchen...it's c. 1865 so very appropriate to your home. Here's its official description: A circa 1860-1870 step-back cupboard having pie shelf beneath shaped apron beneath a top case consisting of pair of paneled doors with tombstone and molded design with applied cornice molding. Top case rests on bottom case; double drawers above conforming paneled doors having recessed tombstone and molded design matching doors in top case; side panels of lower case also with inset tombstone shaped panels; side of bottom case terminates with successful "cupids bow" base cutout; front apron and feet conform to shaping above pie shelf. This cupboard retains desirable original chrome yellow surface with red highlights; faux birds eye decoration. (84-inches tall X 45-inches wide X 19 1/8-inches deep.) That's funny about you wanting to become boaters! We started with a small 21' sport lobster boat & quickly got a bad case of "Two-footitis". That's a common disease amongst boaters & it's contagious. We ended up with this...she's a Nordic Tug outfitted for long-distance cruising...the Bahamas to Maine. Stay away from boat shows. They are dangerous places! rofl I can really understand why you fell in love with your home & I'm sure she's grateful for your efforts. I know this may sound like blasphemy; but, have you considered a B&B? If not your heart, at least your tax returns would thank you. :) Your family will make many wonderful memories living in that house. If it were me, I'd sigh & start on that siding before the season gets away! :) /tricia

As someone whose lived in the Midwest or Great Plains my whole life (not in areas like Chicago) I don't think I've ever lived anywhere where the average appreciation rate was more than 2-3%. A spike s would be 5 or 6% and would probably only have lasted a few years. Hence a home in many of these areas is not an investment like many of you all have gotten used to in places like DC, Dallas, or Ann Arbor MI , Austin TX etc. Its a long term investment of the type where you stay in the house till you retire where you hopefully have it paid off and it helps you in retirement. Much harder to do the trade up thing, make money or break even crowd. Berrian's market may be a little different because of its location but if as you say you won't be buying a "resort" home then you need to check what the average appreciation is, factor in property taxes, realtor fees, maintenance, higher utility bills. Chances are high that turning a house around in 4 years in that area is too short a time to do more than break even and more likely lose money. Then factor in, do I want my kids to live in a home for their high school years and some of the intangibles that make home ownership attractive regardless of the investment part. Then factor in the possibility of not being able to sell at all - personally I think there are still some houses selling out there but....they usually are in those "hot spots" that have something people are trying to get into .....you would need to be really careful to buy a house that has everything - i.e. good schools, not just "good location" but desirable location (backyard facing greenspace for example), energy efficient, well maintained, good size etc. for the primary market in the area, great price. If you have everything, especially great price, you may not get stuck. Well at least not forever. Truly well-maintained plus a rock bottom price are key.

I've been following this thread with interest & amusement. Some pretty hard line stances here. For the record, I consider my primary residence an "asset". It shows on my Balance Sheet as such and since we still have 8 years left on our mortgage there's a corresponding "liability" against that asset. However, when I calculate our "Retirement Savings" that asset is not included. We max out my husband's 401(k) & my IRA before we calculate what we can afford for housing costs. Houses go up & they go down. Neighborhoods have a life-cycle. If the location, etc. is good, they appreciate over a 2-3 decade period. Over this time frame, there will be periods of higher than normal appreciation & there will be periods of recessionary elements pushing back at the appreciation. Overall, during this time in a home's life cycle the overall average momentum will be up. Then, as they start showing their age...value begins to drop & often these neighborhoods become low income. After that phase, a lone wolf appears & purchases a piece of property...puts hard money into the place & renovates. Then another sees that there's potential in these old, run down places & buys into the lone wolf's dream. Soon, the old neighborhood is considered an "up & coming" place to be. And, the cycle begins anew. I don't know how long I'm going to own this home I'm living in now. I don't know where it will be in its life cycle when I decide it's time to sell. I may live here 30 years. Or, I may move next month. Due to the uncertainty of both when I will sell & the life cycle of real estate, I do not consider my home as a source of retirement income. I choose to raise my family in a stable environment. Therefore, I do not bounce them around from one house to another every 3-5 years treating my family home as an "investment" that requires portfolio management. Of course I'm pleased if the property appreciates. But, you won't see that appreciation on our "Return on Investment" calculations. It shows on the Balance Sheet only. Personally, I couldn't sleep at night if I was making a mortgage payment so high that I couldn't max out my 401(k) & IRA's every year. I'm old enough to have lived through several "boom & bust" real estate cycles. The appreciation of the last 4-5 years couldn't & won't last indefinitely. Prices will fall back & then slowly climb again. Remember back in the heady Nasdaq days? People were saying such ridiculous things as, "Oh, you're being a fool. It's a NEW economy now." Oh, phooey...there's nothing new under the sun. A company has to eventually make a profit or it will collapse. P/E ratios have to have some sanity behind them. Real estate is no different. It also must find a balanced equilibrium and it will. For some, the pendulum swings are painfull. Because of its inherent "cycles", I don't consider my primary residence either a "cash cow" or a retirement investment. So, there's another opinion. And, it's just that. My opinion. It works for us. The mortgage lenders say we can afford 5 times as much house as we have. We say that we can't afford that much house. We have to save for retirement first before we start spending. Our parents tought us to always save first. Tricia

It was NOPSI when I lived in New Oreleans, and in rental shotgun houses...NOPSI claimed a large part of my paychecks! New Orleans has a lot of Energy Raters, the highest concentration in the state actually. Entergy has made use of some of these raters in their efficiency program Energy Smart. here are a couple of links for you to check out: http://www.energysmartnola.info/one-stop-shop/ http://www.energysmartnola.info/for-your-home/ not being in that area anymore, I don't know how this program works..but you can find out if you are interested. my only advice would be to involve yourself with an experienced rater there in N.O. someone with experience in old homes...the newer raters I met may have the training... but couldn't tell gas from electric heat systems, or know how to identify balloon framing. so look for someone who has 10+ years of experience. La. DNR also has list of energy raters state wide, their efficiency incentive program isn't still in effect...but last time I checked the list of active raters was still online. DNR(dept natural resources) provided the training for all of us back in 1999. so they have a good handle on who knows their stuff...and who doesn't. it is hard to see detail in your posted plans. so I'll keep my questions fairly general. my first two concerns are air sealing & hvac system. I know you have a partial ' basement' (LOL) are electrical & plumbing exposed? was there ever a central hvac system installed? if basement isn't full size of house...what access is there to the part of the house without basement? how much room is there between ground & house? 3'...4'....more? is house all electric or is natural gas provided? as to heating...do you have a prefrence? if all electric..then look research heat pumps...great wintertime savings in our area. (I'm south central La these days) have you looked at mini split units? condenser unit outside, individual air handler units that hang on walls in rooms. I can't tell if your layout would work for this or not. is there a space in your home you could make into heating system closet? have you had any hvac companies come out to look at the house yet? involving hvac company never starts too early. it may be that ductwork will need to be installed during the reno. if you can't give up the sq ft for system inside house...I've seen people put the heating system in the 'basement'. quite a few flooded after katrina, but its not an everyday occurrence, and depending upon what part of town your house is located in...flooding is something to consider. I know uptown floods in a hearbeat with heavy rains...but areas like bywater stay dry. the top floor...full attic or are there walls of the living space that are shared with attic space? is attic space large enough to house heating system? air sealing.. there are really two ways to air seal. caulk, backer rods & more caulk which can be diy..or foam insulation. one is inexpensive & time consuming...the other expensive & fast. foam insulating the roofline will be biggest bang for the buck. then putting heat system & ductwork in attic keeps it in a semi conditioned space, so that you don't have ducts to cool the house in a 140 degree attic. by moving air & thermal barriers to roofline, a lot of the air leakage sites in ceilings are depressurized, so that house isn't sucking hot dirty humid attic air into the house to clean, dehumidify & condition when central unit is running. as most of our heat gain/cooling loss is through the ceiling into the attic space creating a tight air barrier, and thermal barrier (insulation) is very important. we use open cell in the attic roofline, depth to equal R-value required ( R-25 for cathedral for example is 6- 6.5" deep) also if house is balloon framed, foam seal at eaves to attic floor will stop air movement in walls. we need to air seal our walls...but insulating walls here isn't high on our list of things to do. foam in walls...is a huge waste of money. the next place for foam is under the floors. here we use closed cell. to keep moisture from ground from being sucked into the house. 2-3" is sufficient. this will also seal bottom of balloon framed walls. I've had issue with some of the foam insulators in N.O., because I am one picky b!tch. unlike most energy raters I oversee install of foam and test for air leakage with foam co on site, so that they can catch any leakage sites then without an added trip. as these companies expand into my area...they don't stay long. over the years I've learned which companies will actually create air tight seals...and who doesn't. and fyi...it isn't always the big companies that do it right. owner/installer companies are more willing to learn how to do it right. and the install of foam, just like the install of the hvac system is the key to the whole thing. ok...there are your questions to answer & things to think about for today. I'll check back after you reply. and think about investing in a blower door test of the house at minimum. this will identify leakage sites that need to be sealed. if you have ductwork, spring for the duct test also. better to know what you have to start with..what you need to do... and have it tested when completed. this way you have a goal to work towards...and an idea of how to do it. best of luck