It was so much fun to read about everyone's paths to a "new old house." We are finishing our build in the next month, and I was very inspired by the concept of the new old house. For me, it was about capturing the classic proportions of old houses, rather than attempting to replicate them. For us, budget was a major concern, so I could not afford all of the materials that a true Versace-approved new old house would require. Instead, we focused on not making the mistakes that poorly done "new old houses" seem to really suffer from, like wrong roofing, wrong windows, etc. In some ways, it is just as important to focus on what NOT to do as it is to think about what TO do. I used two books, in addition to Versace's and lots of books of historic homes from our area, that gave detailed information about construction patterns. One is "Traditional Construction Patterns" but I can't recall the other right now. They are both on Amazon. (And I probably reviewed them there.) What they did was teach me what the obvious markers are of a poorly-done traditional construction...they are the things that - once you can recognize them - make the house obviously "wrong." By adhering to traditional construction practices and using new materials, we were able to avoid some of the mistakes that we would have inevitably made attempting to build a "new old house" on a budget. The homes in Versace's book and portfolio are gorgeous, but totally out of our reach. And, as other have suggested, really studying the home in the area helped me immensely. I paid attention to the size and placement of windows and doors, shape of window lights and number, trim details, porch raining profiles, etc. I was really obsessed! Good luck on your design and build. This is such an exciting process.

Even in the face of falling home prices, we decided to continue living in our current home and NOT put it on the market until our new home was ready. Financially, selling earlier MIGHT have made better sense but 1) I absolutely do not want to move more than one time and 2) I cannot stand the thought of real estate agents walking strangers through my home! Besides which, I'll readily admit that I am simply not a good enough house-keeper to keep my home in "showing shape" seven days a week for weeks/months on end. LOL! Being able to clean it up, paint it up, and showcase it after we move out (as opposed to showing it full of all our junk) will probably balance out whatever equity we lose due to the falling market. At least that's what I told DH and since most of the JUNK is his and he didn't want to put it in storage for 9 to 12 months AND he is no better at housework than I am, he let me convince him. Luckily, we were within a couple of thousand dollars of having the mortgage on our first home paid off before we signed a contract for the new build. (Would have already had it paid off but three years ago, when we found the land we wanted, we discovered it was a whole lot cheaper to refinance our house and purchase the land outright than to get a land-only loan.) Since we won't be faced with the possibility of two mortgages, that gave us a lot more freedom. Fortunately too we're in a part of the country that hasn't been hit too hard by the subprime mess plus we're in a university town where rentals are at a premium so, if we can't get a decent price for our current house when we're ready to sell, I'm 100% sure we can keep it rented easily enough. In fact, I've been advised that holding onto the old house and renting it out would probably be the smarter thing to do financially. I just really don't want the hassles of being a "landlord" though so I'd really rather sell it, roll whatever equity we have into the new house, and be done with it.

The lot is too close to the busy intersection and main road. In addition to the privacy and noise issues already discussed, think of this: 1) Car exhaust/pollution. There is an intersection right there..and some cars will be waiting for the light. You will likely get more pollution due to this. Smelly and unhealthy. 2) 35 MPH speed limit. Just because this is the posted speed limit, it doesn't mean that all cars obey the speed limit. In times when it is not congested, I bet some cars go 45-50 MPH..and some even faster. 3) Burglars: I have seen some stats that says burglars often pick homes that are nearest the main road, because they can exit the subdivision quickly. Also they can monitor your work pattern easily. 4) Pets: If you get a dog or cat, if that pet gets loose, it likely will make it to that main road and get hit by a car. 5) Wrecks. You will hear some wrecks that occur at that intersection. These will occur. They don't sound pretty. At high speeds, the sound is horrible, especially at night and if there are any people screaming for help. I used to live on a main road and the wrecks were bad. 6) Sirens: Because the lot of off the main road, you will hear every cop car/fire engine/ambulance that is passing by with siren on. 7)Do you ever plan to open your windows? If so, you will hear traffic and might smell the exhaust. 8) Resale for the house, that close to the road, will be lower. Lots of buyers would not even look at the home because it is so close to the road. 9) Those few trees in the back hardly count as wooded. It is just a basic small lot (too close to the main road) with a few trees in the back.

I love old houses - the quality, the history (I was THRILLED when I saw the names of the owners of our then under 5 year old house on the 1930 census), and the style. If I don't win the lottery, I will never live in another "new" build (80's and up) because the vast majority of non custom built homes are just not up to my standards. Of the 4 new builds I lived in in my life, only two were decent. The last decent one had been built by a guy who had previously done commercial building. It was built to last and I have no doubt that one would still stand after a tornado. Because of the commercial background, the finish "prettyness" wasn't there, but those details were added later, by us. The last new build was a nightmare. The "quality" semi custom build was so lacking that I can't even imagine how much worse some of the mass produced really poor quality houses will last. Within the first 5 years the deck was partially rotting (no flashing between the house and it), the roof leaked at the chimney, many of the windows wouldn't work well and/or leaked at the top, lots of the trim wood was rotting out and the floors of both 1st and 2nd floor creaked in almost every spot as did the entire staircase. And then of course you had the "minor" issues like one couldn't use a hairdryer in the master bath before resetting the outlet in the upstairs bath if someone had used a hairdryer in it before the master bath. And the defective shingles requiring a complete reroof at 3 years is hard to forget. My brother has a friend who last year moved into a house in one of those new mass built neighbourhoods in South Carolina. Brand new. 6 months after moving in, a water pipe junction burst (iirc, they thought it hadn't been correctly connected or something) in the attic while they were on vacation and ruined most of the house and their items. The builder denied responsibility and the insurance company was blaming it on the builder since the house was still under "warranty" and it was turning into a huge mess, to say the least. New does not equal free of work and I'd rather strip wallpaper than deal with finding out what corners were cut.