A New Series: “This Old San Carlos House”.

March 22, 2011

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Dealing With Older Homes.

If you own a home in San Carlos or have been shopping for a one for any period of time, then what I'm about to say is no surprise to you:  Most homes in San Carlos are OLD! And not necessarily old in a charming way — many are just plain old.   When you consider that most of the flat-land area of San Carlos was developed during World War II in the late 1930's and early 40's, and with the hillside development following in the 50's,  many of the homes in San Carlos are now somewhere between 60-70 years of age.  And like anything that is used constantly over an extended period of time, homes get tired and worn with age.

For those of you in the market for a San Carlos home, reading through a property inspection report on an older home is not for the faint of heart.  A steady dose about everything that's wrong with a house may make you want to run the other way as fast as you can.   But the good news is that many of the problems and issues that are cited with older homes are usually typical of homes of that era, and are generally straightforward to fix.

What's a Big Deal, and What's Not…

This Old San Carlos House” will be an occasional series on the White Oaks Blog that will touch on the various elements of older homes — things  you'll commonly see discussed in a property inspection report.  In each issue of this series, we'll discuss one aspect of the home in detail, such as:

  • Foundations.
  • Drainage
  • Electrical
  • Plumbing.
  • ..and so on.

The focus of the series not so much technical in nature (I'm not a contractor, after all!) as much as it is an advisory to help you understand what you are likely to encounter with older homes — which things you should worry about, and which things aren't that big of a deal.   And most important, it will hopefully highlight some aspects that you may have never thought of (can you say “insurance”?)

So strap on your tool belts and lets get a little dirty…  Welcome to “This Old San Carlos House.”

First up in the series:  Foundations.

 

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1 Comment

  1. pat b on March 22, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    It’s really sad that SC has so few beautiful old houses. I love all the old Craftsmans in RWC.



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