DIY'ers... restorers.. can you imagine the fun it would be...

[iamwhatiseem]

... to restore this grand home full of history.
Located in a small town south of where I live in a community ravaged by NAFTA and the death of American manufacturing.
It has been reasonably maintained over the 150 years since it was built.
It has been for sale for awhile, sadly there is no way to renovate this home properly and not lose money unless purchased at the very least another $100k less than what it lists for.

What a beauty.

1405 M St, Bedford, IN 47421 | Zillow

1405 M St, Bedford IN, is a Single Family home that contains 6177 sq ft and was built in 1872.It contains 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.This home last sold for $269,900 in July 2022. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $461,600, which has increased by $26,242 in the last 30 days.The Rent...

www.zillow.com

 

[occupied]

Houses like that are great but they are a pain to maintain. Their boxy little bedrooms and insufficient number of bathrooms make them ill-suited to modern life.

 

[hjmick]

Damn. It looks to be in decent shape.

 

[Likkmee]

Looks like a potential bed and breakfast to me. What's the town like ?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Looks like a potential bed and breakfast to me. What's the town like ?

I actually grew up in Bedford.
In the 70s it was a great town. Packed full of high paying manufacturing companies, literally surrounded by them.
GM Plant, Ford plat, RCA plant, General Electric Refrigeration plant, Carpenter Bus Manufacturing, Otis Elevator and more.
Only one left is the GM Powertrain plant. But it is 1/4 the size it use to be.
I live north of there, leaving years ago for better opportunity.
There is not much there anymore. The usual... Walmart, Lowes, CVS... and fast food.

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

... to restore this grand home full of history.
Located in a small town south of where I live in a community ravaged by NAFTA and the death of American manufacturing.
It has been reasonably maintained over the 150 years since it was built.
It has been for sale for awhile, sadly there is no way to renovate this home properly and not lose money unless purchased at the very least another $100k less than what it lists for.

What a beauty.

View attachment 628126

1405 M St, Bedford, IN 47421 | Zillow

1405 M St, Bedford IN, is a Single Family home that contains 6177 sq ft and was built in 1872.It contains 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.This home last sold for $269,900 in July 2022. The Zestimate for this Single Family is $461,600, which has increased by $26,242 in the last 30 days.The Rent...

www.zillow.com

Is that Norman Bate's mother up in the attic window?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Damn. It looks to be in decent shape.

The last owners put in new heat and A/C and did quite a bit of foundation work.
The exterior is near perfect. The inside only has minor water damage and declining issues with it being empty.
Sadly, it will erode fast unless someone buys it. Nothing destroys a home faster than being unoccupied.
I would L O V E to take it on. I use to flip houses years ago, I successfully flipped 8. By successful I mean.. I restored the homes and sold them for a profit. I knew what I was doing.
Rough estimation... it would take at least $100k to get to true livable condition. All of the windows need to go. Too much moisture getting in through the single pane large openings. I would say there is extensive moisture damage behind the plaster around most of the windows. They would all need taken out, gutted and replace damaged wood and replaced.
Looks like to me the floors are mostly restorable, with some of the rooms would have to have new floors completely.
It would be a massive undertaking with little prospect for profit, again, unless purchased for minimum $100k less than asking.

 

[petro]

We have done remodeling on old houses.
A nightmare pain in the ass, that usually takes twice as long, finds other problems like structural issues, outdated wiring or plumbing. Everything is out of plumb and foundation has settled.
They claim they don't build houses like they used to.

Good, because most of them old houses didn't have proper weight bearing or foundations, didn't have the benefit of computerized engineered trusses, or structural lumber.
Storm codes were nonexistent.
They are typically filled with asbestos, and if it still has an octopus furnace, Don't purchase it. A new furnace will cost a fortune because of the hazardous removal of the old one.
Looks nice, but also can be a Money Pit.

 

[occupied]

The last owners put in new heat and A/C and did quite a bit of foundation work.
The exterior is near perfect. The inside only has minor water damage and declining issues with it being empty.
Sadly, it will erode fast unless someone buys it. Nothing destroys a home faster than being unoccupied.
I would L O V E to take it on. I use to flip houses years ago, I successfully flipped 8. By successful I mean.. I restored the homes and sold them for a profit. I knew what I was doing.
Rough estimation... it would take at least $100k to get to true livable condition. All of the windows need to go. Too much moisture getting in through the single pane large openings. I would say there is extensive moisture damage behind the plaster around most of the windows. They would all need taken out, gutted and replace damaged wood and replaced.
Looks like to me the floors are mostly restorable, with some of the rooms would have to have new floors completely.
It would be a massive undertaking with little prospect for profit, again, unless purchased for minimum $100k less than asking.

All that stuff you said would cost way, way more than $100,000.

 

[AMart]

Been through Bedford many time, nice old town. Bunch of them like that. Columbus In. is nice as well, flat, but nice. Madison In. has the best downtown of those smaller S. Indiana towns. French Lick has had a nice boost with the Casino and renovation of both of hotels resorts.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

We have done remodeling on old houses.
A nightmare pain in the ass, that usually takes twice as long, finds other problems like structural issues, outdated wiring or plumbing. Everything is out of plumb and foundation has settled.
They claim they don't build houses like they used to.

Good, because most of them old houses didn't have proper weight bearing or foundations, didn't have the benefit of computerized engineered trusses, or structural lumber.
Storm codes were nonexistent.
They are typically filled with asbestos, and if it still has an octopus furnace, Don't purchase it. A new furnace will cost a fortune because of the hazardous removal of the old one.
Looks nice, but also can be a Money Pit.

The past owners put in two new boilers in 2006.
The foundation was redone in 2006 as well. This area is the limestone capital of the world. Many of these homes have outstanding foundations due to the use of massive quarried stone as the foundation. I am talking 3 ft. thick blocks.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Been through Bedford many time, nice old town. Bunch of them like that. Columbus In. is nice as well, flat, but nice. Madison In. has the best downtown of those smaller S. Indiana towns. French Lick has had a nice boost with the Casino and renovation of both of hotels resorts.
View attachment 628138
View attachment 628141

Yes the Cook family bought this property maybe 20 years ago? It was ran down bad. They donated 10s $millions in renovating this national historic resort. It was one of the premier resorts in America. Many Presidents and world dignitaries stayed here in the past.

 

[Dekster]

The last owners put in new heat and A/C and did quite a bit of foundation work.
The exterior is near perfect. The inside only has minor water damage and declining issues with it being empty.
Sadly, it will erode fast unless someone buys it. Nothing destroys a home faster than being unoccupied.
I would L O V E to take it on. I use to flip houses years ago, I successfully flipped 8. By successful I mean.. I restored the homes and sold them for a profit. I knew what I was doing.
Rough estimation... it would take at least $100k to get to true livable condition. All of the windows need to go. Too much moisture getting in through the single pane large openings. I would say there is extensive moisture damage behind the plaster around most of the windows. They would all need taken out, gutted and replace damaged wood and replaced.
Looks like to me the floors are mostly restorable, with some of the rooms would have to have new floors completely.
It would be a massive undertaking with little prospect for profit, again, unless purchased for minimum $100k less than asking.

Can you even touch the outside windows? It is a point of contention in my city that keeps people from buying historical properties. The Historical commission are Nazi's

 

[petro]

Can you even touch the outside windows? It is a point of contention in my city that keeps people from buying historical properties. The Historical commission are Nazi's

In Mpls we call them the Hysterical Commission.

We were remodeling a porch and had to be done exactly the same. Their inspector was wondering if we could still use the old posts, but had to point out they were so rotted they had to be junked. You could put your full finger into the rot.
The house itself was essentially a deteriorating piece of crap.
But being within one block of the Historical District was subject to a whole set of unreasonable rules that unnecessarily results in more costs and time.

 

[AMart]

Yes the Cook family bought this property maybe 20 years ago? It was ran down bad. They donated 10s $millions in renovating this national historic resort. It was one of the premier resorts in America. Many Presidents and world dignitaries stayed here in the past.

Yep timeline is accurate. BTW they comp rooms big time if you gamble. I have stayed in both the main resort and W. Baden Springs....amazing building. Will probably move to a place like Madison for quasi retirement one day.

 

[occupied]

Can you even touch the outside windows? It is a point of contention in my city that keeps people from buying historical properties. The Historical commission are Nazi's

Our historic district allows window replacement but they have to look the same. Done a bunch of them. You can get impact rated, vinyl clad insulated windows that are indistinguishable from the old standard sashes that leak energy like a sieve.

 

[petro]

The past owners put in two new boilers in 2006.
The foundation was redone in 2006 as well. This area is the limestone capital of the world. Many of these homes have outstanding foundations due to the use of massive quarried stone as the foundation. I am talking 3 ft. thick blocks.

I see that now looking at the listing.
Still looks like a ton of work to be done.

Beyond what I would be willing to pay.

 

[Dekster]

Our historic district allows window replacement but they have to look the same. Done a bunch of them. You can get impact rated, vinyl clad insulated windows that are indistinguishable from the old standard sashes that leak energy like a sieve.

Wouldn't fly here. They would make you do windows with the same material as the original. I own a commercial building built in 1986 in a one-off commission controlled area that had wood windows and only got approval by 1 vote to replace them with custom made vinyl low E's. These were available in 1986 when the building was built mind you. These are the same people who have the historical society mindset. The city community development guy and the city attorney both came up to me afterwards and said they didn't know WTF those people were thinking voting against the windows. We were promised that this would not be the case when they set up this one-off commission and they are JV Historical society wannabe's now.

 

[Moonglow]

It would be cheaper to tear it down and rebuild it.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I see that now looking at the listing.
Still looks like a ton of work to be done.

Beyond what I would be willing to pay.

If I was serious about it, I would willing to go up to $200k max. And that is after inspection doesn't show extensive termite damage. And that is only because the exterior is so well preserved. Where the property is located, I would say the max selling price, totally renovated is about $600k. But it could take several years to sell. Today's youth have no interest in "homes with character".
You can see the basement photos show "bird nest" wiring. Where past owners ran wire all over the place without securing it. I would be willing to bet it has at least 7 or 8 fuse boxes rather than a central source. Since there are no photos of the electrical, you can be sure it is a rats nest of bizarre jerry rigging.