America’s homes have passed their expiration date

The typical American home is now 44 years old—and ripe for a midlife crisis. Homebuilding has been stuck at a six-year low, and now half of all homes are old enough to be flagged as structurally at-risk.

“By 40 to 50 years, homes often need significant repairs or replacements involving roofs, HVAC, plumbing, electrical panels, windows, and foundations,” explains Nancy Shipley of home inspection platform HouseMaster. These ticking time bombs often hide behind layers of fresh paint and updated kitchens, so a house might look fine but still be falling apart.

“With an older house, the scope of work can change quickly once you open the walls up,” says Maksim Sauchanka at BMR BelMax Remodeling. He recently renovated a 151-year-old house in Philadelphia that needed a new roof, sewage lines, HVAC, furnace, and other repairs that pushed the reno cost up to $70,000.

Another curveball? Many old homes are no longer up to code, as Brett Johnson of New Era Home Buyers learned after buying a 72-year-old house in Denver for $315,000. He poured $72,000 into replacing the galvanized plumbing and upgrading the electrical service to 200 amps to accommodate what a modern-day family needs to keep the lights (and laptops and Xboxes) up and running.

The one problem Johnson didn’t see coming? The power lines outside the house. “I had to raise them before the utility company would sign off,” he says. “That’s the kind of detail you don’t see coming until you’re standing in the yard staring up at wires, wondering why they’re basically head height. Older houses have a way of surprising you.”

The old home upside

But for buyers willing to revive an old home, decay isn’t always a dealbreaker. And for some, it’s a discount that can be flipped into sizable profits. Johnson sold that 72-year-old property for $480,000, netting $62,500 after renovation costs. “I do think there’s good money to be made renovating older homes, but only if you buy them at the right price,” Johnson says. “I spend a lot of time walking the property, looking at systems. I see investors miss issues all the time, or they spot the problem but underestimate what it’ll cost to fix.”

Two extra tips: Get an inspection and pull the property’s permit history. “A house with no permitted work in 40 years is probably hiding deferred maintenance everywhere. That gap tells you more than the inspection report will,” explains Rachid Abadli at LeaseBase, who has bought and renovated old homes in California. And since surprises are a given once you open the walls, cushion your reno budget accordingly. “I now go in budgeting a hard 30% contingency on any pre-1960 house,” he adds. “Anything under that is a win.”

Sauchanka agrees, adding, “My advice is not to avoid older homes; they can have great character and value. But buyers need to respect the age of the structure and budget for work behind the walls, under the floors, and above the ceiling—not just the pretty renovation work.”