Millennials enticed by ancient fixer-uppers online

Have they never seen “The Money Pit?”

I’m confused. People are moving to flyover states? On purpose?

Miguel and David are cute. I wonder how successful they will be at renovating that Connecticut 'love nest?'

There is no there there in most of these places.

They're going to end up thousands in debt. But that's what happens when a man lets his bottom make financial decisions.

R5, which one is the bottom -- Miguel or David? They at least look happy in this photo.

Bad idea.

David's the bottom.

I have to admit this cabin in the woods looks enticing as a sort of seasonal cabin.

They're leaving Riverside California--a place that is "metropolitan" but functionally in the middle of nowhere (the edge of greater LA but a very long drive in normal traffic from any place interesting) for someplace far less expensive to live where plants can grow without trucking in water from 100s of miles away and the environment is probably a bit more sustainable. The town is actually not far from Springfield (state capital) and Decatur, which are both sizable places.

Riverside is 45 minutes from LA and 45 minutes from Palm Springs. I know this because I drive from LA to PS twice a week. He'll regret the move when it hits 20 below and there's an ice storm. I left the Midwest 15 years ago and never looked back.

They won't regret it when "the big one " hits. And 45 minutes from LA to Riverside is only possible at midnight , if you floor it. You' be luck to do 45 minutes from Covina.

Good, go.

Great article! Thanks for posting, OP!

I fall prey to the dream of renovating a beautiful old house in the middle of nowhere. Then my roof leaks or something else happens in my current place and I can barely stand to spend 20 minutes dealing with it, so I snap back to reality.

Maybe whoever purchases this one can be neighbors with Pete and Chasten.

Those are great looking houses. I loved the article, OP. One odd thing was that the fix-up costs seemed so low, maybe because the renovations had only just begun?

$99k for a river-side property in Guerneville, CA seems awfully cheap.

So does this mean the tiny house fad is finally coming to an end?

I'm mildly fascinated by whatever the story is behind this house.

[quote]The internet is evil.

People are dumbasses.

[quote] End-up broke in the middle of nowhere.

If one can work remotely from home, they can theoretically pull off living in these homes in far-flung places. There would be inconveniences of course -- some amenities and services not close by, etc. -- but it's not necessarily impossible.

If something seems too good or cheap to be true, it usually is.

Why do two men need such a large house? Just for bragging purposes?

[quote]So does this mean the tiny house fad is finally coming to an end?

Let's be real: this was only a cultural "trend" among people building and/or selling tiny houses. A completely manufactured story, IMHO.

Horrible, oversized McMansions are out of favor--people associate them with the housing market collapse of 2008, and they're expensive to keep cool/warm. And did I mention they're hideous? But people still want something with room, privacy, and a sense of permanence.

R24, maybe they have plans to start a family? But you're -- such a large hole seems excessive for two people.

Home!^^ argh

You can get a nice house in many rustbelt cities pretty cheaply. The problem is that, if you move there, you have to live on rustbelt wages. My house was built in 1926. It's quite solid, with hardwood floors and real plaster walls and ceilings (in good shape). I've posted photos in other threads, and people have generally been complimentary (although comparing my choice of room colors to a Mexican restaurant). There are also much more extravagant houses in my city posted by realtors, many of them very entrancing) that someone in NYC could easily pay cash for, that I could never afford. I know not to covet beautiful apartments in Manhattan. But I think it may be harder for people in affluent areas to turn down what seems like a guaranteed profit if they bought a house in a poorer area.

I too thought it would be fantastic to fix up an old place.Until I moved to the top 2 floors of a victorian mansion in Denver.Gorgeous leaded glass windows,original gas light fixtures,stunning paneling and plasterwork,baclconies,etc. Everything original,and in original condition. Including the wiring,pipes,insulation . 12 rooms on 2 floors and you couldnt ask for a more beautiful home. You froze to death in the winter,roasted in the summer,it took 20 minutes to fill the tub halfway unless you boiled pots of water beforehand. After the 50th time of the lights blowing because the wiring was knob and tube,and tripping over the parquet inlaid floors that were coming up,we forfeited our deposit and last months rent and moved into a NEW apartment building and Ive never ever entertained the idea again.

I think it's smart if you have sound constriction knowledge and can rough it. Sadly most of these people can't.

My current house was built in 1822, non of these look very old to me.

Probably because I live in the UK.

Never move in until the renovations are complete.

These places all sound like potential nightmares. Structural issues like foundation repair, a new roof and/or electrical rewiring cost a fortune and that’s before you can even think about doing cosmetic renovations. No thanks.

[quote]maybe they have plans to start a family? But you're -- such a large hole seems excessive for two people.

Mine can accommodate 40 for the weekend.

I'm R28. At one point, my house was only valued at 35K. I've posted this photo before. My house isn't some rambling Victorian (there are lots of those, nearby), but a small, well-built house with only a few bedrooms. I have a whole second floor that I don't even use, other than for storage. Upscale people don't want to live in my neighborhood, because I have black neighbors. So what? I have very good relationships with my neighbors. One of my next-door neighbors helped save my life, for God's sake. After the remodeling was finished (new paint, new tile in the kitchen, refinished floors, etc) my home is now valued at a much higher value. But even now, some of you people in NYC or SF could buy it easily. But I'm not selling. I like my house and my neighborhood and my neighbors, and know they look out for me.

If these queens collect stuff, they might want a big house, rather than some termite infested little postwar house in Riverside.

Interesting story.

Most of those people were very unhappy in their current lives and the house just gave them a reason to cut and run.

[R18] Guerneville, on the Russian RIver in Sonoma County, floods practically every year. Flood insurance, if available, is extremely expensive and requires a high deductible. And in the last several years, Sonoma County has also been devastated by forest fires. Consequently, fire insurance has also become expensive, if available. Due to fire and flood, there are fewer and fewer insurance companies willing to underwrite the area. It may be a mecca for LGBTQ vacationers, but here is a reason this property is so "cheap." Go for a vacay, don't move there!

These dumbass millennials are in way over their heads. They don't know what they don't know.

The subject line indicated to me this was another Mrs. Dan Savage thread.

AND THEY"RE ON MY LAWN!!!!!

R39, lmao!

R37, good points. This property is advertised as being built 'above the flood,' but the flood and fire insurance must be killer.

My lawn isn't anywhere near bumfuck Illinois, R40.

I see a lot of Indiana and Missouri in that Instagram.

I see a lot of Indiana and Missouri in that Instagram.

That Japanese-style house in Manchester Vermont is wild. But I'm amazed that a lot of these are not completely derelict. They still have all the varnished oak woodwork. How is one supposed to find out more about a specific house? I don't see a link.

R46 Google the address of the house and the listing should come up.

I don't see an address, just photographs. Is it something I have to join Instagram to see? Because I never see the Insta captions or comments that everyone talks about.

I hear this iconic Amboy hotel is up for sale on the market. Any takers?

This house in my city would be about $300,000.

[quote] Indiana and Missouri

Absolutely insane for any gay man to move to Indiana or Missouri in 2019. Those places are infested with homophobia, meth labs, and criminal activity!

I drove through Riverside once. It was an absolute environmental disaster zone. The sky was literally orange with thick, nasty smog that hung over the area and burned my eyes and lungs. I felt like I was getting cancer just breathing the air there. Unfathomable that anyone would actually want to live in such a place.

I'm sure it's possible to fix up that lovely old ruin and not come to grief... if you're a home-repair expert who has the skills to make it happen, and the financial sense to do it on a schedule and a budget. And who either actually wants to live in that horrid little town, or who knows the local market well enough to sell the thing at a profit.

But thinking you can run away from your life and just fix up a house in a town you don't want to live in? That's stupid, and anyone with sense could tell those idiots it'd end in tears.

Thanks for the link, OP...you just sent me down the rabbit hole. And I'm not a millennial! This house is fucking gorgeous inside and they were marketing it as a teardown...in Wisconsin!

This reminds me of one of the Tasteful Friends posts a couple months ago. An antebellum mansion in a small town in Mississippi, lovingly restored and on the market for some ridiculously cheap price price because who wants to live there. So if the people who purchase these homes think they will get their investment back when they sell because they discovered that they are not happy living in a small town after the distraction of rebuilding is finished, well...

Riverside, like Bakersfield, is a fucking hellhole and a total armpit. I’d do anything to escape including spending hundreds of thousands to renovate in the middle of nowhere.

I mean, I don’t understand why you’d do this unless you were young and had understanding of contracting, and also a lot of money. But if you were into renovating houses some of these are truly awesome.

I read millennials are disinterested in home ownership because they want to save their money and retire earlier. It's the opposite of what my generation (X) was taught. A home was an investment. It sure doesn't feel like it, particularly with how economically up and down everything is. Never mind interest rate increases. I kind of wish I'd have stuck with renting. I feel as if a lot of people in my age bracket are in the same bind - it doesn't feel as if we'll be able to retire. Mind you, the boomers are still stinking up the work place, so there's that.

R59 beginning to agree with you. We finally bought a place, and the mortgage, insurance etc is about the same as what we were paying for rent on a one bedroom in Manhattan, but instead we SPACE now. And in 20 years our mortgage will be paid off, BUT our property taxes are already $18,000 a year now, who knows what they’ll be by then; so we’d most likely have to sell when we retire and move somewhere cheaper.

What I was getting at, was: yes sometimes I feel like we bought because that’s what our generation was told to do, as an investment. It’s a little comforting knowing that when we sell, we’ll have a nice amount of $ to retire on comfortably. But when you consider other house expenses that come along the way, like new roof ($30,000), new furnace, windows etc it really chips away at that investment.

oh god, could i be any stupider? I couldn't see Insta comments because I had my tablet locked in portrait mode (and it doesn't scroll to the right, why?) so I could only see the photo, not any info about it.

-R46

[quote] A home was an investment. It sure doesn't feel like it, particularly with how economically up and down everything is. Never mind interest rate increases.

Huh? Interest rates are still at all-time lows. Anyway I'd rather pay less money for a house at a higher interest rate than pay an artificially-inflated price for a house at a low interest rate (which is the way things are currently in most places). You can always refinance a higher interest loan or simply pay off the house to rid yourself of the loan altogether, but if you overpay for the house in the first place there's no refinancing that away.

Thanks, OP. The house in "Towanda, Illinois" in OP's link was the coolest one. Although I don't know what Towanda the town is like.

R63, that building fascinates me as well.

Towanda is just outside Bloomington which has a state university and the HQ of State Farm. It's not exactly Chicago, but it probably has all the basics and a bit of culture.

Cool. This gets more of them out of MY way. I wish all the amateurs who watched HGTV would satisfy their rehab appetite in midwestern podunk towns.....instead of stinking up my market by overpaying for distressed houses they have no clue what to do with. Experienced rehabbers face tough competition from the "one and done" idiots who pay too much for one house, fuck up the rehab and eventually lose their shirts.

Here's a nice old Mid-Century Modern Palm Springs sort of place, for someone who can stand to live near the Texas Gulf Coast.

Tell me, is there any way for someone who doesn't have an Instagram account to find the full real estate listing? There doesn't seem to be anything posted here but one picture.

R67. The address was listed in the IG post

Texas is always a deal-killer for me.