Many people are hesitant, or completely against buying real estate if the property has a Heritage or similar type of designation. The fear often becomes that they could never renovate the heritage home or do much in the way of renovating the property as well as the questionable longterm resale value –the opposite couldn’t be any truer.
If you’re contemplating buying an older home, unless you have intentions of demolishing it, chances are, you’re doing it because you love the charm of the established neighbourhood and the character of the historic home. These homes are unique in their own way, from an architectural perspective to a historical perspective –how many people can say that the original town blacksmith lived in their house 150 years ago?
Fortunately, most municipalities recognize that older, historic homes will eventually need updating and additions in order to keep up with the changing demographics of the area, building efficiency and more. Because of this, more often than not, they are open to additions and renovations, inside and out. There may be requirements such as maintaining a style that complements that of the original building, but that’s one of the reasons you’re buying it anyway, right?
One of the nicest things with homes that have heritage designations is that it’s possible many of the surrounding homes have the same designation. This means that it’s less likely anyone will be tearing them down and plopping an eye-sore of an obscenely large property across the street.
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