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Portsmouth NH Historic Homes - Just How Old is OLD??

Portsmouth New Hampshire Historic Antique Homes

Old castle

Years ago, probably back in the mid 1980's or thereabouts, I was working with a buyer who was moving up here to check out Portsmouth New Hampshire homes from somewhere in Texas. I can't recall exactly where in Texas, but somewhere that was much "younger" then most of New England is.

She and I had spoken on the phone a number of times about her trip up here, what she was looking for in a home here, etc. She wanted to be close to downtown, near the water, and she told me several times how much she really just loved old and older homes.

- photo courtesy of freefoto.com -

YAY, I thought!! I get the opportunity to show some of the really wonderful old historic antique Portsmouth homes that are all over the place here. We set up the days and starting times for each day's showings, and I went to work getting all those showings set up.

Day 1 of 3 days of showings arrived, and I was really looking forward to it. She and I had really hit it off on the phone, and I could tell working with her was going to be alot of fun. We saw house #1, and she didn't really say very much, and the same happened after house #2. House #3 was better than the first 2 we saw, and when she still wasn't liking any of them, I kept talking to her, and she finally admitted that her definition of 'old' was homes that were 20-25 years old!! WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Keep in mind, I'm talking about New England here - New Hampshire - which was one of the original 13 Colonies. And we're talking about Portsmouth specifically, which was settled back in 1623. In one of my posts I just did I talked a little about some of the wonderful old properties we have all around the area here. We have homes here that date back to the 1600's, many are from the 1700's to early 1900's. On the outskirts of town, we do have newer homes, and we have some new construction, too.

So, after that 3rd showing and finding out exactly what she meant when she said 'old' to me and what I thought she meant just didn't match up, we headed back to my office to cancel the rest of that day's showings, as well as the next 2 full days' worth of showings. Then I proceeded to schedule new showings for us. And after all that, we did find her just the right house, that fit her description of "old".

Rest assured, after that experience, I learned a very valuable lesson! From then on, I began to ask every single person I work with as a buyer to describe to me what time frame they mean when talking about the age of homes they might be interested in, especially if they happen to like "old" and/or "older" homes!!

Irish Castle

LESSON LEARNED!!!

- photo courtesy of freefoto.com -

RE/MAX New Hampshire


Ann Cummings, New Hampshire & Maine Broker
RE/MAX Coast to Coast
Portsmouth NH
  ann@anncummings.com
888-349-5678 x 3839
Servicing the Coastal Areas of NH & Southern Maine

Posted by Portsmouth NH Homes Condos - Ann Cummings New Hampshire REALTOR® on 11/16/2006 03:44 PM

Comments (29)

portsmouth new hampshire, portsmouth nh historic homes

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29 Comments on Portsmouth NH Historic Homes - Just How Old is OLD??

NOV

2006

So, what is considered an "old" home in New Hampshire? In the Salt Lake market, our historic district goes back to around 1890?

Keith,

We have homes here that date back to the 1600's. Most of the homes here, in the areas closer to the center of Portsmouth range from the mid-late 1700's to the early 1900's. I did edit my post to include this info in there.

Since I thought that buyer really meant it when she said old, I had lined up all kinds of homes dating back to the 1700's and 1800's.......... ;-)

Thanks for your comment!

Ann

Okay, Ann, a good reference point of what constitutes old:

According to my youngest son, Luke, anything older than me is REALLY old.

Rich,

Be thankful he didn't say anything as old as you is REALLY old!! ;-))

Ann

The funny thing about Atlanta is that homes in the 1920s are considered "old". All of the pre civil war buildings were burned to the ground by General Sherman. He left some but not much.

Wonder what Mick Jagger thinks s is old now a days??

lol.. just some of the comments. hell, something 5 yrs old can be old to me. A brick house in Philly that Besty Ross lived in is old....really old.

But Ann.....it's a good point that you bring up.. and how you tied it into growing up.

I'm with you, a 25-30 year old house is fairly new. I call an older house something built in the 20's (with the drawstrings on the windows).

Ann,

That is a great story. In New York everything is classified as either pre-war or post war. When I first started in real estate I would ask customers do you prefer pre-war or post-war? It means WWII before or after 1940.

Most would say pre-war so I would show them early 1900's or 1930's Art deco. I learned the same lesson when I finally asked what do you like about pre-war? " Oh I love the modern kitchen".

I ask them to describe what they like now too. If they don't want charm and character and high cielings they don't want pre-war

Reminds me of the buyer from Phoenix who was being transferred here. When descriging his MUST list, he said the house MUST be a ranch, stucco, with a tile roof, etc., etc. Would I be able to find that in his price range??

Sure, I said, in Phoenix. However, if he wanted that style in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, it would have to be built and would cost about 5 times his price range.

He bought a Colonial, of course.

Guess that's why they keep drilling into our heads that we should Listen really LISTEN to our clients and customers! But who would think that 20-25 years old is OLD?? Don't they have old places in Texas?? How about the Alamo -- that's old! Guess I must be old...eh?

I guess old, is sometimes based on another's perception!?! I'm with most of you, 25 - 30 years is starting to get old.

Ann, I would have made the same mistake if I was in your shoes. You are used to your market what people in your market ask for. Old means really old. But when someone from outside the market comes in not knowing, then the confussion starts. Good post.

Being from New England originally, that's BAWSTIN... I would say an older home would be circa 1930's 40's 50's.

An OLD home would be anything older than that.

In Wilmington, NC, an older home would be 1990-1998.

An OLD home would be in the Historic District. LOL!

I love old houses, the older the better. I think I need to come out to portsmouth.

Colorado Springs is barely 100 years old, so "old" here is 70s and 80s ... SO we have the opposite problem, when working with folks from the east coast.

It really makes us think about how we difine things - region to region. Really goo point there!

Yeah, but have you ever had somebody from the East Coast tell you that they want a big yard and they freak out when they see unlandscaped acreage and no trees? I had somebody weird out because the neighbors were so far away, say 200-300 ft. away.

As a fellow New Englander I found your post funny. I am only 26 yrs "old" but still don't think of a 20 year old house as being "old". Old in New England is oooolllddd! Great post!

When my Aunt listed her home up in Illinois, she claimed that her kitchen was recently remodeled...It was remodeled back in 1986 !! That's almost 27 years ago !! Kitchens have come a long long way in 27 years...

My neighbor gave me a tour of her home...I had complimented her on a lamp. She informed me that it was brand new...and added how she bought it 6 years ago !!

Ann, great blog !! It's good to point out this issue because we need to qualify what is new and what is old to the folks we are working with.

You know a home is old when you call the title company for a profile, and when you get it you look for year built and all it reads is "OLD".

Fun blog...

Ann, "Original" in Wenatchee, Washington is early 1900's. Don't know of any existing homes older than that. Old, as you learned, is in the eyes of the beholder. Great reminder about individual perspectives.

NOV

2006

Funny story. In Kansas City old would be the early 1900's.

Compared to New England, the Denver area where I live is really young. It was settled in the late 1800's. I've been showing properties in the original area called Capitol Hill where homes were built in the late 1800 to early 1900's. I love the early architecture and the history. I've been working with another real estate agent who could care less about it. The same feelings of course go with buyers--some love it and some would rather live in the burbs in a poorly built newer home.

That's too funny. Many of the houses I sell in Mineapolis and St. Paul are 1920's-30's vintage. I'd love to look at some even earlier than that!

Excellent point. We had a discussion yesterday about the definition of "sense of urgency". 5 people - 5 definitions!

WE have some victorians here from the late 1800's and I love those (despite the fact that they are in pretty rough neighborhoods!) I want to see houses from the 1600's... To me there is nothing worse than the homes that were built in the 1980's...long hallways, low ceilings, typically bad floorplans

NOV

2006

This reminds me of years ago when my step-daughter participated in a student exchange program in Russia. On one of her few phone calls home, my wife asked her "so what's it like?" Erin replied..."It's old. Everything is really, really, old."

My wife died laughing and reminded her that we happen to live in a fairly young country that didn't even exist 250 years ago.

APR

2007

Ann - what a great story, and glad I read it eventhough a couple of months late. I have also learned to not assume. When they say "old" I ask "define old", when they say "moderately priced", I ask them "define moderately priced", even when they say "modern"....you get the picture.

Our definition of certain criteria and our customers definitions are always different. She probably moved from an area in Texas where there was only new construction and 70's architecture was considered old.

APR

2007

Hi Ines - thanks for reading and commenting. Since that happened years ago, I have always qualified what buyers mean by 'old' and "newer", and I do the same with other things as well, like price, etc. You're right, 60's & 70's was OLD to her!

Ann

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