this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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I live in a house built before the year in question and paid not too much more than that price for it (~$95,000) in 2018. For reference the house is in a working class suburb of a small city in the Midwest, so it's not a housing hotspot but not out in the middle of nowhere.
There's no insulation in the exterior walls, I had to rebuild the dangerously steep basement stairs, and I've spent about five grand on asbestos abatement so far with more in the near future. Those are just problems with the original construction, I'm excluding issues caused by age or mistakes made by previous owners.
Cheap housing from that era doesn't meet even the most basic safety related modern building codes (to say nothing of energy or environmental codes). Modern housing is more expensive because cheaper housing is a goddamned death trap.
I lived in a 3 decker built in the 1940s outside of Boston and the thing had barely functioning steam heat that had constant water hammer and it was so drafty that in the winter I could actually feel a breeze coming through cracks in the walls.
I know the feeling. In the mornings and evenings when light comes in through the basement windows I can see it through the gaps in the floorboards. I just tell people that I really committed to getting natural light.
Even when you take age related issues out of the picture the older, cheaper homes wouldn't pass muster if they were built today. They're bad for the environment and they're bad for people.