From the founders of the HGTV show and Instagram Cheap Old Houses comes a stunning collection of beautiful, affordable homes and inspiration for buying and restoring an historic house. Welcome to the magical world of Cheap Old Houses, where the new American dream comes with zero mortgage and an affordable lifestyle fit for a storybook. Ethan and Elizabeth Finkelstein have scoured the country to find homes in desperate need of saving—including a $45,000 Victorian in Mississippi, a $25,000 mansion in Indiana, an $82,000 recreational camp in Maine, and more. Cheap Old Houses features the stories of how these homes were acquired and lovingly restored. Within these pages, you’ll discover sprawling Victorian mansions, Italianate-style farmhouses, off-the-beaten-path cabins, and even old churches turned into residences. You’ll meet a couple who camped out on their back porch while they made their 6,000-square foot manor livable, and homeowners who found a free bungalow and moved it seventy miles to their property. Additionally, Elizabeth, a historical preservationist, gives information on the details to preserve in historic houses, from pocket doors that might be hiding in the walls to badly cracked plaster walls that are worth repairing and butler’s pantries that are once again more desirable for storing dishes and small appliances. With hundreds of beautiful photographs capturing these homes in all their glory, you’ll be inspired to find “the one”—a fixer upper to rescue that will rescue you right back.

From the founders of the HGTV show and Instagram Cheap Old Houses comes a stunning collection of beautiful, affordable homes and inspiration for buying and restoring an historic house. Welcome to the magical world of Cheap Old Houses, where the new American dream comes with zero mortgage and an affordable lifestyle fit for a storybook. Ethan and Elizabeth Finkelstein have scoured the country to find homes in desperate need of saving—including a $45,000 Victorian in Mississippi, a $25,000 mansion in Indiana, an $82,000 recreational camp in Maine, and more. Cheap Old Houses features the stories of how these homes were acquired and lovingly restored. Within these pages, you’ll discover sprawling Victorian mansions, Italianate-style farmhouses, off-the-beaten-path cabins, and even old churches turned into residences. You’ll meet a couple who camped out on their back porch while they made their 6,000-square foot manor livable, and homeowners who found a free bungalow and moved it seventy miles to their property. Additionally, Elizabeth, a historical preservationist, gives information on the details to preserve in historic houses, from pocket doors that might be hiding in the walls to badly cracked plaster walls that are worth repairing and butler’s pantries that are once again more desirable for storing dishes and small appliances. With hundreds of beautiful photographs capturing these homes in all their glory, you’ll be inspired to find “the one”—a fixer upper to rescue that will rescue you right back.

Practical advice on roofs, walls, masonry, glazing, insulation, plumbing, doors, stairs, floors, exteriors, and more.

Although there are other books about renovating old houses, this is the first that prioritizes the identification and preservation of the historic, character-defining features of a house as a starting point in the process. That is the purpose of this book: to describe and illustrate a best-practices approach for updating historic homes for modern life in ways that do not attempt to turn an old house into a new one. The book also suggests many ways to save money in the process, without settling for cheap or inappropriate solutions. Scott Hanson is a historic-building preservation professional and has 40 years' experience rehabilitating historic houses. He has illustrated this authoritative book with hundreds of step-by-step photos, illustrations, charts, and decision-making guides. Interspersed throughout are photo essays of 13 restored historic houses representing a range of periods and architectural styles: Italianate, Victorian, Queen Anne, Federal, Colonial, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Ranch, Adobe, Craftsman, Shingle, and Rustic. With interior and exterior photography by David Clough, these multi-page features show what can be achieved when a historic home is renovated with a desire to preserve or restore as much historic character as possible.

How do you spot an area poised for gentrification? Is spring or winter the best time to put your house on the market? Will a house on Swamp Road sell for less than one on Gingerbread Lane? The fact is that the rules of real estate have changed drastically over the past five years. To understand real estate in our fast-paced, technology-driven world, we need to toss out all of the outdated truisms and embrace today's brand new information. But how? Enter Zillow, the nation's #1 real estate website and mobile app. Thanks to its treasure trove of proprietary data and army of statisticians and data scientists, led by chief economist Stan Humphries, Zillow has been able to spot the trends and truths of today's housing market while acknowledging that a home is more than an economic asset. In Zillow Talk, Humphries and CEO Spencer Rascoff explain the science behind where and how we live now and reveal practical, data-driven insights about buying, selling, renting and financing real estate. Read this book to find out why: It's better to remodel your bathroom than your kitchen Putting the word "cute" in your listing could cost you thousands of dollars You shouldn't buy the worst house in the best neighborhood You should never list your house for $444,000 You shouldn't list your house for sale before March Madness or after the Masters Densely packed with entertaining anecdotes and invaluable how-to advice, Zillow Talk is poised to be the real estate almanac for the next generation.

Anyone who yearns for an older home - but is daunted by the prospect of owning one - will love this book.

This New York Times bestselling book is filled with hundreds of fun, deceptively simple, budget-friendly ideas for sprucing up your home. With two home renovations under their (tool) belts and millions of hits per month on their blog YoungHouseLove.com, Sherry and John Petersik are home-improvement enthusiasts primed to pass on a slew of projects, tricks, and techniques to do-it-yourselfers of all levels. Packed with 243 tips and ideas—both classic and unexpected—and more than 400 photographs and illustrations, this is a book that readers will return to again and again for the creative projects and easy-to-follow instructions in the relatable voice the Petersiks are known for. Learn to trick out a thrift-store mirror, spice up plain old roller shades, "hack" your Ikea table to create three distinct looks, and so much more.

"Plain talk for restorers, from soup to nuts (and bolts). Here's thorough, practical advice that's sensitive to both history and budget".--The Old House Journal.