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September/October 1972
By Mark Gregory 
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There's often quite a cluster of woodsheds, chicken coops, barns, garages and other outbuildings around old country houses and you should look them all over and weigh their value to you before making a decision to buy or not to buy any abandoned farmstead you find. Most of these extra structures will be reasonably familiar to you . . . but one—the old storm/fruit cellar half-buried in the backyard—can be a welcome surprise.

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When run down, these cellars are usually so full of mud and water and creepy-crawlies that you may tend to completely overlook their usefulness. Once cleaned up, however, th e dugout structures are welcome shelters during severe wind storms and absolutely nothing touches them for the storage of apples, potatoes and other root crops through a long, cold winter.

This discussion of how to conduct a preliminary survey of abandoned farmsteads, although relatively short, should save you a lot of time in narrowing your search down to that one piece of property that is just right for you. The points I've made should even steer you in the right direction for making a more thorough and detailed inspection of the old country house that you finally either do or do not buy.

If you find yourself discouraged by the points I've raised, perhaps you didn't really want to renovate an abandoned farmstead after all . . . but if you're now more determined than ever to breathe new life into a fine old real house, more power to you! There's some great old homes, available for bargain basement prices, just waiting for you out there in that fresh country air.

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  • MC 5/5/2009 11:28:04 AM

    Especially if you are (or have to deal with) a partially rehabilitated suburbanite, testing the well does **not** go without saying. Do **not** buy any property without testing any existing water source and being able to absolutely verify the location of any septic systems or the absense thereof.

    I further very strongly suggest that you and whoever you're going to be working with undertake helping with a few house rehabilitations before jumping into a project like this. Make sure you've watched your partners work; believe what you see, not what they say. Otherwise you run the risk of ending up where I'm at: Stuck in a "recycled" house that's pretty much ready for the landfill with a partner who swore up and down they were "up" for replacing flooring and adding insulation and various other handyman tasks only to find thier motivation deserts them (and, more importantly, you) when the hammer, nails, et al come out of hiding.

  • Cash 11/26/2007 3:14:19 AM

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