Historic House Blog

A saltbox is a one-and-a-half or two story house that has been expanded with a one-story addition, also called a “lean-to,” in the rear of the house. The addition most often houses a kitchen, or “keeping room” in the center, and two small rooms on either end- one a “buttery” or pantry for storage, and the [...]

Next weekend, on January 16th, 17th, and 18th, the Greater Philadelphia Historic Home Show will attract historic house entusiasts from all over the country. Sponsored by Old House Interiors’ “Early Homes” Magazine, the show will feature 70 exhibits, including experts on architectural salvage, floor & wall coverings, sills & foundations, furniture restoration, millwork & mouldings, [...]

One of the most important parts of any real estate purchase is the home inspection. A home inspector will give the house a thorough going-over and report on any problems he or she finds.  A home inspection may identify the need for major repairs, as well as the need for maintenance to keep a house in good [...]

Virtual tours have become an almost ubiquitous feature in real estate ads online, but very few agents or sellers showcase their properties on YouTube, the video sharing website used by millions of people worldwide.  The possibilities are practically unlimited, but some of the most common videos to market your historic or antique property include simply [...]

The Library of Congress sponsors an amazing website full of resources useful to the historic home enthusiast. It’s called the American Memory Project and it’s filled with millions of scanned documents, advertising, maps, diagrams, films, photos, and more from the Library’s collection. One fascinating section is the Panoramic Map Collection- it’s loaded with aerial views [...]

     In Norfolk, Massachusetts, as in so many other places, several older houses have been slated for demolition to make way for new construction. Bill Domineau at the Norfolk Historical Commission planned on saving four of the town’s treasures by selling them for one dollar on the condition that they be moved from their current locations. Unfortunately, the “Little Wood [...]

If the historic property or estate-type property you are selling has columns– whether across the entire facade or just a small porch or portico– it  enhances your marketing of the property to elaborate on their style.  So what kind of columns does your listing have?  The 3 basic styles are the Grecian orders of Ionic, Corinthian, and Doric.  You [...]

One of the challenging tasks when marketing a historic home is writing the ad copy for the newspaper and online advertising. In the real estate classifieds, you’ll see the same words again and again- “lovely,” “beautiful,” “spacious,” “charming” and a few others. They may be true, but they’re pretty boring and overused, and not especially meaningful. A good real [...]

Last July, I arranged a small walking tour — a “progressive Open House” — for 3 of my historic house listings in Willington, CT.  All 3 of these antique homes were Cape Cods surrounding the Historic Willington Green.  The “Historic House Tour” was a success, with about 16 people showing up – a nice showing for [...]

Several years ago, I listed for sale a circa 1920 Craftsman bungalow in Mansfield, Connecticut, and I suspected that it may have been a “Sears home” (see the house, left), or at least some kind of mail order house.  I have been fascinated with Sears homes ever since.  For those who don’t know, “Sears house” is a generic [...]