What to check before you fall for an old house
Sills, chimneys, wiring, oil tanks and septic: the questions that are cheaper to ask before an offer than after it.
Field Notes
Looking closely and writing down what we saw. Market commentary, town guides, house stories and practical guides, with no form in front of any of it.
Sample program. Three pieces open; the rest are headlines that show the range.
Latest
Shrewsbury, from the lake to Route 9
Lake Quinsigamond on one side, Route 9 through the middle, and the town center on the hill between them.
The house on Orchard Lane
A center-chimney colonial, a kitchen moved into the ell, and why the floors were left alone.
Coming next
Headlines only, to show the four kinds of writing.
Worcester County this fall, in plain numbers
Median price, days on market and inventory, explained. Figures arrive from MLS PIN when the feed is connected.
Your first winter in a New England house
Heat, ice dams, storm windows and the maintenance calendar nobody hands you at the closing.
Title 5, explained before you need it
What the septic inspection checks, who orders it, and what happens to a sale when a system fails.
The four kinds
- Market
- Monthly, from MLS data: prices, days on market and inventory for the towns we cover, and what they mean this season.
- Town guides
- The town pages and the pieces that feed them: a street, a park, a season.
- House stories
- A house we listed or sold, with the owners' permission: how it was built, what changed, what we learned.
- Guides
- Practical writing for buying, selling and renovating an older New England house.