Buying the John Brown House in Halifax, North Carolina

We frequently get asked why we purchased a house in Halifax, North Carolina.

Owning an old house in another state never crossed my mind, that is until the John Brown House stumbled across my social media feed. I follow CIRCA Old Houses (you should be following them too) on Facebook and Instagram and drool over the cheap old houses that get posted daily.

Why old houses? We currently live in a 1925’s craftsman in Florida and owned a 1930’s Bungalow in Arcadia, Florida (we ran a successful Airbnb out of this gem). We love the character and charm of old houses, you just can’t find that in new builds. Both of the Florida properties needed extensive repairs, and the Arcadia house was a complete restoration (which we did 90% of the work ourselves). It’s something that we found we were both passionate about and enjoyed doing together. Adding another old house project under our tool-belt didn’t sound all that bad…

Brandon shot down the idea immediately, he knew it was going to be near impossible to work on a house that was out of state (especially a house that was just about condemned and falling in disrepair).

I on the other hand wanted to make it happen. If you know me, I always want to take on a project that seems “impossible” or what others would walk away from. So, I jumped on a plane and flew to North Carolina via Allegiant Air (cheapest flights). I dragged one of my best friends with me to check out the town of Halifax and the house.

The house was in TERRIBLE condition and needed extensive structural/foundation repairs. The property had sat vacant for over 30+ years. Two others attempted to restore the property, but spent money on all the wrong things and in all the wrong places. Everything they had previously invested in the property, we would have to take out and remove.

Something in me saw the potential that this beauty deserved. I knew it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park and that it would take us a few years to complete. We just didn’t have the capital to hire a contractor and have them complete the project in 6 short months. I didn’t want this project to drain us or put us in debt (debt is something we both don’t believe in).

After very little negotiation, we signed on the dotted lines and became the owners of this beautiful house. We purchased the house for only $11,500.00 or something very close to that price. I’m sure people thought we were crazy (which we are). Here we are 3 years later and still working on this beautiful home.

Keep following our story and our progress!