Jake Flitton and his family bought an abandoned house in upstate New York–this episode is about their farmhouse renovation journey.
About our guest:
Jake Flitton is a licensed architect, practicing in East Aurora NY. He runs his firm from his home office or dining room table, or the living room couch, whichever is most comfortable that day. Jake works on single family residential projects, focusing mainly on renovations additions, remodel projects. Much of his work is on older homes. Not only does his work take him to fascinating old homes, but Jake and his family have purchased and old farmhouse. This farmhouse is their “haven” from the outside world. Many learning experiences, stories and findings have been discovered as Jake and his family take on this renovation, performing most of the work themselves.
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Renovation Story- Aging Pines Homestead With Jake Flitton
This episode is a renovation story. My guest is Jake Flitton. He’s an Architect from East Aurora, New York. He and his family bought an old farmhouse that they have been restoring together and this is their story.
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Jake, thanks for coming on. I can’t wait to hear about your house. What is it that you call your house?
We call our house the Aging Pine’s Homestead. It’s not a huge piece of property. It was historically based on what I can tell. We only have about 2 acres. The house is not under 2 acres. It sits back from the road quite a bit. The driveway is lined with old pine trees, probably 150 feet high. They are a pretty tall, beautiful dirt driveway but it’s got concrete curbs.
It’s meant to be a driveway and the pine trees are there. They are pretty old, and a couple of them we have had taken down due to age. That’s where the name comes from, those aging pines pulling up the driveway. Honestly, before we even walked into the house, the driveway won my wife over. She said, “Let’s get the house.” She didn’t even have to walk in. She saw the driveway and said, “Let’s get it.” We did get it eventually.
What’s the house itself like?
I classify it as an old farmhouse but I don’t know if that’s officially what it is. Looking at it now and understanding what it is, it’s an old farmhouse that has been added on to about 3 or 4 times, is my guess. Some of the additions are pretty obvious from the outside. You can gather what has been done to it. As I have worked through some of the things doing remodeling and renovations, we have discovered more work has been done to it than initially, we thought.
How old is it?
That’s the interesting part. According to our tax records, the house was built in 1930. However, when we first bought the house, I was working on the house one summer. I had the windows and doors open, and my boys were outside playing. They were younger. All of a sudden, they heard an adult voice in the yard and I was like, “We are off in the trees. This is strange. What’s going on?” I walked out to see what was happening. It was a lady very polite and nice. She apologized right off the bat.
She said, “I know I’m trespassing. I know I’m not supposed to be here but my grandfather owned this house in the ’20s when he was Mayor of Buffalo.” I said, “You’ve got me intrigued all of a sudden. He was Mayor of Buffalo and he owned this house.” She said, “Yes, he was mayor of Buffalo between 1920 and 1928.” I said, “That’s strange because the tax records say it was built in 1930, but he owned it.”
She’s like, “Yes, he owned it. My mother has pictures of the house in the ’20s that I have seen. These pine trees lining the driveway were much smaller.” Evidently, it was his house but it was his summer cottage. He lived in Buffalo. We are about 30 minutes South of Buffalo. It was a summer cottage that he owned in the ’20s. I gathered the information, his name and everything.
Based on all the historical information, I can find her story checks out. This guy was the Mayor of Buffalo and owned the house during that timeframe. We know at least it’s 1920. I have seen some historical maps and documents that date something on the property where the house sits back to it as early as about 1900. I don’t know how old the house is.
Was there a farm along with it?
There was a farm. From what I can tell, it was about 30 acres is my guess that was associated with the house originally. We’ve got a creek that wraps around. I think they have slowly, over time, parceled off pieces of property as the owners either got older or whatever. They slowly parceled things off down to what’s left that we bought the house on.
Do you know what crops they originally grew? What people grow in there?
I don’t know but looking at it, there’s a number of Christmas tree farms around. It could be that but there’s a number of hayfields and things. It could be anything.
How long ago did you buy the house?
We bought it in 2015 and have been in it since 2016.
Working with our hands can be beneficial for everybody more than the product that comes from working with our hands.
Was there a lot of work that needed to be done?
Yes, there is, was, and still is. We bought the house as-is. This is information that might be helpful for some people. Through a 203(k) loan, a rehab-type loan, the property is sold as is understanding that we had a certain number of finances to repair the house and bring it up to a livable condition.
Wasn’t it very livable when you bought it?
No, it wasn’t. We had to meet certain qualifications from the bank. Essentially, with the 203(k) loan, you have a purchase price, and then an inspector comes in then outlines the minimum requirements that need to be met for the property to be safe and inhabitable. We use that checklist basically to go to contractors. They give us a price for that scope of work. Our 203(k) loan is based on the purchase price plus that rehab cost that we have generated with the contractors and the inspector’s list.
The bank processes everything finances. They give a certain timeframe that things have to be completed in to meet the list. It was a calendar year, twelve months, we had to complete that work on that list. Once we complete that list, we can do more work past there. It’s up to us and there’s no timeframe. The bank has fully financed us at that point.
The 203(k) loan, is that a government program?
I’m not sure. It might be but it’s the other type of Fannie Mae. It’s another type of loan that you can do to finance a house.
You’ve got that and had your list of what you had to do before you could move in, I would guess.
Even at that point, when we bought the house as-is, it’s on a well and a septic system. We didn’t know the state of those at this point when we purchased the house. Before we even had the list from the inspector, the house came on the market. That’s another aspect of our story. We found it through our realtor. She said, “Here’s the house that I think you want.” She had been searching for us for a number of years. She’s like, “Let’s put together an offer.” We put together an offer that she submitted. She told me hours before that another offer had gone in. Unfortunately, at that time, that other offer was accepted by the sellers. They accepted that offer.
We were a little devastated. A week later, I’ve got a call from my realtor that said, “I know some inside information. I have heard through some rumblings that they are not happy with the house because the well and the septic system are completely unknown that the buyer does not want to purchase.” That’s tens of thousands of dollars right there that were completely unknown if they needed to bring into the financing of the house or not.
Their argument with the seller was that the seller needed to make some provisions to provide some money, either in escrow, to make that work. Eventually, there was back and forth with that. That buyer backed out because that money was not included in the purchase. At that point, the sellers realized that they needed to make some allowances for it. They put money in escrow for a new well and a new septic system, and then put it back on the market, so to speak.
At that point, my realtor called and said, “This is what’s happening. It has fallen through. They have changed this thing.” I said, “That’s great news. Can you put in an offer for us?” Being the wonderful realtor she is, she said, “I already put one in about an hour ago.” A couple of days later came by and we were accepted. The realtor told me later, “I talked to the seller, and they mentioned that they wanted the house not to be sold to somebody who’s looking to flip the home to a family that wants to stay there. This is the case. As a by-product, he is an architect. He’s looking to do a lot of the work and bring it up to standards that he would want.” I think my profession helped. Being an Architect helped us get into the house.
People like the idea of their house being taken care of, whoever they sell it to. I had a similar thing with mine. I wrote this big, long letter about how I was going to take care of the house. We were not the top bidders. We were the fourth from the top. They were six at the same time but we’ve got it. It was probably because of my letter. There’s a little tip. Just always write a letter about how much you love the house and what your plans are for the house. We have said this before on other episodes but people’s houses end up almost like a member of the family. It’s hard to let them go.
The lady that I referenced before that stopped by, the granddaughter of the Mayor of Buffalo, who owned the house, when she walked around the property, you could tell it was a very spiritual experience for her. She was trying to connect. It was her connection to her grandfather as she walked around the property. She was very happy to see that it was going to another family and was proud that her grandfather could give that to us, so to speak.
Was her family the ones who sold it to you?
She was not, which seemed a little interesting. There was a little disconnection between her family and us but that connection for her was still there.
Tell me about what improvements you have made.
When we bought the house, it was vacant because of the as-is situation. The part of the story is we don’t know how long it was vacant. As little as a year, we have heard as much as ten years. Being off in the woods, from what I can gather, the house sat vacant. The closest family to the owner lived a three-hour drive away. They came to check out the property. At that point, they had realized that there were broken windows, raccoons had gotten in, and a number of possums and things had started to chew up the house.
They decided to sell the house before it lost all value. That’s where we wisely or stupidly, however you want to look at that, came in and scooped up the house. At that point, we put on a new roof, a complete electrical and brand new plumbing system. The old radiators are still intact and functioning. The boiler is fairly newer, so we didn’t have to do anything there. The other systems, we replaced completely and a new roof and cosmetic from there.
Do you mean like the possum chew marks and things?
Yes, possum chew marks, raccoons and squirrels.
What’s funny about that, Jake, is that I feel like other architect friends that I have talked to a lot of us have this idea of adopting a house like, “This house needs me.” You see this house that has been inhabited by wildlife, broken windows, and maybe the porch is falling in or whatever it is. It tugs on my heartstrings like, “I can help this house. Nobody else is going to want it, so I should be able to get it. My offer would be accepted.” I’m a sucker for a dilapidated house.
I think we all are. I don’t know if it’s the inherent nature and making things better those architects have, history or a combination of everything. I don’t know what it is.
That’s the way we are. What have you learned from this whole experience?
We have done this renovation as a family. We’ve got three kids, and they have all been involved in demolition and reconstruction. We have all learned things as we go but as a family, we are tearing out, rebuilding walls and painting them. It’s not necessarily a let’s hire a contractor and let them put it back together with the way we would like. It’s our house, and we are all putting in the sweat equity. It has helped us to not only grow closer together but realize that working with our hands can be beneficial for everybody, more than the product that comes from working with our hands.
How old are your kids now?
The oldest is a teenager. The youngest is nine at the moment.
They are old enough to help in a meaningful way.
When we first bought it, demo day was quite fun. We had to mark the walls with paint to know which ones were coming out, so he wouldn’t run around randomly knocking out walls that didn’t need to be knocked out.
I can see how that might get out of hand with a kid knocking down walls but that would be a lot of fun. What are your plans for the house or a couple of lessons?
I can tell you a story after I say this. A couple of lessons are to be careful what you are tearing out and getting rid of because there may be some history behind it that you are not aware of. Obviously, there’s a line between becoming a hoarder, a junk collector and salvage. Having said all of that, on the back half of our house is a crawl space. One of the obvious additions is a crawl space. The crawl space was completely covered with broken glass, bottles and jars.
They would probably be about 1 to 2 inches thick of glass everywhere. There was a lot of it. For the life of me, I could not figure it out. I thought, for whatever reason, the original person, the old man, had a drinking problem, and he hid the bottles from his wife in the crawl space. That’s what I thought. That’s the only reasonable story I could come up with.
Was it all broken, though?
It was.
Having hands-on knowledge is something that a lot of architects either lack or don’t have as many experiences as would be helpful.
Did he shoot them? I had the guy who owned my house. He used to shoot bottles in the crawl space.
That’s a good question. I don’t know that. I hadn’t thought of that.
This was a hobby back in the day.
It must have been. That’s where I say hesitate to throw stuff out because of that glass. We had to clean it out based on the inspection and put down the vapor barrier because of the crawl space. We cleaned it out and threw the glass away, not thinking if there’s any history involved with it but fast forward a number of years, a neighbor down the street mentioned to me, and he bought his house in a similar situation twenty years prior to us. He said he went to the historical society and found some old maps. He said, “The interesting part on the map is that your house was labeled as a speakeasy.” I said, “That’s fascinating.” I don’t know for sure. I think that all that glass was from the speakeasy.
That seems like that could be the case. The guy could have had a drinking problem but it seems like there was some drinking going on at that place.
I wish that I at least searched through that glass to see what was there and what history. Obviously, you can’t find a lot in broken glass bottles but it pieces the story together a little bit more in my mind.
That’s a fun little tidbit of history.
It’s interesting. My kids find it fascinating because, in all honesty, none of us drink. My wife and I don’t drink at all. They said, “It’s ironic that a house where people don’t drink was a speakeasy.” That’s part of it. The other thing stemming from that mindset is the pantry that I have completely rebuilt. It’s a good size walk-in pantry. A lot of the boards on the pantry used to make the shelving were pulled from the old bathroom, which when I initially walked in looked as if it was tongue and groove pine walls, floor to ceiling tongue and groove pine are what I thought.
It was a very dark and dingy bathroom. We have completely gutted that and renovated it. As I was taking down the paneling, I realized that it was tongue and groove 3/4-inch cherry. I don’t know why you would put that in a bathroom, but that’s a question for a different day. What we did was salvage that cherry. I will be very selective because of being in a bathroom, cleaned it up, sanded, re-stained, and used that as the highlights in our pantry.
On the shelving and in the kitchen, we’ve got a nice wood backsplash and a part of our kitchen that we have done. That is the cherry, and it speaks to that story of what the house was. Even though that bathroom was obviously not original to the house, it was done at a later date but that’s part of the history of the house. It’s very cost-effective, too.
It does save money but it does keep the spirit of the house like you say.
The other story is taken from, “Don’t be in too big of a hurry.” There’s a fine line to walk there between let’s get it done and move in versus making short-sighted decisions. Some of the things that we did initially to get in, we have gone back and redone those like cosmetic things because it doesn’t work for the way we thought we would live and the way we live.
Lighting is a big factor. It has been big light fixtures and things. We go in thinking, “We will re-use the room in this manner.” We realized, “We are never going to use the room like that. It will be completely different.” We have had to move and adjust lighting and electrical around to accommodate how we use it now, not being in such a hurry that caused us extra effort.
Can you give an example of how you thought you would be using it versus how you do use it?
It’s a two-story house, and as we go up at the top of the stairs, we call it a landing, it’s got a little bit of a sitting area and a good size window upstairs. It’s a typical half story in an older home. The sloped ceilings start about 5 feet high on the outside wall and go up. There’s a little bit of a landing. We thought we would never use that space much and put in two light fixtures up there. I was working there and realized this was very dark. Even with the two light fixtures, it’s very dark for what we want to do up there.
That’s planned to be the homework nook for the kids like a lounge-type space. It’s a little private because it’s upstairs, away from the public areas. I ended in four different additional light fixtures to make sure that the lighting was where we wanted, needed, and would use it. Situations like that have been a big one.
The other thing I can say is understanding, with that in mind, at our stairs, there was a door going upstairs, and we thought that it makes sense to separate the public and the private, downstairs and upstairs, keep the door there. We went through all this effort to keep the door intact and had started finishing around the door, redoing trim, and fixing the door up. That door is now out because it was in the way.
We realized that this does not work the way we thought we would live, and then we live didn’t work. It’s now so much more functional and better of a space of a transition area between the two rooms because that door is not there. We would have never thought that moving in but it’s only after the fact that we learned that.
Would you recommend that people live in their house for a while if they can before they do major changes?
I say that with a little hesitation but yes, they would.
We are always impatient to do something. For me, if I don’t do it right away or when I feel like the time is right, then it could be twelve years later, and it’s still not done too. There’s that side of things. Has your experience owning this house changed you as an architect, would you say?
It has, especially since we are doing a lot of the work ourselves. It has given me a hands-on approach that’s not necessarily taught in school, and you don’t get the chance to practice daily as an architect. A lot of times, we, unfortunately, end up sitting behind a desk and computer drawing and designing, which is great. That’s what we have gone to school to do. At the same time, having hands-on knowledge is something that a lot of architects either lack or don’t have as many experiences as would be helpful. It has given me a great perspective in helping people out doing the same type of a project, renovation, addition or whatever it may be.
Do you have any final thoughts for people?
My big thought, and I’m thinking to my pantry with the stuff that we have done, the cherry that we have recycled and repurposed is almost a make-it-yours type of idea. Admittedly, we have all looked at Pinterest or online for, “This is what I like. This is what I want.” You can never recreate that. It’s an image that looks beautiful and great but you can never 100% recreate it. Make your space yours using that as an inspiration. It’s a perfect meld of that inspiration photo, and then the function of how you will use the space, the room, and blending it. It becomes unique to you, and at the same time, it’s beautiful as you blend those two. It becomes an extension of yourself. Your house does.
It’s not something that everybody gets to do, changing a house to be theirs. A lot of people live in houses without doing renovations or they are already perfect. They buy them, and they have already done it, they don’t think to do it or let somebody else decide what to do. It’s a great opportunity.
It’s a great blessing, in all honesty. It’s something that not everybody has the chance to do. Not everybody wants that chance either but it’s a great opportunity and learning experience. In our situation, it’s a great chance to grow as a family. To me, that’s worth more than the house itself but in reality, it makes that house a home. As we have grown closer together through work and continuing to do it, we have become closer. It’s our home and our haven.
How can people get in touch with you or see more of your work? Are you on Instagram, Facebook, your website?
We are on Instagram and Facebook. I’m not as active on Facebook as Instagram. Even then not as active as I should be.
Who decides how active you should be on Instagram?
You can find us at Haven Architecture based out of East Aurora, New York. We’ve got our website, HavenArchitecture.com, and then you can find us on Instagram and Facebook.
How did you get that name, Haven?
It’s what I stated is that your home is your haven. It’s your respite from the craziness of the world. You go to work every day. Some days you feel like you are a punching bag, and everybody is working against you. You should be able to come home, take a deep breath and get away from all of that, whether that’s in the middle of nowhere or the city, it’s still your haven.
You should be able to come home and take a deep breath and get away from all of that. It’s your haven. Whether that’s in the middle of nowhere or the city, it’s still your haven.
I wish that were the name of my architecture firm. Jake, thank you so much for coming on.
It has been great. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
It has been fun. You obviously love your house.
Thank you. We do.
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