by Elizabeth Finkelstein (Image courtesy of Northern Dutchess Realty Inc.)

It’s almost embarrassing to admit how much time I spend looking at fixer-uppers for sale. Ethan (my husband) and I do nothing but dream about landing a big, old farmhouse rife with peeling wallpaper and sited on a hill somewhere up the Hudson River, where we’d live out the rest of our days surrounded by multiple sets of pocket doors and ornate plasterwork from a bygone era. IT’S GONNA HAPPEN, JUST YOU WAIT.
 
You can imagine my excitement when my friend Christina Poletto (whom I met when she reached out to me to write a piece about CIRCA for Today.com) asked me to collaborate with her on a series of pieces for local publications focused on fixer-uppers for sale north of New York City, which you can read in The Journal News and The Poughkeepsie Journal. Christina was the PERFECT person to help me with this, considering she’s got an eye for lovely, old things. Christina actually runs a staging and furniture refurbishment business just north of New York, so if any of you agents or homeowners needing organizing or staging, check her out at Dovetailor Design Studio!
 
Anyway, the two of us found far more fixer-uppers than we could squeeze into a newspaper article, so we’ve decided to cull together the rest of them and showcase them here, in a definitive list of the most spectacular fixer-uppers currently for sale in the counties just north of New York City. Because I know we’re not the only ones who share this dream.
 
(Psst… We don’t personally represent any of these homes. We’ve provided a link back to the original listing in the description for each home. Click through if you’re looking for more information!).
 
Live the dream, right this way!

by Elizabeth Finkelstein

My amazing friend Ariana, who also happens to be an incredible photographer with a discerning eye for beautiful things, sent me the link to this fixer-upper in Stony Point, NY. It’s Meet Me in St. Louis meets It’s a Wonderful Life and has a storied history as home to some pretty big stars of the creative industry. I can never pass up a good mansard roof, so thought I’d take the time to share this phenomenal home. Oh, and hey, while we’re on the topic — YOU SHOULD BUY IT!
 

I LOVE IT

by Elizabeth Finkelstein

 
Thank you Craig for sending along this incredible home for sale in Elmira, New York, that has my jaw on the floor. THE POTENTIAL! I love the plasterwork on the ceiling, the stunning mantels, the CHANDELIERS and the stained glass. Someone please save this beauty!

Psst… love cheap, beautiful old houses? Follow our Instagram feed @cheapoldhouses where we feature gorgeous historical homes for sale for under $100,000.
 
Gawk with me for a moment.

by Elizabeth Finkelstein (Image courtesy of Keller Williams Town & Country Realty)

Happy September! Enjoy the latest round-up of gorgeous homes for sale for under $50,000 – plus a bonus video of the CIRCA team discussing a beautiful $67,900 dollar home (and it’s $8,300 next-door neighbor!)
 
(If you come across any beautiful old houses for sale for under $50,000, send them along to us at letters@circaoldhouses.com)
 
(Psst… We don’t personally represent any of these homes. We’ve provided a link back to the original listing in the description for each home. Click through if you’re looking for more information!).
 
This month’s picks, right this way

by Val Wilson. Photos courtesy of Scenic West Properties.

 
Welcome to Stars of the Southwest, in which Phoenix native Val takes us on a rolling, rollicking tour of the area’s most striking historical homes for sale.
 
This beautiful Queen Anne-style home in Trinidad is listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Known as the McCormick Mansion, it was designed and built in 1892 by the Trinidad firm of Bulger and Rapp.
 

by Elizabeth Finkelstein

 
Old house fan mail is always lovely to get, but what I truly enjoy is when someone spots a gorgeous historical home for WAY LESS MONEY THAN IT’S ACTUALLY WORTH and drops it into my inbox. Thank you, Leona, for sharing this TO DIE FOR brick mansion in Polo, Illinois that is a virtual museum of Victorian-era architectural splendor. And thank you to Heartland Realty II for allowing us to peek inside!
 
Gawk with me for a moment.

by Elizabeth Finkelstein

 
I’m not kidding. Homes like this come around but once in a lifetime, and I’m about this close to quitting my life, packing my bags and heading on down to Milford, VA, where this spectacular estate is waiting for me. Spring Grove, as it’s dubbed, is an Italianate gem sitting on 410 acres—and it just needs a bit of TLC to bring it back to its former beauty. Enjoy these exceptional photos by Adam Wayland Photography, courtesy of Frank Hardy Sotheby’s International Realty, showing it in all of its faded glory. By the way, if you’d like more information on this home, I wrote a more in-depth piece about it for Country Living Magazine, too.
 
I love it!

by Elizabeth Finkelstein (Image courtesy of Ring Real Estate)

It’s busy season for real estate, so this month’s round-up of gorgeous historical homes for sale under $50,000 is virtually dripping with beauty. I want to save them all!
 
(If you come across any beautiful old houses for sale for under $50,000, send them along to us at letters@circaoldhouses.com)
 
(Psst… We don’t personally represent any of these homes. We’ve provided a link back to the original listing in the description for each home. Click through if you’re looking for more information!).
 
This month’s picks, right this way

by Elizabeth Finkelstein

 
Got $15,000 and a hankering to move an old house? The wonderful Scott Reed (who also sent me this beauty, which I featured in Country Living Magazine) tipped me off to this gorgeous farmhouse for sale in Rayle, GA that is threatened with demolition unless a buyer is found by July 7th.
 
Currently owned by the City, it’s being offered for just $15,000 on the condition that it be moved off-site. The home is filled with period detail, as you can see from the photos below.
 
I love it!