Grew up in 1850s and 1920s house, owned 1930s and 1910s houses, and rented 1910s and 1960s houses. Many of these homes had been renovated within the last 50 years.
My anecdotal experience:
The very old houses will require expensive systems upgrades - heating, plumbing, electricity, etc. But the quality of the craftsmanship is unbelievably good. It was built to last, whereas the newer 1960s home and my sister's 2000s-era condo was made with lots of cheap crap that has its own replacement burden.
Renovations vary in quality, too. Our downstairs bathroom was renovated in the 60s with cheap, ugly materials. The windows were replaced 15 years ago around the house using a second-tier brand, and they squeal loudly when they are opened. But another owner did a kitchen renovation 10 years ago using high-quality materials that have stood up quite well.
It's amazing what a difference the home owner can make. We bought our first house not too long ago. The most recent home owners, though they kept the home clean, did not do any regular maintenance and did a lot of ... weird things. Luckily they were only here for a few years, so only a small amount of real damage was done (dry rot). Mostly we just had to catch up on all the regular maintenance.
The owners prior to them, though, were amazing. Their renovations were solid, beautiful, and extensive. The contrast between any work done by them and work done by the most recent owners is painfully obvious.
On the more extreme side I've seen homes completely rotted by owners, requiring over a year of in-depth repairs to bring the house back to life. It's very sad to see.
Exact same thing here. When we bought our home the people we bought it from did no maintenance and were only there for a few years so no lasting damage. It was a ton of small stuff that needed to be done but it had to be done all at once, which was much more annoying than I anticipated.... and the owners prior to them did a great job renovating.
Real estate people or even most kitchen cabinet vendors don't seem to understand there even is a difference between materials. If it shines on the surface, it must be good.
My anecdotal experience:
The very old houses will require expensive systems upgrades - heating, plumbing, electricity, etc. But the quality of the craftsmanship is unbelievably good. It was built to last, whereas the newer 1960s home and my sister's 2000s-era condo was made with lots of cheap crap that has its own replacement burden.
Renovations vary in quality, too. Our downstairs bathroom was renovated in the 60s with cheap, ugly materials. The windows were replaced 15 years ago around the house using a second-tier brand, and they squeal loudly when they are opened. But another owner did a kitchen renovation 10 years ago using high-quality materials that have stood up quite well.