How Old Is Your House? 11 Ways to Check Your Home’s Age

3. Search your home’s address online

Begin with your favorite search engine, such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo!, by typing in your home address. You’ll find that many real estate websites will show the year when your house was built. You can also find other websites with additional information on property taxes, permitting, deeds, or liens. By doing some cross-referencing of the various dates, you’ll discover what information is the most accurate.

4. Hire a building inspector to look at the home construction

When you hire a local building inspector, they could have access to previous building permit applications for your home that usually would indicate the year when it was first built.

Also, examining the construction of your home can tell you when it was likely constructed. For example, a home that used knob and tube wiring was popular from 1880 to the 1940s. Flooring and nails have changed over the decades through different manufacturing processes as well.

In addition, sometimes cornerstones with date stamps can be found in the basement, or newspapers that served as early attic insulation can give you a rough idea of when a house was built.

5. Visit your community library

If you’re ready to hit the books or even the microfiche, your community library can be a great alternative for discovering old property information when other records can’t be found. Discussing the information in the library system and additional community resources with your librarian could help you get faster results.

6. Check your toilet

Ready to literally flush out the real age of your home? It might sound like a strange place to look, but toilets are fixtures that don’t get switched out very often. If the toilet is the original one that was installed when your house was built, you could find a date stamped inside the toilet tank or on the underside of the lid.

7. Reach out to the local historical society

Your local historical society could be a treasure trove of information, as it is dedicated to preserving the town’s history. The details of your home can be found in its records or maps, providing a complete chronicle, including the year it was built.

8. Review fire insurance maps

If you can’t find the age of your home through traditional methods, fire insurance maps may be able to help you. These dated maps were originally used by fire insurance underwriters to maintain a record of all the structures built in a particular area.

Detailed maps were often color-coded with a key to the building materials and their fire resistance levels.

9. Research the style of your home’s architecture

Every house has its own unique architecture. If you don’t have access to traditional records, starting with the home’s style can narrow down the likely construction era. Be it neo-traditional, post-war, or from the Gilded Age, each architectural style reflects a distinct period in history. 

Neighboring houses similar to yours can also help you determine the age. Along with architectural changes, building codes change over time, as Kaminsky explains about his market.

Not too long ago, wood-burning fireplaces were allowed, but you can’t build them anymore, Kaminsky says. “But if you get a home built prior to a specific year in Southern California, it’s possible it has a wood-burning fireplace. So, if that’s something that’s important to you, you know not to buy the newer homes; you have to buy an older home to be able to get a fireplace.”

10. Use a paid service like neighborwho.com

Using a paid service such as neighborwho.com and checkpeople.com can assist you if you can’t find the information elsewhere. Both websites offer a five-day trial for a nominal fee, but if you don’t cancel during the trial period, you’ll be charged a higher amount.

Alternatively, a helpful ad-supported resource website is tracemyhouse.com. In addition, FamilySearch.org is a free option that often provides access to historical property data.

Census.gov is another website where you can search various records to find older demographic information.

11. Ask a local real estate agent

According to Kaminsky, having a local agent is one of the best options for getting the property information you need, as they usually have access to the tax assessor documents and a title insurance company.

“Your tax assessor records will show the year the home was built. To access tax records, it can probably be done online, but most local real estate agents have access to that information. And so you can call a local Realtor, and they should be able to look it up for free.”

If you want a convenient option for finding a top local agent, HomeLight’s free Agent Match platform is a great way to search for the right person to help you with your home sale.

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Why is it important to know when your house was built?

Knowing the age of your house and considering its present condition will tell you how well it has aged and if the previous owners were careful in maintaining it.

“The age certainly affects the value of the home, but it’s usually the current condition, because you could have a home built in 1917, but it’s been fully updated. It doesn’t matter if it was built in 1917, if it’s been remodeled and structurally upgraded. So I think how it’s been maintained, and/or upgraded, affects the value more so than when the home was actually built,” Kaminsky says.

In addition to lead paint, another potential hazard is asbestos, which can sometimes be found in heating ducts, tiles, siding, and ceiling materials.

Does the age of your home affect your home sale?

Satisfying your curiosity isn’t the only reason to pinpoint the age of your property, as often it will help you with insurance, remodeling projects, and even proving historical providence, which may increase the value.

Kaminsky describes a time he sold a property in Virginia for almost $18 million that was designed by former US President Thomas Jefferson.

“That age and that kind of history, it can enhance the salability of the home and, of course, affect the final sale price.”

While age is certainly one of the considerations in a home’s value, other qualities can also help determine the overall value by following the home appraisal model, including:

If you want to get an initial ballpark assessment of your home’s current value, try using HomeLight’s free Home Value Estimator. This tool scans through public records and millions of real estate transactions to give you a real-world home value estimate in less than two minutes.

Conclusion: Takeaways for deducing the age of your home

As a home seller, when you solve the mystery of your home’s age, it can be helpful for your insurance policy, next renovation, or to market the property. Remember the following tips to help determine the correct age of your home, including:

Besides your home’s age, if you’re curious to discover the right agent for your local home market, HomeLight’s free Agent Match platform is a great tool to use in finding a top-performing real estate agent in your market.

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