What to Know Before Buying a Historic Home in Colorado Springs

Buying a historic home in Colorado Springs is different from buying a standard suburban house. Not harder, necessarily — but different. The purchase process has extra layers, the inspection needs to go deeper, and you need to understand what you're walking into before you fall in love with original hardwood floors and a 120-year-old front porch.

Talisa McCarty lived in a 1903 Victorian in downtown Colorado Springs for four years. She's toured Craftsman bungalows in Old Colorado City, Mayan Revival masterpieces, and Black Forest horse properties with a century of stories in the walls. This guide is built on that experience.

The Inspection Is Just the Beginning

A standard home inspection is a starting point, not a finish line, when you're buying a home built before 1950. Here's what you need to add to your due diligence — and why each one matters.

Lead Paint

Any home built before 1978 is presumed to contain lead-based paint. Federal law requires sellers to disclose any known lead paint and give buyers a 10-day window to conduct their own testing. This doesn't make the home unsafe — intact, well-maintained lead paint is generally fine. But if you're planning to sand, scrape, or renovate, you need to know what you're dealing with. Disturbing lead paint without proper precautions creates a real health hazard, and professional abatement isn't cheap.

Knob-and-Tube Wiring

Common in homes built before 1940, knob-and-tube wiring has no ground wire and degrades over time. The bigger issue for buyers: many insurance companies won't write a homeowner's policy on a home with active knob-and-tube, or will require it to be replaced before coverage takes effect. Have a licensed electrician evaluate the system before you close — not just a general inspector — so you know exactly what you're dealing with and what it'll cost to update.

Asbestos

Used in insulation, floor tiles, pipe wrap, roofing materials, and textured ceilings in homes built before 1980. Intact asbestos that isn't being disturbed isn't an immediate health risk. But the moment you start a renovation — tearing out old floor tiles, removing insulation, opening walls — it becomes a major issue. Professional abatement is required and can run thousands of dollars. Get a pre-purchase asbestos inspection on any pre-1980 home.

The Foundation

Pre-1940 Colorado Springs homes frequently have stone, brick, or unreinforced concrete foundations that were built without today's engineering standards. Many are perfectly solid. Some are not. A structural engineer's inspection — separate from your general home inspector — is worth every dollar on any foundation that's 80+ years old. Your inspector will flag obvious concerns, but engineers know what to look for in ways a general inspection doesn't.

The Sewer Line

Old clay or cast-iron sewer lines can crack, collapse, or become infiltrated by tree roots over decades. A sewer scope — a camera run through the line to the main — costs around $150–$300 and can save you from a $10,000–$20,000 repair after closing. Always scope the sewer on a historic home.

Historic Districts vs. Just Old

Not all old homes are in historic districts, and the distinction matters a lot for buyers who plan to renovate.

The National Register of Historic Places is a federal designation that recognizes architectural and cultural significance. Being on the National Register is an honor — it doesn't restrict what you can do with your property. You're free to renovate, update, and change things as you see fit.

A local historic district designation is different. Colorado Springs has locally designated historic districts managed by the Historic Preservation Office. Properties within these districts may have design guidelines for exterior changes — things like window styles, materials, porch modifications, additions. The goal is to preserve the character of the neighborhood as a whole.

Interior changes in a locally designated district are typically unrestricted. The guidelines apply to what people can see from the street.

Before you make an offer on any historic home, you need to know which designations apply to it. Talisa verifies this before going under contract so there are no surprises about what you can and can't change.

Renovation Financing Options

If the home needs significant work, standard purchase financing can create a problem: most lenders won't lend on the value of improvements you haven't made yet. Renovation loans solve this by rolling purchase and renovation costs into a single mortgage based on the home's projected after-improvement value.

• FHA 203(k) loan — a government-backed loan that wraps purchase price and renovation costs together. The standard 203(k) works for major structural work; the limited version covers smaller projects. Requires working with an FHA-approved lender and a HUD consultant for major renovations.
• Fannie Mae HomeStyle loan — a conventional renovation loan that works similarly to the 203(k) but with more flexibility on property types and renovation scope. Works for both primary residences and investment properties.
• Construction-to-permanent loans — if the home needs very substantial work, some buyers use a construction loan during renovation that converts to a permanent mortgage when the work is done.

These products have specific requirements and move more slowly than a standard purchase — factor extra time into your timeline if you're considering one.

What Makes It Worth It

Here's the thing about historic homes that no inspection checklist captures: you can't build one new. The original-growth Douglas fir floors, the plaster walls with their depth and texture, the hand-crafted millwork, the stained glass — they were made with time, materials, and craft that simply don't exist in new construction. When you buy a historic home that's been well-maintained, you're getting something genuinely irreplaceable.

These homes also tend to hold their value differently. In neighborhoods like the Old North End and Old Colorado City, well-maintained historic homes consistently outperform the broader market because supply is fixed and demand from buyers who actually want character doesn't disappear.

The due diligence is more work. The inspection team costs more. But buyers who've bought historic homes in Colorado Springs almost universally say the same thing after a year in the house: it was worth it.