“Cheap Old Houses” Trend Takes Off

Now that remote work is more common a growing number Americans are having second thoughts about where they live, and that's reflected in a unique real estate trend. NBC's Liz McLaughlin reports.

(NBC News) — Now that remote work is more common a growing number Americans are having second thoughts about where they live.

Some are even finding cheap old houses on social media, and paying as little as $10,000 for historic fixer-uppers in far-off places.

Betsy Sweeny’s new dream home in West Virginia didn’t break the bank.

“The purchase price of my home was $18,500,” she says.

She found the listing on the “Cheap Old Houses” Instagram feed featuring homes under $100,000.

“I never expected we would have 1.2 million followers,” says Elizabeth Finkelstein, founder of the “Cheap Old Houses” account and the Circa website, which also focuses on similar real estate.

A following that’s been growing since the start of the pandemic, especially from remote-working millennials.

“They’re more likely to take the kind of risk move across the country and buy a house based on Instagram, which by the way many people have done,” Finkelstein says.

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