What would you do if the old house you loved in town was falling apart right before your eyes?
“I circled the house for 20 years wanting to see inside and watching it fall apart. There were days that I would leave the office and I would actually drive around this block twice just to look at it.” – Lana
What would you do if the old house you loved in town was falling apart right before your eyes?
This very thing happened to Lana Justice in Walhalla, SC, who watched her dream home, an empty 1850 Colonial Revival on the hill, slowly crumble and collapse for decades. This feeling of helplessness is so relatable—watching old homes full of character lose a battle to time is unfathomable to me! It’s the reason why I started Cheap Old Houses in the first place.
To Lana, the sad state of this house was particularly wrenching. Lana told me, “I circled the house for 20 years wanting to see inside and watching it fall apart. There were days that I would leave the office and I would actually drive around this block twice just to look at it.”
Historic properties were special to Lana and her husband, Bruce, an engineer, who had transformed other old properties around their small town. But this one on the hill, in plain sight to everyone, she couldn’t get out of her mind.
Lana was once told that ramshackle dwellings were sometimes used for practice burns by the fire department. The balcony on top of the empty house on the hill had collapsed and it was dangerous. The local code enforcer said they always try to work with the owners to get the homes fixed, but Lana was deeply worried. She said to the code enforcer, “If it comes to the point where the owner can’t fix this home, call me and let Bruce and I have the chance to at least get the deck torn off. Because we can’t burn that house.”
The house was so adored by the community that others had also tried reaching the out-of-state owner directly to buy the property, but a few more years passed and it continued to sit empty. That is, until Bruce received an early morning phone call one day in early 2020. On the line was a local realtor who said, “Your dream house is about to come on the market.”
It was listed at $64,999, and they ended up with the winning offer of $110,000. Stepping inside for the first time was eye opening, said Lana. “I had dreamed of being in this house. It looked horrible. It was packed to the gills with junk. There was major damage throughout and it was about to collapse.”
With the town watching, Lana and Bruce got to work. “I felt a lot of responsibility to be respectful to the house and to the town, too, because we had so many cheerleaders. They deserve to see us do a good job.” That meant letting go of some of the original elements in the interest of saving it.
By spring of 2023, they were putting finishing touches on the place. “I think we got it right. I want to live and function in this house comfortably. There is a respectful way to do it and I think we did good on it. Houses evolve. That’s the way I feel about it. If I kept it original we wouldn’t have bathrooms or a kitchen because there was no plumbing in 1850. We’d have an outhouse in the back.”
Now Lana and Bruce watch majestic sunsets from their house on the hill. “This house is emotional because this was my dream house. This is the house that I’ve told my daughter she’ll carry my dead body out the front door. This is big.”
Stories like this are why I wrote the Cheap Old Houses book. It’s for anyone who dreams of taking the leap and restoring a home that’s forgotten, or even hiding in plain sight, into something praiseworthy. Lana and Bruce’s journey is proof that these houses aren’t just structures—they’re opportunities to build something real with those you love and with friends and neighbors supporting you.
If you’ve ever dreamed of saving an old house—or just need a little inspiration—pick up a copy of the Cheap Old Houses book and dive in. I promise, stories like this will remind you that sometimes, the biggest adventures come in the most unexpected (and affordable) packages.
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