Ginger Hebert is a friend, colleague, and Historic Home Specialist whose experience has given her a uniquely holistic perspective on the real estate industry. She started her career as a sales rep for a green home builder before becoming a REALTOR® so she could sell historic homes like the one she has lived in and renovated over the past two decades.

In this article, Ginger shares insights into some of the pros and cons of owning a historic home, based on both her personal experience and her education to become a Historic Home Specialist.

What does it mean to be a historic home specialist?

It’s a real estate designation through the San Antonio Board of REALTORS® in conjunction with the City of San Antonio Office of Historic Preservation. It educates REALTORS® on different topics about historic homes — one of my favorites was learning how to research the history of homes.

I’ve lived in a historic home for 18 years and acted as general contractor on two major renovations in my own home, plus many other projects and repairs over the years. My husband jokes that I was a Historic Home Specialist way before I received the designation!

What are some of the benefits of owning a historic home?

The cohesiveness that you get when you have a historic neighborhood is nice — changes to the exterior of the home require approval from the Historic and Design Review Commission, which prevents someone from making changes that would not fit in with the rest of the neighborhood. They will always push rehabilitation over new construction — you can only tear a house down if it is dilapidated to the point of no return, or doesn't fit “contributing status” (doesn't fit in with the rest of the neighborhood). If you do build in a historic district, you must get everything approved to ensure it fits in with the rest of the neighborhood. For example, if the historic siding was 6-inch wood, you might not be able to use 12-inch HardieBoard on your new build. There are also tax benefits available to historic homeowners — in newly designated historic districts, owners are eligible to receive a 20% exemption on their city taxes for up to 15 years. There are also significant tax exemptions for substantial rehabs of historic home, when the total project cost is 30% or more of the current appraised value of the house. The conservation society also offers a grant program to help homeowners pay for structural improvements to their historic homes.

How does a historic district compare to an HOA?

Any time a change proposed within a historic district, all neighbors will have the opportunity to provide an opinion before the change is approved. HOAs tend to focus more on monitoring actions — when do your trash cans need to be taken in, when do your Christmas lights need to come down, can cars be parked in the lawn, etc.

What are some of the challenges that come with owning a historic home?

With any home, you should expect to have maintenance and repair costs, but you’ll definitely have more with a historic home. Another downside is energy efficiency — most homes built before 1950 didn’t have much insulation (if any), and homes built before 1960 didn’t have air conditioning, so adding central heat and air to a historic home isn’t as simple as replacing an existing system. A lot of historic homes were designed with massive windows and transoms meant to help people cool their homes during the summer, with drapes used to insulate the homes during the winter. New HVAC units tend to have more issues with leakage in these homes that were built without insulation.

Windows are another big issue with historic homes. They were single pane sash windows (which let in more noise) made of wood, which deteriorates if not properly maintained. The Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) always promotes restoration before replacement, and it can be challenging and expensive to find someone who is qualified to do the work, which at this point is more of an art than a common trade. If you do end up needing to replace your windows entirely, you have to replace them with wood, which is very expensive (especially when they’re not standard sizes). OHP provides free classes on window repair, and you can also purchase interior window liners to provide extra insulation, without being visible from the street.

Do you have a favorite historic architectural style?

Ohhh, that’s a tough one… I live in a Thorman home, so it’s one of my favorite styles. HC Thorman was a developer in San Antonio who was best known for his English style stone cottages, built in the 1930’s. He built hundreds of homes throughout San Antonio, but his biggest development was in the Olmos Park Terrace historic district. I’m also a sucker for the adorable tutors in Monte Vista, and the Spanish eclectic homes in Monticello Park.

To anyone looking to buy or sell a home in the San Antonio area, I highly recommend working with Ginger! Reach out for a personal introduction.