As much as old walk-up apartments can offer better living space and a more flexible layout to play around with, it’s certainly not for everyone as they often require a major renovation job. This can range from having to overhaul the electrical wiring, or finding out that you have significant waterproofing issues. 

For Michelle (*not her real name for privacy reasons) and her partner, they had their work cut out for them with their purchase of a walk-up apartment that was built in the 1960s. In their case, they only found out about a potential asbestos issue later on (houses built before 1991 will need to go through an asbestos survey).