Couple bought 140-year-old New Jersey home for $550,000
When Amanda DeRiseHis father sent him an ad for a 140-year-old six-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, in 2024. His first thought was that this house needed a lot of work. Even his real estate agent called it a “money pit.”
But Amanda, 32, and her husband Vincent, 34, saw potential in the home.
Amanda and Vincent decided to start saving for their future home in 2021, but quickly realized a new build or newly renovated property would be out of their budget, Vincent says. He says that’s why the list Amanda’s dad sent him seemed perfect for them.
The location will also allow Amanda to take the local ferry to New York City for work.
The six-bedroom, two-bathroom home was built in the 1800s.
Tasia Jensen | CNBC Awesome
The couple’s real estate agent told them the house was for sale by an older man who had raised his family there and did not want to sell it to an investor.
“I wrote a nice letter to the old man saying we wanted to take care of this house and bring it back to its former glory,” says Amanda.
The trio settled on a sales price of $550,000 to $90,000, below the asking price. The DeRises closed on the house on Halloween night in 2024 for $82,500 with a 15% down payment. They took out a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with 7.125 percent interest and monthly payments. It costs just under $3,900, including taxes and insurance, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Next step: Piece by piece renovation of the property.
Modernizing the house while maintaining its charm
Amanda and Vincent moved into the home in November 2024 and began renovations just a few weeks later, which included taking the second floor down to the studs, adding central air, and modernizing the home while maintaining its appeal.
They say the house was in pretty bad shape when it was first purchased. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls, the windows needed to be redone, and the siding needed to be updated.
Amanda and Vincent DeRise slept in the living room while renovating the second floor of their 140-year-old home in New Jersey.
Tasia Jensen | CNBC Awesome
During the renovation, the couple wanted to make sure some of the home’s original features were restored. They had a replica of the original window covering, kept what they thought was an original light fixture in the dining room, and used a lot of furniture left over from the previous owners.
However, they did make changes to the layout, such as combining two bedrooms to create a larger master bedroom.
Amanda and Vincent estimate they spent about $172,000 on the renovations, which they financed through personal savings, a 401(k) loan and the sale of stock from their former employer. The most expensive parts of the renovation so far have been the siding and windows; this amount totaled approximately $70,000.
In addition to the income they earn from their 9-to-5 jobs (Amanda is an executive assistant at a fintech company and Vincent is the director of revenue operations at a SaaS company), the couple also earns money from TikTok’s Creator Fund. They started sharing their renovation journey on TikTok in November 2024 and now have 41,000 followers, with some of their videos having more than 600,000 views.
Amanda says sharing their journey on TikTok helped them land a brand deal to get free paint for parts of the house.
Living through renewal
Amanda says living while renovating a home is the hardest part of fixing it up. The couple slept in the living room while they renovated the second floor.
“When we lived here, we had moments where windows exploded. The house was always a construction site because there were some pretty big projects going on,” says Vincent.
Amanda and Vincent did most of the work themselves at home.
Amanda and Vincent DeRise
Vincent says that they could rent an apartment during this period, but they do not want to spend extra money.
To stretch their budget as much as possible, the couple not only lived at home but also downgraded their cars and canceled subscriptions like YouTube TV.
There’s still a long way to go
Although the couple is preparing to welcome their first child, they say the renovations are still not complete and won’t be completed for several years. In fact, Amanda says the joke is that they’ll probably never get done. “There will always be something to do,” he says.
The couple has yet to renovate the third floor of the house, which includes Vincent’s office and loft. The kitchen still needs work too; Vincent and Amanda hope to complete this within the next few years.
“I don’t want it to feel like a modern kitchen,” says Amanda. “I definitely want to keep the charm of an old house.”
However, the couple says they enjoyed this process, especially the items they found at home. His findings include Stan Musial 1948. rookie baseball card, handwritten letters from the 1930s, a bag of old grocery receipts from 1925, and a vintage breast pump.
The discoveries got the couple thinking about what they could put on the walls for future owners to find.
“We are currently collecting random items, some of which we plan to put on the floorboards in the attic or on the walls as we renovate more rooms,” says Amanda.
Investing in the future
Vincent said he was initially against buying the house because of the work it needed, but thought it would be a good investment given the town and location.
In 2025, Netflix signed a deal to purchase Fort Monmouth, a former Army base less than 10 miles from the Atlantic Highlands. The company plans to build a $900 million campus that will include 12 sound stages, backstage and production facilities. NBC reports.
“One thing about the house is that we always knew it would be a good investment. It’s an exciting place to be,” says Vincent. “There are a lot of renovations going on in the town and town, so we always thought this house would be the right type of investment, especially as we believe we will be here for a very long time.”
The couple knows they plan to stay in the house for a very long time.
Tasia Jensen | CNBC Awesome
“We are excited to continue making this home our own,” says Amanda.
“Maybe in 100 years someone will look at some of the work we did at home and see the touch we put into it,” adds Vincent.
Do you want to advance the workplace with artificial intelligence? Sign up for CNBC’s new online course, Beyond the Basics: How to Use Artificial Intelligence to Power Your Business.. Learn advanced AI skills like creating custom GPTs and using AI agents to increase your productivity today.
