Advice to home buyers from design and architecture writer Ingrid Abramovitch, author of Restoring a House in the City.

Here are some tips on how to know when a house is right for you—and when to walk away.

Go for It When the House Speaks to You

This should be a prerequisite for buying any home. If the house doesn’t speak to you emotionally from the start, it never will.

It Passes Inspection

To obtain a thorough appraisal of the house’s condition, hire a reliable house inspector. (Get referrals from local preservation agencies, architects, and neighbors.) Realtors are often ready to jump in with suggestions for inspectors, but such recommendations are best avoided as they can sometimes present a conflict of interest. Understand that the inspector is legally required to list absolutely every issue in a house or face a lawsuit. As a result, many real estate inspection reports can at first sound alarming. Buyers need to learn to filter out serious problems from fixable ones. Ask the inspector for a ballpark estimate on how much it will cost to correct any serious problems. If that figure is within your budget, proceed with the sale.

You’ve Done Your Research

When you are ready to buy, make sure you are getting a fair price by asking your real estate broker for recent “comps,” or prices for sales of comparable buildings in the neighborhood. And don’t assume you can extend your building’s height or build an addition on the back without carefully checking with your local zoning office.

You Have a Strong Constitution

Or you like surprises. It’s a safe assumption that pretty much everything in an older home—from the wiring to the roof—will need a substantial degree of work.

You Are in It for the Long Term

Leave house-flipping to the professionals. When renovating, try to have at least a five- year horizon for owning their homes, which compensates for the time and expense you will need to put into it. The longer you live in your house, the more you spread out the costs of moving, buying, and renovating and the less you need to worry about the ups and downs of the housing market. And remember that the biggest return on your investment is the joy of living in a beautiful antique residence.

Walk Away if You Are in a Hurry

Restoring a house is labor intensive and can take many months. Every aspect requires research, from finding the right contractor and architect to deciding what to do with everything from the masonry to the windows. If you take the time to thoughtfully evaluate and execute these renovations (few of which come in on time or on budget), then they can last for many years; do them the wrong way and before you know it you will have to do them all over again.

The House Is Being Unloaded Mid-Renovation

If a seller is bolting halfway into a town house renovation, buyer beware. It usually means there are serious issues with the house. These can range from discovering that past renovations violated local building codes or that structural problems are so severe that the entire home needs to be taken apart and put back together again.

The Floor Is Seriously Uneven

A little lean can be charming. But a deviation in the floor of more than one inch can sometimes be a signal that a house has serious structural concerns. Other signs of settling include buckling facades, cracks in tile floors, and cracking at the top of walls. But leave it to a professional house inspector to make the final diagnosis.

The House Has Termites

The telltale sign that termites are present is the hanging icicle-like structures that the insects build, often in the basement. If your inspector notices signs of termite treatment, ask the seller for a detailed report from the previous analysis and treatment. Then ask an exterminator to compare the previous report with current conditions. If you buy the house, try to leave a six-inch space around the perimeter of the basement clear of obstructions so that the wood can be regularly inspected for the presence of termites.