Meet the Marine veteran flipping historic homes in North Carolinaand making sure they qualify for VA loans

Adam Miller knew he had a unique opportunity when the owner of the Chester House reached out to see if he could help save her historic farmhouse.The 1886-built Davidson, NC, property was in rough shape, but Miller knew he wanted to take on the project.“The whole house felt like a North Carolina piece of folk art,” he tells Realtor.com.“It just felt sad to tear it down, because it was one of the oldest surviving farmhouses in Davidson.”Citing the original beadboard walls and boxy door frames, Miller could immediately picture the property’s origin story.“You hear about somebody building a house with their bare hands, and this is the type of house I think about, you know?” he says.

“The old-school North Carolina farmer gets done for the day and he’s like, adding onto his house, or he’s just doing cool stuff because that’s what he needs to survive and live on the land.That’s the vibe I get from this house.”Known as “Old House Adam,” Miller has been transforming historic North Carolina homes for 15 years.

While he says his team can “save anything,” he’s careful with choosing projects that are also good business, avoiding properties that would be “financially irresponsible” to tackle.“If we’re not able to make the numbers work, sometimes we have to pass on really cool, beautiful projects,” he explains.The Chester House was a particularly exciting case for Miller and his team—which includes his wife, Jessica Miller, a talented interior designer and portrait artist.“We actually beat out a developer that was hunting the property,” he shares, noting that this plot of land was exceptionally desirable, given its access to a 48-acre nature preserve.“It was really pretty awesome.”They were also able to secure the two properties on either side of the Chester House, where they’ll erect “heirloom farmhouses,” leveraging vintage floor plans and salvaged materials to create something new with an old-school feel.Although ...