If you don't want similiar issues, you need a house MUCH younger than you are!

Ours is only a year older than me (1967), but we too are fixing it up to list and wow, the things you find... We do have a ton of storage thanks to a basement and some renovations done by the previous owners, but there are a lot of hidden problems due to those renovations where they cut every single corner they could find. Luckily, the original house is solid and well-constructed...otherwise, we'd probably be living in rubble right now! We are currently without a fully working bathroom (we have two and both are partially down for the count...again) and we will be paying to replace the roof before we list. Ouch.

I don't have a ton of advice except that watching those HGTV shows are a big help. So is even watching 'House Hunters' and listening to the things the buyers are saying about the houses they view. You can learn a lot about how things are perceived!