IF YOU CAN KICK THE TIRES on a potential new car, why can't homebuyers do the same? Cameron Bishop, a coastal South Carolina native, spent years hunting for an authentic cottage in Folly Beach. "We both lived in Charleston for years and loved Folly's surfer vibe and laid-back beaches," says his wife, Katherine. At long last, Cameron spied "the one" online.

He says that a particular set of virtues caught his eye: "The 1950 build is from around the same period as a great-aunt's home where my mom grew up vacationing, which felt very nostalgic; the intact floor plan told me it had not been messed with yet; and all the V-groove walls and ceilings (no drywall) really sold me." Katherine says she was game to look at the place, though it was "well loved and worn-with a lot of wall-to-wall brown carpet."

Cameron noticed that it was available as a rental and had plenty of vacancies, so the adventuresome Bishops, a family of three at the time (now they have a second son), headed to Folly Beach for a four-day test drive of the 1,200-square-foot find. "It was so filthy that I spread bedsheets over the sofa and carpet for baby Robert to crawl on, and I never took off my flip-flops," says Katherine. Still, Cameron's hunches proved correct. "The house was a solid, good-looking Folly original," he says. And there were hardwood floors under all that carpet.