Elizabeth Finkelstein

Elizabeth Finkelstein.

• In 2013, Elizabeth Finkelstein launched CIRCA, a listing website for historic homes.
• Since then, her business has grown in popularity and has, to date, has attracted more than one million followers on social media.
• In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Finkelstein explains how she turned her passion for historic homes into a business and shares three key pieces of advice to anyone trying to do the same.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Elizabeth Finkelstein grew up in a historic home and watched her parents restore it with their own hands.

It's no surprise, then, that she has always had a passion for old homes. To her, they are so much more than just a collection of walls - they are a constant source of inspiration and creativity.

In 2013, Finkelstein - who has a master's degree in historic preservation and currently lives outside of New York City - took the first step to turn that passion into a business by launching CIRCA, a listing website for historic houses. With the help of her husband Ethan, who owns a digital design agency, CIRCA became a meeting point for old-home buyers and sellers.

On a recent phone call with Business Insider, she explained that two events transpired as they were coming up with the idea for the listing site. The first was that her parents decided to sell their home but had a difficult time tapping into the community of old-home lovers. The second was that she and Ethan were looking for a historic home to buy, but had a hard time finding listings. And so, CIRCA was born.

CIRCA's business model is straightforward: It costs $45 to list a house on the website for 90 days, $75 for six months, and $150 for one year. Along with an online shop that sells things like pins, pennants, and T-shirts, customers can also pay for additional boosts for their listings. Those include the opportunity to be featured on the homepage banner or on an Instagram story.

When CIRCA was created, Finkelstein said she wanted to bridge the gap between the younger generations and historic homes. As she saw it, building a strong social media presence was one way to accomplish this - and that's how the second major branch of the business came about.

How an Instagram account about cheap old houses has taken off

Currently, CIRCA's official Instagram account has 169,000 followers, its Facebook page is on the verge of breaking 100,000 followers and, according to the website, its weekly newsletter has over 70,000 subscribers.

But readers may be more familiar with CIRCA's offshoot: the Instagram account CheapOldHouses, which Finkelstein also runs. It currently has 750,000 followers. True to its name, posts on the page showcase historic homes for sale for under $100,000 - and they get thousands of likes.

What started out as a passion project has turned into Finkelstein's full-time job. She now has a staff of three (including Ethan) who work beside her and a rapidly increasing presence online. In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, she shared three pieces of advice for anyone looking to turn their passion into a business.