This past month has been a whirlwind of sprinting to get things ready for the floor refinishers who began work this week on Monday. Amazingly, by the skin of my teeth everything was ready to go by 8am Monday for the sanding, staining, and sealing mayhem to begin, but not without a few hiccups along the way. When we last left off, the two smaller bedrooms upstairs had nearly been fully painted, with only some trim and touch-up work left to be completed. The shelves for the built-in bookcase in the medium, and Kit’s favorite, bedroom still remain to be painted (hopefully I will get around to finishing them before September 1st when my not so new housemate moves in), but otherwise the rooms look finished and the colors have grown on me.
old house
Eligible to Register
As I mentioned in the last post, I had some visitors over to see the house in the hopes of pursuing listing on the National Register of Historic Places. You might be asking why…so I’ll tell you.
The National Register of Historic Places is the federal list of districts, sites, buildings, and structures deemed worthy of preservation. Established in 1966 as part of the National Historic Preservation Act, the register is an honorary distinction that does NOT prohibit a property owner from altering their property in any way they see fit (including demolition). What it does protect is any listed property from being altered or adversely affected by any project that utilizes federal funds without due-process and oversight from the State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service. Also, your property does not have to be a building of national significance, instead the whole goal of the register is to instill pride and spread knowledge of communities’ cultural heritage at a local level. Where it gets more enticing are the Rehabilitation Tax Credits offered at the State and Federal levels. The rehabilitation tax credits seek to incentivize the revitalization of historic properties and communities. In New York State the combined tax credits available for the rehabilitation of income producing properties that are listed on the National Register is a whopping 40% of the construction costs. This rehabilitation tax credit system is one of only a few government tax incentive programs that actually nets a significant return on investment, but don’t take my word for it, check out what others more knowledgeable than me have proven about it.
Let the Games Begin
So, many things have happened these first few weeks (I started writing this post over two weeks ago…life has been crazy). MPLMP has a full time resident, but it’s not me…and I had some visitors come to study the house in the hopes that I might get it on the National Register of Historic Places. During all of this and to continue on until who knows when, work has begun in earnest on making this perfect little money pit, my perfect little money pit.
Kit and I, with much appreciated help from MPLMP’s first resident, Joshua (more on him later), have begun the process of repainting all of the rooms of the house. Many of the rooms either feature near colorless beiges, flaking and peeling paint, or just plain dirty old walls in colors I could do without. The first room we decided to tackle was the medium bedroom.
Seen here right before we started painting.
Beginnings
So for years while I was in graduate school I spent hours looking through real-estate databases at homes that I might be able to afford when I entered the real world and got a job. I knew with certainty that I wanted to return to my beloved hometown of Rochester. As luck would have it, and I count myself very lucky, I had a full-time position, in Rochester, ready to go before I graduated. To add to this fortuitous situation, it was with a firm I had interned for in years past, and who specializes in Historic Preservation work. How perfect for a nerd like me!
This occasional past-time of looking through internet results and perusing the Saturday Real Estate section in the newspaper, turned serious on New Years. Not that I made an official resolution or anything, I just reached out to a realtor friend of mine, Rome Celli, who has an eye for historic homes on December 31st. I had identified a group of interesting houses within the weeks leading up to reaching out to Rome, and so, we started setting up showings. Rome threw in a few to boot. A 1890’s transitional Queen Anne, with a great porch and slate roof was first, a 1910’s clapboard sided Four Square…also with a great porch, and gleaming woodwork to boot came after that. There were a few others, but my memory is foggy. Then came the exquisite Arts and Crafts house (okay it really was just a large dressed up four square) with rambling gardens, stained glass, original pantry, and heinous kitchen…I almost submitted an offer, but backed out before submitting the paper work. The modest Colonial Revival with a showcase 1930’s interior, completely original, minus a few windows, and with a wooded ravine for a backyard was next. I liked it so much I wrote a column on it. Alas, I am just a bit vain, and needed some more curb appeal than what it could offer me.
My Perfect Little Money Pit 