Newburgh has plenty of things to offer, including historic Bed & Breakfasts complete for any weekend get a way. Here are a look at a few of the historic homes that are opening it’s doors for visitors to come and take a step back into history:
Pickerel Rush-an elegant Italianate mansion designed in 1860 by Andrew Downing, who also influenced the design of Central Park in Manhattan. The house was purchased in 2003 with it’s condition in disrepair. Walls and ceilings were damaged as a hunters searched for a rumored hidden stash. It took 4 years to bring the house to it’s current condition when the owners opened it’s doors in 2007. The home was even featured in Victorian Homes magazine. Rates: There are 5 rooms available at Pickerel Rush, at $150 per night.
Goldsmith Denniston House-a federal styled house built for Mr. Goldsmith Denniston in 1820 who eventually served in the New York State Legislature. The house was updated in the 1880’s with bay windows and marble fireplaces. Then it was updated again by it’s current owners in 2001-04. There are four bedrooms each with it’s own private bathroom, and the house has central air conditioning. Dinner parties for up to 75 guests can be accomidated by professional caterer owner Ms. Billman. Rates: There are 4 bedrooms available for $165 a night with extended stay rates available.
So after searching through all of the real estate sites and all the digging you found your dream home in Newburgh. With all of the gorgeous architecture, affordable prices, and proximity to NYC…what is not to love? The problem most likely is that your future dream home that you will showcase on HGTV or some other home repair network, is that your dream house has been stripped of all the heating, and been chopped up in to a few apartments, and is in need of a total renovation! So what is a future home renovista like yourself to do? You might ask yourself what assistance is offered to future home owners wanting to repair a historic home in the city of Newburgh?
Well, the city of Newburgh does not offer grants to private home owners to repair their homes. So the following are some of your options:
203K HUD Program from the government-2 types
Community Organizations
Historic Home Rehabilitation Tax Credit
203k Program has two types: 203k and Streamline 203k The regular 203k programenables homebuyers and homeowners to finance both the purchase (or refinancing) of a house and the cost of its rehabilitation through a single mortgage or to finance the rehabilitation of their existing home.Why would you need this? Because the house you want to buy has been vandalized or damaged and a regular bank will not give a loan for these types of houses. What are the limitations? You must be a first time homebuyer. The minimum repairs to apply for this loan must be $5,000. See Q&A for 203k loan here.
The streamlined 203kprogram permits homebuyers to finance up to an additional $35,000 into their mortgage to improve or upgrade their home before move-in. With this new product, homebuyers can quickly and easily tap into cash to pay for property repairs or improvements. Why would you need this? The same reasons as above, but this program is for more extensive repairs. A lot more paper work is involved and requires inspections and appraisals. See here for a word document with more details.
To benefit from this program you must take out a loan with an FHA approved lender. Click here for a list. With speaking with a few lenders, they usually accept a 3.5% deposit, and you can finance the repairs-but they must be done by a contractor, they can not be done by yourself.
Community Organizations:
There are some community organizations that are rehabilitating houses themselves that you can try and apply and qualify for . Most times this is for low-income families. Other organizations will help you identify grants and low interest loans that you can qualify for. Overall, this is ideal for low-income/moderate-income families.
Two such organizations helping out big in Newburgh are:
Pathstone and Habitat for Humanity.
Historic Home Rehabilitation Tax Credit: This program is available to owners of historic commercial, office, industrial or rental residential
buildings. Generally speaking, private homes do not qualify.This might work with your home if your home has 1 or more rental units. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 allows 20% tax credit for the rehabilitation of historic buildings. The final dollar amount is based on the cost of the rehabilitation; in effect 20% of the rehabilitation costs will be borne by the federal government.
To qualify for this your home must be in a depressed area, which the city of Newburgh is. To see if the house you are interested in qualifies for this tax credit, you must call Sloane Bullough at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation at 518-237-8643, ext. 3252. She is only in on Tuesdays and Fridays. Leave a message with the address of the house that you are interested in, and she will contact you if the house applies.
Don’t give up hope and keep digging for resources. Where there is a will there is a way!
You can get close to living in a mansion by renting out an apartment in this historic restored mansion. This house (white one) is right in front of Washington’s Headquarters, and to the left you can see the corner of Moo & Oink-a brand new market selling local foods.
I had the privilege of being given a tour of all the apartments by the very friendly realtor/restorer, Miguel Marquez. He is restoring the house himself and it is evident he takes great pride in his efforts. The work done to restore the house is impeccable, and when you walk in it just smells new-even though the house may be over 150 years old. New appliances, bathroom, kitchen cabinetry, and carpeting all make these apartments worth a look. Being inside the apartment your mind transcends itself to what the area might have looked like watching Washington walking across the lawn and ladies in elegant noble gowns on the sidewalk.
Miguel even told us that the yellowish looking house to the left and the white one were once ONE entire home! That is truly ginormous when you take into account that each home has 4 large floors. I bet there is great history behind the past owners of the homes. He is doing much to restore the home, and Miguel is deeply involved in the revitalization of Newburgh.
The three apartments rent for the following: $875, $975, and $725. Really you feel like you are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan at Central Park West when you see the grandeur of this home. This is also a great option for those of you who want to wet your feet and get a feel for what Newburgh is like before buying the restoration project of your dreams. There are a lot more pictures listed on Miguel’s website.
Miguel Marquez
Grand Newburgh 409 Grand St1st Floor NewbughNY12550 Cell: (845) 220-7091 Fax: (845) 839-2800 Email: miguel@grandnewburgh.com
Seeing this house just makes me so mad. I know there are like 100 other ones just like this, but this is seriously such a shame that houses fall is to such disrepair like this one. Look at the molding that is missing on the left. It has the obvious bones and potential to be a million dollar home on the upper east side somewhere. Someone just has to have a good size wallet or good backing to fix this place. With the restoration trend being so hot in other parts of the country, it’s just frustrating to see that Newburgh hasn’t fully caught on yet….slowly but surely though it WILL get there though!
Recently I’ve been following ablogabout gentrification in DC in the Shaw area. The same woman who runs it also takes great pictures of how her neighborhood is changing onflickr.I see so many similarities to Newburgh (architecturally wise and abandoned/neglected building wise). It’s an area where things are still changing. There are still abandoned boarded up buildings next to beautifully restored homes. It’s great to see how the restoration of those homes is underway, and how it’s really starting to become a trend in certain areas of DC. And to think these were areas that were depressed for decades- with the same problems other poverty stricken cities face. Change is not impossible. It’s refreshing to see that people (regardless of race/class/origin) are deciding to fix up these historic gems. The houses havethis cute style where the homeowners paint each of their buildings a different color. Look at a couple of pics, some of the blocks look exactly like some blocks in Newburgh. This would look awesome.
I can see similarities in Newburgh and other cities that have been restored. One of the biggest is to see organizations like Habitat for Humanity taking derelict buildings and making them into homes. When the community starts to help itself, that’s when others take notice and change starts to happen. I recently have started a page onmyspaceto draw further attention to this blog. When I type in “Newburgh” and “artist” I am really astonished to see how many people apparently seem to be legit artists or studying art! So it’s obvious the only thing missing here is a not-for-profit art organization in Newburgh…..soon to be in the works (if I have anything to do with it). That is going to be a lot of work.
This is truly a dream home…my dream home. It is right down the street from the river with great views. Built in 1895, it has 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths. All existing mantels are still in place. Not to mention the backyard with the above ground pool! It just needs a little TLC to really bring out what a jem this house is!
After doing a lot of searching on the internet I was astonished to find that there was NO website dedicated to the restoration of Newburgh. Despite all the talk of the Newburgh Renaissance and the Newburgh Revival, there was no website encouraging positive news, no website peaking the interest of out of towners and current residents, no directory to all to show all the promise this forgotten city holds. Newburgh is only 60 miles north of Manhattan. This is the perfect solution for those who want to work in the city but can not afford to buy in the city. I was amazed to see that this city being so rich in history, in architecture, and so close in proximity to NYC is so untouched! A million dollars plus for a brownstone in Bed Stuy is absurd! Come to Newburgh where the houses are still fresh for the picking and original for those with a hunger for restoration. Already the movement has started along Liberty Street, and certain parts of Broadway. Let’s try to expand bringing businesses, jobs, restaurants, and artists all over the East End Historic District!
Homes restored on Dubois Street by HOGAR
The objective of this website is to promote the healthy gentrification of Newburgh. By that I mean not to wipe out all the poor but, to achieve a mixture of all classes in this city. We want to attract the kind of people that turn neighborhoods around, not the kind that degrade them and take no pride in them. The goal is to attract artists and the like who have changed neighborhoods such as Williamsburg, Red Hook, and the city across the river Beacon.
In all my search I could not find one page that showed all of the advantages to restoring a home, such as tax incentives. For example, the City of Newburgh’s Preservation brochure states, “New York State now offers a 20% credit (up to a maximum of $25,000) for historically appropriate rehabilitation of certain residential properties. Most but not all properties in the East End Historic District will qualify.” Also, many properties in Newburgh are very cheap (under $60,000). Most have been vandalized and stripped of all plumbing work. Many banks will not give loans for such houses, so realtors have these houses listed as “CASH ONLY.” However, HUD (US Department of Housing and Development) has something called a 203K loan program that “allows homeowners to finance an additional $35,000 into their mortgage to improve or upgrade their home before move-in. With this new product, homebuyers can quickly and easily tap into cash to pay for property repairs or improvements…”
Newburgh has the second largest historical district in New York State. This is only a small sample of the plethora of information available to those interested in restoring a home. I will continue to add positive news and information for those interested in this plight. I will also show case properties for sale weekly.
