Preservation and Restoration

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Community
06/29/09 8:00am

Volunteering in Newburgh

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In a city needing so much help to create reform, volunteers are needed. Newburgh definitely has opportunities for those wanting to help make a change. Reserve a Saturday a month away from your own restoration project and offer yourself to the many volunteer based organizations that Newburgh has to offer.

Dutch Reform Church and other associations – a National Historic Landmark
They need volunteers to:

  1. Be a guide or greater at DRC open houses
  2. Update membership lists and address envelopes etc.
  3. Help clean the building or grounds
  4. Bring school trips to see the DRC
  5. Bring brochures to places where people will see them
  6. Take pictures at events

Newburgh Habitat for Humanity – helps build and restore homes for needy families. All skill levels are welcome.
They need volunteers who:

  1. Can volunteer a Wednesday or Saturday from 8am-1pm individually or in groups of 5 or more
  2. Greet, host, and orient volunteers on site
  3. Can help inventory organize tools and equipment
  4. Help clean sites by removing garbage or recycling
  5. Help stock sites or make truck runs
  6. Help in the office with data entry and other duties
  7. Help with coffee break preperations
  8. Serve on committees

Big Brothers Big Sisters – a mentoring program for youth
They need volunteers who can help with:

  1. Their mission– to enrich the lives of children who are in need of additional support and guidance
  2. Their goal – To assist each child today so that they can set goals to succeed, increasing the potential for their success to self and their community.
  3. Their vision – To involve the community of young adults, adults and retirees to mentor children & youth through offering unique programs & opportunities.

Newburgh YMCA Thrift Shop – help in the shop
They need volunteers who can:

  1. work Friday afternoon 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  2. Saturdays 10 am – 1 p.m.

Old Town Cemetery – Newburgh’s oldest cemetery which begun in 1713.
They need volunteers to: rake leaves, cut grass, clean out litter. Contact mccmusic@verizon.net

(source) 

Newburgh Jazz Series 2009 – A jazz festival at Newburgh’s waterfront that will host 18 concerts
They need volunteers to help with: 

  1. Security
  2. Office support
  3. Marketing
  4. The Wand (Information Central)
  5. Logistics
  6. Sound/lighting
  7. Maintenance
  8. and so many other things I can’t list them all. Click on the site
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Chapman Steamer Firehouse
06/01/09 4:44pm

Newburgh Renovation in Danger

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The photo above is the Newburgh Chapman Steamer Firehouse Co. I drooled over this property for months about 3 years ago, wanting to make it my own home. (If you click on the source of the photo above, the owner of the picture has a really great flickr stream of photos of the city of Newburgh of many historic structures) The firehouse is really a site to see! It was purchased in 2007 by a few individuals with a dream of restoring the building and of being a push forward in the restoration of the City of Newburgh. Now that dream is close to being shattered because after 17 weeks the owners still have not received their site plan approval from Ms. Margaret Hall, secretary of the planning board and the building department.

This is really a shame that a common ground can not be found. If the owners are forced to sell this property who knows how many more years will go by before another buyer can be found with the same hope of restoring this building? From what I understand the owners were planning on turning the building in to some kind of artists studio or museum. It is very ironic that the homeowners are being given such a hard time when the number of abandon buildings in Newburgh is so high, and that the city even has an original picture of the firehouse on their website. This structure is massive, and it’s restoration would surely have a positive impact on the community.

In the meanwhile, for those that would like to contact the planning board of the city of Newburgh here are the contact #’s (845)569­-7401 (845)569­-0096.

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Community
05/11/09 9:56am

So you found your dream house in Newburgh…Now what??

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(Source) 

 

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:

 

  1. 203K HUD Program from the government-2 types
  2. Community Organizations
  3. Historic Home Rehabilitation Tax Credit


203k Program has two types: 203k and Streamline 203k
The regular 203k program enables 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 203k program 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!

 

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Preservation and Restoration
01/30/09 10:53am

Take Action for Preservation

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Taken from Preservation Nation

  1. Visit a historic site
  2. Write your congressman
  3. Sign up for an e-newsletter
  4. Fix up an old house
  5. Attend a community meeting on preventing tear downs
  6. Share a story about a favorite place

There are hundreds of ways to make a difference to protect, enhance, and enjoy the places that matter to you. Click on the link above to learn more.

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