Then and now on 22nd Street

What were the reasons why ACORN could not save the smaller historic house?

@2 without some sort of government intervention, it’s not economically viable to make a smaller house with such a challenging floor plan. By the time you buy a lot for $22,000, spend $15,000 for new utilities run and actually build the thing within CAR guidelines (hardi-plank, etc), the builder will be heavily in the red when it’s done.

According to MLS, 609 N 22nd was on the market for 183 days @ $29,000. It sold for $22,000 to the current owners Dec 2012. Now that demand is up, because people care about church hill, you’ll find the supply short and prices higher. Can’t have it both ways unfortunately. Right now is the time to buy $20k lots in Highland Park or North Ave, etc while demand is low and supply is high.

I would think Tax Credits as well as Local and Government Grants to restore historic properties could have been utilized to save the older structure if someone would have tried?

@Eric H – there is the city tax abatement and the state and federal tax credits (25 and 20% of renovation costs respectively), but not aware of any other programs that would help. Generally, to get the federal credits, the property has to be income producing and held for five years, and in any event the credits must be used against tax liability and expenses can be pretty closely scrutinized, so they aren’t always well suited for homeowners or DIYers.

The credits can be syndicated to investors, but that gets complicated and usually results in cost to the homeowner (I.e. Legal fees and they only get a percentage of the value of the credits, usually about 70%-80%). It has gotten much harder to syndicate the federal credit due to court rulings. If the credits cannot be syndicated, they can be carried for 10-20 years and used incrementally, but ultimately if you can’t or don’t syndicate, you have to have sufficient tax liability to use the credit.

Finally, none of this speaks to the renovation lending process, which typically can only consider the projected after renovation value of the property. As these programs are designed to save properties that are historic but would hypothetically cost more to restore than to replace, it often costs more to renovate than a bank will lend, and the tax credits are of no value to the bank. A home that needs 185,000 in repairs and cost 50,000 to purchase but will only be worth 200,000 when finished is only eligible for 160,000 in loans (assuming 80% ltv) leaving the owner to pay 75k out of pocket. There usually isn’t anyway to capture or use the value of the approximately 90,000 in tax credits *prior* to the renovation. An FHA or other specialty loan can offer more flexibility, but these target owner occupants who can’t get the federal credit and generally won’t have the tax liability to use the credits and these loans are usually for smaller projects that might not be cost effective to syndicate.

This is just my understanding and it could be riddled with errors. But personal experience says the tax credit game is tough to learn and to play.