Restoration...Begin!

We (well, I spoke for Eddie) were interviewed by a great blog about our decision to move to Newburgh. It was great to talk about the city and our house, and to get excited about moving. There's a really cute photo of Tracer, too.

Things are coming along...we met with an electrician, a plumber, a...heating guy (HVAC guy?), and our realtor, on Saturday. They are all awesome and it was a non-stop hyuk-fest for two hours. We're getting the power turned on this week, and hopefully the plumber can check out the water main to see if any work needs to be done there. If not, we'll be moving forward pretty quickly with fixing up the electrical wiring, installing a tankless water heater and an old boiler on the third floor.

The tricky part is we're also applying for tax exemptions and incentives. Newburgh has two tax exemptions - the Real Property Tax Exemption for First-Time Homebuyers of Newly Constructed Homes, and the School TAx Relief Exemption (STAR). The Real Property Tax Exemption also applies to non-newly constructed homes if there is a renovation or remodeling of an existing home. The renovation or remodeling cost "must exceed $3,000 and the contract for the work must be contracted for within 90 days from the date of purchase."

We need to make sure the work is completed by March 7, in order to qualify, and the deadline to apply is the taxable status date, or March 1. The exemption lasts for five years, "beginning at fifty percent the first year and declining to ten percent in the fifth and final year." Eligibility also depends on the household income and the purchase price of the home. It follows the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) guidelines.

To receive the STAR exemption, the owner must be at least 65 years old, and/or the income of all owners and owners' spouses be $73,000 or less. The deadline is also March 1, the taxable status date.

The tricky part is coordinating the tax exemption with the Historic Preservation Tax Incentives (HPTI) Program. To receive the HPTI, all work that we want to claim the benefit for must be approved by the Technical Preservation Services Department of the National Park Service. The paperwork is long and tedious, with lots of photo documentation. There's no way we'll get the work approved before the tax exemption deadline, so...we'll see?

A new day...

Two amazing things happened this weekend:

1) My first Woody Allen sighting!!! I have lived in New York for six years, plotted to stalk him for at least four of those years, and then magically, he sits one row in front of me at the Martha Graham Dance Company performance Friday night. Soon-yi was there as well as two children, both of whom did not look like his. Plus, he carried his floppy hat in his back pocket.

2) Less importantly, we met a new contractor over the weekend, he looked over the house, and said he could rehab it in our budget! We have to check his references, but he was very professional, knowledgeable, and extremely optimistic.

We also had lunch with Door Sixteen blogger Anna, and her husband, Evan. They've been living in Newburgh for four years, three in their amazing house. They gave us a little tour of their home and it looks more amazing in person than in the photos on her blog (which are still amazing). They also gave us a lot of great tips, so hopefully, we'll be able to speed up this process.

So...off to email the contractors our FHA 203K work write-up, documents the bank needs them to fill out, and some inspirational photos/clippings.

Still looking for a contractor

We are hopefully done with submitting information to the bank for the mortgage loan. We haven't been officially approved, but the bank finally stopped asking for more proof of funds/proof of where those funds come from.

This weekend we're going to meet more contractors and see if any will take the job (a lot of work for little money), and if so, will the bank accept them? The last two contractors didn't pass inspection because of credit histories - too poor or not enough of one.

We're only pursuing half-heartedly now. It seems impossible to find good contractors willing to jump through FHA hoops.