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Buyer becomes smitten with an aging historic houseBy Rick CallahanAssociated Press Writer INDIANAPOLIS — The moment he walked into the dilapidated century-old house, a drafty two-story riddled with fallen plaster, burst water pipes and outdated wiring, Aaron Bailey was smitten. Though others may have deemed it a hopeless mess, he saw promise, starting with its striking oak-paneled staircase, which descended to a built-in waiting bench evocative of a more formal era. “This is the first thing I saw when I walked in,” Bailey said recently, gesturing toward the home’s entranceway and stairwell. “I said, ‘This is it. This is the house.’ ” Last summer, Bailey, 24, bought the 1905 Queen Anne free classic style home for $55,000. His money bought him a 10-room, 2,500 square-foot structure filled with elaborate woodwork, a fireplace, a dining room with built-in cabinetry and hardwood floors. Like it has for a growing number of Americans dedicated to preservation, it also committed him to the costly and time-consuming job of restoring a neglected old home. The first part of that task was eased at bit because the home’s former owner — the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana — agreed to do some of the work itself. At no additional cost, the non-profit preservation group restored the home’s exterior, repainting it, repairing the eaves and installing new gutters as part of its drive to save homes in a formerly run-down neighborhood north of downtown Indianapolis. Through its Fund for Landmark Indianapolis Properties, the Indianapolis-based group acquired 15 badly neglected homes in the Fall Creek Place neighborhood. “Some of them would have been purposely demolished and some would have fallen in on themselves,” said Tom Pfister, the group’s Indianapolis program coordinator. The homes were then offered up for sale at rock-bottom prices, with the added incentive of a free exterior renovation. So far, 10 of the homes have been sold and Pfister’s group has spent about a half-million dollars on exterior renovations. Homeowners buying into Fall Creek Place, a mix of old homes and new ones built to the same scale, get new sidewalks, streets and sewers and close proximity to downtown Indianapolis’ nightlife, said real estate agent Joe Everhart, who specializes in selling historic properties. “It’s an amazing opportunity,” said Everhart, of the Sycamore Group. “For one, the overall quality of construction in these homes is fantastic. All the wood is native hardwoods. The style and quality of the construction is just unmatched by today’s standards.” The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana recently received a $250,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation toward its goal of rescuing a total of about 60 homes in Fall Creek Place. Nationwide, about two dozen preservation groups are actively working to save historic homes in select neighborhoods and sell them to people who agree to restore them, said John Leith-Tetrault, director of the National Trust’s real estate and financing arm. One such group is the Macon Heritage Foundation, which has focused on a Macon, Ga., neighborhood called Huguenin Heights near Mercer University. To date, the group has saved and sold 70 houses to moderate- to middle-income individuals, Leith-Tetrault said. Not only does the Macon group restore the homes’ exterior, it also restores the interior, folding the cost of that rehab into the homeowner’s mortgage payments. Leith-Tetrault said these sort of flexible preservation efforts arose from a realization that there are limits to what non-profit groups can do to save historic structures. “You can save a building, but someone has to fix it up,” he said. The 2000 census found that 15 percent of all American houses, about 17.4 million homes, were built in 1939 or before. Although the U.S. Census Bureau didn’t ask respondents if they had renovated their homes, Leith-Tetrault said preservation is a growing part of urban renewal. And as more married couples choose not to have children, that favors urban living in older homes because these couples aren’t concerned about school quality. Empty-nesters are also looking a challenge. “They’re a little bit more footloose and can make the decision to bet on the future and move into a deteriorating neighborhood that’s on the rebound,” he said. “But you have to go into it with your eyes open. Restoring an older home is probably going to take longer than you expected.” Bailey, who works as a compliance specialist with the Indiana Housing Finance Authority, is learning firsthand about the daunting task of restoring an old home. Leaks around his home’s fireplace had allowed water to seep into the home’s plaster ceilings, causing them to buckle and fall down in places. And the home needed entirely new electrical wiring, heating and air-conditioning and extensive repairs to burst water pipes. Those repairs left large gashes in the his home’s walls and ceilings because workers had to smash their way through plaster to get at the old wiring and damaged pipes. Squirrels that had set up residence in the home’s spacious attic also needed to be trapped and removed. From the outset, there were expensive surprises. For one, Bailey found that his new home’s sewer line had long ago collapsed and needed replaced. The cost was so high he prefers not to discuss it. The three-bedroom home needed so much work it was three months before he could move into the most spartan of quarters last October. Some nine months later, the home’s kitchen and one of its bedrooms — that belonging to his 6-year-old daughter, Audrey, who visits on weekends — are essentially finished. Bailey, who grew up in Richmond, Ind., jokes that “slave labor” from friends and family has so far been the key to helping fix up his home. “I’m calling in all my favors from family and friends,” he said. When he gets overwhelmed by the house, he retreats to his kitchen — an oasis on the home’s chaotic, work-in-progress first floor. But Bailey has no regrets. His mortgage payments are only slightly higher than the rent he had been paying and that extra money is buying him a historic home. As the work continues, with more drywall and plaster going up every weekend, Bailey has his sights set on a time three years from now when he’ll be marking the 100th year of his 1905 home. Sometime in 2005, he looks forward to a big party. “I’m hoping that by then it’ll all be done, or mostly done, and I can get the whole family together for a big party,” he said. [an error occurred while processing this directive] |
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