--- On Wed, 12/2/09, juliasgenes <juliasgenes@yahoo.com> wrote: From: juliasgenes <juliasgenes@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [NYSULLIV] House History & rehab issues To: nysulliv@rootsweb.com Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 7:25 AM Wow - this message is timely! I attended the "Historic Preservation & Green Design Conference" in Newburgh on 19 Nov, but haven't gotten around to posting about it yet. A lot of the info the speakers presented ties right into this topic and then goes beyond it to cover historic rehabilition and energy savings. National level: Many of us know about the long standing programs that offer 10 - 20% rehabilitation tax credit for commercially owned buildings constructed prior to 1936. No federally-funded programs exist for owner-occupied buildings, though. Bummer! * Environmental Finance Center [A conference sponser "tasked by the EPA with facilitating the development of sustainable communities. We connect motivated local government officials and private organizations with technical assistance, assessment tools, and funding offered by our large network of collaborators and resources."] http://efc.syracusecoe.org/ New York State: HOWEVER, NYS has a 20% rehabilitation tax credit program running since 2006 for both commercial AND residential properties. AND beginning on 1 Jan 2010, the credit caps are going up to $50,000 and the types of qualified items covered is liberal - such as insulation, a new furnace, hot water heater, etc. There are eligibility issues, however (isn't there always?), so contact BOTH of the two groups below for details. The program is called the "NYS Rehabilitation Tax Stimulous Program". Either look for a scheduled "Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit Workshop" for details or agitate your local planning boards and/or to schedule one through the state agency below. I think Newburgh will probably get one in the works fairly soon. These agencies will help through the process and make applications as painless as possible. They WANT to help you and the "NYS Rehabilitation Tax Stimulous Program" to succeed. * Preservation League of New York State [Read this site thoroughly as they offer a lot of help for eligible building owners, including historic survey grants for your building of $3,000-10,000. These are the ones who formulate the "Seven to Save" list.] http://preservenys.org/index.html * [NY] State Historic Preservation Office http://nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/ Other * New York State Energy Research and Development Authority = NYSERDA [Another conference sponser. "NYSERDA’s aim is to help New York meet its energy goals:  reducing energy consumption, promoting the use of renewable energy sources, and protecting the environment." The most helpful programs they offer to a home-owner are their online "Energy-Saving Tips" and their program that provides enery analysis to ensure your new or rehab comericial or residential project meets New York ENERGY STAR criteria. Site is fairly jargony, so a call to their office may be more helpful if you get lost.] http://www.nyserda.org/default.asp Hudson Valley: Should you suspect that your building (house, barn, corn crib) may go back to the Hudson Valley Vernacular or Dutch eras, these groups want to talk to you, perhaps provide some expertise, and/or measuring and documenting. * Dutch Barn Preservation Society   http://dutchbarns.org/dbpsintro.htm * Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture   http://www.hvva.org/ To be eligible for federal and NYS rehab tax credits - * Your building must be  50 years old (built by 1959). * The building must retain it's general archituctural integrity and key features. * And it must be either on the National Register of Historic Places or be eligible for placement. The National Registry part isn't so hard, it turns out. NYS leads the nation in the number of buildings on the Registry. I didn't write down the number, but it's many 1000s. If your building itself isn't already on the National Register, perhaps it's certified as contributing to the significance of a National Register District (a chunk of Newburgh, Buffalo, and Albany are). Or, perhaps it's stealth registered, meaning that when evaluation surveys are carried out, as in Newburgh, many of the buildings have already been documented as eligible to be listed on the Registry, but only need the paperwork to be done. Contact the National Register and Survey Unit to see if your building meets any of these National Register categories: * State Historic Preservation Office http://nysparks.state.ny.us/shpo/ state/map.htm The significance of Historian Van Buren's inclusion of utililzing tax assessment records makes a lot of sense. Although I haven't tried this myself, per an "Old house Journal" forum item I read, tax records can act as a corroborator of when a property was first improved. If your county or municipality has tax records that go back far enough, look at each year's taxes. When you see a spike in the taxes charged, that could very well be the date when a building or an addition was added to the property.   Yours, Julia  .^_^. --- On Tue, 12/1/09, Carol VanBuren <ty@warwick.net> wrote:     ...I am Historian for the Town of Minisink in Orange County, NY...We frequently get requests about "how old is my house?"...     Carol       ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NYSULLIV-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message