Grants for historic homes?

Question

I recently bought a house built in 1935, its beautiful, and actually in good shape, but some theives stole the copper pipes from the basement and the twin fire places and chimneys are in a poor state, it also has lead paint in every room, and the roof I'm told leaks slightly, and will need replaced in a year or so.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if the governement or the state of ohio has any grants or tax incentives to help people restore old homes to their former glory.

Answer 1

In California if you buy a historical landmark home you don't have to pay property tax but you are obliged to keep it up and maintain the exterior. Any remodeling must be approved by state officials, etc. A lot of red tape and limited possibilities, but well worth the savings. If you are not already designated as such perhaps you can petition for special considerations of some sort in your state?  

Answer 2

Cograts on the new home, the following website; www.ohiohistory.org/resource/histpres/to... has info on obtaining tax credits for having a historic home. However, before you have your home officially declared a historic home beaware that doing so will place restrictions on modifications that you can do to the exterior.  As for getting a grant to repair a historic home there are alot of websites such as http://www.grantkit.org/housing.htm promising help for a fee, unfortunately most of these sites are scams that only provide outdated info if anything at all. (If it seems too good to be true.. it probbably is! ). I would suggest checking out one of the websites  that are devoted to exposing the scams first, such as

http://www.scammer-alert.com/govt-grants...  . Also you might find it easier to find help for each individual problem such as for the lead paint problem depending on the location of your home in Ohio

(Not all locations have a lead paint abatement) you may be able to recieve assistance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  For example, if your home is in Cincinnati they have a lead paint abatement and you can contact Aisha Tzillah of the Dept. of Community Development at [phone] to obtain more information.

To help speed up your search if you use www.dogpile.com it will access several search engines at one time.

I hope this helps,..Good luck!

Just a though...you didn't mention it as a problem but since your home

is so old I strongly suggest that you make sure to have the wiring checked. Most old homes were wired with smaller gauge wire insulated with rubber and cloth . The smaller gauge wire can't handle the ampreage demands of modern appliances  and the rubber/cloth insulation deteriorates with time which can result in a fire.