Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

KVCAP turns old house into new opportunity with renovations

Federal funds help fix up foreclosures, revitalize Waterville

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- The two-story house at 24 Oak St. doesn't look a century old.

click image to enlarge

EFFICIENCY: Chris Carroll, an energy auditor with the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program, uses an infrared device to determine energy efficiency of windows in a revitalized home in Waterville on Wednesday.

Staff photo by David Leaming

click image to enlarge

OPEN HOUSE: Peter Wintle of the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program shows a new pellet stove to Mia Joiner-Moore of NeighborWorks America during an open house for a revitalized home in Waterville on Wednesday.

Staff photo by David Leaming

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

But it was, in fact, built in 1910. And after nearly $100,000 in renovation work the last four months, the foreclosed house has been transformed.

It will be resold to an eligible low- to middle-income buyer.

The house renovation project was funded through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program and administered through the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program.

On Wednesday, local officials held a daylong open house to show off the finished house, which is the first one in Waterville to completed with the federal funding.

"It's about neighborhood revitalization; it's not just about putting a family in a home," said Casey Bromberg, development director for KVCAP. "It's going to raise the value of neighborhoods."

The program, which is funded through the federal Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, has resulted in $19.5 million statewide, and KVCAP last year received more than $600,000.

KVCAP plans to renovate or rebuild three more homes in Waterville in the near future.

At 24 Oak St., house construction started in March and has involved 16 different workers, with multiple contractors.

A subcontractor who worked on the house, Marc Roderick, of Patriot Vinyl Siding, said Wednesday that the finished product looked "unbelievable."

"This is a nice, nice house," he said. "It's a great idea and a good way to put people to work."

It's also the best example so far how federal stimulus money can make a difference in the community, said Spencer Galloway, partner and agent with Galloway-Van Lierop Insurance Agency in Waterville. Galloway attended Wednesday's open house because, "We'd be excited about providing whoever purchased the home with a quote."

"The updates are all modern and very well-done. The work they've done inside the place has turned a rough dinosaur into something that's probably going to benefit the whole neighborhood here," Galloway said. "Any insurance company would be thrilled to insure a home like this."

Aside from fresh coats of paint on the walls and new floors throughout, the renovated house also has new vinyl siding over insulation, new windows, dense-packed cellulose in the walls, spray-foam insulation on the basement walls, new doors, new paint on the steel roof, new heating systems, and energy-efficient appliances.

The two-story house used to to be multi-family and is now single-family, so the house's layout was altered and several rooms have been completely redone, including the conversion of an upstairs kitchen into a family room. New porches were built and the house now has three entrances.

Mike Butler, special projects manager for KVCAP, said a lot of updates were needed because the house was so old. The old wood clapboard siding had lead paint on it and so vinyl siding was placed over it with insulation, he said; the house also needed new electrical wiring and its old heating system didn't work.

Now, there's a new wood-pellet stove in the basement and when that's not running an oil boiler will kick in. The new heating system cost about $15,000.

"It was a large, large renovation," he said.

Chris Carroll, energy auditor for KVCAP, said the insulation improvements have greatly improved the house's energy efficiency. Using devices to measure airflow in the house, Carroll said the house is now up to one-third more efficient than it was.

"We approached the house as a system," Carroll said, referring to its new heating systems, windows and insulation.

Butler said projects officials attempted to retain as of much of the old house's classic features as possible during the renovation, including original doors and deck boards.

Before work began, the house was appraised at $40,000 and that was the purchase price for KVCAP. A new appraisal is under way and KVCAP officials expect the new value to be $110,000 to $130,000, according to Bromberg.

Under the eligibility requirements for buying the house, a single occupant cannot earn more than $48,050 a year; a family of two $54,900; and a family of three $61,800.

Next up on the KVCAP project list is a house at 3 Kelsey St. -- just around the corner from 24 Oak St. -- and that house will be demolished and rebuilt anew, Butler said. Work could start in the coming days. Also slated to be renovated under the same program will be 290 Main St. and 6 Sherwin St., Butler said.

Proceeds from sales of the houses will create a kind of revolving fund, so that more foreclosed homes may be purchased and renovated, Butler said. Under the federal program's current rules, that would be allowed to happen for at least another two years.

The house at 24 Oak St. is listed by Homestead Realty, which can be reached at 377-7300.

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com