There’s more good news from
the east side, specifically my Hamlin Park neighborhood. Another vacant,
city-owned home has been successfully purchased through the Homestead program
also known as the dollar house program.
My new neighbors and fellow
homesteaders, Tom and Zoe agreed to let me interview them both about their
purchase and their future plans for the little cottage they will soon call
home. The pair is in their mid-twenties and will be a fine addition to the
street. Check out what they have to say below.
Mike:
What was the deciding factor to buy this
house, in this neighborhood?
Tom:
I first read about the homestead program sitting at my café of employment out
west. I was pretty sick of work and ready to move so home we went.
After reading about the homestead program, I scoured the City’s properties for
months. We were just looking for a good middle ground between the
neighborhood quality and the home’s structural quality. I was interested
in Hamlin Park because it was the nicest neighborhood I looked in. The
tax credits were a bonus. We also wanted something small so we jumped all
over our little cottage. We kind of dove into it pretty quickly and
totally lucked out. We moved back to Buffalo in October and closed on a
house in June. Oh, also the train is nearby. That was a big factor since
I hate driving.
Zoe:
When we first heard of the homestead program, we actually left it as
only a joke for the longest time. In times of frustration, we would often
refrain: "Let's just quit our jobs and buy a house for a dollar back
home." But the more we learned of this bizarre system of financing your
life away with homes, cars, school, etc., it really began to change my
perspective of what a modern day miracle of a program homesteading is. As
intimidating as the great amount of work there is to be done on the house
is, this was a much more realistic option and fate I was interested in. We
went through a lot of heartbreak learning of other houses we were interested
were actually already taken, but in the end it was a true blessing because we
were considering some ginormous houses that would have been way too much too
chew for two folks on our salary. When we found Florida Street I couldn't
believe our luck in finding the only cottage size home among full two story
homes.
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| Check out the newly planted hostas, courtesy of the great guys next door |
Mike: What are your immediate plans for the house?
Tom:
Gut it! Then run electric and plumbing. I think we’re going to set up a
bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen area so we can move in and finish the
rest. It really changes the picture of how the house was built, which has
led to little being decided.
Zoe:
Definitely gutting it and figuring out how to work with the old bones of the
structure. I'd also love to get a nice coat of fresh paint on the outside for
cosmetics and liven up our parcel. Replace the front porch roof so we know our
friends and family will enter safely.
Mike:
How many surprises have you found so far
and what were they?
Tom:
Oooooh a number of them. And they just keep coming! I was surprised whoever stole my tub got it out
of there. The amount of motivation the break-in and scrap guys have is
just amazing. I still don’t know if our water line is severed or just shut
off at the main. It’s like gambling with money you don’t have. There’s
been a bunch of stuff we’ve found during demolition that I won’t mention here,
but you can hear about it on my upcoming album, “Dead Things I’ve Found”.
Zoe:
It's going to be a really good album. My imagination could run wild wondering
what has taken place in this home and it certainly did on our first tour of the
grounds. I found it fun to piece together oddities of the home like a
window within the house and the narrow, winding stairs within a closet
that we couldn't find for quite some time and mail with Eisenhower
stamps. Walking through a home built in 1890 can fuel your curiosity on all the
changes that have taken place with the past owners.
Mike: How have you felt in your short time during
Hamlin Park?
Tom:
I dig it. It’s a nice little community we’ve all seemed to stumble upon
here. There are lots of families and homesteaders on the
block. Sometimes I feel I do more beer drinking than housework, but that’s
important too. There’s even a little seriousness to that statement.
It’s great we have a network of people just to keep an eye out on our places,
and it’s proved to make the whole project more fun. Last night it took me
four hours to mow the lawn because I was just hanging out with the
neighbors. Mike, you were there.
Zoe: Is
this a trap, Mike? Just another area that we completely lucked out on. I hope
the homesteading program continues to draw in buyers and they are all fortunate
enough to create these beautiful, collaborative relationships with their
neighbors.
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| Here's a shot before any work has begun for comparison with everything is done |
Mike:
What do you envision for improvements on the
street?
Tom:
More trees would always be nice. Just fixing the sidewalk where it’s busted and
picking up the trash. It’s the little things that make a difference, like
broken windows theory. A lot of the places on our block look great. There’s
a few not so great, but I think the neighborhood will fill in…Maybe someone
will even start a garden on those lots next to my house… As for right now, I’m
happy to have a home, a nearby the subway, and some eateries/stores
nearby. I do envision some investment on Jefferson and Delavan. I
think we all agree it’d be awesome to have some restaurants and shops nearby,
so here’s hoping.
Zoe: It
is just the little stuff. I find myself wanting to work on my house and
everyone else's all at the same time. I grew up in a neighborhood where
there was a collection of helpful neighbors all assisting with each other, so I
would like to continue that and I am very excited to be connected with a
neighborhood and tax-payer association that is so involved in caring for this
area. I think trees and gardens make a huge difference in environment and of
course a variety of healthy and positive restaurants and shops would be a
tremendous perk.
Mike:
Are we ditching the siding for that
wonderful clapboard below? What about that porch too?
Tom:
Ha, ha, ha. Actually Mike, I will give you some credit. It’s gone
from a hell no to a maybe. I’m not a huge fan of the siding, but it will
have to do for now. It is a good insulator after all. As for the porch,
well, it obviously needs a lot of work. We’re probably going to just
start over. Zoe just suggested we do a wraparound country porch all the
way around the side. That would be awesome, but far into the future.
Zoe: I'd love to
see an old photo! I'm a little afraid to see what is under that siding and also
afraid to remove it, but I'm open to ideas and am excited to play around with
the porch and railings. I love a good porch.
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