Tax credit helps people who fix historic homes

   Homeowners in Missouri's historic districts who need a new roof but tremble at the cost of replacing original slate or tile roofs with identical materials may be able to get help from the state.

   This summer, thousands more city of St. Louis residents are becoming eligible for the help.

   If the owners follow guidelines established by the Secretary of the Interior's office, they can get a quarter of their costs back from the state in Missouri tax credits. Tax credits are as good as cash, since they can be sold. To get the tax credits, the entire project as reviewed by the state must cost at least half the price the owner paid for the building.

   "I don't think many people know about tax credits but it can make the difference between being able to pay to replace the slate roof or tile or just putting on an asphalt roof," said Susie Gudermuth, owner of a rehabbing company. Over 25 years she has restored her house on Utah Place and more than 30 other buildings within three blocks of it in the Tower Grove Heights National Register District.

   This month she is finishing the rehab of three-story single-family residence at 3611 Utah Place.

   She said that getting $25 back for every $100 she had spent made going to the trouble of applying for the tax credits and complying with the regulations to get approval well worth it.

   The Utah Place job was a gut rehab with historic extras. Gudermuth had carpenters build a new front door using the original's style, replace missing parts in the grand oak staircase, install new flooring and replace missing wooden millwork. The kitchen, bathrooms and many large closets are modern, which is allowed under the historic codes. The promise of tax credits made it easier for her to save a small, early-20th century brick garage.

   "Saving that old garage cost me a lot, but I think it's worth it," she said.

   It's only been four years since Tower Grove Heights National Register District -- better known by its city name of Grand Oak Hill neighborhood --became certified and eligible for state tax credits. The district runs roughly from just east of Grand Boulevard, west to Gustine and from Tower Grove Park south to Arsenal Street.

   Several of her Utah Place neighbors are completing major historic renovations in expectation of earning $25 for every $100 spent in tax credits.

   Most homeowners and small developers sell the tax credits to banks or corporations. "It's real money," she said.

   This summer, thousands more St. Louis residents can seek help with historic rehabbing. The area's largest historic district, the Gravois-Jefferson Streetcar Suburb District, was just certified this summer. It includes the neighborhoods of Benton Park West, Dutchtown and Cherokee Park neighborhood. Most historic buildings in the district can apply for state tax credits.

   Gudermuth thinks many homeowners would learn more about their houses by working with the federal historic guidelines."I have always encouraged people to set high standards," she said.

   The 50 percent requirement -- that the job cost half what the owner paid for the property -- may not require a major rehab job to meet, noted Kristin Zapalac of the State Historic Preservation Office St. Louis staff, a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

   A family who bought a house a couple decades ago and now wants to replace the roof, or remove lowered ceilings and restored wood coffered ceilings, may find the costs are half the price they paid for the house.

   "Some people who have owned their house a long time and wanted to add air-conditioning have done that and gotten the tax credits," she said.

   To get the credit, the homeowner or developer must submit "before" photos of the exteriors and each room interior along with a detailed written rehabilitation plan.

   Zapalac's St. Louis office helps homeowners work within the process. After her office gets the plan it may immediately OK the project. Often some plan modifications are required to met federal guidelines. Then, the homeowner and their contractors decide whether it is worth it to change the plans to get the tax credit.

   Many rehabbers want to convert two-family buildings into single-family homes. That's fine with the guidelines. However, federal guidelines do not allow replacing the duplex's two front doors with one because the facade would no longer tell the house's history.

   If owners want to tear down the wall between the kitchen and dining room for a loft look, they can't get tax credit because informal dining was not the style of the first owners. Only rarely does the department reject the plan completely, she said. Most additions are not covered by the tax credit plan but may be done as a separate project after the first project is completed and tax credit received, she said.

   At the project's completion, the homeowner sends "after pictures" to the St. Louis office.

   "Sometimes people make mistakes and then to get the tax credits, they have to decide if they want to tear it out and fix it or not bother with the tax credits. It's important that they file any amendments as they work or call our office," Zapalac said.