No down payment, no mortgage, no rent, some repairs needed. Could this be for you?
Curators are being sought out for historic residences in some states that cannot afford their upkeep. You’re going to have to be handy though. Most of the houses are dilapidated and you’re going to have to do the majority of the repairs yourself as well as foot most of the expenses. The biggest down side? You’ll never own it.
The up side? You’ll be living in a remarkable historic house that you personally restored, that you likely would never have otherwise been able to afford, and there’s a good chance, it would be in a dream location too. Who cares if it’s not really yours?
“We’re people of modest means,” said Darrold Endres, a nursing home administrator who has been living in and restoring an 1860s farmhouse near Boston with his family for 12 years. “We could not afford to live in an incredible spot like this, in a town with wonderful public schools for the girls, if not for the curatorship program.”
Programs like the one in Massachusetts have come about because many state governments own more houses of historical interest than they can afford to maintain, mainly on farms acquired decades ago and converted to parkland. Now a few states have begun turning these properties, along with some of the surrounding land, over to live-in curators, who take on restoration responsibilities in lieu of paying rent or taxes.
(nytimes)
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