Home Improvement tax question. Any Obama Bucks floating out there?

[3d]

Home Improvement tax question. Any Obama Bucks floating out there?

My parents will be contracting out some repair work on their home (mortgage free) in Brooklyn NY. Extensive exterior brick replacement. And new brick front stoop (3 steps). The best quote they got is $25,000. They are now looking at brick choices and maybe some fancy cornice(?) stones/decorative stone pieces on the edges...

My question to anyone familiar with this stuff is...
Are there any tax rebates or deductions or government programs out there now that would be of help to them? In other words, Obama Bucks

There seems to be some new program for everything nowadays like gas guzzlers, energy efficient windows, solar panels, first time home buyers, etc... there MUST be something out there that would help my parents. Any ideas? Or leads? Or websites with info?

[mrbigstuff]

If your parents are retired and on a fixed (lower) income there could be a local program (operated by the local government) that would offer them a low-interest/no-interest loan to improve their home. Typically, these programs help poorer folks who need to make the basic improvements required by building code/sanitary code to their homes; the programs are not meant to make luxury improvements.

Where are they living? Can you call the local government for them? No loans or grants would be done outside of the local jurisdiction, unless you were talking about a large scale development. PM me if you want more specific info.

[3d]

My parents are both retired. Living in BayRidge Brooklyn, New York. They're on a fixed income,, but to be completely honest, they're not exactly "poor".

They're repairing the existing brick facade which has developed some scary looking cracks over the years. No extension of the house or "luxury" improvements. They are EXTREMELY frugal. We had to talk them into making these repairs after seeing some news stories of buildings crumbling in NYC from poor maintenance.

I have this general number for NYC.gov Tax Commission but I'm completely in the dark here... what terms do I even ask about?

http://www.nyc.gov/html/taxcomm/html/con...tact.shtml

At this point I'm just asking... My parents are replacing the existing brick facade of their home are there any programs or tax deductions I should be aware of?

They have this friend of a friend who casually mentioned to them that there is some sort of program to help with costs because they are stimulating the economy with this work. Or something like that. This guy's English was pretty bad. Does anything like that ring a bell to anyone?

**Edit**
This will be paid for in cash. So loan programs will not be needed. But any leads will still be appreciated!

[cbelt3]

Tax rebates exist on insulation, windows, energy savings. New brick with some internal insulation *may* apply. Energy savings grants may exist in NYC, but....

Be cautious. there are a LOT of scams out there claiming to give you 'stimulus money' but, like usual, they're too good to be true.

[3d]

cbelt,
Ahh.. "Energy Savings Grant". That sounds nice and juicy. It's keywords like those that I'm looking for when I call them so I don't sound like a complete N00B and get the brush off. Thanks!

That front room of theirs *IS* pretty chilly and drafty in the winter. They most defintely will be upgrading the insulation in that part of the house.

That friend of a friend (of my parents) mentioned that there was something about "stimulating the economy" with this contracted work which qualifies for something something.... I've been Googling for an hour with no leads.

[cbelt3]

Start at their local chamber of commerce and senior center. Most of these organizations have resources to help.

[Grateful11]

We're converting our one car attached garage into a handicap accessible
room for my son can will we be able to get any tax credits for that?
They're pouring the concrete and ramp as I write this to bring it up to the
level of the rest of the house.

[mrbigstuff]

There is a LOT of bogus information regarding the stimulus funding, so I would not put any weight into what a "friend of a friend" said regarding stimulus funds.

Call the local government office. In Brooklyn, it may mean calling the borough office of Neighborhood Development. This is not the exact place that you want but they should be able to direct you to "homeowner improvements" or something of the like.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/neighborhood/bid.shtml

In general, they are probably on their own, there are no "stimulus funding" grant for fixing your house but there may be some loans available.

[mrbigstuff]

Grateful11 wrote:
We're converting our one car attached garage into a handicap accessible
room for my son can will we be able to get any tax credits for that?
They're pouring the concrete and ramp as I write this to bring it up to the
level of the rest of the house.

Talk to the local, county or state department of community/neighborhood development. In general, this sort of help is loan-based, and sometimes forgivable if you live in the house for a set period of time, say 10 years. Very rarely will there be a grant for such a thing - unless it comes from a rich uncle.

[mrbigstuff]

3d,

this is probably a better link:
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/about...ices.shtml

http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/about/faqs.shtml#fix

the best link:

http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/owners/hip.shtml