Vine neighborhood looking to spruce up with ‘Winter Open House’

Josh Holderbaum
Western Herald

Anyone looking to buy, rent or renovate a home in the Vine Neighborhood will soon be able to learn everything they need about first‑time home buying, tax credits and mortgage availability.
The Vine Neighborhood Association’s Vine Winter Open House will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 7 in the Kalamazoo Public Schools Dual Language School gymnasium at 604 W. Vine St.
“It’s a good time to buy a house and a great time to have an open house,” Pat McCarthy, marketing director for the Vine Neighborhood Association, said. “We wanted to bring in all the programs to help people buy, fix or rent up houses in the neighborhood.”

Information on Historic District tax credits from the Michigan State Preservation Office, the First‑Time Home Buyer Tax Credit and Vine Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) tax credit will be available to attendees.

“When we bought our house, we paid for severe structural work on it,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t pay taxes on it for five years and got $1,000 to $2,000 back every year. Between the Historic District tax credit and the NEZ, you can save a lot of money.”

Because the majority of the Vine Neighborhood is a Historic District, repair work to the outside of houses in the District that fits the State’s historical guidelines earns the owner a 25 percent tax credit.

Anyone who buys a house within a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone receives 30 percent off their city and county taxes for five years.

A presentation on available housing by Jon Schwendener, realtor for Echo Realty, will also take place. Additionally, information on first‑time home buying will be available from Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services.

“While our housing market has declined it hasn’t declined like it has in Detroit, Phoenix or Atlanta,” McCarthy said. “Anyone trying to sell one home and buy a new one is in a pretty bad situation, but first‑time buyers have a very easy time in this economy.”

Another portion of the event will deal with the KPS Dual Language School, with information presented by Principal Paul Babladelis, Ph.D.

“We’ve been fighting to get [an elementary school] for 30 years after our first school went under in the 1970s,” McCarthy said. “A school is really one of those neighborhood linchpins: a place where many different people and students can come together. Even though a lot of the kids who go there won’t live in Vine, it will still be a great community center.”

The school teaches a half English‑half Spanish curriculum to students starting in kindergarten.

Information on mortgage availability from Chemical Bank will also be available, as well as information on the Kalamazoo Promise and Downtown Kalamazoo Incorporated.
Refreshments and entertainment including a storyteller and moon jump will also be provided.
Increased interest in the neighborhood would help curtail some of the changes it has seen recently, caused by declining student renting.

“I’ve lived in Vine since 1987 with my kids and I’ve been seeing a lot of change in the neighborhood,” McCarthy said. “There’s all the rental housing over near the university, so there aren’t nearly as many students living in Vine as there were and this neighborhood was built around the university. We’d like to help drive those changes in a positive direction.”

While far fewer students reside in the neighborhood now, McCarthy still thinks it is an ideal place for students to rent.

“Most rental properties mean you have a house–an actual house–with a yard, and it means being in a neighborhood,” McCarthy said. “Students living among a lot of other people who are plugged into the community give them the chance to see things from different perspectives. Plus when they have problems they have someone they can go to who isn’t in the exact same situation as they are.”

To the Neighborhood Association, renters aren’t looked down upon at all.

“We support the people who live here,” McCarthy said. “We see no difference between renters and owners.”

For more information on the Vine Neighborhood, visit www.vineneighborhood.com.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Feb 19 2009. Filed under Housing Guide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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