SUMMARY: This is an expansion on a column that was originally published in the Beacon-Villager newspaper in 2010, the first year I was writing for the paper. Some content has been removed. What has been added is a description of the typical expenses for maintaining an old house, and how keeping records of those may save capital gains taxes when a primary residence home is sold.
The deed does not specify whether there was a house on the property at the time of the sale to Brooks, but Amory Maynard and his son Lorenzo owned other lots on Maple Street at the time. It is likely they were building and selling houses in addition to owning and operating the woolwn mill. In support of this theory, most of the houses on Maple Street and Maple Court have a similar architecture, indicating they were built at about the same time.
The property owners:
Before 1870 A&L Maynard Co.
1870-1879 Charles G. Brooks
1879-1896 Alexander and Elizabeth Greer
1896-1924 Mary Hanna
1924-1926 Charles T. Partridge
1926-1953 William and Carrie Barlow
1953-1987 Thomas and Blanche Marsden
1988-2000 Craig and Tresa Jones
2000-present David Mark and Jean D’Amico
The Barlows or Marsdens were most likely responsible for converting a front porch to a room on a concrete slab, for extending the kitchen, and for adding a downstairs bathroom and a screened-in back porch. We removed the cramped second floor bathroom and attic space over the kitchen and converted that into a full-size bathroom plus a walk-in closet with clothes washer/dryer.
The property also includes a 25x40 foot, two-story barn, with what was a stall for one horse. Construction date unknown. A good guess would be that Brooks or Greer kept a horse and wagon to haul freight to and from the railroad. The other back corner was a chicken coop.
EXPENSES 2000-2026
An internet search on expected annual maintenance and repair costs yields several websites with wording along the lines of "A common rule of thumb for home maintenance is to budget 1-2% of your home's purchase price annually for repairs and upkeep for a relatively new house, and 3-4% per year for an older house; this, to cover both routine maintenance and unexpected failures. Major remodeling of kitchen, bathrooms, etc. would be extra."
'Expected, unexpected and extra' turned out to be an underestimate of our experiences. A pre-purchase inspection in 2000 stated that the barn's sills were rotten, and the wiring knob-and-tube so inadequate that the home insurer refused to cover the barn. The former required the barn to be jacked up for sill replacement. Rewiring included an upgrade for power for an electric pottery kiln. In time, the chicken coop became an insulated and heated pottery studio, five windows replaced, a leaking roof reshingled, exterior painted, and dealing with carpenter ants.
Housewise, the aforementioned house second floor addition, roof reshingled, exterior painted twice, interior once, eleven windows replaced, wiring brought up to code, kitchen and downstairs half-bath remodeled, driveway widened and repaved, walkways replaced. Appliance-wise, refrigerator/freezer once, stove once, dishwasher twice, clothes washer/dryer twice, furnace twice, hot water heater twice.
When it comes time to sell a house, keeping a record of expenses can save a bundle on capital gains taxes. See www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf for all the itty-bitty details. Simplified - if you and your spouse file taxes jointly and sell the house, a $500,000 profit is exempt from federal and state capital gains taxes. If you spouse dies and you sell within two years, same exempt. If you are single for more than two years prior to selling your house, only $250,000 is exempt. As to where that might matter - Maynard, not so much yet. Over 25 years the median sale price increased from $225,000 to $600,000. For Sudbury, $500,000 to $1,115,000 so capital gains could apply.
Those dollar triggers for taxing profits were set in 1997 and were not indexed for inflation. However, there is a bill before Congress, the "More Homes on the Market Act", which proposed that the triggering profit values be doubled. This is separate from legislation recently passed in the House and Senate and forwarded to the President for signing, as that bill is designed to promote new housing construction.
As for all that record keeping, sale price minus purchase price equals capital gains, but from that - according to page 10 - can be subtracted cost of additions to the house, fencing, landscaping, new windows, roof replacement, siding, insulation, bringing wiring up to code, kitchen or bathroom remodeling, etc. But not exterior or interior painting or replacing appliances. Best to maintain a folder of invoices for all major work.
