A piece of the past
Have a Historic Listing?

This site can help you to tap into the historic-homes niche and learn about preserving your community.

REVIEWED BY KELLY QUIGLEY

National Trust for Historic Preservation

If you work in a community with older housing stock, and especially if you’re looking to develop a historic-homes niche, it’s a good idea to become knowledgeable about historic preservation and the issues unique to older homes. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Web site is the perfect vehicle to help you reach that goal. Learn about ways to protect historic properties, access listings of historic homes, and find out how you can get involved in local efforts to keep your town’s heritage intact. Here are some of the site’s helpful features:

• Buying and Selling a Historic Home. Find all the resources you need for clients who are looking to buy or sell a historic home, including Historic Properties for Sale from around the country; the ads come from the classifieds section of Preservation, the magazine of the National Trust and are updated every two months. You also can find a list of Distressed Properties that are for sale at a greatly reduced price, or learn about the Historic Real Estate Program that the National Trust offers in conjunction with ERA Franchise Systems Inc. to teach real estate professionals about history of major American architectural styles, conservation easements, historic preservation regulations, and tax incentives.
  
• Protecting a Historic Home. How can your clients make sure that the historic home they buy won’t be torn down by a future owner? Find out about Preservation Easements, considered to be one of the most effective legal tools to protect historic properties. There’s also information on Historic Homeowners Insurance, which goes beyond the average homeowners’ insurance policy to cover features like raised-panel wainscoting, hand-hewn true dimensional lumber, or fanlight windows.
  
• How Can I Help Preserve? Becoming a preservationist doesn't require learning esoteric vocabulary or suffering through boring lectures. According to this Web site, fun, everyday activities can help protect America’s heritage. For example, by shopping on your town’s “Main Street” rather than the regional mall, you can enjoy local architecture and support the merchants who are vital to the community. Or stay at one of the Historic Hotels of America on your next vacation or business trip.
  
• 11 Most Endangered Places. This list is one of the National Trust’s most effective tools in the fight to save irreplaceable architectural, cultural, and natural heritage. The 11 sites chosen each year are threatened by neglect, insufficient funds, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy. Find out if a place in your region made the 2004 Most Endangered Listor check out the State Lists, where you can read “most endangered” lists created by state and local organizations.

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REALTOR® Magazine Online's Web review editor surfs the Internet to find sites useful to your business and off-hours lives. Have a favorite real estate Web site that you would like to see reviewed? Send your suggestions to mediatech@realtors.org.

Please note: this column does not review individual practitioner or brokerage sites. The columns focus on free sites, as well as sites that charge for goods and services but still offer a free component of practical, sustained value to real estate practitioners.
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REALTOR® Magazine Online's "Web Review" summarizes the content of Web sites that may be of interest to members. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online are not responsible for, and nothing in the Web site profile shall constitute NAR's or REALTOR® Magazine Online's endorsement of, the web site, its content, products and services, or its provider. NAR and REALTOR® Magazine Online believe the information contained in this profile was correct and accurate as of the time it was prepared, but do not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of that information and are not responsible for changes in the Web site. Members should conduct their own independent review of the Web site prior to any use of Web site, its content, products, or services to determine their suitability for the member's intended purpose.

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