Approximately 20 Capital region volunteers, Lansing Community College (LCC) design students and Michigan State University (MSU) design students got together and spruced up four Lansing Greater Lansing House Coalition (GLHC) houses to make them more attractive to potential homebuyers.
The program, called Creative Cents, gives two teams the opportunity to design two rooms in two houses. The GLHC provides $300 each for each design. The houses are located at 547, 545, 809 and 847 Baker St. GLHC's Amy Rose Wallace-Robinson says the goal of the project was to renew interest in the properties, one of which has been on the market for three 
years.
“This may be a way to revive interest in these homes again,” she says. “To carry on all the costs affiliated with holding a property is unreal.”
The Creative Cents concept is borrowed from an Indiana-based concept in which entire houses are designed to encourage sales. The GLHC didn’t have the money to design every house in its entirety, but did redesign the 547 office/guest room/study; the 545 master suite; the 809 living room; and the 847 dining room/kitchen.
The GLHC approved the designs before giving the teams design money. The teams worked on the designs through September and presented them Oct. 1.
“Really, this little idea that we thought would be a helpful and fun way to get to know people, blossomed into this mega event,” Wallace-Robinson says. “It went off so well. It’s definitely a program we will continue.”
The GLHC rehabbed all of the Baker Street houses before the design project. All of the houses are catered toward moderate–to-low-income families.
Wallace-Robinson says she hopes all four of the homes will sell by Nov. 30, which is the cut off date for the federal government's first-time homebuyer tax credit.
Source: Amy Rose Wallace-Robinson, GLHC
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.