Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A home on Allen Street in Bangor that has been left to rot for more than a decade is about to be given a new life.
Ernie Clark, owner of Brewer-based Clarks Carpentry Inc., bought 45 Allen St. for just shy of $55,000 last month. Built in 1945, the 1,360-square-foot house sits on a corner lot in a quiet neighborhood just off Hammond Street near Bangor’s Hayford Park.
Clark plans to rehabilitate the home and put it on the market at a price a family can afford. That won’t be easy, considering the home’s extreme damage due to years of neglect.
The two-bedroom house is one of more than 70 placarded properties across Bangor, meaning the city has deemed it unfit for habitation due to a lack of utilities, fire damage, structural damage, leaky pipes, faulty electrical systems or sanitation shortcomings.
Clark’s plan is one example of the opportunity — and the risk — those properties present, especially at a time when the region and state desperately need more viable housing. While long-forgotten homes can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a new build, they could require significant work from a professional before they can be lived in.
“It’s in pretty bad shape and most people would tear it down because they don’t want to go through the aggravation,” Clark said of his new Allen Street property. “I’ve been in construction for long enough that I can look at it and say it isn’t that bad. I’m not afraid of it.”
Two dormers on the second floor will need to be rebuilt entirely after “basketball-sized” holes in the roof led to severe water damage, exemplified by the sagging roof and wood that crumbles when touched. Clark mistakenly stepped through the roof while covering the holes with tarps to prevent further deterioration, he said.
Aside from significant structural repair, the home needs to be completely rewired and get an entirely new heating system, as the existing furnace “looks like it came over on the Mayflower,” Clark said.
Like a time capsule, the home holds elements hinting at its former life and the family that once lived there. Remarkably vivid wallpaper still covers the kitchen walls, and magnets and newspaper clippings still hang on the refrigerator door. There’s even a wooden rocking chair sitting in the living room.
“The inside was beautiful at one time,” Clark said.
Clark grew up on the west side of Bangor and had dreams of bringing the home back to life as he watched it deteriorate for years, he said. Because of this, he wants to maintain the home’s original style and layout.
The city took possession of the property due to unpaid tax liens on Nov. 27, 2023. It wasn’t until late May 2026 that personal property, trash and an abandoned vehicle were removed and it was put on the market, according to city records.
The city initially sold 45 Allen St. to Rent 207 Properties LLC for $60,000 in July, tax documents show. The house is one of eight tax-acquired properties the city has sold in the last year, according to David Warren, spokesperson for the city.
At the time, the property was valued at $62,600 and had been placarded since August 2016, according to lists city staff maintain of the dozens of vacant and derelict properties throughout Bangor.
The first buyer bought it without being able to see inside, as the city had boarded it up, and was overwhelmed by the extreme damage waiting for him, Clark said.
The house was back on the market just weeks later, Zillow records show. That’s when Clark — who initially tried to buy the home from the city — scooped it up.
The act of restoring previously unusable homes, even if it takes time, helps meet the region’s housing needs, said Anne Krieg, Bangor’s community and economic development director. That’s because Bangor needs more housing at all levels, but many buyers aren’t willing or able to fix up these long-forgotten properties.
“If there’s somebody willing to come in and fix it up, then there’s a buyer that says, ‘Great, I can move right in,’ it works out great for everybody,” Krieg said.
While Clark is eager to start the project and restore a home in a desirable Bangor neighborhood, he said the project likely won’t start for several months and will take time to complete.
“I don’t flip homes — I fix them up and I sell them and try to give somebody a decent product,” he said. “People work hard for their money — I know I do — and I don’t want to spend $250,000 or $350,000 on something and have to worry about whether they bubble gummed it together.”
Until now, Clark’s company has built homes primarily from the ground up and hasn’t done much work in Bangor, but he’d like to perform more rehabilitation work on long-neglected properties. He sees this project as his test for whether he can continue this type of work while still making enough of a profit, he said.
“The bottom line is to give somebody something that hopefully they can afford and is going to work for them,” he said.