'Convinced it was haunted.' Sisters from Orleans turn neighborhood eyesore into new homes

EAST ORLEANS — Over the past 20 years, a small, centuries-old house at 82 Monument Road had devolved into an eyesore.

Creeping vines and branches engulfed the 1845-built two-story home clad in wooden siding. The roof was sagging, and the inside was punctured with holes.

“Growing up, I was convinced it was haunted,” said Jess Kimball, a 25-year-old boat captain who lived across from the house with her family.

The Mayos — a family with ancestors aboard the Mayflower — once lived at the house, but Alice Mayo, the last owner, died around 2002. Jess and her sister, Sarah Kimball, 27, had been waiting for something to happen since, but never expected to revive the property themselves.

Today, the 1.7 acres dubbed “Area 82” is the sisters' —and Sarah’s husband Casey Furnas’ —unlikely ticket to staying on Cape Cod.

Buying an abandoned house

In 2020, the Kimball family bought the crumbling house for $200,000 from the owners, who gave them the right of first refusal due to the close relationship the two families had forged over the years.

An excavator from Eastham’s Brundage Site Work chewed away the house earlier this month to make way for two new buildings: one 1,680-square-foot three-bedroom ranch where Sarah Kimball and Furnas, both 27, will live and a 795-square-foot accessory one-bedroom dwelling unit for Jess Kimball.

The sisters’ parents will still live across the street.

By Friday afternoon, the lot was cleared and construction workers were inside two sprawling 6-foot-deep holes that will become the new homes, putting together the forms for the foundation footings.

The project will be run by Furnas, who works as a project engineer for custom-building company LaBarge Homes in Harwich. Orleans-based engineering firm Ryder & Wilcox, McKenzie Engineering Consultants of Brewster, and J.M. O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. of Brewster are also behind the project.

“Find good people, find local people because that’s what ended up working for us,” said Furnas as advice for others wanting to embark on a similar project. “We’re keeping it all local.”

Young people staying on Cape Cod

Sarah Kimball, who works as an analyst for a nautical software company, said the house could have wound up in the hands of a general contractor who would build “the biggest house possible and then sell it for a couple million dollars.”

“I personally never thought I’d own something here,” she said. “Growing up here and watching the prices go up, I thought eventually I’m going to have to leave.”

Amid an airtight housing market and soaring prices, young people on Cape Cod and in Massachusetts are struggling to find inexpensive housing and instead are looking elsewhere, said Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Ed Augustus.

The state has lost about 110,000 residents since the COVID-19 pandemic began, he said, mostly aged between 26 to 35.

“In many cases, we’ve invested a lot as a state – K-12 education, public higher education. They graduate, they’re ready to start their careers, and be productive…and they’re finding that they’re having to spend 40, 50% of their income on housing,” said Augustus. “We’re losing those people.”

The lack of housing has, in part, pushed the younger generation off the peninsula. Barnstable County’s median age of 53.9 is 14.3 years older than the state’s, according to data from the Cape Cod Commission.

Stripping the house down

Plans for Area 82 were on hold for 12 months due to the town’s demolition delay bylaw, which allows for a yearlong pause on demolition permits if the property is on the historic inventory, earlier than 1920, or deemed significant by the historical commission.

They also got stamped plans from an architect and a contract with a builder. After some trial and error, Sarah Kimball said they also secured a construction loan from Cape Cod 5, which offers one-step financing for the building of a new home. Payments are interest-only for the construction period and then convert to a standard fixed or adjustable rate mortgage, according to its website.

The house was irreparable, said Furnas. To meet today’s building codes, a renovation would require redoing essentially down to the stone slab foundation, he said.

As they stripped the house for demolition, Jess Kimball rescued salvageable wood, including one especially beloved floorboard she has nicknamed “Big Bertha” and plans to use for her new home. Also discovered was a 150-year-old table in perfect condition, magazines and newspapers from the early 1900s, fine china, and a record player that appeared to still work.

Documenting the journey

The houses are expected to be complete by February 2025, Furnas estimated.

An Instagram account set up to record the project has attracted at least 563 followers. Neighbors down the street have commented their excitement to finally see something happen to the long-vacant property, while others posted words of encouragement or advice.

Recently, someone recognized the Kimball sisters while they were out, asking, “Are you the sisters building a house?”

“And I was just so stoked because they have young kids in the community…I just hope we can inspire them to not have to leave unless they want to leave,” said Sarah Kimball. “I just don’t feel like people should have to do anything unless they want to. So many people seem to have to leave now.”

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Orleans sisters stay on Cape by turning 'haunted house' into new homes