ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Even in a well-maintained Rochester neighborhood, the recently renovated home at 172 Magee Avenue stands out, but it wasn't always pretty.

"This was an eyesore," Greater Rochester Housing Partnership president Jean Lowe said. "This was a property that stood out if you looked down the street."

The Greater Rochester Housing Partnership bought the house in 2015 as part of its HOME Rochester program.

It's already on the market.

"We buy vacant and distressed properties," Lowe said. "We renovate those properties and we sell them to first-time home buyers."

Gov. Cuomo announced $22 million for a new Neighborhood Revitalization Program Tuesday.

It will subsidize and finance the purchase and renovation of up to 500 foreclosed and abandoned homes across the state.

In the Finger Lakes region, HOME Rochester will take the lead.

"They came and they saw what we were doing," Lowe said. "They recognized the value of what we were doing and they were flexible enough that they could manipulate the program a little bit so it fits into what we were already doing."

The grant money is part of a larger plan to combat the zombie property crisis in New York.

Zombie homes happen when the bank starts a foreclosure process but never finishes, essentially leaving the property without an owner.

"It would be terrific to able to move this quickly," Lowe said. "True zombies don't move this quickly."

Partnership President Jean Lowe believes 172 Magee never fell into that foreclosure limbo because it had federal mortgage insurance.

"The bank knows that if it takes title to the property, it can then turn the property over to HUD and HUD will make good on the property insurance," Lowe said. "It will pay the bank."

She believes, with the extra funding from the state, banks will move faster to get other properties back on the market, even without mortgage insurance.

"When banks know that something's going to happen to the property, they're more willing to get involved," Lowe said. "When they can see the outcome, when they can see the impact on the neighborhood, they're more willing to get involved."