Day: October 26, 2005

I was going to wait a while before posting this but the comments in Frozen Tropic’s post got me going.
You know that stupid research project that I’ve been going on and on about? I’m done. Well with the 1880 portion of it, forty more years to go. But I’ve mapped them out and I can say that I know where the black folk lived, where the Irish immigrants lived, where the Germans lived and so on with 90% accuracy. I’ll give 10% that the census taker missed some people, then there is the census taker’s handwriting that made for some confusion and there is this one house I have no idea could have existed.
What does this have to do with gentrification? Well, when speaking of gentrification we tend to take on a belief that a certain neighborhood was always a certain way and this new crop of people moving in is a new thing. It isn’t a new thing, it is a very old thing. One group replaces another group. One group puts their fingerprint on a place, and sometimes that fingerprint lasts, other times it is swept away as if it were never there. Now the middle classes are invading Shaw. Who isn’t to say that in 50 to 100 years that Shaw won’t be a working class refuge?

Well the Post answers the question who the heck is buying those gawd awfully expensive condos. Young wipper snappers in their 20s. Kids, interest only mortgages are bad for you. They’ll give you ulcers. The other problem is they seem based on an idea that you’ll be able to sell at a higher price when the payments balloon. Well if EVERYBODY is selling their luxury condo at the same time, then we get what they call a “buyers market.” A buyers market is what Jimbo is waiting for. Thankfully, it looks like the market is slowing down. It’s been a roller coaster ride and really, if it was going to keep going I was about to get a bout of motion sickness. I look forward to my house not appreciating beyond an amount I could ever dream of borrowing.
My suggestion, have you thought about maybe a house in PG County? Mt. Rainier, you got the Glut, there is that kooky traffic circle on Rt. 1, it’s bike friendly (ride through it all the time) and you can get 3,500 sq feet, a yard worth mowing, and a driveway for about $400K or less. Historic Hyattsville and Historic Riverdale, west of Rt. 1, also good deals, lotta house, Franklin’s nearby, and Rt. 1.

As a native Floridian I believe it is my G-d given right to walk around the house in a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. Well that belief is hitting up against my fear of high gas bills and after much wishing that the house wasn’t as cold as it was, I turned on the heat. The heated floor in the kitchen is on and the main boiler is on. I need to finish installing some weatherproofing measures to keep the cold out for another winter, and I believe some measures will include our friend, duct tape.
Winter, which on record I hate (I tell you seasons are overrated) makes me appreciate the radiators. There is nothing better than grabbing your coat, scarf and gloves that have been sitting on a radiator, putting them on before going outside. It’s that just out-of-the-dryer goodness.