Old Blog Posts Reposted – Page 5

Fugly Pop-ups for Sale

I have a theory, ugly is a big enough negative to negate any investment in increasing square footage. The reason behind my theory is that the ugly 2000 sq ft house is competing against the nicer looking 2000 sq ft house, not the surrounding nicer looking 1000 sq ft houses. There are two examples.

First is 26 P St NE. If you notice on the Redfin site the complete ugly of it is not revealed. I noticed the exterior photo stops so you don’t really see the 3 story popup that the builders threw up on it. The asking price is $799K. I say it is worth $400K on a good day and that’s just thinking about how much it is going to cost to hire an architect who can design something that can redeem the property. This has been on the market for nearly a month. I’m guessing it’s going to be a long time and several price reductions before this monstrosity sells.

Is next, and the best proof of my theory, 1522 3rd St. NW.

This puppy has been pretty empty of real tenants for years. That pop up has been on top of that house for at least 3 years if not more. Check out the link above and scroll down to the property history and the number of times it was bought and sold over and over again. It looks fishy, but that’s the bank’s problem. As I can remember it was never sold to real people, just investors. Also not how the price keeps going down. It began as $349K, then delisted and relisted at $335K, and since then has been slowly going down and is now at $245K.

Let me say that the 1500 block of 3rd St is awesome, minus the feral children at the corner of Bates and 3rd. There are a great set of involved neighbors and somewhere over there I think is where ANC Anita Bonds resides. If the house gets down to say $220K, buy it, redo the popup (move it to the rear, turn it into a covered roof deck, tear it off) and if you plan to stick around for 5-7 years it would be totally worth it.

Monday Ramblings

I must say I love, love, love the Bloomingdale Farmer’s Market. I ran into my ex-roommate who, though lives 2 blocks from me now, I lost contact with. Reunions, yay! Also Painted Hand had bunny rabbit. Add a sticky-bun and a apple danish, good times.

Since I’m in the general area, congrats to the Big Bear for being in a commercial for a cable company and NBC Universal (YouTube). Yes, BBC you are a beautiful indy coffee shop and would make a lovely filming location.

This weekend a family began moving off the block, and I was told it was the schools that did it. We’ll miss this family as the mom threw some pretty great neighborhood parties. There was the one they held in the middle of the snowstorm, and one where the back gate was opened and the party got extended down the alley with small children running up and down. Add to this with another family with small and very socialable kids who are also planning on moving this year, our little section of the neighborhood is going to lose some of its character. The good kind of character and I hope whomever takes their place will add to the awesomeness of the block, or at least someone else fill the spot of “cruise director”.

Lastly, let’s talk sibling rivalry, that is Thai X-ing vs Beau Thai. I like Beau Thai’s Pad Thai better than Thai Xing’s Pad Thai. However, I like Thai X-ing’s Panang a tad bit better than Beau Thai’s, mainly because there are some odd veggies thown in (last time I had the Panang Tofu) the Thai X-ing version. Beau Thai’s Panang is good, the sauce is good and thick and hangs on to the rice. As a left over for lunch I liked it even more.

Wedding related post

Well some of you have asked how the wedding planning is going. It’s going. Because, according to the glossy Washington Post Wedding Planner dohicky that IT so nicely loaned me, we started late and there is the whole list of to-dos. I’m seeing why eloping to Vegas appears as an attractive option. So far, for the DC wedding (there will be an insanely sane and simple ceremony in CA for his parents) looks like it maybe all in Shaw, because it’s going to be in winter, I don’t feel like trudging to Maryland afterwards, and well, it is the cheapest option so far.

I am thinking it would be nice to make the ceremony a way to introduce The Help to the community, as we are going to make Shaw our home. But the main goal is to keep the thing as cheap and simple as possible because once it is over, we’ve got to deal with some house repairs that are long overdue. I’m really more interested in refilling the house repair coffers than fulfilling some princess for a day fantasy that costs as much as a new roof. I don’t want a photographer who costs more than it did to replace my stairs and walkway with slate. Seriously, slate stair and walkway, $1,600 that’s materials and labor, starting price for some photographers, $3000.

Anyway, regardless what we do or don’t do in DC, The Help will be moving from PG Co to DC and is looking forward to becoming part of the Shaw. He’d known me as a friend when I bought the house and has seen how the neighborhood has changed over the years. Snarky suburban comments that he used to fling have given way to hope of getting to know neighbors better and cleaning up the streets.

Now imagine it with chairs

Well after work, went to Beau Thai at 1700 New Jersey Avenue NW and had me some Pad Thai. I’m full. It was good.
If you have an early menu the phone number is wrong. It seems the phone number is 205-377-5329. I asked about that 205 bit, but apparently it’s 205 and not 202. 202-536-5636
Any way, pad thai.
and
The food came fast as she’s got a couple of people in the kitchen, so she differs from her brother Taw (Thai X-ing) in that way. When asked about him, she mentions that he doesn’t have delivery but she hopes to do delivery soon.

Beau Thai Now Open

It’s open. R & NJ Ave NW.
Yay!

Just Call the Cops

This weekend I was awoken at 3 in the morning by loud obnoxious drunks who were on the alley side of whichever house they were partying at. Now I went into my back yard to try to tell where exactly the noise was coming from so I could call 911 and tell them which house they need to go to. I like to be accurate and since it is a small alley and a tree blocks my line of sight, so I couldn’t tell if it was from the house with the tiny deck or the roof deck house.

On other blogs in comments people suggest going to the neighbor causing the noise and respectfully asking them to turn it down. Reflecting on my actions that night, calling 911 and not engaging with the noisemakers would have been the least risky (to my health and safety) option. Mainly because the phrase, ‘I walked alone down a dark alley at 3am, in a bathrobe armed with only an umbrella to talk to an unknown number of drunks yelling profanities and ethnic slurs’, seems to be a really bad idea. I would have been armed with a pick-ax if the one I had was near the umbrellas. It was 3am, I don’t think straight at that hour. And to give most of that crowd credit they acknowledged that they were loud and needed to be quiet and one guy apologized. However, another guy screamed he was going to “kill your neighbor.” Twice. And this boys and girls is the reason why you just call the cops. Even if it was in jest, it was still a death threat.

There are situations where I do talk to (or text or call) some of my neighbors when any of their gatherings get a little loud and interferes with my desire to go to sleep. It’s when I know the neighbors already, desire to maintain good relations and know that they are reasonable people. There are neighbors who have exhibited bad behavior in the past and confronting them is just asking to make a bad situation worse. Another thing is if I’m already dressed for bed and don’t feel like putting on a robe, shoes, and depending on the weather, a coat I’m more likely to use the phone to resolve my problem. If I have the neighbor’s number, I call or text them. If I don’t, I’ll call the cops.

Beau Thai- Definitely Monday

I saw some movement in Beau Thai on the way back home. I got excited. excited for nothing and yes, guy from the city, I’m blaming you. Guy from the City was excited that we in the neighborhood are all excited but he blames the hold up on some office closing 3 minutes early. So he says, “Definitely, Monday.”

The owner, she did not look happy. She looked seriously unhappy.

She’s got a bunch of food she can’t serve because well, it would have helped if Guy from the City had shown up Thursday and gotten her a Certificate of Occupancy or what ever his magic seal of approval. He knows we’re all blaming him, but you know the process of what it takes to open a business in DC is cloudy from the standpoint of a citizen. We don’t know what all the hoops and hurdles are that stop a business that we’re starving for, from opening because one of the city offices closed shop early on a Friday.

So, we’ll see, Monday.

Have you paid your property taxes?

This morning I found in today’s Washington Post the big list of District properties that have failed to pay their property taxes. Check the list here (PDF) to make sure your mortgage company actually paid your taxes. One year I noticed a neighbor’s property was listed, mentioned it to him and it seemed to be a snafu on his mortgage company’s part.

Now let me head off the usual questions I get regarding the tax sale with telling you what little I know based on my own limited experience and 2nd hand experiences of others who did more follow through.

1. You just can’t go to a tax sale and buy a house. All you are buying is the tax lien that gives you the right to foreclose.

2. There is a time limit of when you can and cannot foreclose. The owner has so much time of when they can pay the lien and you’d have to foreclose by a certain time. The details of this I’m fuzzy on.

3. If you foreclose it does not give you a free and clear title. If there is a $300K loan on the property, the bank still has a claim, then there is everyone else with a lein on the property, and any others that would challenge the new ownership. You are responsible for the title search.

4. If you’re only interested in the interest, as most property owners pay the tax bill, with interest, keep in mind that the amounts listed are the starting points. You will only earn interest, which last I heard was a sweeet 18%, on the amount listed. If you bid, and most likely you will, over the amount, that extra earns no interest. So get out your spreadsheets factor in actual interest earned, minus $150 Tax Sale Fee the District charges you, and decide before you go what amount you’ll stop at.

5. The tax sale is filled with idiots who think they’re bidding on a house. They will jack up the bids and make the interest you’d earn pointless. But considering I’m only earning 1% at my bank on a good day, it takes a lot to reach pointless.

6. Before you bid you need at least 20% deposited with the DC Treasurer’s Office. Failure to have that will nullify your bid.

Since every single cent I have is going to the weddings, and after that some overdelayed home fixin’, I won’t be participating in the tax sale. If I were, I’d aim for unimproved land and parking spots in condos in neighborhoods where parking doesn’t exist.

Beau Thai Maybe Thursday, Maybe Friday, We’ll see

I ran into the owner of Beau Thai after work. She was waiting for the C of something, I gather the person is the last ok from the city to go ahead and start serving us food.
Anyway I asked for a menu. We’ll see how Mr. Scanner is acting later tonight. Hopefully the last inspector will bother to show up this evening and give the go ahead. If he doesn’t show up today, then tomorrow, pushing the opening back to Friday.
The menu has two different prices for lunch and dinner one dish meals and entrees. I remember when Thai X-ing opened the lunch service went away due to a lack of people to support it. Anyway it’s got some usual favs, Pad Thai, Satay, Panang Curry, Red & Green Curries, Larb Gai, and spring rolls. Appetizers run between $5 and$ 6, one dish meals $8 or $10 and entrees $9 or $11.

Wedding planning and Shaw

I’d like to announce the engagement of Ms. InShaw (me) to the guy known as The Help. So postings may get a little light as I get distracted with trying to plan two low-cost weddings on two opposite sides of the country.

One of the challenges I’m dealing with is finding a location that has all the things I want that won’t mess up the miniscule budget we have. One of those desires is to have a reception in Shaw, if not Shaw Mt. Vernon Square, if not MVSq, NW/NE DC and if not NW/NE DC, PG County… near a metro. I’ve asked friends and brainstormed with a friend who is also trying to plan an event for him and his partner. But with the budget the way it is, another friend’s suggestion of the church basement, an ipod, and a box of doughnuts is looking pretty good.

When looking for places or thinking about places I get a lot of inspiration from the Off-Beat Bride site, which had me considering art galleries, small museums and theaters, but in the brainstorming session I discovered they were outta my price range. Since most of my family members are Baptists, it’s more than likely going to be a dry reception so that opens up other places to me like schools, government owned buildings (think National Park Service and Maryland-National Park & Planning Commission opeated buildings), spaces run by non-profits and other organizations, churches with facilities better than my default location, and Shaw is chock full of churches. Shaw is also chock full of empty storefronts which is another idea, but the cost savings might be lost when renting or buying tables, chairs, plates, linens and insurance are factored in.

We’re still trying to price out other things but worst comes to worst, church basement, ipod, and we’ll splurge for cupcakes instead of the doughnuts.