Okay it’s over in MVSQ-land but I’ve seen it listed and it is affordable, so what’s wrong with 481 Ridge St NW? I mean it’s listed for $199,900. Two blocks from the metro. Walking distance to Gallery Place-Chinablock, the Safeway, a bunch of stuff I like.
What is it riddled with termites? Dead bodies under the floorboards? What?
Tag: houses
Back to the drawing board
I’ve told a friend that if you want to get active in this neighborhood there are lots of fights to get involved with. There is the billboard fight, the dog park, the Cook school, and closer to me zoning issues. The poorly painted house is on next weeks’s ANC 5C’s agenda. The owner wants to add a fourth floor. At the last ANC meeting, where he, the owner, wasn’t listed on the agenda, he apparently agreed to keeping the mansard roof. However when appearing before the BZA (Board of Zoning Adjustment) the owner’s drawings had a gabled (think suburban house roof) roof. It will be interesting to see if the owner took the BZA’s recommendations to heart.
Also the Cook School is on the meeting’s agenda as well.
ANC 5C Meeting
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
7:00pm -9:00pm
All Nations Church
Rhode Island at North Capitol Street, NE
Housing Under $250K
I was noticing a photo, more like a screen shot, from Scenic Artisan of the Redfin graphic showing housing under $250K. They are pretty much all east of the Park. Rock Creek Park, the one of several big dividing lines. The other things that divide are 16th Street NW and the Anacostia River.
And there is a big ole cluster of under $250K 2 bedroom, 1 bath houses east of the River, over near Capitol Heights. There are a few in what looks to be Petworth, parts of Columbia Heights and Brightwood. There are a couple in Truxton Circle proper. One is on the corner of 3rd and P as an as is. There is another on Florida Ave. But the problem with Florida Avenue, well a problem for me, is that there is almost no space between your front door and the sidewalk of a very busy street. In the NE, non-Shaw part of Truxton (see I love confusing y’all) on Florida is another house for $170K. Also no room between the front door and the crappy sidewalk.
Housing Dirt
Yesterday I was looking at my rear kitchen wall which has some fairly new and widening cracks (ah the joys of home ownership). Because of some funky fencing, part of my wall is on my neighbor’s side of the fence. So I went over to his place and took a look at the part of the wall I couldn’t see from my side of the fence. While I was over on his side chatting with him I did mention some of the dirt some of the other neighbors were saying about the construction quality of his place. From what I can remember the guys said that the contractor didn’t make the foundation for the addition deep enough and the addition violated the 60-40 rule.
I’m glad I mentioned it as I felt bad about warning/ telling him early on as a buyer. But really how do you which people are actually going to buy the house?
And yesterday I got an email asking about a house, that is up for sale. The email wanted to know about the neighborhood and the street and so on, but the description of the house was close enough to a house I know that more than likely has some serious structural issues. So let me say if you’re thinking of buying a house on the 100-200 block of Q Street, check the roof structure. If you or your home inspector can’t see the roof joists, don’t buy unless you are prepared to replace the whole roof.
Prevent a Pop-up
Well we can make this a test case. Can you kill a pop up without one of those pesky historic district doohickies?
Here’s the situation, there is to be a BZA hearing for 1721 4th Street, N.W. It’s the blue house that’s being worked on that’s across the alley from the Fourth Street Cleaners. Anyway, the owner, a nice guy I’m told, has an application #17934, for a variance from the nonconforming structure provisions under subsection 2001.3, to allow a third story addition to an existing flat (two-family dwelling) in the R-4 District. Third story addition, read Pop-up.
Now pop-ups can be cool, or they can be complete pieces of crap. It could be the house near the corner of R & 5th (cool) or the monstrosity on the unit block of P St NE, or the 1/2 done thing on the 300 block of P NW.
TRIVIA- 1721 4th St NW sits on the block that was owned by the Glorius family from the 1880s to the 1900s, which was later sold to Harry Wardman.
** Public Hearing***
Start Time : 7/28/2009 10:00 AM
AGENDA
Case Number : 17934
Case Name : Application of Behzad Hosseinkhani
Case Summary : (Area Variance) pursuant to 11 DCMR ยง 3103.2, for a variance from the nonconforming structure provisions under subsection 2001.3, to allow a third story addition to an existing flat (two-family dwelling) in the R-4 District at premises 1721 4th Street, N.W. (Square 516, Lot 54).
ANC : 5C01
Cheap House on 4th Street
The yellow one is 189K, per Redfin. That is cheap, and I take it the bank finally took it over as it was sitting at $350,000 for what seemed like a year and had now dropped below $200K. This baby appears priced to sell.
Here is what I know, which isn’t much. The property was owned by a guy whose name I keep messing up, starts with a ‘K’, who owns or owned several rental properties in the area. This was one. The house has a basement and similar homes have rented out the bottom part, but I don’t know if those are legal basements. It has no real front yard, and a very shady back yard. The back yard is big enough to park a Smart Car, or maybe a classic Mini Cooper. There used to be a family in the house until Mr. K encountered his financial problems.
Small house design is a talent
Sometimes you don’t realize that certain things require talent until you’ve seen the task carried out so badly, you wanna cry. I pitty the real estate agent trying to push 1708 4th St NW, because it is 1,326 sq ft squandered. It’s supposed to be a three bedroom, more accurately, it is one bedroom and two small offices. Okay one of those offices could have a twin bed or child’s bed, but it would be tight and the closet door would need to be removed. I’m trying to think if my cubicle at work has more square footage than the other bedroom.
I could design something better than that with a pencil some paper and a copy of Not So Big House. Heck, with my own house, I think I did. Though the living area is about 1000 sq ft., I don’t think it feels cramped. Yes, my bedroom is the size of a nice walk in closet, but it is big enough for a bed, a small wardrobe, small dresser and a big pile of dirty clothes that I really need to wash.
There were several mistakes, in my opinion, with 1708 4th St. Let’s start with the 1st floor. The stairs are not up to code, maybe because to get anything big (couch, fridge, etc) through the front door and into the house, you’re taking out part of the stair railing. The fireplace is in a wierd spot. Does a gas fireplace add so much to a property that even a tiny wierdly placed one works? The kitchen is okay. I recognize it as an IKEA Akurum/Rationell style kitchen. IKEA understands small spaces. The second floor is where the tiny bedroom/offices are. The hallway is nice and big, but there is something wrong when the bathroom on that floor seems bigger than one of the bedrooms. I kid. However, I would have made the bathroom a 3/4 bath to get a few more feet for the bedroom. If a tub is needed, use the one on the 3rd floor. The thrid floor bathroom is big and the window faces the street. Plantation shutters will be required. Outside the back and front yards are paved with concrete. These can be improved with some container plants.
Mural- Or more paint on houses
This mural is at the corner of 12th and W. Though interesting it does not come close to the great Watermelon mural of Q and 11th Sts NW.
I’m trying to talk one of my neighbors into slapping a mural on the side of his house. He’s an artist and has done murals before, so if the desire is there it can be done. However, his wife, who’ve I haven’t spoken to about a mural, might not be too keen on the idea.
A good Pop-up
I don’t believe all pop-ups are ugly. Unfortunately there are tons of bad pop-ups that we can point to so one can get the impression that there is no such thing as a good pop-up. There is one example I like to point to of a good rooftop addition.
Over on the 1600 block of 5th Street, NW between R and Warner there is a house with a cute rustic addition. I’ve been inside once and the owners did a wonderful job with creating a new space in their home. Maybe the key in this is that it was designed and done by the people who were intending to live in the home and not a know-nothing small time developer/contractor trying to stuff a few more square feet on to a small lot.
A few things makes this addition work. One is that it is on the end of a row of houses. You can get away with more on the end than you can in the middle. If the style changes up on the end of a bunch of uniform houses, it doesn’t break the pattern. Second, the addition, including the railing is set back from the street. Third, there isn’t a big empty space on the addition between the top of the roof and the top of the door/window. There is another pop-up on S Street, that’s lovely from the back but on the front there is this empty space that makes the front of the addition, ‘blah’.
I think the most important factor was that the addition was put on for the people who live in the house, and not some unknown buyer to be gouged of money.
Blue on Marion St
I showed this picture to a co-worker who also lives in the District. He said if someone painted their house that color in his part of town the neighbors would throw a huge hissy fit. They live in the Chevy Chase area.
Colorful townhomes are some of the things I like about Shaw and neighborhoods like it. There is a bit of funk, and individuality and variety in our style.