$199,900 for 1506 3rd St NW. Sold As-Is and as a shell. From what I can remember (I need to walk by it) this house isn’t in as bad of shape as the house next door was (very past tense) before it got fixed up. From the exterior it seems OK, but there could be a butt load of work needed. Pluses, big back yard. Minus, no alley access.
Tag: houses
Mrs. Gibbs house up for sale
I blog this with a bit of sadness, because I’m not sure about the details. I met Mrs. Gibbs at the G2 bus stop. She is a small elderly slender woman and last I spoke with her she was caring for her husband in the home they’ve lived in since the post war period. Their house was filled with a life long and well lived. Logic tells me that time has caught up with them and so the house is up for sale.
1626 3rd St NW is being advertised as an “inherited home priced to sell.” I knew the Gibbs had children who lived out in the burbs, and I gather they have no interest in moving back into the city to live in the family home. $350K is an excellent price. If they include “stuff” in the house, that is a steal. The interior is large, it faces the quiet side of the Northwest Co-op, its right on the Georgetown/Howard bus line, and it has a rear yard big enough for a minivan. Please don’t let it go to an investor, but rather someone who wants to live here. The interior is well preserved and loved (well from what I could tell sitting in the living room), seriously, if you have an interest in trying to preserve interiors, buy this house, you will not regret it.
Poptops & Additions
Wandering around Monday, I took a lot of pictures of houses, looking for 3rd story additions, some that can be called poptops and other additions that possibly could have been added some time after the structure was initially built. That being, say a house was built in 1899, in 1930 maybe an addition was thrown on. As a disclaimer for several of the buildings I’ve labeled poptop in flickr, I don’t know for sure if they all are additions. What I am focusing on is the difference in height between their neighbors, and how well or not they blend in.
When I first saw the house at 435 S Street NW going up, I really didn’t think anything nice looking would appear. Half right, half wrong. I was walking back from Thai X-ing walking down New Jersey Avenue at night, when I caught a glimpse of the rear of 435 with the lights burning through the large windows. I gasped at the beauty of it. It looked lovely. But the loveliness is limited to the back. The front, not as nice looking with the pedestrian looking vinyl siding and Home Depot door. Nothing that can’t be later improved with stucco or brick tiles (or tiles) and a clear glass door.
Typically, when these additions are reported they tend to be the ugliest of ugly. I don’t believe they have to be that way. Third floor additions can be quite nice. My favorite add-on is near the corner of R & 5th, and it is the only one where I’ve been inside to take a look. As I remember, the designer/homeowner was an engineer by trade and German. The top floor was a bedroom with a bathroom in a box, in front of a small landing that led out to the deck, that overlooks 5th St. The bathroom in the box was novel, in that it did not go all the way to the ceiling letting the outside light go over it and in it.
We have to acknowledge that people want/need more space. One way to get more space is to move out to the ‘burbs. Yet, this other way, adding on to the homes we already have, can be done well, and keeps people in the city. We should encourage good design, instead of dismissing ALL 3rd floor additions because too many lack the vision to do them well.
Lastly, I leave you with this image spotted on the blog Desire to Inspire in their post about AJS Design in New York City. It’s a little rooftop cabin. I think it is adorable.
Go Outside. Now.
The man on the TV said it was 70F degrees out
I took a little walk about this morning and it was just wonderful. The sky is blue and it is barely sweater weather, more like two shirts weather. I went on a picture taking trip looking for 3rd floor additions in Shaw, and found some. Also spotted families, dog walkers, doggies, hipsters, also getting out and enjoying the sunshine. If you’re stuck inside an office, run out and just take15 minutes to bask in this lovely light.
1st & Q.
55 Q Street NW is up for sale but I was not entirely sure this was the same house. Why? Because the photo being shown on ZipRealty is a crappy magneta colored ugly thing from 2003. I’m encountering a lot of bad re-used photos on Ziprealty. Redfin is better. Anyway this house on the corner is going for 1/2 a milllllion dallahs, $500K.
It is a two unit building, a trend I noticed with some of the turn of the century homes that were built as investment properties. The rental units are bringing in $1340 & $1215 a month, $2555 in total. You’d need a big down payment to get the rentals to cover the price of the mortgage. People you wonder why renters get kicked out? Because their rent don’t cover the mortgage and taxes.
Sorta on the other side of the street is 1537 1st St NW at the much cheaper price of $299K. And, it has parking.
34 Q St NW 4Sale
I’m not sure which house is 34 Q. Actually, I’ve been flipping through my flickr collection and trying to match up houses for sale, and I really need to take more pictures…. and do a better job of taking the addresses.
From the description, I am guessing it is a short sale as the bank has to approve the price. But what you get for your $305,000 is a 10 bedroom 3 bath, 3500 sq ft vacant building with taxes high enough to make you cry if you keep it vacant. The price is a significant reduction from the $550K it started off as back in July of 2007. And the seller is taking a big hit as it was purchased in 2006 for $685K. *wince*
1225 1st St NW for sale
Okay last house for sale of the day. I will post no more till, maybe Friday or next week. Red house is for sale. Red, not vacant house, is on the market for $599,900. It is a two unit building with a paying tenant in one unit. The other unit I guess could go to the new owner or be rented out as well. But honestly, I rather have owner occupiers. Not that there is anything wrong with renters. Sometimes renters become owners.
Nother 4th St house for sale
I need to find another street to hawk.
Anyway, vacant house 1721 4th St NW (the blue-gray one) is up for sale for the lovely price of $368,000. Apparently it is all historic being a two unit investment rental building, the way the developer intended it to be back in nineteen oh something. It’s also an historic mess needing some structural work done on it. Other houses on the block are assessed in the $400-500K range so you can be somewhat justified in the $100-$200K you’re going to have to sink into this thing to get it suitable for human habitation. Thankfully, this is not an HD so your rehab won’t be too costly or lengthy. Sadly, the backyard is just big enough for a lawn chair and a tiny toy-sized dog.
More houses on sale
1620 (the tan house on the far left) and 1624 (the red painted with white trim) 4th St NW are up for sale.
1620 is a foreclosure and is the cheapest at $275,000. Now you might be thinking “Wow, $275,000 what an affordable bargain.” Well I’ve been inside. Add $60-100K in repairs because that’s what you’ll need to make it decent. If you click on the full sized picture you might be able to see on the top right window, the bricks are doing something and look like they are about to pop out. Let’s say there are issues the house has that aren’t cosmetic. But neither are those things something that need to be addressed right now, but they need to be addressed in the next few years.
I’ve been inside 1624 too and I could have sworn it had AC, so I don’t know why there is a window unit in the top window. It is going for $390K. It’s not fancy. It’s got renters in it, so it is in a livable condition, unlike 1620. It’s okay looking and I’m not really sure what justifies that price. Of course it has only been on the market for 2 weeks.
Both 1620 and 1624 4th St have backyards big enough to fit a compact car in, and nothing else. Well maybe a Mini Cooper and a deck chair. Or enough of a rear yard to send the dog out back to do the doo when you’re too cold or too busy to take him out.
Both also have a one story kitchen attached to the main part of the house. Three houses further down the block have expanded, replacing the one story part to a two story, adding more square footage and look quite nice from the alley. So that is a possibility, more so with 1620 because of its price and its need for repair.
1631 4th ST NW for sale
I had a longer post on this but accidentally closed the window and lost it all. So a summary from what I remember: Not a foreclosure but a bank short sale. House is $415K, a down payment of 20% or 83K, would possibly make it $1,990 a month. Monthly RE taxes would be $315.00. There are renters in the house now and I have no idea of what a 3 bedroom 2 bath house rents for around these here parts to know if the house is actually a decent investment.