Up on the auction block is 1620 4th St NW. This weekend B., I.T. and I took a look at this house that is listed for $250K. I’m guessing that’s where the bank wants to start bidding. Last time it went to auction it was in the $300,000 range and didn’t get sold.
Taking a closer look at it, the interior is a mess and it was designed by crackheads. The small bathroom has wasted space near the toilet. There is very little closet space, considering there could be more, and something that could be used as storage is closed off. Then there is the wood rot around the windows (see picture) and the water damage in the back bedroom.
There were some ‘investors’ sniffing around. As a short term investment this is a no. I guess it would take $60-$100K of work, and I don’t think the average rent amount for the area, plus taxes would rake in the dough. Besides we kind of prefer owner occupiers ’round here. Not that renters are bad. We’ve had some wonderful rehabs done by owner occupiers who have up and moved due to marriage or job and are renting their places out, and those places are fine. It’s the ones where the owner approached it as a rental (or a developer as a flip) and did superficial work that are undesirable.
There are more pictures just put in “1620 4th St” as a search term in flickr and the pix I took will show up.
Tag: houses
Fire at 1530 3rd Street
Thank goodness for Truxtoncircle.org or else I wouldn’t know about these things…
On Wednesday a house on 3rd Street caught on fire. Pictures of the incident are over at DCFD, who reports that the Fire Department responded to the report of there being people trapped. However, there doesn’t seem to be anything else saying if there actually were people inside.
Jolly’s Mommy in the Post
If you knew Jolly, he was the wheezing slow walking chicken bone finding beagle of Richardson Pl. Well his mommy (who is also the mommy of a child and another child to be) got featured in the Post magazine. I’m trying to figure out how I missed the article completely, so thanks Scott Roberts.
Though the family has just recently relocated for a great new job for Ben, Lyric is still running her house staging business Red House Staging here in DC. Lyric loves what she does, and it is wonderful to see that it is possible to create a career that brings you joy.
NW TC houses 4Sale
Mrs. Gibb’s house is no longer popping up on Redfin so that leaves me to gather that it is under contract. I hope that goes well. The house next to hers (yellow house in picture), 1628 3rd Street, is up for sale for the sweetheart price of $284,900, I wonder what’s wrong with it? It’s advertising itself as a 3 bedroom 1 bath “bayfront Victorian showing age and in need of a redo. Classic floorplan, everything painted, but orig mantels, 2 sets of pocket doors in place.”
The two 4th St NW houses that were on the market, then went off the market, are back on. This time it says that the renters were given right of first refusal. Now even though the renters can’t and don’t want to buy the houses, it’s nice (and legally required) to be asked. The prices for the rentals, still high, and I’ve been told about some ‘issues’ with one of the houses, that would need to be addressed. Knock the price down by $30- $50K as they will both eventually need work.
There is another house in the hood that I really want sold. Ok, not just sold, fixed up but owner occupied. But what can I do as a 3rd party? I’m seriously thinking of making up fliers to try to get that damned house sold, as it is becoming a nuisance.
Big Blue/Grey Off the Market
If going by Redfin and ZipRealty, 1721 4th St, the big house with the 1/2 of a postage stamp back yard is off the market. Hopefully it is under contract, but we won’t know if it actually sold for a while. Also on 4th St and are both off the market are 1608 & 1624 4th St NW. They are owned by the same guy and the places have renters, so I wonder if he’s taken them off the market to sell later or get the renters out and fix up the places for sale. I heard he failed to present the renters with the right of first refusal. At the prices he’s asking he’s going to have to go in an make an effort (cleaning/ new paint/ maybe staging), or lower the price. I say lower the price, but we’ll see what happens.
Over on 1st St NW, 1223 isn’t popping up either, so I gather that’s off the market as well. But the house next door at 1225 is still for sale for around $550K.
Cheap TC house alert
$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.
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.