1530 3rd St NW - Work being done

Just an update. I passed by 1530 3rd St NW. I have noticed work is being done. There appears to be a permit on the door. Thing is, DCRA's PIVS has no permits listed for this year and the owner is still dead. But for a dead guy he's throwing up framing pretty quickly.
Since we're in a hot-hot prosecco-bubbly real estate market I predict that this will sell quickly for an ungodly amount of money regardless if the right permits or any inspections occur.

GGW- Abandominium @ 1260 Talbert St SE

If there are squatters it is still a vacant property.
GGW has a post titled "Vacancy at the Parkway Guesthouse Abandominium" a play on the word abandoned and condominium. According to the post, when visited the property was not secure, doors were not locked and anybody could come in. According to photographs it looks pretty rough and a ceiling has fallen in.
The property at 1260-1272 Talbert Pl SE was purchased last year for (according to GGW) 1 million dollars. One can assume that it will eventually get torn down and developed. There is a permit to raze the property (# R0900193).

Checking on Vacant Properties

There are a few easy steps to check and see if the city knows that the vacant house down the street or next door from you is vacant. Yes, to you it may be obvious, but the city is not god-like all knowing.
First thing is to check the Real Property Assessment Database. Plug in the address for the "Premise Address" and hit search now. Look at the Class 3 Exception on the form that comes up. If it doesn't say no, there is something wrong. Go down the page and click "View Tax Information" or "View Payments" if the taxes aren't at the rate of $5 or $10 (5%-10%) per $100 of property value for the year 2012, there is something wrong. Apparently the higher rate for 2013 hasn't been sent out, so let's take a wait and see with OCFO does for 2013.
Second, check with DCRA's Vacant Building Enforcement. You may download the Excel spreadsheet for 2013, and look for the address of the vacant property. The easy way to find it is to filter it by ward then look for the address which is in house number order.
If you do these and BOTH don't list the property as vacant and there are no permits (check here) for construction and it is not up for sale, email vacantbuildings@dc.gov . If you find the double whammy of the property being listed as having a homestead or senior deduction also email TaxFraudHotline@dc.gov.

1530 3rd St NW- After the Fire

Crossposted with InShaw Blog.
My own memory of 1530 3rd St NW is that there was a house fire, and the story I had heard was that the woman who lived there was out for Bible Study and came home to find it ablaze. I also heard she was a hoarder, which may or may not have been true but that was the story I heard at that time. The fire was on April 9, 2008 according to DCFire. They have pictures of the fire, where you can see the top floor aflame. DC Fire also says that there was a report of people being trapped, they don't say if that report was confirmed, just that there were no injuries.
I also thought a bank took control of the property. But like another property I know of, where the bank has taken physical control but hasn't bothered to tell the city, this remains in the old owner's name. It is in the name of John K. Jones, a name common enough I'm not going to bother trying to hunt down, and the owner's mailing address is 1530 3rd St NW. Not only vacant but abandoned. However, somebody has been paying the taxes. There were big tens of thousands sized tax bills for 2009, 2011 and 2012. The Tax Assessment database shows information about the taxes and also that in 2012 there was a water and sewer lein placed on the property. This appears to be an off year where the house get's charged at the normal non-blighted rate. DCRA's PIVS system doesn't show any permits for the house since the fire. There have been 2 BCIB inspections, one being last year, and is on the Vacant and Blighted list.
It has been about 5 years since the fire, this property needs to be sold so a developer could put it to good use. There is a lot of square footage in the building and it is very tall, the shell should be worth a lot. 

310 P St NW

Crossposted with the InShaw Blog.
I am confused as to why this is not charged at the vacant or blighted rate for 2013. This property, owned by Allision Bennett of Largo, MD since 2006, has been a vacant shell for many, many, many years. According to the Tax office, it was charged at the blighted rate for the past three years, add to the other years the total owed to the city is $187,499.31. The city hasn't collected anything from the owner since 2009. Maybe the City has decided they are not going to see the money, so what's the point?
Looking at DCRA'a PIVS system there is something about it being Market. Does that mean it is up for sale, somewhere, maybe in an alternative universe? Or maybe it is explaining how the owner came to 310 P St NW.There hasn't been a permit issued since 2006, and that was to demolish the interior, which yes, there is no interior. If you look at the photo you can see right through to the alley. The last time the City looked in on this was in July, by what I can gather is the Board for Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings. Yep, still vacant, still a shell.

The Danger of Blighted Buildings

Crossposted with In Shaw.

When I am done with the InShaw blog I hope to spend more time and energy on other projects, one being the Vacant Properties blog, because vacant and blighted residential buildings hurt all neighborhoods, gentrified, gentrifying and DC neighborhoods with so much blight that they are called blighted. A recent fire in S.E. DC which claimed the lives of two adults demonstrates the danger of having blighted properties, particularly in attached housing.

In the Washington Post article about the fire, resident Ericka Walker is quoted in saying that she tried to alert authorities, but "couldn't find anyone to help." The article says that the police and zoning (zoning? why zoning isn't this a DCRA issue?) have nothing about anyone saying anyone was living there full time. Full time was not defined, and I wonder how soon after Ms. Walker complained did anyone follow up and what entails following up.
DCFD has some video
http://bcove.me/81ysii3d
When it is cold it is not unheard of in the history of this city that people get into vacant buildings. They may start fires to keep warm, and in the case of 1704 R St SE, there was cooking.

You can report vacant and blighted properties to DCRA but there doesn't to be any clear course of action when there is squatting. All the city seems to be able to do is tax the properties at a higher rate and reboard/secure the property. The owner of the property (unless this has changed) is the only one who can ask the police to remove tresspassers/ squatters, which is problematic when you have an absentee landlord who has essentially abandoned their property.

1617 New Jersey Avenue NW

This is not news, just an observation of a vacant property.
For the longest while 1617 New Jersey Avenue NW has been vacant. The owner had fixed it up and rented it out. But then the renters went away and the bank was foreclosing. And foreclosing, and eventually would get around to actually foreclosing. Before the bank took physical control, the owner stripped everything out. Everything, the french doors, the deck, the nice doors, fridge, everything.
For a while, address was listed on Redfin as being under contract since May 2012, but it doesn't say what happened after that. I also noticed that the owner who was being foreclosed upon is still listed as the owner on the DC real propery tax database, with NJ Ave as his address. As a vacant (but apparently not blighted) residence, it is taxed at the Class 3 rate.
Walking by I noticed a for sale sign out front, which had me searching on Redfin.  Things may have changed but I thought if a vacant property was up for sale, it could avoid getting taxed at the Class 3 or 4 rate. Since September 2011 it has been taxed at the higher rate and somebody has been paying it.
The point of the rate is to push the parties involved to get vacant properties into good use again. However, it is 2013 and this place has been empty at least since 2010 (probably before that). There could be other things at play. Martin Moulton of the CCCA alerted me to the ongoing case of 509 O St NW, where the owner is dragging out her case for a property that has been falling apart since 2004.
These vacant and in cases blighted properties are an impediment to the progress of a street. They are missed opportunities of having neighbors who may add to the community. The longer they are vacant the more missed opportunities.

509 O St NW, 20001 again

There was a mention on the Shaw Neighborhood list about the property, that is common with sticky vacant houses, From David Smith:

Meanwhile, the unpaid taxes continued to pile up, it never went on the annual tax sale as a complete property, it kept mysteriously reverting from Class 3 or 4 to Class 1 Residential on the OTR database, and continued to deteriorate visibly.

Vacant and Blighted of East Shaw

Blogger East Shaw has created a map showing vacant and blighted buildings that cover Ward 6 Shaw. a bit of LeDroit Park and a bit of Truxton Circle.

General Update

This blog hasn't been abandoned, I'm just busy with other projects, but hope to bring my full attention to it later.

509 O Street NW is still vacant and a mess despite winding up in court. Justice is slower than molasses in winter.

Long time vacant property at 1314 5th St NW (with nearby lot) is going to be another Reatig firm design. Pictured.