454 N St NW- update

Well this DC Government property has been on this blog since January 2014 and 2 years later it looks like it is getting fixed up and may join the land of the living. According to the DC Property Tax database the DC government purchased this thing back in September 2004.

If you look back at the old 2014 post, you can see from the photo that the building was boarded up, with peeling paint and the yard was a mess.

So if the government got it in 2004 and waited until 2016 to do something, something being sell it or have a non-profit or a developer do something, that's 12 friggin years of being an eyesore, and nuisance. Twelve years.

Is it me or does 12 years seem too long?

Well I'm glad this and possibly the neighboring property are possibly coming back to use as someone's home. Finally.

Vacant Stickers- 1539 4th St NW

I've been noticing lately bright yellow stickers on properties around the neighborhood declaring properties vacant.
That's helpful.
This vacant property is a 1539 4th St NW. It is owned by a C D Major of Forth Washington, MD since heavens knows when. It was determined vacant this year (yay DCRA). 

There  are others.

 The photo on the right I spotted on the 400 blk of N St NW. Unfortunately, I did not get the address. This had building permits and I by the time I noticed the ladder (and the guy on it) I had decided to walk away. But it is another example of the yellow vacant stickers going up around the city.

Bunch of occupied properties that were once vacant

These are all properties reported on the DC Vacant Properties blog that are now all occupied. I just want to take them off the list.

 1227 1st St NW- It was featured on the InShaw blog on December 20, 2007. Where it was reported that an owner acquired the property in 2007 for an unknown amount. Work was done in 2009 resulting in a stop work order or two. This was prior to the current owner who is receiving a homestead deduction, buying the property that same year. There is no record in the DC PIVS of a certificate of occupancy, though it appears occupied enough.

312 P St NW- This was also featured on the the InShaw blog in 2008 with the title "Crap House 1/2 Off". There was some minor drama about a private lender dying and the work couldn't be completed, blah, blah, blah. There were several permits issued for work late 2009 and in 2010, about the time when the current owner bought the property. It looks occupied.

219 P St NW- Is from a December 15th 2007 InShaw post. It was a mess, broken windows, and plywood doors. Now it is a occupied two unit residence. I guessed that from the young lady on the stairs on the phone. It was a nice evening to be out. When the 12/17/07 post was written the first permit was only a few months old, followed by a second permit for electrical work. There is no occupancy permit, not a big deal for the other P St house (which doesn't have one per PIVS) and the 1st St property, 'cause when it is your house and you're living in it forget the CofO dammit. But these are two units, rental units I gather from the owner living in Dun Loring. Just a little thing the owner may want to fix, this being a super tenant friendly (landlord hostile) city and all.

226 N St NW- The Mt. Vernon Square Neighborhood Association post for this is no longer, but it's 7/11/2008 title was "Hole for Sale." It is occupied. The permits are interesting. There are a few for 2003-2005, then three for February 2010. If I were to guess, work was done between 2003-2005, then undone afterwards, leaving a hole in the ground in 2008, work was done creating a new building in 2010, then sold as 2 condos in 2011. There is an old post on Greater Greater Washington with a before picture of 226 N St, showing it as a vacant lot surrounded by jersey walls.

438 N St NW- occupied

The old link for 438 N St is no longer active. Walking by 438 N St NW, the place looks fine.
The property was last sold 2013 to an owner claiming the homestead deduction. According to the DC PIVS permits were issued in 2010 and 2011 for work done, which I'll gather was the work that took the property from vacant to occupied.
So moving on, nothing to see here folks.

454 N St NW

454 N St NW, a photo by In Shaw on Flickr.

Sometimes DC government can help with the problem. Sometimes DC government is the problem.
According to the DC tax database, the blighted property 454 N St NW, is owned by the District of Columbia, Suite 307. As you may hazard a guess, it pays no taxes so there is no point of having it taxed at the vacant rate.
The thing with these DC owned properties is eventually (10-20 years eventually) they do make their way back to the tax rolls as an occupied property, but not any time soon. In the meantime, neighboring properties suffer.