46 R Street NW

About a week ago when the cold cold winter gave way to one glorious day of 70 degree weather, I took a walkabout with my son and noticed a yellow vacant sticker for 46 R Street Northwest in Bloomingdale. I also noticed a bunch of fliers and mail piling up in the storm door. Curious, I decided to look into it and I have some guesses.

The listed owner is Mavilla Bradley who is receiving the Senior Citizen Homestead Deduction and has mail delivered to a PO Box. As soon as I see that I wonder if the person is dead. I did a quick search and did not see anything saying she (I'm going with she, I could be wrong) was dead. But a Google search brought up something saying she was 95 years old. That same site also claimed that her aliases are " Odessa Cauthorn, Mavilla O Docks, Maville O Biggers, Bradley Havilla, Bradley Mavilla, Odessa M Bradley, Odessa Bradley cauthorne, Mailla Bradley, Maville O Grantt, Maville O Gantt, Maville O Docks, Mavilla O Bradley, Maville O Cauthorne, Maville O Bradley".  This will come in handy when trying to figure out when the family or the person came to possess the property.

As far as taxes go, Ms. Bradley seems to have been paying the senior discounted rate from as far back as 2004 up until 2016. In 2017 the rate jumped up to look like what a non-senior citizen pays. The vacant tax rate has not kicked in yet. She might be in a nursing home, if she is still alive.

As far back as 1985 there is a Odessa B Cauthorne who with Hugh Cauthorne bought the house.  In 1990 it appears Catherine Odessa Bradley took out a $20K loan to rehab 46R Street. I don't know if this is the same person or a relative as Mavilla Bradley. Mavilla Bradley appears in 1998 in the land records settling a mechanic's lien, and in 2000 became owner. Refer back to the name salad of aliases... yeah.

No records of permits.
So I'm sticking with my theory that there is a nursing home in this story.

As people get older these lovely two and three story townhomes with narrow or steep stairs are not good or practical for aged bodies. There is a romance of aging and dying in one's home. Sometimes it can be done, but other times, various ailments from thinning bones, arthritic hips and knees, swelling legs, and whatever side effects from the cocktail of meds prescribed by dozen of doctors who seem unaware of each other's tinkering, make that impossible.

Hopefully the owner has family who will take control of the situation. Maybe they can rent out the house to provide income to offset medical expenses. Or sell and be done with it. In the meantime that door needs to be cleaned out.