End of 2014- A few Happy Endings

As the year comes to a close I would like to remark on a few properties that have moved from the vacant list to the occupied and soon-to-be- occupied list.

Back in January 2014 I wrote about 310 P St NW and before that in 2013. This year the property has been fixed up and brought back to the land of the living. In November it sold for $849,000. What is wonderful about this is that there are no longer any obviously vacant homes on the 300 block of P Street NW. That stretch is complete. It is whole.

403 R St NW

Nearby at 403 R St NW, it too was sold in November. It was a bit of a shell. A long term shell that didn't look that bad by the person driving by. It had no mailbox on it, so no mail piling up. There was no grass in the front yard, the windows had drapes and the front was kept tidy. What a passerby never saw was the hole in the roof, or the damage it was causing for the home attached to it. This property got a write up in May 2014. At this moment there are workmen in the house and fixing the property up. The brick has been recently repointed, something I did not know it needed. As one can see from this old photo, the neat appearance hid the faults quite well.

It is difficult to say what is up with 1617 New Jersey Ave NW, so it will remain on the list until work is done. This property could see a happy ending in 2015. The property was sold in October and there is a permit for work. Unfortunately this house has a history of work being done, and work torn out of it.

Lastly, I'm going to remove 4334 Klingle Street, NW from the list. Though it had Tyvek in May 2014 instead of the black tar paper it had in 2008, it was sold in 2013 and is now taxed at the residential rate. Looking at the tax payments since 2010, there was a period of tens of thousands of dollars paid and now the current amount seems sort of in line with the neighborhood. It's a lot, but them again the house is assessed at being worth about $926K.

There are still vacant properties in the District. Some are privately owned by individuals, some owned by the city, some owned by LLCs and other deep pocketed groups. In the case of residential buildings, those places don't need to be vacant. There is a huge demand for housing in the District, more so in NW DC. There is a need for affordable housing, so the shells that stand, could stand to be rehabbed by motivated people for properties to house people.

Happy New Year. Happy 2015.

1740 New Jersey Avenue NW- under construction?

I took this picture a while ago but the blog "Short Articles about Long Meetings" confirmed what was going on with this property near the intersections of NJ, RI and Florida Avenues. It has been vacant since 2011, if not longer. There was a widow of a physician living in the house previously, but now the current owners are seeking to renovate the property into condos, the details you can read at the SAaLM link above.
Tax-wise the property appears to have been vacant since 2009, when the yearly tax jumped from  $1,564 in 2008 to $7,008 the following year. It has a class 3, which is the vacant rate, exception. The current owner, Newton St Development LLC bought the property in January 2014. In that same month a postcard permit was issued for internal demolition of non-bearing elements.
Considering that the ANC voted against the zoning variances the developers would need, it doesn't appear that anything is going to happen to this property any time soon, and thus will remain vacant.

1256 New Jersey Avenue NW- Occupied

This is just a quickie post. Back on June 20, 2008 this building was a vacant building according to a page that is no longer on the MVSNA.org site. I can't find the address on the DC tax website, but since it is occupied, it's not a biggie.
The property photographed was once an empty building, but not for very long. I have memories of seeing a guy come out from this building's vicinity to beat up another guy with a 2x4 in front of the firehouse across the street. I called 911, because I remember telling a dispatcher that a housing police cruiser showed up to break up the fight. Somewhere there is a fuzzy picture of this.
The building has gotten upscale since this event. 

1617 New Jersey Ave NW- Still vacant

Rear of 1617 NJ Ave NW

1617 New Jersey Avenue NW is being sold, maybe. According to a mailer I received from some Sotheby's agents 1617 is "Cntg/Ko", which means it is in limbo. The sale is contingent on something. I do remember seeing a sign out front to have it sold but never seeing it listed on my favorite go to real estate website. The list price was $270,000.
Looking at Redfin's page for 1617 NJ Ave NW, it shows this property on and off the market. 2/26/10 it was listed and delisted 3/24/10. Listed 5/2/12 and delisted the same day. 5/14/12 it had a pending contract, and then delisted 6/22/13. Listed again on 3/12/14.
This listing and delisting has not recently held off the vacant tax rate. In 2010 the property got a huge tax credit of $21K and wound up paying the normal rate that year. Two large payments were made in 2008, hinting that it must have been taxed at the higher rate that year. 2009 saw normal residential tax payments and there were no payments in 2010. About $10K was paid in 2011, a little over $18K in 2012, and about $10K in 2013. The property as of 4/27/14 owes a little under $10K for this year so far.
Selling the property might have been difficult for the bank that supposedly foreclosed on owner Cory D. Chase, as the property is still in his name.

Vacant no more

A repost from the InShaw Blog:

This little photo is from the DCRA's PIVS, which I think get's it's photo from another system, but it's all DCRA, so it is all good. In 2010, 1607 New Jersey Avenue NW was a mess. I posted about the rear of the house and how it looked like the back of the house was due to collapse into the alley at any moment. The owner of the house had died but was still getting the Senior Citizen Homestead Deduction.
The city, I assume, came and removed the offending rear wall. Unfortunately, the house still had stuff in it. I remember calling the city to complain that the property was not secure. I also remember asking some neighbors doing reno work on their own homes to help board up or secure the boards on the rear.
Recently, work has been done. I gather the estate of the former Mr. Arvid W Broadus either sold to or became the new developer fixing the place up. I haven't paying close attention to the rehab and renovations but it is looking good. Who knows it might come on the market around early spring 2014 or sooner.