All Forum Posts by: Alison M.

I like the "make them say no" approach too.  However part of my response depends on where the property is, and how interested I might be in it.  If it's something I'd like to snag then I ask them if I can call them back in a few months to check in, then do so every few months. 

We're noticing a mid-summer slowdown in the DC market as well Wayne.  Summer doldrums?  Anyone else?

I got a call this weekend from someone who said,  if I sent him another postcard he'd hunt me down and shove it up my a**.  I couldn't stop laughing!  Then I took him off my mailing list.  I believe he owed a bunch in back-taxes, but that's his issue not mine.  

There is one thing worse than printing those mailers . . .  that's actually mailing them !  Ask me how I know ;-).  

Patrick, I think it will be tough sledding to go through tax record data without some other kind of filtering. You can do what Michael suggests and buy a list and/or get an agent colleague to give you an absentee owner list from your multiple listing service. I would say that houses that have tax values at or below the mean value for your city and that are absentee owned may be good candidates.

Alison "Data is My Life" Miller

It could be a jumbo postcard, I've gotten some that were huge recently. Was the paper thin? Seems like it would not hold up well in the mail if it's too thin.

Please send me your spreadsheet as well. Thanks, Alison

alisonmiller(at)springstreetproperties.com

All important considerations @Walt Payne . It would be done as apart of a full gut rehab, into an unfinished basement that is just a big open room. Structural engineer I think would be a must.

@Account Closed The basement can be finished into living space but is not currently finished. There are laundry, furnace, hwh, etc down there now.

Hi all, I looked at a rehab candidate yesterday, an old rowhouse in NE DC. I like the property and will make an offer but I am stumped about how to estimate widening the staircase to the basement. First to clarify: by "wide," I mean the distance hip to hip as you start to go down the stairs, not the depth of each stair tread. This staircase was the narrowest I've ever seen - I am roughly 20" across at the hips and I was having trouble wedging myself down the stairs.

Any idea what is involved in widening a staircase like that? It hugged the party wall of the rowhouse on the right, and opened onto the basement on the left, as I went down.

Thanks! Alison