All Forum Posts by: William H.

Is your first concern that the doors are large and formal, and that the rooms have large windows? I’d be more concerned the pocket doors are not up for abuses, and that they are harder to service. Gosh I love them though. 

You have two rooms off a main living area, and the kitchen/bath are off that too right?  If that is the layout I don’t see any problem.

Then the electric is a real annoyance.  Assuming the switch isn’t on the wall of the common foyer that the bedroom shares. There are new wall switches that are phone ready, marketed as smart dimmers. The dimmer market is exploding. Lots of options that weren’t around even a couple years ago. $50 or so however for “smart”.

I might be unclear what about what you’re asking but let’s see if this helps.

Justin M Christian could you speak a little more to “optimizing a desired experience” as you put it? Also I’d love to ask more about your experience in the parking conversation because so many places are having difficulty decoupling spots and units or sq ft.

Absolutely it (IoT) will shape CRE. More things measured means more things optimized, only caveat is it may take a while. Only time will tell which sensors can be aggregated into useful data versus what inherent noise there will be. More data and more curiosity is better. What we think of as efficient use of space may change a lot in ten years.

Tim, I had a response that the platform didn't let me post for some unrelated reason. I think it's great that you're asking this question. In fact, I believe there are problems that the urban growth model is solving, and as long as you're solving that, then there's going to be good return. 

However, when people are interested in the downtowns it's because the burbs aren't meeting all their needs or desires. I think there's opportunity in the burbs because there are problems to be solved there. I also think they are less talked about right now but yet aren't going away.

We are a long way from equilibrium in most markets as far as interest in and development of downtowns. The longer play that really is interesting to me is how to make suburbs healthy. That's barely even talked about, and not remotely cool yet.

I am looking to make a rule of thumb of when each material is used.

I've installed around a hundred better-quality, custom-fit vinyl windows so far. I have not personally installed any wood windows.

On a project I'm working on now, my goal is for the building to look original and for the new windows to last for a very long time with reasonable maintenance. It is a 1920s brick.

Structurally vinyl windows aren't as stiff so the visible width of the sashes tends to be bigger than wood and sometimes that's a problem visually. Some people say the reasonable life on one is pretty short-15-20 years. One problem I notice is vinyls can be hard to open/close as the house shifts-seen in an old house and may or not be related to my question. But that experience may sway me away from vinyls in any and all old-build. (!??) 

Yet some people are telling me vinyl's as good as it gets, and that wood rots.

Window materials discussions seem to be full of opinion and there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there.

Not sure where this should be posted.

I did search prior to posting, thanks in advance!

What say the pros? Is there a guideline of when each is used?

I've probably installed a hundred well-respected, custom made vinyl windows so far.  I have not installed any wood windows. I am an owner who does a lot of his own restoration/rehab work. 

On a project I'm working on now, my goal is for the building to look original and for the new windows to last for a very long time with reasonable maintenance. It is a 1920s brick.

Structurally vinyl windows aren't as stiff so the visible width of the sashes tends to be bigger than wood and sometimes that's a problem visually. Some people say the reasonable life on one is pretty short-15-20 years. One problem I notice is vinyls can be hard to open/close as the house shifts-seen in an old house and may or not be related to my question. 

Many proponents of vinyl say wood or aluminum-clad wood should not be used any more. Many historic guys say vinyl dies early, can't be painted, is ugly, morally wrong, etc.

Window materials discussions seem to be polarizing and there seems to be a lot of misinformation out there. I'm happy with a hornet's nest, let's see what we've got!

Not sure where this should be posted. Not being sure if there's a way to cross-post, I'm posting something similar in DIY.

I did search prior to posting, thanks in advance!

What's the character of the housing stock in the 1,000 unit section? ("Unit" here vs "homes" in the Parkway section-does unit mean homes or apartments; if so, how dense?)

Same question for the 200 home section though I'd figure they're analogous. What's it like? I mean, how much A rental w/ amenities, how much old stock that was duplexed poorly in the 80s. (So to speak.)

So there are plans for a parking structure and plaza; and there is a lot of investor ownership. Does this mean there was revitalization effort made pre-crash?

Welcome, Dan!

It's really good to have folks around here who have diverse backgrounds and who know the planning and civic side of things. Your input will be enjoyed by many. 

Warm Regards

We don't see this kind of content around here very often so I thought I'd bump it and see if we can shake out some more input.

There are, of course, loans that are beneficial to you if you buy intending to occupy 50% or more with your own business.

Moving back to commercial from residential can be tricky even with satisfying code questions about, say, parking. Also tricky to sell a business on the idea (look/feel) of a space that used to be res-you have to give them something pretty neat to hang their hat on.

Getting a commercial tenant in who raises the visibility of the building in the community but who may not be a great NNN tenant that you dream about could be cool. I'm basing this off the idea your property isn't A or B+ commercial. What will add to the community fabric in the near term and help the building/block/area along towards the kind of commercial you envision?

This is an old enough thread that you may have painted it by now! I wonder what you chose.

I tend to focus so heavily on getting everything clean and neat, and then dress them up later. Sometimes I may just go all white in a case like this, but simply with all details attended to and everything clean and bright, it looks just great! Kristin mentioned this idea of doing what your endgame points you to; I try to stay efficient and add more cash inside the units to make them nicer for my tenants.

If you're still looking for thoughts, I'd look under the vinyl. If it's possible to remove even some of it, I would. (Like just the whole front face). If not, get it scrubbed clean. You can then use white as one of your colors. If you're all done, post up some afters maybe!

It may be possible to cut the vinyl back to expose the original trim around the four upper windows. That will help get old proportions back. This place will look so great with a period door on it and good windows. If you are doing vinyl windows, you may consider white trim around them because it will be less obvious they're vinyl (not old). If so you can still do a bit of color on a small supporting horizontal trim piece above/below. Quarter-round sized. This would be your third or fourth color in a multicolor scheme.

I can't tell: Brown roof? A buttery cream may be your good second color. Blue/gray? Perhaps a similar but lighter cool gray.  

If you paint the bargeboard, you can paint the horizontal strip across that completes the triangle the same color. 

My opinion is you can get away with paining the brick a color other than white but not too dark, creating a hovering triangle.

Much will be determined by what you can do with the vinyl. I would paint metal but am skeptical about longevity of paint on vinyl. Maybe it will buy you "just enough time" and you can do another round of cleanup in five years.

ps. If there aren't tenants there, I pull off all the co-ax and the dishes. Then I require that I am (somebody is) present for any re-install. They routinely place new cable anyways and can be teachable as far as not drilling in woodwork or otherwise making a mess of an old building. So you start fresh and get it where you want it.

I would prime and paint with metal primer the vent and the bit of flashing.