All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

It's PG County, so, it's cheaper.  Prince George's has a slew of challenges compared to Montgomery County and Alexandria and Arlington County near by. Yes, there are some places close to the Southern Avenue Metro station, in that mid 200K and less range. Are they worth that much? Just looking at a few places near that, Naylor Rd and Suitland metros it looks like proximity to the subway train isn't that much of an amenity. Also those suburban metro stations are surrounded by lots of parking so they are mainly for people driving in from somewhere else, not so much for people on foot.

On the plus side, they are affordable compared to other parts inside the beltway. But you @Karelyn Cruz said that you did not want to buy in an area where properties are depreciating. Well areas rising in property values are going to cost more. There are other parts of PG County you may want to look at, where the opportunity to add value is there but don't expect them to be plentiful.

@Olivia Umoren well then maybe you might have to partner with someone, because your max price is just too low for parts of DC north and east of the river. That or you're going to have to get creative.

I just remembered another house hack idea that I encountered in Charlottesville, VA. A couple lived in the basement and airbnb and rented out rooms on the main floor of their split level. The basement was off limits, they left the kitchen and the one bathroom for the guests (3 rooms) and that's all I remember. They may have had their own set up downstairs, I have no idea.

@Lydia Ford yeah, Florida has a low water table, but look on the bright side, you have no state income tax or snow, makes up for the lack of basements. It helps to have your SO on board. Lucky me my wonderful spouse was a tenant of friends from his church for many years, and many of the men from his church, whom he admires, have rented out portions of their homes to other church members (including students from the near by university). So if we do move to PG county, sharing our home would be an option.

@Olivia Umoren okay so yeah, those areas are expensive.

Since DC is expensive, I decided to try my hand at Baltimore and I have an investment in Florida where my parents (world's worst PMs) live. I'm going sell the Florida property because my parents are getting in their 70s now and declining in health. Besides, I bought in 2009 when FL property was a steal. I might try something in between DC and B'more when I do off-load the FL property, or wait for another crash. I will miss writing off Florida trips, but oh well.

I read that you have no interest in having roommates. That's understandable but you're closing off an option. Consider this, a former neighbor of mine had a basement with a bathroom in it but it wasn't on a separate utility and he had closed off the interior stairs to the basement (put a w/d on top of that space). He put a roommate in that basement space. The roommate had a separate entrance and a dorm kitchen (microwave and mini-fridge). This neighbor later married and had a kid and sold the property..... with the roommate in place. Now these new neighbors have the old roommate still living in the basement. Another example, a professional married couple have a 2,000 sq ft house that was a two unit that was turned into a single unit house. They airbnb their back bedroom space, which has a separate bathroom, a sitting room and a bedroom. The kitchen and laundry facilities are shared but the sitting room also has a coffee maker, microwave and mini-fridge, so that the roommate doesn't have to use the kitchen.  You can be picker with a roommate than a regular tenant and you can pick roommates who don't know how to boil water (non-cooks who'll stay out of the kitchen).  When I bought my home I just had a roommate for ten years, but I wanted temporary roommates (3 mos - 1 year) so if I found them annoying I'd just have to wait them out and I picked based on several factors including having somewhere else they wanted to go (getting married, summer or seasonal internship, etc). I also know a handful of people who bought townhomes with legal basements or carved out a legal basement or second unit from their main unit. 

The gentrifying is still going on and so I'd recommend that you look at neighborhoods adjacent or in walking distance to the ones you like, but in your price range, that's going to be hard still. @Larry Allen had some really good suggestions.

@Shadonna N. there is a Whole Foods in PG County near Hyattsville in "Riverdale Park" https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/riverdalep... and it has been open for nearly a year. We've eaten at the hot bar and it has the usual WF stuff, flowers, sushi, bread, pretty veggies, kumbucha and at least one pierced tattooed hippie dreadlocked staff member. 

It's part of that development that is making Baltimore Ave... Route 1, a pain in the butt from a wee bit north of University Blvd down to the DC/ MD Eastern Ave border. There are new large developments, some spurred on by UMD-CP and other's EYA. I forget who is responsible for the Whole Foods on Baltimore Ave but there are more cookie cutter townhomes popping up behind the Whole Foods and all the other new establishments over there in that shopping center. In addition to a WF there is a Gold's Gym and some bar and grill I've never heard of, and a pizza place.... like the area needs one more stinking pizza place.

Since @Karelyn Cruz mentioned she was car-less let's focus on the areas that have MARC, WMATA bus & subway and have bike paths and semi-functional sidewalks. Parts of PG have that, but not all parts. PG is not MoCo, but that's why it is more affordable than MoCo.

There is a useful blog I've been semi-following Congress Heights on the Rise ( https://www.congressheightsontherise.com/index ) and she has a real estate section. Compared to hotter parts of DC the units she features are very affordable, but they tend to be condos, which the OP wanted to avoid. Yes, DC has the school choice option, but it is a gamble, a literal gamble. In 2 years I'll be playing that lottery. Former neighbors have played and lost, and that's why they are former neighbors (we live in NW DC, east of the Park).  And yes, there are some great programs run by the city. Check out the DC Housing Finance website- http://www.dchfa.org/ a zillion years ago I got my 1st home loan from them at below market rates.

Yes, @Russell Brazil is an awesome and knowledgeable guy.

@Olivia Umoren what areas of DC or the DC area have you been to that you like? That would give a better sense of your preference and clarity of if you talking about the District of Columbia (no representation) or the surrounding urban suburbs. Woodridge is different than Woodbridge but both in the DC area.

The prices in DC are pretty high compared to the rest of the country so there might not be a difference from Boston prices. That's why I, a DC resident, have investments elsewhere.

In the District of Columbia you can probably have better luck finding a two unit house. that could be a townhome with a basement apartment, or a detached house with a second unit (converted garage or the like) or a two flat property than a nice little 3-4 unit place. If you are feeling adventurous you can carve a basement apartment out of a one unit house, but prepare to work for it.

Of the three choices, I'd pick Hyattsville, provided it is the Hyattsville near the PG Plaza and West Hyattsville. "Hyattsville" seems to be like Silver Spring in that is all over the darn place, so there is that.

You mentioned you are a car-less person. I have been predominately car free since the 1990s, and I got a car in my life when I married my husband about 7 years ago. I have 2 rentals and a primary home and so it is possible to be a car less real estate investor.

Why Hyattsville? Well the Beltsville to Mt. Ranier Route 1 corridor is our Plan B should I get transferred to another duty location from my current day job duty station in downtown DC. So part of it is for are personal reasons. I've also lived in that general area before while a student at UMD, so I'm aware of the problems of PG County and what I hate about it.  Congress Heights and those other parts of EOTR (east of the river) DC are not part of my traffic patterns so I am not as familiar with them. Deanwood has been touted as up and coming by some people for over 10 years (looking at watch) if it hasn't up and come by now, the way it is now may be as good as it gets. And Congress Heights... I will always wish the best for that area, but it lacks things, that I as a car free person need. Hyattsville, the area also including parts of Riverdale, Adelphi, College Park (Hollywood), and northwest bits of Mt. Ranier (my husband loves University Park but the taxes are too high) despite being in the f-up that is PG County have possibilities for growth because of what UMD and EYA is doing with the Rt 1 corridor. The county which seems to act as if decent sidewalks are an abomination are beginning to put in semi-logical sidewalks in those areas around PG Plaza mall and Rt 1. It is also close enough in to make getting into the city easier. The Purple line might also show up, who knows. Infrastructure and job centers (such as UMD and a few govt agencies) are reasons I would bet on Hyattsville.

No advice, but lots of sympathy.

 Are there any others on the same branch with the same problem?

In the District of Columbia, unless it is west of Rock Creek Park schools mean almost nothing. Most middle class parents who don't live in that particular area in Capitol Hill with the great elementary school or west of the park aim for the charters which have nothing to do with school boundaries. This has very little to do with real estate and more to do with a long history of DCPS being horrible since the 60s or 70s. I think 40% of DC school kids are in charters.

I'd guess that an A would have the west of the park school district, in addition to being in good shape. 

There are hot areas (Shaw, Columbia Heights, H Street, etc), not in great school districts because in the city we attract a lot of single professionals who have no interest in schools, except grad school. They are interested in bars, restaurants, coffee shops or any spot great for a first date or meeting up with friends. They could be considered A class depending on what else the location has to offer in addition to physical condition. In the rest of the country the market it seems most are aiming for are married people with kids. The big market in DC (city not area) are young childless professionals who are more than willing to spend 1/2 their income (and maybe a bit of their parent's income) on housing.

Also the perception of crime is more important than actual numbers. Seriously there are people who are looking for housing who don't bother doing neighborhood research beyond driving over once to look at the place.

This probably only applies to DC house hackers, people whose itemized taxes are sorta simple, AND whose property tax totals more than $10K a year. I just got a couple of emails from my ANC and others about the DC Office of Tax and Revenue's (OTR) announcement that D.C. homeowners will be allowed to prepay their 2018 property taxes by the end of December 2017 in order to be able to claim a full deduction on their federal income tax returns before the new tax law kicks in capping those deductions at $10,000.00. 

I haven't given much thought to the tax plan and how it will change (if it will change) how I do things. Apparently, if I go by what OTR is saying the 10K cap is on all taxes, property, local and state income. Which stinks. When I typed this up I thought it was just property tax and it wasn't going to be an issue for me, but if it is also state income tax, that's a small challenge.

See the link to the Office of Tax and Revenue--

https://otr.cfo.dc.gov/release/statement-prepayment-real-property-taxes 

I allow pets with certain limits. 

The rent I'm charging is high for the area, so that is one reason. The other lives next door. There is a small dog who lives in the adjacent rental townhouse who will bark like crazy at times when people come to the door of my rental. Sometimes he barks when we're just moving around in our own unit. Sometimes he barks for no apparent reason... I saw no point of not allowing pets.