All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

I appreciate the back and forth between @Ned Carey and @JR T.

It has crossed my mind that I did the test wrong, and I have been doing the 3M tests wrong for this whole project. I touched the tip against the test trip every time. I remember leaving yellow stains on the wall and the sill, then touching the little piece of paper that comes with the test to test if it is working, and then it turned red. I feel horribly silly, but I'll find out the truth once I've gotten an inspector in there.

I'll update once the I know what's what.

Okay. I'm going to have it tested to figure out how bad it is. I've read the various Maryland PDFs and pages ( 

http://mde.maryland.gov/programs/Land/LeadPoisonin... ). There are things I was planning to redo, but with facts I'll know how much. I need to do.

I'm a little less freaked out now. I went back to the photos I'd been taking of the progress of work, to figure out when the bad thing with the stairs was done and when the painting was done. Also the house was a rental prior to me getting it and had been renovated at least 30 years ago.... not renovated well, but it had been renovated.

So I've been quiet, there is a reason. I've been through 1.5 contractors. The first imploded and his people were horribly slow and incompetent. The next one, the .5, sort of didn't want to deal with the mess the first one left and so just put me in contact with subs.

So the house is over 100 years old and in Baltimore. It did have some work done sometime in the late 20th century by a obvious DIYer, and some of the old walls were behind new drywall. So a lot of the lead was behind things and under other coats of paint..... until the first contractor's people decided to sand the stairs without doing anything to control the dust. Worst yet, someone decided to sand the stairs after the walls were painted and the carpet laid, so in the open plan house the dust is on the walls and everywhere. I suspected the stairs might have had lead paint on them so when I tested the wall closest to the stairs and I got red.

So what do I do now?

Most of everything is done. I just need to redo a few minor things and repaint. I really want to get this thing rented out before the Summer ends. The holding costs are now becoming a problem.

Thanks for the info. The Pigtown is varied. One of those, depends on which block you're on kind of neighborhoods. The report includes Barre Circle, Carroll Park and the Industrial Area under the Pigtown/Washington Village heading.

I like parts of Pigtown, not all of it. Its proximity to several things, including a short walk to downtown once you get past MLK, is a major plus. But still, it is no Federal Hill.

They don't do finished square footage. I had my property reassessed because it was way smaller than what was listed. They measured the outside of the property, so bummer if you have thick walls.

The spousal unit and I walked around Shaw this evening and it looks like some developers are knocking down old townhouses and building their own taller modern multi-units in their place. But that's a little too rich and involved for my blood.  I'm not the one to ask anything about multi-units.

I chose to look in Baltimore, still tenant friendly city, but cheaper. Maybe next time I'll look closer to home.

I haven't really heard of any buzz for Congress Heights but every so often I check out the Congress Heights on the Rise blog ( http://www.congressheightsontherise.com/ ) to see what is up. 

Things were supposed to happen with St. Elizabeths near by, and it isn't far from Anacostia which is getting better, but no don't expect H Street kinds of improvement. Being east of the river (EOTR) has some drawbacks.

Some of you may know about Councilman Kenyon McDuffie's Airbnb legislation to curb some business practices in the District of Columbia. This is not new news.

But I recently attended a community meeting where one of the councilman's staff members showed up and answered questions and I figured I would share what he said. The legislation is geared towards stopping people from buying up "a bunch of" houses and renting out the houses on Airbnb. Supposedly, people could rent rooms in their primary residence or rent out their English basements. All they will need is a basic business license. Permits for this license are only supposed to go to DC residents. So far this specific license does not exist.

@Account Closed you (should) know the President's budget is a 1st draft and the final budget will be whatever the Congress spits out when they are done with it. Also if Defense is going to get a lot of money that results in more contractors with money.

We're dealing with various family care issues so there are a couple of things. I'm surprised you don't have a will already with even one property under your belt. Is there a property management company taking care of these rentals? If not, it is going to be harder for the person who inherits it to deal with them in the moment. 

I have an old will that I need to update. Yeah, these things need updating as life is full of changes. I think (it's been a while since I've looked at it) I just say real estate goes to my husband.... who wasn't my husband when I wrote the will. Then if he's not alive, a list of relatives get it. I still need to update that thing.

What about the children? That has very little to do with RE. You should have some paperwork or something regarding who should be your children's guardian and the "who" may change as they age and the "who"'s ability to care for kids change too.

Because of the family issues we are dealing with, the living trust thing did not work in our case. Problem is you have to have an active account with assets in the trust. When my husband took over the care of his mother, there was this trust but nothing was in it. He's had to deal with so many issues with her assets because none of them were in the living trust.