All Forum Posts by: M Marie M.

I wanted to start a forum topic in the local forum for Washington, D.C., but I found I could not. I know we're not a state but please, we are part of the United States. When I hit "Start a Discussion" and go to "Select a Forum" the local forum for "Washington, D.C." is not there. Where did it go.

I understand sometimes we (the District of Columbia) gets left off and forgotten, because when thinking of the 50 states, we're not a state. I now notice P.R. (Puerto Rico) is left off too, but I didn't know if they ever had a forum. Puerto Rico & Guam are also part of the United States.

Also we are not a part of Maryland.

So where has Washington, DC gone?

I know this sound weird but I like Baltimore Brew- https://www.baltimorebrew.com/

Yes, their main thing is beer and liquor licenses, but they cover other things. Up now they have a story from their archives (cold brew) that is real estate related, about Harbor Point. Sadly, no podcast.

Welcome @Thesda McIvor to BP. You can learn a lot here. Poke around in the forums, search some terms your interested in and listen to the podcasts. There are free webinars, so maybe check those out as well.

Hopefully @Ned Carey will chime in.

I'm in the slow slow process of renovating part of the BRRR method of a tiny property that cost about $72 per square foot. It was more than $5-8K.

 In the beginning I looked at some of the lower priced listings on line. Then I took field trips out to Baltimore, walked around, stayed in some AirBnBs in the neighborhoods I was looking. Places that are only a block away could be like they are on two different worlds.  The difference from one side of the street to the other could be as different as night and day. So proximity has its limits.

Also many people, here on BiggerPockets and in real life have warned me (cautioned me?) that the Baltimore City rental market is challenging/different. It is quite renter friendly/ landlord hostile.

@Dan Robinson is correct about basement apartments around here. That's around the price some friends are renting their 2 bedroom basement apartment below their primary home.

There are a variety of things people do in DC. There's getting a 3 bedroom and getting roommates. Some people dig out their basements and get a legal apartment below them.... a painfully slow process from what I've observed. There are those unknowingly/knowingly, who do have illegal basement apartments, so find out what makes a basement illegal. I've had/have neighbors who have done airbnb, but airbnb does take a nice cut, so consider short term (30days to less than a year) and advertising on Craigslist for people who need a furnished place for a short time (and screen like your life depends on it).

I'm not sure if the District of Columbia still has all the great first time homebuyer programs that were around when I bought my home a zillion years ago. My fav was the $5K I could take off on my income taxes, followed by the tax abatement that due to a low salary (just outta grad school) I didn't pay property taxes for 4 years. I was able to get away with a small downpayment (loan through the Housing Finance Agency) however, these things are usually for people who are staying put and those programs where there when DC wasn't as popular as it is now.

I agree with others in that it depends on you. You and your talents, your situation, your tolerances and your personality.

For me house hacking was good for me. I was a first time homeowner and DC at that time had a bunch of great programs for first time homeowners. I also was used to roommates and managing roommates. Not everyone can do that. I also hate selling. Hate it. So it's best that I stay away from wholesaling. I have a minimal knowledge of construction as I grew up in a construction family business. I can fix things, but I know professionals can do it better, most of the time. So buy & hold for me. But that is just me, you may be different.

Maybe you're great at sales or can use a talent of connecting with people, but I don't know, as only 'you' knows 'you' best.

Okay follow up.

Yesterday my mom informed me that the inspector called her and said the yard passed inspection. What I think helped ( besides paying my Pop to clean up the yard-- he tears down houses and other stuff involving loud trucks and dirt for a living) was the constant communication with the city inspector's office and the named inspector and promises to put up a privacy fence. I'll follow up with the inspector to make sure we're done.

It seems mine wasn't the only yard cited and there was some confusion of where the property line is.

I thought there were more vacant properties than 7,500. Last year the Washington Post said it was about 16,000. Whatever the number there are a lot.

Thank you @Account Closed & @Account Closed. The plan so far is to get my dad to put up a tall fence. My dad had the same problem with the city and his contracting equipment, so he put up a high fence to corral his stuff, problem solved. I called my dad and he said he'd take a look at it today, more likely tomorrow. I'll call a fence company if he doesn't make it out there. The funny thing is the tenants are landscapers so the grass in the front is kept well, it's just the back yard where they are storing equipment. As a response to the letter received from the city I've told them they will need to store anything that won't fit in the shed somewhere else.

The wife sent me photos of the rear yard and my mom confirmed that they cleaned up the yard. They didn't remove everything, but it's not as junky as before, which is why I was surprised I got another letter from the city. If the neighbor is making an issue of it, the best thing might be to make sure everything is out of his sight with a privacy fence. I've been a complainy neighbor and I know the city has to at least go through the motions.

I planned to do some upgrades and sell, but not this year and everything has been complicated by the in-law eldercare clusterfxxk in California with expensive lawyers. No, it doesn't relate to real estate but it is the most current and emotionally/financially draining thing going on in my life right now, leaving just enough sanity for my W-2 job. Yes, @Patrick Liska & @Juan Jackson a good PM would have taken care of this, but the key is a "good" PM and I would still have to pay to clean up the yard, the eviction, prepping for new tenants, screening and getting new tenants.

The basics- I live in DC, I have a rental in Ocala, FL sorta managed by my parents also in that city. When I bought the place the house to the left of it was a vacant tear down shack filled with junk, the house to the right was unfinished and vacant for years and years. This month I have received notices from the city about an ordinance violation that cite the ordinance but fail to mention the exact violation. The 1st notice was just to me, the second, the tenants got a copy and I had to spend time calming down the wife (my tenant) because the city cites the whole ordinance and she was going on and on about graffiti and vines, which I knew wasn't the problem.

I had contacted the tenants after talking with the city the 1st time I received a notice. It appears one of their neighbors complained about their junky yard.  I suspect the C- neighborhood I bought into in the late 00s is growing up a grade and kinda gentrifying, if there really is such a thing in Ocala.

I observed full on gentrification in my own neighborhood in DC and I suspect something similar is happening where my rental is. The two vacant houses that used to bookend my rental have been fixed up and occupied. My mom suspects the complaining neighbor is a guy who moved in recently. In my DC neighborhood, new people would complain and engage city services to better the neighborhood and old timers would complain about the new comers wanting to change everything. The new guy might be a harbinger of things to come.

On the plus side. Hey my property value is going up! Yay. However it is a D+ looking property in a B-/C+ neighborhood and I'd have to fix it up to get full retail price. It's in walking/biking distance (if it isn't 90F+) to a A class neighborhood. There are plenty of amenities (library, grocery, parks, etc) within a short drive or walk.

My problem is the city is now threatening fines. My other problem is the husband (I tend to talk to the wife) and his junk and his landscaping equipment. I'm in the middle of dealing with another property I bought in Baltimore and some family in-law problems. If it weren't for those other distractions, I would look into removing the tenants and fixing and flipping it. If I remove them now, I would need to fix up the house and I don't have time to go down to Florida do that right now. I know my tenants want to buy the house, but I'm having doubts they would be able to afford it and maintaining it so they won't get in trouble and the timing is bad for all of us.

Warning or lesson for long distance landlords, unless you're going by the property often you may be slow to pick up on neighborhood change. Also there is little you can do about city ordinance violations from several states away, short of asking your tenant to fix it.