Vacant Property Tax Problems
23 05 2008It looks like the new DC legislation we mentioned last month that was designed to significantly raise the costs of keeping abandoned run down properties in the District, is having some unintended negative consequences for area residents.
The Washington City Paper is reporting that the recent increase in property tax assessments for vacant properties has led to homeowners in non-vacant buildings to be erroneously charged the higher rate. We can only imagine how difficult these errors will be to fix given the slow bureaucracy of the District we all know and love.
This house pictured above at 11th and Vermont, NW was abondoned for years, but within the last month all the ivy has come down and it looks completely different, though the clean up actually made it look worse in our opinion. We suspect that the new legislation had something to do with the quick cleanup of a bunch of buildings around town that we have noticed!
[Flickr Photo: Ronnie R]
I completely agree, the “cleaned up” way the house off 11th looks now is just awful and don’t people know that ivy gives a building character, especially when there isn’t much coming from the architecture
Both pictures of the house give me a stomach ache. Ivy may give a building character, but left untended it will eat the mortar right out from between the bricks. (Just like an untended wisteria vine can literally remove a roof if left untended for decades.)
How sad that this charming house is abandoned. It’s really lovely — and on a corner lot!
Ivy may look good, but it damages the brick.
But can’t you tend ivy to help keep some of the character without inflicting structural damage? A little ivy-editing would have been nice, especially since the brick without any green is so stark. Still, that home looks like it has beautiful bones. I wish I had the means to buy it and fix it up myself.
if I recall correctly, that building was for sale last year for approx $700k. perhaps the new owner bought it as a fixer-upper and is making good on it. in that case, I suspect it could be occupied. just a thought…
I now see the right windows are still boarded up so it’s probably unoccupied.
I just checked the location of this house - it’s about 3 blocks off of Logan Circle on Vermont (and from there it’s only another 1.5 blocks to Whole Foods). That’s a pretty great location.
I’ll never understand the mindset of owners that allow their properties to crumble into ruins and blight the neighborhood. It doesn’t make sense as an investment - the dilapidated condition of the property holds down the value, and many other investments perform better over time (e.g., a blended portfolio of stocks and bonds). Selling the property is a win-win-win; the seller gets the funds to invest elsewhere, the new owner gets the use and enjoyment of the property, and the neighborhood get the benefit from having one less abandoned property acting as an eyesore/public nuisance. If a reporter was to do a story on the issue and interviewed some of these absentee owners, I’d be very intersted to see how they explain their “property management” style.
I have a group of friends who used to live in this building. They used to have great parties! It’s a shame to see the place abandoned and overgrown with foilage. I remember the inside was actually in pretty good shape, complete with modern appliances. I don’t think it would take too much capital to get this property back in working order.
This house was bought and is being completely renovated. The brick was in bad condition and had to be pointed…which is a tedious process where they remove the mortar btw each brick and then replace. The new owners mentioned that it will be painted. This is a complete gut and redo…big job.