Barbara Canada Realtor® Washington DC Homes

I took Lucky, my dog, for a walk at the National Arboretum today, as I do every weekend. He loves to run without the leash as we take a hike on the Azalea trail.

The place is usually queit and not too many people frequent the trail. But today - it was a different story. The Arboretum was packed. It turns out they had thier annual plant sale, and on top of that the azaleas were in full bloom.

This time of year it's a magical time to be at the National Arboretum in DC. When you take a hike on the trail, you enter a forrest of azaleas and roddodendrons. Colors from white, to yellow, to pink, to blood red. The entire trail leads through this amazing labirynth of color.

If you ever visit DC in late April or early May, the National Arboretum is the place to see for all the colors!

Things have been going pretty smooth at the house. We got the kitchen finished and I was able to get the appliances at a very reasonable prices - I happen to be at the right place (Home Depot) at the right time (their annual sale of last year's appliances). I got a brand new fridge and stove at half price. I also found a stacked washer/dryer at a used appliance center. My house was coming together. I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's Friday morning and I'm in my office. My phone rings - the contractor tells me that someone broke into the house. My hart sinks. Thank God my boss is very understanding and lets me go to take care of the situation. I get to the house in a record speed. The contractor has already called the police. After the inspection of the house I find that only the washer/dryer unit is missing, but the fridge and stove and everything else is still there. The thieves also stole some of my contractor's tools that he left in the house.

After a few more calls to the police, they finally show up and write the report. From what they tell me - the thieves probably had a "shopping list" and they only needed the washer/dryer unit - probably for another property. There have been a lot of break-ins at the rehab sites around the neighborhood. I'm worried now that the thieves might be back for the rest of the appliances, so I hire someone to stay at the house for a few days, until I get bars on windows and doors. I was right to do so, as the thieves came back that same night.

A few days later the security company installed the alarm system at the house and the welding contractor put the bars on doors and windows. I felt a little better, but knew that the house was at risk until someone moved in.

To Be Continued...

I have to start thinking about building a retaining wall in front of the house so the soil does not get washed away by the rain. I get a student from a local architecture school to prepare the drawings for the wall and take it to DCRA to get the permit. Since now I know my way around the permit office and their rules, and it's just the wall I want to build, it only takes me a couple of hours to get the permit.

A few days later the contractor begins working on the retaining wall. First he needs to dig a hole across the property to pour the concrete for the wall footings. Then he can build the wall. The soil on the hill is pretty loose so it's important to build a wall to hold the soil and stop the hill from deteriorating.

I get a call a few hours later - it's the contractor and there is a problem - he has dug a trench almost 3 feet deep and there is no solid ground on which to place the footings. He needs to call a geotechnical engineer to come out and get a study done on how deep he'll have to dig. He also mentions that the soil is quite loose and a part of the trench collapsed during the dig. Well, hello! What do you expect? You have to build a supporting structure around the ditch to prevent the walls from collapsing. Do I have to be at the site all the time to babysit? Thank God no one was hurt.

A few days later I get another call from the contractor. He has met with the engineer and after doing some tests the engineer can't determine how deep to dig, since he was not able to poke his way to a solid ground. Now what? I need that wall or my house will eventually end up at the bottom of the hill. Is there any other solution?

Apparently there is but the geo tech suggests that I meet with his boss to discuss those options. So we schedule an appointment.

Saturday morning we meet bright and early at the house to discuss the options:

1. Bring heavy machinery and install those big steel beams that they usually install at big construction sites - however, that requires several additional permits and several thousand dollars.

2. Keep digging until we get to the solid ground - but there is no way of telling how deep we'll have to go

3. Build the wall at the bottom of the hill, then bring more soil to build up the hill again

I go with the 3^rd option since it seems the most doable and cost effective. However, since the bottom of the hill borders the public space, there is another permit involved and another trip to DCRA. On the other hand - there is an old deteriorating wall at the bottom of the hill, so it shouldn't be too difficult to convince the DC officials that we need to rebuild it.

When I get the bill from the geo-tech company I find out that they also charged me for their travel time at the same rate as the consultation rate. And for chatting about other non-project related things like trying to sell me some products from their vendors. I guess you have to be very careful when you deal with some "service" providers.

To Be Continued...

The house originally had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath on the 1^st floor. In order for me to increase the value of the house and get more rent out of it I had to add bedrooms. There is not much standing room in the attic but luckily the basement is large and has enough height that I can finish it and add 2 more bedrooms and a full bath there. My intentions are to rent the house when it's finished to Section 8 tenants (the subsidized housing for low income residents). Section 8 calculates the rent based on number of bedrooms, so in DC in 2006 a 2-bedroom house can rent at $1,250 but the rent for a 4-bedroom house goes up to $2,068.

A lot of people don't want to rent to Section 8 tenants because they are afraid that since the tenants don't have to pay any rent or pay very small part of the rent they will trash the place. However, I believe that every tenant should be screened thoroughly, regardless of the fact that he/she pays the rent or the government does. It's much easier to rent a place to somebody, than to get rid of a bad tenant. Especially in DC - it is totally a pro-tenant state. It can take several months to evict tenants. So screen, screen, screen before you rent even if that means that you have to cover the mortgage for a few months before you find that perfect tenant.

I am rehabbing this house as if it was my own home. I want the new family that moves in to have a nice and clean place to live in. Everybody deserves a nice home. But, on the other hand, I want my tenants to take care of the place as if it was their own.

Now, going back to my original thought - 2-bedroom house vs. 4-bedroom house. When I first started looking at this property my objective was to increase the number of bedrooms and functionality of the house. If I could not add any more bedrooms I would not acquire this property. I also looked at the area - what's happening now, what are the plans for the future, is any new development coming to this area, how's the crime, etc. Well, the crime was pretty high - it is still a very transitional neighborhood, and some would even consider it a borderline war zone. I never would even think of being there after dark. Even during the daylight I always make sure that someone is at the property before I come over. But there are good things going on too. First, there is a lot of construction activity going on all around the area. Then there is the Habitat for Humanity project right across the street from my property - over 100 homes are being built on this once empty field. The high school down the street that looks like a maximum security prison is getting over $8mln from the city to rebuild their facility. A few blocks away "the Projects" ridden with crime are going to be torn down and rebuilt as single family homes or townhouses. The neighborhood is definitely changing.

To Be Continued...

The weather is not on our side - it's been raining for several days now and the contractor is unable to finish the French drain. The hole that he dug out on the outside of the house is now filling up with water which water keeps seeping into the basement. What a mess. I try to stay optimistic but things are not looking too good. There is mud everywhere, the water is flowing down the hill washing away loose soil, and there is not much we can do, except for praying to get some sun.

After several days of this nasty weather we finally get a break. It takes several hours to pump the water out of the French drain. Once that's done, the contractor can set up the pipes, gravel, landscape fabric and cover everything with dirt. He redirects the water away from the house and the basement finally has a chance to dry out completely. I'm so relieved. We can finally move on with our project.

To Be Continued...