In Shaw (an historically gentrified blog)

1213 New Jersey Avenue

Price: $619,000
Bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 3
Basement: Yes, finished
Fireplaces: 2 or 3

I was disappointed. But houses around a certain amount I have great expectations. Expectations that are dashed by the small things one notice as a homeowner that might go missed as a 1st time homebuyer.
First thing I noticed was in the bathroom. This was a blah, functional bathroom. No attempt to wow me. Regular Home Depot tub, with other regular stuff, but then I noticed the shower head. The thing wasn't flush with the wall in that I could see the hole from where the pipe came from and it wasn't caulked up or anything. This could allow water to get back behind the wall causing an expensive repair. This I noticed from the bathroom door.
The first floor of the main unit was fairly, ok. As I said, no wow, pretty much allowing me to believe that the money one would pay for the house is just location and not the house itself. I mean the wood floors were nice but, for $619K I would expect a little more care in how the house was fixed up.
Click here for image of upstairs
When I went up the stairs I noticed some problems with the wood work were problems were painted over. Sad. Sad because the house does have so much potential. If whoever was fixing it up had just taken a little bit more time with it and took care of the little details that would have made it look better....*sigh*. Anyway there were exposed brick bedrooms and small bedrooms with fireplaces. Do they work? Unknown, but they look nice. The house gets a decent amount of light.

The basement is supposed to be a legal rental unit. It has all one would expect from a finished basement, kitchen, living area, bedroom, full bath and damp. I noticed the problem near the bottom of the walls. The paint was bubbling away from the walls. A few dehumidifiers might help. Or not. But keeping water and dampness out of this basement might be cause for concern.
Should one buy this house? Oh, yes, but not at the price given. One would have to take something off the price to address the issues of damp and fixing the minor things.

posted by Mari @ 8.2.05