Hope you are fine today? Thanks for your mail and your willingness to assist me in this transaction. I assure you that all will be well at the end of the day and this transaction will benefit us immensely. All I need from you is your willingness and disposition to follow my instructions and directives while I guide you.You must also understand that this project will require a little of your time and commitment for it to be actualized.
Why i said this is because during the course of the transaction it may be required of you to travel to Malaysia which are the likely point where this transfer can be effected. So in essence it may require your physical presence. This will be the best way to realise this project faster and smoothly. The maximum you will be expected to stay in this trip is 2 working days and everything will be concluded and the money wired into your account. So before I proceed with the details of the procedure,I will like you to give me an answer to this very basic issue I raised. Can you be able to travel for this project to this destination I told you about?Reply urgently so that I can give you further details on how we will proceed.
I look forward to working with you on this project.
I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, here. Trulia just came out with a report that promotes ownership over renting for those planning on staying in the same place for 5+ years within the DC area. In Montgomery County that figure is 36%, while in DC proper it’s 27% cheaper to own than rent.
Oh, and if you’re looking to save some big bucks and buy a place, give us a ring. There are a lot of programs out there to provide first time buyers with down-payment assistance. Don’t go it alone We are here to help!
And they’re expected to bring $8-BILLION worth of development along with them. Not too shabby! Streetcars used to grace the streets of DC but they disappeared in 1962 in favor of buses.
The District is investing heavily on its new streetcar line in the hope of generating development and tax revenue. The Portland streetcar system is often cited, where ridership has increased over its 12-year history, and where development has boomed.
Eventually there will be 37-miles of track along eight different lines, serving all eight wards. The first line to open will operate along the H Street/Benning corridor and is expected to begin service sometime in 2014.
The streetcars will run almost exclusively within DC boundaries. In theory, they are to offer transport in areas that aren’t necessarily covered by metro, including the underserved K-Street corridor running to Georgetown. To learn more check out DCStreetcar.com.
Making Progress… Lots 29 & 31 in downtown Bethesda continue to “grow”. This is the view as of mid-January 2014. To see how it looked in October, click here.
Fantastic new listing in Chevy Chase, MD. Four bedrooms and 3 baths on almost 2/3 of an acre…
Classic, clean lines. Ready for the pickiest of buyers. About a block to Rock Creek Park and the Hiker-Biker trail. Beautiful, refinished hardwood flooring throughout. Two fireplaces. Replacement windows. Renovated kitchen and baths. The first floor features a large living room, dining room, family room, laundry/mud room, breakfast room and kitchen, along with three bedrooms and two full baths. There is also a finished walk-out basement with an endless rec room, a whimsical bar, bedroom, full bath and utility room.
Offered at $849,000
Open Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12
from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
For more information, give us a call: Cati 202-487-7177 or Marcie 301-758-4894
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is gathering feedback on recommended changes to school starting and ending times, also known as Bell Times. Superintendent Joshua Starr has recommended that high schools start 50 minutes later; middle schools start 10 minutes earlier; and that the elementary school day be extended by 30 minutes. None of these changes would occur until the 2015-2016 school year, at the earliest. There are several ways you can share your thoughts on the recommendations, including community meetings.
While I initially thought that the altered school times would be a good idea (my teenagers have always been teenagers in terms of rising times), my kids think it’s a bad idea. They don’t like the idea of getting out of school at such a late hour, particularly with regard to sports. “Mom- we won’t get back home from practice until 7:30!”. Who knew?
The next community meeting will be held Monday, December 16, at 7:00 p.m. at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Childcare for ages 4 and up and interpretation will be provided. For more information, visit the MCPS website.
Even minimal staging can make a vacant house look a lot more appealing to potential buyers
There’s a lot of buzz about “staging” your home for sale these days. It’s become a must for anybody who wants to get the best price for their house. We spend much time discussing such options with our seller clients. Every house is different, so staging can mean different things, from decluttering, depersonalizing or rearranging some furniture to painting or exchanging artwork. Sometimes, the tweaks are small, and sometimes, we think it better to bring in a professional stager (or team). But what when the house is vacant?
Actually, when the house or condo is vacant, a staging job can be even more important. In trying to explain this to a seller today, I came across this little video in which a crew from Red House Staging explains and demonstrates how they’re making a rather small condo look inviting, big and functional to potential buyers. Have a look, it’s no too long:
When I bought my first house in DC in the 1990s, most of the places our Realtor showed us were vacant. And it wasn’t just that they were empty, they were often also in sad shape, or at least it didn’t look like the sellers had put any effort at all in making them look appealing to us. Yes, most of them sold in the end, even without that effort. But before they did, most of them also spent 6 or 9 months or even more than a year on the market.
(P.S. We love Jaye and Sam and Red House, but they’re not the only stagers we’ve worked with. Depending on your unique needs and situation, there might be other designers, organizers or companies we would recommend.)
Photo of the Week (month, year, decade… we’ve been distracted)
This photo was taken at the Bethesda Farm Women’s Market back in 1937 or 1938 (long before the car drove into it). It’s part of the Harris & Ewing Collection, housed at the Library of Congress.
It’s not only a magic, easy-to-use tool, but it’s also a fun toy to play with: the Homesnap smartphone app and website. As a website, it’s a neat, map-based real-time MLS search, but the real kicker is the phone app. You can stop in front of any house you drive by, open the app, point your cell phone at the hues, and — voilà — tax records, sales history, rough value estimates and pictures will pop right up!
Point — Snap — Info!
If the house happens to be on the market, the app will take you straight to the listing. And if not, well, you’ll get to find out what your neighbor bought their place for. Just give it a try!
It was an exciting moment last year when we discovered this inconspicuous little 1918 American Foursquare in Silver Spring, Maryland. [Click on the thumb prints for larger pictures.]
After much writing and talking about the many Sears and Lewis mail-order homes we have in the DC suburbs, we’d also been looking for evidence of Historic Aladdin kit houses for a while. In archives, we had found a series of picture ads in the Washington Post from the 1910s. They showed how the company — in the pre-cut kit house business even before Sears — had tried to charm the city’s potential home owners and builders. So clearly, there must have been a bunch of those houses built here.
The “Standard” as pictured in the 1915 Aladdin mail-order catalog
This Washington Post Ad for the Aladdin Company shows the “Standard” – perhaps one of their most popular models
Aladdin Kit house in Downtown Silver Spring, MD, near the District Line
The Standard as advertised in the Washington Post for $1,088.
The “Standard” in 1922 – a wider front porch and a modified 2nd floor layout
1922 Floorplan
Historic Mail-order home in Silver Spring, Maryland
The “Standard” seen from the backyard
Eventually, we did succeed in finding some truly amazing specimen (pictures to come soon!) as Aladdin offered some of the largest and most luxurious models of all kit house companies.
The “Standard” was certainly a more moderate house, but the discovery was nevertheless exciting because it was the first Aladdin we spotted here. The playful, pointed yet swinging pitch of the roof and dormer and its 2-foot overhanging extension were the tip-off. They’re less common in other homes from that time, kit or not.
“BEE-UUU-TI-FUL!” cheered Rosemary Thornton, leading kit house expert and author of a bunch of books on the topic, when I shared pictures in a national kit house forum. What we were thrilled with was the fact that the house appeared – at least from the outside – preserved in almost original form. Despite the vinyl siding, it seemed likely that much of the original structure and detail was preserved.
Well, little did we know. Until a couple of days ago, that is, when I discovered that the house was for rent. Marcie and I ran off to have a look. What we saw was not at all what we had expected. The good news: the house was reasonable well maintained, comfortably and in healthy shape. Floor plan, blue grease pencil markings on the lumber and a few other little details confirmed that it was indeed the Aladdin “Standard.” The bad news: other than the walls and door trim, there was nothing left of the house inside. Absolutely nothing.
Hollow-core doors, epoxy hardware, Pergo floors all over and pseudo-contemporary glass light fixtures made it clear that the owner might have appreciated the house as such, but certainly not for its historic value or beauty. I’m not going to ruin this post with the interior pictures we took (although we ended up laughing so hard that it might warrant a follow-up piece here). You can, however, check out the listing agent’s MLS pictures here.
The “Standard” — off Georgia Ave in Downtown Silver Spring — is currently available for rent at $2,200/month by Josh Andrew of Streamline Management in Bethesda.
Dear Marcie
