movin' on out, time to break free, nothing can stop me
How can you own property around here and not know how to spell the name of where you live?
"$1390 / 1br - Distinguished 1 bedroom (Ledtroit Park)"
$1390 for a 1 bedroom at 2nd and V? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Perhaps I am the imbecile for not being the property owner. Chalk it up to commitment issues. Plus, my first priority is to pay off the credit card bill, something I'm having good progress with lately. I will not add debt to previous debt, that's dumb. And I hear tell it's good to have a deposit before you buy something. Something about fiscal responsibility and more stable loans or something. Anyhow, despite the market being in my favor for a change, I'm still not ready to buy.
But I am ready to move. With the warmer weather and monsoon season upon us, the basement mold is in full bloom. Last night when I stuck my head in the closet I got an instant headache. It's definitely not healthy in there. Dehumidification from air conditioning will help alleviate the chronic dampness of the basement soon. I do have a dehumidifier and it's always hard at work.
And things outside the place are going from bad to worse. The pee smell coming from the vacant squatter property next door has also intensified with the warmer weather, and we have an brand new batch of hoodlums on the block who like to play music outside on their boombox until Midnight on Monday or Tuesday night. We call the cops and the cops drive by and flash their lights and the hoodlums turn down the music, but then they turn it back on when the cops leave (cops don't get out of their cars in Shaw). And with the old batch of hoodlums, they're still dealin' on the corner, nothing has improved in the two years I've been there, it's only gotten worse. There's a constant din and reek of cherry blunts at any given hour.
So this time I have more time to be selective about where I want to live: NW DC, generally North of N, South of V, West of 12th and East of 22nd. I'm tired of the urban pioneer spirit bullshit and want to live among people who can wipe their own asses and otherwise pick up after themselves. I'd rather not have a roomate but I may not have a choice. I am good with plants and animals, and am especially good with landlords/roomates who are out of town a lot or at their partner's house. But no smokers or people not done with their partying phase.
I must be resolute on one thing: no more basements. People with seasonal depression problems should not live in basements. Must. Have. Sunshine. I'd like to have space to garden outside but that's also negotiable.
"no more basements. People with seasonal depression problems should not live in basements"
You're just now coming to that conclusion? When you go you will be missed but yes, by all means get sun.
Buying is as much psychological as practical, and if you're not ready you're not ready, and I am definitely not chiding you or telling you that you're wrong... but. While it's more debt, it's better debt, in that you can write off the interest on your federal income taxes. Property taxes in DC are very low, which means your expenses are largely of the deductible kind (unlike here). Interest rates are currently pretty low, and prices have gotten somewhat depressed. So in practical terms it is a good time for it; you might want to crunch some numbers, especially if rents are ridiculous. The big challenge is getting a mortgage; if you have credit issues it can be hard. But if you have clean credit and a reasonable debt/income ratio, and you don't expect to be leaving town in the next 5 years, it's probably worth firing up Excel and doing some spreadsheets and thinking about seriously. Once you start taking deductions and allowing for a very conservative increase in value (I was VERY conservative in my calculations) that new debt might actually leave you with more money, and if interest rates go up, what you can afford can change pretty dramatically. Just something to think about, if you haven't already done that calculation: it might make you want to buy. If you do, it will give you a super realistic idea of what you should spend, and what's no longer worth it. And it might make you feel great about renting.
All that said I am going to miss the best part of renting: something's broken, call Mr Landlord!
I can totally relate to what you are saying about where you live; the street where I am renting is nice but thanks to a string of bad neighbors (the thug guys across the street with eight million SUVs, the woman who got a new stereo for Christmas and finally granted our wish of salsa music you can hear for two blocks on sunny afternoons) it's been working my nerves. Nothing like some of the issues I dealt with in my Q Street days but annoying. So i passed up a house I totally loved in a sketchier part of the neighborhood for a smaller, but still very nice, one in a much nicer location. It's a lot easier to add a room to the house than to move the house, and I wanted neighbors who keep their places nice, and aren't making everybody around them crazy.
I did the urban pioneer thing in DC (and I did well with it). But I don't want to deal with it again, and I don't want to roll the dice with it again, because you can do well. Or... you might not.
Jimbo:
Let's get to the root of your real problem. You need to find that elusive animal called a "boyfriend". If you can sit around observing bird populations, surely you can find a boyfriend in DC. Think how much a boyfriend would change your life forever. You can play house, walk around beeming to anyone and everyone from your sunny relationship, and annoy all of your single friends with cutesy events such as "buttsex night"! ;)
Quit DC and move in with me... in the middle of nowhere. I've got lots o' space, gardens and many, many windows. I have a guest room, though we should probably keep it for our guests. You may share my bed. ;)
Seriously, why do you live in DC? Arlington is so much nicer, safer, cleaner, friendlier, and amazingly sane and well-governed. If you live in the Rosslyn/Courthouse area, you are five minutes from your precious DC, without all the crud. And you can exercise/birdwatch along the river.
1390!!! for that area, damm. While i love D.C. and the suburbs surrounding, that is way crazy. For 1390 you could have a sweet loft in one of the newer rehashed buildings in Portland OR with a view of the river and city. My brother has a small guest house for rent in Annapolis on the Severn for 1250. One bedroom, fireplace and 1/2 acre, detached, with its own parking spot and small garage/storage area.
In other news:
So much for swimming in the Chesapeake Bay near Sandy Point State Park.
Annapolis MD
While the vessel 'Dawn Raider' out of Marklys Marina in Essex, Md. was fishing for Striped Bass (also locally known as Rock Fish), this Great White was hooked in the mouth but only resisted slightly for 15 minutes before it came up alongside the boat to have a look; long enough for one of the crew members to slip a rope a round it's tail !!! 'And that's when things heated up!!
The Shark took off towing the 42 foot fishing boat backwards through the water at about 7 Knots. Just like in JAWS, the boat was taking on water over the stern and the crew watched in horror as the shark would actually jump completely out of the water at times. This went on for an hour before the shark finally drowned. She weighed in at 1035 LBS. It is suspected she followed a weak El Nino current into local waters in search of food. Although mid 60 degree water is considered ideal for these sharks, the larger ones can tolerate water in the low 50s.
Now is a good time to buy. Seriously, there's a glut of places on the market, especially condos, and it shouldn't be too hard to find a roommate without a crack habit. Location means everything. You might find a nice place outside "the box."