A Contest without a Prize

Greetings!

For those of you who are reading this because you noticed my DC Arts & Crafts game in the September 10th issue of Metro Weekly, here are the answers to the questions I posed in the ad. This was essentially a contest without a prize and just a nice way to get to know a little something about the arts and architecture found here in DC.

1) What era constituted the American Arts & Crafts Movement?

The Arts and Crafts Movement was an international design movement that originated in England and flourished between 1880 and 1910, continuing its influence up to the 1930s. In the United States, the terms American Craftsman, or Craftsman style are often used to denote the style of architecture, interior design, and decorative arts that prevailed roughly between 1910 and 1925.

2) What are three characteristics of an Arts & Crafts-style home?

Exterior characteristics: wide eaves, exposed rafter tails and joists along the roof line, an emphasis on wood and natural materials. Interior characteristics: art glass, built-in cabinetry and wood details such as moulding and in-laid floors.

3) What three galleries are located in or near the DC Atlas District?

Studio H at 408a H Street, NE on the second floor
http://www.studiohdc.com/
City Gallery at 804 H Street, NE
http://www.citygallerydc.com/
Artful Gallery at 1349 Maryland Avenue, NE
http://www.artfulgallery.net/

4) Who was Harry Wardman and what is/was his claim to fame?

Harry Wardman (April 11, 1872–March 18, 1938) was a real estate developer in Washington, D.C. during the early 20th century whose developments included landmark hotels, luxury apartment buildings, and many rowhouses. Wardman built many of the city's rowhouses, especially in the neighborhoods of Columbia Heights, Bloomingdale, Eckington and Brightwood as well as the 1,200-room Wardman Park Hotel (now the site of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel and Conference Center) along Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park.

5) What 2010 HGTV Design Star contestant calls DC home?

Local designer and St. Croix native Alex Sanchez made his television debut as a contestant on the fifth season of “HGTV Design Star.” While not the ultimate winner, we cheered him on and continue to do so as he beautifies the city, one condo at a time.

6) What local artist’s paintings feature colorful DC landmarks?

Daniel Kessler. You will recognize his work at http://www.kesslerart.com/.

7) Who was first on DC’s go-go music scene?

A handful of bands contributed to the early evolution of this uniquely regional music style of the mid- to late-1970s, but singer-guitarist Chuck Brown is credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style. His popular hit, Bustin’ Loose, has recently gone mainstream as the music heard in a television commercial for Chips Ahoy.

8) How drunk was Pierre L’Enfant when he designed DC’s layout?

If you are a recent resident of DC, you probably think he had tee many mar-toonis as he completed the wheels and spokes of our state-named streets, but the grid system is rather simple to navigate once you understand it – just allow a little extra time for driving around the circles several times at first to find the spoke you want.

9) When and where will the next DC Artomatic be held?

We would all love to know the answer to that question. Can anyone in the know chime in?

10) Which DC Realtor® will artfully craft an offer for your next home?

That would be me, naturellement.

It’s Showtime: Setting the Stage for Successful Selling

If you missed my article in the June 25th edition of The Washington Blade, read on.

Did that fabulous job in Manhattan finally come through? Is there a penthouse condo is SoBe calling your name? Perhaps you’ve fallen in love and you’re tired of the morning walk-of-shame from his place to yours. Whatever the reason, you’ve decided to sell your home.

It used to be that real estate was all about “location, location, location.” While a great location can still cause buyers to compromise on a less than stellar house, the mantra du jour is actually “location, condition and price.”

Since we cannot change the home’s location, real estate agents must rely even more on its condition and its price to achieve a successful sale. This article will address some ways to improve your home’s condition so that buyers are more likely to identify it as “The One.”

In nearly 13 years of selling real estate, I have had the pleasure of listing a dozen or so houses and condos where I didn’t need to change a thing. Most homes have needed at least some minor tweaking. Some have been candidates for Niecy Nash’s Messiest Home in the Country. And yes, a few others have been straight out of A&E TV’s Hoarders.

Often the most difficult thing for homeowners to do is to begin to think of the house they have poured blood, sweat, tears and money into as a product that will be sold to others. Like many of my colleagues, I help my sellers de-clutter, de-personalize and survive this transition so that a buyer who expects the look of a model home will not be disappointed. While you won’t find me vacuuming in my lingerie à la Annette Benning, I generally end up flexing my creative side by staging or even sometimes renovating each home I sell.

The National Association of REALTORS® has long suggested that staged homes sell more quickly and for higher prices than similar, unstaged homes. My experience has certainly shown that to be true. I have also found that staging an occupied home needn’t cost a fortune.

Here are 10 low-cost staging tips to keep in mind when living in your home while it’s on the market.
• Listen to your agent’s advice – candor is not meant to be mean-spirited.
• Pack and store non-essentials off-site; sell or donate what you no longer want.
• Experiment with new furniture arrangements to make spaces seem open and inviting.
• Use smaller area rugs to show off more of your hardwood floors.
• Refresh your paint; choose colors that tone down or rev up a room.
• Keep items on horizontal surfaces to a minimum; staging vignettes generally use no more than three items of varying heights.
• Invest in light bulbs and replace burned out bulbs immediately.
• Leave your blinds up and your toilet seats down.
• Repair or remove anything that stinks, clinks, squeaks, or leaks.
• Clean! Clean! Clean! Do it yourself or hire a service. Or call Annette Benning.

But what about a vacant house? Although some buyers see vacant space as an opportunity to turn what is into what could be, most people have a difficult time imagining how they will live in a home that is totally unfurnished. Professional staging helps your home outshine the competition by accentuating its best features. Think of it as dressing your home for a date or a job interview.

• Start with clean skin: a spotless home.
• Apply foundation: otherwise known in the trades as paint.
• Put on your favorite outfit: a great sofa, an elegant dining set, an antique desk.
• Add accessories: rugs, throw pillows, linens, art.
• Finish with a bit of bling: dishes on the table, crystal at the bar and light streaming through the windows.

With your efforts, the assistance of your agent and the talents of a professional stager, a successful sale will surely be imminent. To paraphrase Norma Desmond, “it’s just us, the virtual tour, and these wonderful people here at the open house.”

Is your house ready for its close-up? Mr. DeMille awaits.

I Am Not a Liar!

OK, folks. The most recent legislation proposed to curb abusive lending practices and eliminate those “liar loans” referred to in staff writer Dina ElBoghdady’s 5/27/10 article in The Washington Post (Senate, House financial overhaul targets lending practices of mortgage crisis) is more than I can take without getting on this mini soap box and spewing forward.

First, let me state for the record that I am not in favor of abusive lending practices. I want my clients to avail themselves of the best possible loans for their individual circumstances. I want them to clearly understand the ramifications and limitations of their options. I want them to make sound financial decisions based on as much information as they can gather and assimilate.

But after buying and selling 28 homes and investment properties of my own over the past 33 years, opting for 80% loans, 90% loans, 80-10-10 loans, 80-20 loans, interest–only loans, negative amortization loans and a variety of adjustable mortgage programs that range in length from 6 months to 5 years before the payment changes, I now find that the pendulum has swung so far to the opposite side on what constitutes “abuse” that the current lending climate has hit home (pardon the pun) in a most unusual way.

I cannot get a loan!

Like many of my clients, I earn a 6-figure income. I pay my bills on time. I keep my credit score in the mid-700s or above. I support myself, my 86-year old mother who resides in an independent living facility and my ex-husband (for a short time by agreement – don’t ask). I have substantial assets. I save for the future. I pay my taxes – lots of them. I donate to charity. I have never filed for bankruptcy or sold short. I am a good person. But in the eyes of the mortgage industry, I am a pariah because…

I am self-employed.

At the moment, even though I have loans on my residence totaling more than the property is currently worth, I am probably better off than most in my situation.
In 2007 when I purchased my current home, I opted for a one-year adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) at 6% interest, with adjustments tied to the one-year LIBOR index, which sits pleasantly at 1.15% this week. The following year when the rate adjusted, it went down to 5%. In 2009, it went down again to 4.25%. This month it adjusted down to 3.175% for the coming year. I have my mortgage lender, Karen Lucey-Guess of McLean Mortgage Corporation, to thank for bringing this loan to my attention and for completing it one week before no income verification loans disappeared from the lending market.

But here’s the rub:

Because the Internal Revenue Service allows me to take legitimate but substantial deductions against my gross income, it appears on paper that I do not earn enough money to pay for groceries, much less cover the obligations I do on a monthly basis.

I have operated my business since 1997. I can show steady increases in gross income since then. I don’t pad my expenses. I keep boatloads of receipts. I was even audited last year by the IRS and cleared the process with no changes to my tax liability.

Why am I a bad risk? And why can’t lenders take into consideration that some of the deductions I claim that look like they reduce my income but actually don’t (in-home office and automobile and equipment depreciation, for example) are paper exercises only?

So I say to all the great lenders out there who are trying to do right by their clients and still earn a living, as well as to the congressional representatives and senators to whom my pleas fall on deaf ears because I live in DC and have no voting representatives to complain to,

“Check my credit. Verify my assets until the cows come home. Look at what I have been able to accomplish over the years. Tell me what interest premium I must pay for you to assume greater risk.

I am not asking to spend beyond my means. I am not frivolous in my spending. I understand what I’m doing. So don’t lump me in the category of “liars” just because my income cannot be verified by a W-2 form or because I have elected to provide quality service to people who need it while being my own boss.

Just loosen up already and give me a loan!”

Ode to The Washington Blade

Hello everyone! Did you miss me?

Blogging is great fun but very time consuming. Whatever you may have heard about a troubling real estate market, I have not found that to be the case and have been extremely busy this year.

Sadly, this year brought about the demise of The Washington Blade, where I have advertised for more than 10 years. Just before the paper folded, they celebrated their 40th anniversary in business so it was totally unexpected.

My colleagues, Karen Lucey-Guess from Mason-Dixon Funding, Inc. and David Kanstoroom of North American Title and I jointly purshased two ads recently - one for the 40th Anniversary issue and the other for the Best of Gay DC issue. As you can imagine, I count among my clientele some of the very best of Gay DC, so I am reprinting for you here what was my last advertisement in The Blade (with apologies to HGTV). Enjoy!

*******

Several months ago while my partner and I were trying to Get It Together on a Monday morning after a bit too much Extreme Living over the weekend, we decided that we were tired of being Property Virgins and called Valerie Blake to see if she would help us find our Dream House.

“How can I help you?” asked Valerie. “Well,” I replied, “we were out in Rebecca’s Garden on Sunday planting Red Hot and Green chili peppers and realized that we don’t want to be
Urban Outsiders anymore. We need some New Spaces and are Desperate to Buy before the $8000 tax credit expires on November 30th.

“I’m know of a wonderful place with a Divine Design and Myles of Style that would be a great Bang for Your Buck if you’re willing to invest some Sweat Equity,” replied Valerie. “I’ll e-mail you the virtual tour and then you can call Karen Lucey-Guess to get pre-approved for your loan.”

Well, the place just screamed, “Buy Me!” We didn’t even need to Sleep On It overnight, so my partner called Karen while I e-mailed my sister.

“Dear Genevieve,” I wrote, “We’ve found our new home. It’s a bit of a Designer’s Challenge, but it’s got great Curb Appeal and I’m sure our cousin Carter Can help us find its Hidden Potential.”

“We’re approved!” called my partner from the other room. (Since we had recently found some Cash in the Attic and knew our credit score wasn’t Beyond Repair, Karen had told us, “Don’t Sweat It,” but she also cautioned, “It’s important that you don’t get Over Your Head in debt.” )

If Walls Could Talk, they would tell you that the seller had told his agent, “Get it Sold,” so within a few weeks we were at the settlement table with David Kanstoroom, who did a Double Take when he saw what a great deal we got.

And after months of dealing with Renovation Realities and Gardening by the Yard, we are finally celebrating The Big Reveal of our new home, thanks to Valerie, Karen and David.

*******

I can't wait to see what the former employees of The Blade have in store next for DC.

The Renovation Dissertation, Part 6

Our group continues to expand and become even more international. Tony, Luke’s brother and our master carpenter, returned from Miami this week to be on hand to supervise the framing, cabinet and millwork installation, and to give me a hug since I hadn’t seen him for about five years. Freshly back from the Sunshine State, he noticed it had started to rain and then, in mid-conversation, ran out to his new car to find he had left his sunroof open – soggy seats and a wet ride home for poor Tony, I expect.

Mack’s crew of electricians came as a surprise – they’re from the Ukraine! One of them reminds me of the bad-guy-from-another-planet, Talec, played by German-born actor Matthias Hues in the 1990 Dolph Lundgren movie, I Come in Peace, albeit with more hair and less muscle. (Hey, I never claimed to be a highbrow film enthusiast!)

Tomorrow we order the kitchen cabinets, a beautiful tight-grained Alder in a flat panel, frameless design with a warm brown, Chestnut finish. Yum! The open den on the second floor will contain a built-in office credenza and bookshelves in a similar style with a finish called Rouge, slightly redder than the Chestnut as you might imagine, but very elegant. To top it off, the cabinets in the master suite “refreshment center” (see photo) will echo those in the den, and that area will be outfitted with a bar sink, a small refrigerator and a mini-microwave for popcorn, sodas and a movie in bed or that first cup of coffee in the morning. (Sounds like a real estate ad, doesn’t it?)

Karen and I had great fun at the condo board meeting last Thursday. Everyone welcomed us warmly and we got to meet several neighbors. We learned that the condo is incredibly well-sustained and has reserves of $94,000 – not bad for a group of only 53 homes! We also got a parking pass and chatted with John D., the appointed “enforcer” of parking and monitor of work done by the condo’s subcontractors. Good man to know. With any luck, we’ll not encounter him in his official position.

So far, we are on target for plumbing and electrical inspections by the middle of the coming week. I am headed over today with four new bathroom fans to be roughed in before inspection and on Tuesday, I will be meeting with a representative from a company that fabricates cable railings to price out our contemporary staircase rails and posts. What a treat! Then I can post a posting about posts. Whaddyathink?

The Renovation Dissertation, Part 5

Greetings to all from Valerie (a.k.a. Bobbie Vila) Blake! Yes, This Old House is now on target to become Someone’s New House. It is now affectionately known as “The Job Site.” Karen also has a new title – The Queen of Riggs Street. Yes, Riggs Street at 14th in Logan Circle. We finally settled on February 27th and I’ve barely had time to take a breath since.

In the past two weeks we have accomplished the following:

* Obtained permits,
* Completed demolition,
* Finished about 15% of the plumbing,
* Finished 50% or more of the electrical,
* Designed the kitchen & baths,
* Ordered gobs of materials & supplies, and
* Spent an obscene amount of money.

The general idea here is to make a profit while using high quality construction techniques and materials deliver a superior product. I know we have the latter well in hand, but I will reserve judgment on the former until we have finished the purchasing phase of the project and see what the spring real estate market has in store for us.

The construction crew is a cast of characters. Our general contractor, Luke Stewart of Luma, Inc. (lumainteriors@comcast.net), refers to working on my projects as “creating art with Valerie.” Luke has done tons of projects for my clients and me over the past eight years. He is also affectionately known as “Sweet Baby Luke,” lead crooner of Black Sheep, to those of you who moved to the island beat at my welcome back and anniversary party last summer. Although he has lived in this country most of his life, he can still break into his native Jamaican patois at will.

Mack, the electrician, originally from the island of Greneda, is a man on a mission. Give him a plan and he’s the executioner. Bobby, our Jamaican plumber, says, “Tell me what you want and leave ma alone, Mon.” He’s a perfectionist who works his magic based on photographs and specification sheets.

David is our Demolition Man (and framing and drywall guru). He is Hispanic and supervises a small contingent of equally talented construction guys. Luke refers to him as his “right-hand man,” an inside joke if you haven’t yet met David, who his left arm below the elbow years ago. It’s simply amazing to watch him heft construction debris onto his left shoulder and balance it all the way out to the dump truck. This is one man who has not let anything stand in the way of success!

Lorrie Addison (ladesigner1@verizon.net), our kitchen designer, has done 8 kitchens for me in the past 10 years. She switched companies just as we were beginning this project and now works for Stuart Kitchens in the Lorton area. Lorrie’s best asset is the ability to take a semi-custom cabinet product and add just the right touches of glitz to make the entire project look high-end. We thank you, Lorrie, from the bottom of our pocketbooks.

Donald Williams (billiboix3@hotmail.com) and his partner, Johnnie (the Stand-up Comedian) are in charge of landscaping and a variety of other tasks. Donald is a local, my neighbor in Brookland, and a jack-of-all-trades who runs both Williams in Brookland Landscaping and D. L. Williams Auto Detailing (a must for real estate agents).

Our suppliers are numerous, ranging from Barron’s Lumber in Rockville, to Lumber Liquidators in the College Park area to a host of Internet vendors. I know we’ve come a long way when I can sit in my home office in my jammies and order faucets, cabinet knobs, lighting fixtures and, yes, toilets at 3 a.m.

So far, I have learned three new lessons.

Don’t bother with fancy moulding on the inside of closets. We spent money on demolition there and now have to replace in kind at additional expense.

Expect things to be delivered to the wrong place. I sent three notes to the vendor to use the job site address for delivery and yet I still have three toilets sitting in my garage at home, looking like a series of plywood-encased thrones for the Royal Family of Riggs Street.

Expect the wrong things to be delivered. I returned home last Tuesday to discover that my husband had kindly accepted delivery of a package for me. Well, it didn’t look like anything I had ordered, so I opened it to find a very nice air nail gun for attaching moulding. Not that it wouldn’t be handy, but it was supposed to be a jetted shower fixture. I’d rather be sprayed with water jets than nails anytime!

Karen, I think, has had the toughest job this week – trying to get signatures from the neighbors in support of our exterior renovations that must be approved by the condo board. Luckily, there seem to be several retirees among the neighbors and she was successful in time for us to submit the request to the condo board tomorrow evening. She’s a trooper and now knows most of the neighbors.

I, on the other hand, was able to introduce her to G***, who is the neighborhood “stand-on-the-corner” guy. I always make it a point to meet the local entrepreneurs.

The Renovation Dissertation, Part 4

Yeah, OK. I know that by now those of you who have been following along are thinking, “So what happened? Why haven’t we heard anything more since they bought the property?”

Well, I gotta tell you that even agents and lenders are not immune to our own bureaucracy.

Unlike the folks on Flip That House, our contractors are chomping at the bit to begin, our permit applications are in process, our suppliers are tapping their feet waiting to ship our cabinets and fixtures, and our own creative juices are flowing like a burst pipe in an unwinterized, bank-owned property.

The problem? An obscure change in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac procedures that require that the direct lender (the bank to whom our loan will be sold) review condominium documents!

Now, I ask those of you who own condominiums (condominia?) – How much time did you really spend reading those documents? Sure, I know I told you to go over them, to make sure the reserves were sufficient, that you really could keep your 200 pound Chihuahua and that you were allowed to play your Barry Manilow CDs on full volume after midnight, but did you really go through all 300 pages? Never fear! Now your mortgage bank will do it for you.

But here’s the catch…

They have to keep from losing the documents when you send them.

First, let me applaud all the listing agents, loan processors and property managers out there who do everything possible to keep the process moving along by assembling, obtaining and transmitting these valuable documents. Most of the time, this procedure is routine. The documents are simply another set of checks and balances to raise the buyer’s comfort level with the purchase (or make him run screaming from fee increases and special assessments).

Even the bank reviewers need our sympathy. They are now buried in a ton of paper, trying to sift through ground leases and insurance forms and the impact of commercial storefronts on the ground floor of high-rise buildings. Reading War and Peace would be easier (and probably faster). They ask for only 3-5 days to accomplish this task.

In our case, we are simply asking 3-5 days from when? We got our documents a bit late due to an emergency situation that is totally understandable, but well within the timelines for closing. In this case, they were not contained in a three-ring binder, on a CD-ROM, or simply stapled together, but were bound in hard cover. Try to stick that in a copier! Page by page later, by the next business day after we received them, we had a viable copy which we gave to our processor to transmit to the bank.

Our processor scanned and e-mailed them. The bank lost them. She faxed them. They lost them. She e-mailed and faxed them again. Feeling comfortable, she took a couple of days off. Guess what? They lost them! I think our 3-5 days started about four days after she first sent them, but boy was it fun to read her e-mails to the bank once she returned to work. She was not happy and was pretty direct about letting them know it.

In the days of Bonnie & Clyde, people were taken hostage in banks. Now the banks take people hostage outside their homes. Instead of settling on Friday, Karen and I had a great lunch in Bethesda at Mon Ami Gabi, where the pommes frites are simply amazing and our waiter, Omar (a fellow Boomer), kept us in stitches with childhood references to 1960’s television commercials.

My cup is always half full. Now we will get to do it again on Monday (or maybe Tuesday if the condo reviewer isn’t old enough to have taken an Evelyn Wood speed reading course). Omar awaits.