RECENT COMMENTS
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Eric S. Huffstutler on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
Yvette Cannon on What is up with the Church Hill Post Office?
crd on Power Outage on the Hill
PUBLIC NOTICE
05/02/2010 7:10 PM by John M
An orange CONDEMNED / lead warning sticker went up on Thursday at RRHA-owned 3000 East Broad Street (which is for sale “AS IS” for $189,000).
3000 East Broad Street
It’s been on the market for a long time. It was $179,000 last year. Nice old house.
http://bit.ly/bMPhcF
‘… Any renovation project that uses federal money must be made lead-safe, including restorations, for example, by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Those same rules have not applied until now to private contractors.
The rules do not apply to homeowners doing renovations themselves.’
It is OWNED BY RRHA and is condemned? Am I the only one who finds this to be a …. what’s the word I’m looking for, disgrace is a good one for starters! It’s dripping lead paint in big pieces all over the sidewalk for kids and adults as well as dogs to step in and track around. Yep, disgrace is a good word.
It has also been vacant for a long time, and I thought all vacant buildings had to be boarded up.
It’s also got some rot starting in, even in this photo you can see some on the front porch at the top of the steps, and I’ve been told that there is more rot elsewhere on the porch.
I know someone who offered RRHA 150,000 or so last year and they refused it, then left the house to deteriorate even more. DISGRACEFUL on the part of RRHA. Thank you John Murden the intrepid reporter for bringing this to the public’s attention!
#1, thanks for that article but it’s pretty obvious that RRHA has no intentions of doing anything to this nice old house except letting it rot – otherwise known as demolition by neglect. And it’s on Broad Street, in plain view on a major street in the St. John’s Old & Historic District. This is what a state agency does with it’s housing stock? (I was told tonight that RRHA is a state agency not a city one but I’ll stand corrected if someone has other info). DISGRACEFUL.
(This one was reader-submitted, all I did was scrounge the links.)
I would love to pick up this place, but it would cost waaay too much to renovate, especially given its new status. I’ll stick with brick!
RRHA is completely worthless. I still don’t understand why the City has a “relationship” with them. They need to have another group come in and manage the housing.
John #3, I know. Still appreciate your posting it. It should be brought to everyone’s attention, it’s an eyesore, as well as a public health menance, and it’s not like it’s owned by some corporation out of state that isn’t aware of it, or can’t be contacted, or as is sometimes the case up here, an estate that can’t decide what to do. It’s owned by an agency that supposedly provides housing to the lower income people of the region – and they are now providing a public health menance.
My problem is two-fold: first, I think it’s disgraceful that RRHA let it fall into this condition, and second, they are advertising (from your link) to make an offer but they are not in reality entertaining all offers. They are, in fact, letting it sit and be an eyesore and health menance. They would be better off selling it for what they can get, and letting someone who cares take care of it, including the lead paint.
In the meantime, I wouldn’t walk a dog around that block, as dogs tend to lick their paws and could pick up lead paint chips.
Sean #4 – why don’t you make an offer?
I agree with all the comments so far. I’m looking for an old house to fix up and took a look inside this place about a month ago. The interior is in fair shape, but the layout is nothing but bedrooms and more bedrooms (4 on each level)…looks like it was set up as a vagrant house some time ago to pack people in. This house needs to be gutted with a new layout, either kept as a duplex or turned back into a single family home. The porch as many have said is DANGEROUS and should be avoided, and this to me is the only reason for the “condemned” notice…for the City to rightly cover its behind. After taking a look in the attic, the roof has rotted significantly at the hips of the roof (daylight is coming through some very big holes) so any roof repair would be very significant. Now for the chimneys, or lack thereof. If you look at old pictures of this house you’ll see many chimneys penetrating the roof but now there don’t appear to be any at all. Why? Well it appears at some point they demolished the chimneys down to below the roofline and then patched the roof. All the mantles were then removed and fireplaces drywalled over. Firecode violation??? All this being said, with the correct renovation it will be a gorgeous house…and if you need inspiration take a look at the identical house next door which has been fixed up nicely. I have no idea thy the RRHA is hanging onto it when many people like myself would buy it and fix it up. It is not worth $189,000 as there are probably anywhere from $100,000-$150,000 in repairs.
BAC #7 thank you for the insightful comments particularly about the inside. Apparently it was cut up to make it Section 8 rentals. From what I’ve heard, the porch IS dangerous.
However as to the city, I am wondering about the health dept. posting the sign about lead paint – do you think that’s possibly an interagency thing between the health dept. and RRHA? I’m just wondering about that….so far as I can tell, the building code folks haven’t condemned it (yet), just the health dept. for lead paint peeling off. Hmm, maybe the bldg. code dept. is next?
I know someone else who has also been inside, and pretty much said the same thing about the repairs, and thinks it would be about the same amount. What I don’t get is, the realtor is legally bound to send ALL OFFERS to the owner and either is not doing so, or else RRHA has such a lengthy process that it takes forever to get a response.
Have YOU tried to make an offer, based on what you think it will cost to make it liveable – perhaps as a duplex? And would you be interested in being a partner in making it into a duplex?
For the $170k+ they actually want, plus the $100k conservative repairs, there are MUCH better ways to make cashflow on property with much less right now. I wouldn’t have close to that much for renovation, anyway. That would be a great owner occupant.
crd – I called the Realtor a couple of times saying I was interested in seeing the property last year. Never received a call back.
CHPN Fan, I’m not the listing agent but since it’s listed on the MLS, any local Realtor can show it. If you can’t reach the listing agent I would be glad to show it to you if you are still interested.
crd@8 I bet the lead paint sign might have to do with the Apr 22 EPA reg that makes new rules for contractors and pre 1978 houses. Some fairly signifigant rules. Might be other repercussions of that rule.
I live next door, and I just hope that RRHA can come up off their fairly ridiculous asking price so that a home buyer can afford to purchase the house and make the necessary repairs WITHOUT having to cut corners. My big fear is that someone will buy it and instead of having the $50,000 needed in porch restoration, because they spent too much on the house, they will replace old columns with stuff that doesn’t match, or just rip the porch off. As someone was saying on this thread, the inside is buggered. There is almost no original material inside; the only original details are outside, and in desperate need of attention.
I don’t think the porch is going to collapse on us, but if I had my druthers, I would take my tools over to that porch and shore it up just so the column doesn’t fall on myself or one of my neighbors. And also to save the columns and other nice details that have survived the poor building’s remuddling and general neglect.
#12 s.kelly – that rule might have something to do with it, the paint is seriously peeling off the house. I meant it when I said I’d not walk a dog around it, there are chips everywhere.
#13 Syd – do you think anyone at RRHA is actually reading this? In other threads, interested parties have actually posted here. Most recently in my mind is the flap over St. John’s Realty when both the other rental agencies somehow were tipped off and posted on this blog. Hmm, have you thought about calling Mark Holmberg and seeing if he’s interested in doing a story about the house? Seriously.
Also live nearby. This place looks so bad I have considered posting pictures of it on the Richmond slumlord website. It has been empty and slowly rotting for over 2 years. Every few months we have to take another piece of gutter, roof or brick mooring and put it on the porch because it fell off. Just to get RRHA to cut the grass took several phone calls last year. It is a large property on a corner and definitely detracts from the block.
I don’t see how the city can be committed to making property owners responsible for the state of their properties if they let RRHA do this to a house.
http://www.ci.richmond.va.us/Auditor/documents/2010/10-08_CodeEnforcement.pdf
Urban blight reduction is a stated ongoing goal of the city, if the community put more pressure on the city and RRHA to do something about this property, the selling price would likely come down. Does any know any good avenues to make that happen?
#15 J – I’m thinking of calling the building inspector and complaining in the hopes that they will also condemn it as a danger to the public health due to things falling off it. (So far the condemned sign was issued by the health dept. due to the lead paint peeling off). The problem is, I don’t want them to tear the building down, and that could become an issue if someone in the inspector’s office gets too frisky about the idea of it being a danger to the public.
I will post back after I’ve made a call to the inspector’s office, hoping that they don’t get too energized towards demo, and using some of the words you’ve included in your post about blight. Maybe that will put pressure on RRHA, we’ll see.
I actually know someone who has made an offer, but RRHA still wants way over 100k, which is too much considering the amount of work that needs doing.
If you have any other thoughts, please post, thanks.
@15, I would think the City could include this property in it’s next Real Estate Tax Auction (aka the “City Sells” program.)
Presume the city real estate office would have to get involved, as would the city attorneys office (they have dedicated staff for the realestate transactions such as the Tax Auction program.)
We got the house we’re working on now (condemned, eyesore, etc.) via the city tax auction in 11-2008. Also a vacant lot on 24th St via tax auction, too.
The system does work, but I’ve found that you/concerned citizens gotta work with the city powers that be to move the process along.
Elaine #17, the problem with having it in the tax auction program is that it is owned by RRHA… I rather doubt that they fail to pay their taxes. Thanks for your comment, but please help in another way, thanks.
@ CRD, yeah, i would expect that RRHA would pay their taxes, too. Sorry if I didn’t make my suggestion clear. Let’s try again:
What I was trying to say is that RRHA could release all claims to the property and allow the the city to include it in the next round of properties it auctions with Motleys (some of those properties might be tax-delinquent driven, others might simply be surplus property).
There is an established legal/court process that real property goes thru before the auction. In effect, the city doesn’t actually take ownership, a court chancellor affirms that the previous owner releases all claims to the property and says “ok, the city can auction it” resulting in a winning bidder taking ownership for the property.
I’m only suggesting this process because it’s an established, efficient procedure for conveying real estate which the city has a stake in…in this case, RRHA could simply release the property to the city, and they could auction it.
The city regularly sells and auctions surplus property in addition to tax-delinquent property.
The RRHA and City are close enough that the transaction should be do-able with enough pressure from citizens and city officials who want to see this house saved.
Elaine, I like your idea – a friend of mine is the one who is trying to buy it, and I will make sure he reads this. To continue to put pressure on RRHA, I called the bldg. inspector today and was referred to the code compliance folks, who took my complaints. It might get condemned a second time for things falling off the building and creating a public threat (folks could get hit), in addition to the health dept. condemnation over lead paint. Plus, it must definitely should be boarded up, it’s violating code by being vacant for more than 12 mos. when no work is being done on it. We’ll see what happens in a few weeks, even I have the patience to wait a few weeks for code compliance to take a look at it!
Thanks for your suggestions. BTW, I thought the city enjoyed a close relationship with RRHA but now I’m not so sure – one, code compliance said something about RRHA having to comply with the rules, they aren’t above the law; and two, someone else told me RRHA is actually a state agency. Be that as it may, I’ll wait to see what happens. Thanks again for the constructive commentary.
crd…a chain link construction fence was recently erected around 3000 e broad. do you have any insights on what is happening with this property?
#21 Laura: I saw the fence a few days ago. I’m guessing (just a guess) that RRHA put it up in response to the Health Dept. condemnation notice regarding lead paint peeling off the house. That way they probably don’t have to worry about people walking through the paint chips. When I drove by, I didn’t see any other sign than the one in the picture here, which was posted by the Health Dept. about the lead paint.
It’s been long enough now since I called the bldg. inspct. that I need to follow up and ask if it will be getting a second condemnation sign because of building violations.
Thanks for posting, I hadn’t seen your post but someone mentioned it to me tonight, so I looked it up! It serves as a reminder for me to follow up.
If I hear anything else, I’ll post. Again, thanks, but I don’t think the fence means RRHA plans to do anything, I think it just means they’re limiting their liability from the lead paint. If I find out differently, I’ll post.
crd…Thanks for your response. RRHA better be getting something started soon. They can’t just leave that fence up simply because they have not taken responsibility for their property.
June 16th. The fence remains with no discernible action by RRHA to actually do anything else. The fence is a complete eyesore, completely obstructs the sidewalk bordering 30th, and does nothing for the lead paint chips flaking onto the shared sidewalk between the houses.
Any news on the building inspector, health department, or RRHA fronts?
This house appears to have been taken off the market shortly after the fence went up. Seems having a condemned sticker and temporary fencing doesn’t add to the “curb appeal.” Was ready and able to buy and fix this house up but the price was ridiculous. Oh well, found another place that’s not as big a challenge. RRHA needs to drop the price to $90,000 to sell this place.
#24, I called Code Enforcement and spoke to a Mr. Weaver. He said that as long as the doors and windows are intact, it does not need to be boarded up. Also that code enforcement made RRHA do some repair work to close holes in the soffit last year. According to code enforcement, this place is vacant but secure.
#25, I agree they need do drop the price.
“Because of concern that contractors in some areas may be having difficulty accessing training classes, EPA recently announced that it is providing renovation firms and workers additional time to obtain training and certifications to comply with the new lead rules. EPA will not take enforcement action for violations of the rule’s firm certification requirement until October 1, 2010, and will not enforce certification requirements against individual renovation workers if they apply to enroll in certified renovator classes by September 30, 2010 and complete the training by December 31, 2010. ”
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/e77fdd4f5afd88a3852576b3005a604f/e417aa5fc2e5d6c285257758004733a9!OpenDocument
http://eservices.ci.richmond.va.us/applications/propertysearch/Detail.aspx?pin=E0000635028
Looks like Kings Crest got it done Monday. They do quite a bit of renovations around richmond, they actually did my friends’ house. They ended up settling at $75k. Not a bad take.
Any updates on this?
A little work was done on the house over the summer, but then the fencing got taken down only to be put up again in December. There’s construction permits in the windows and I’ve heard a couple of people say everything should be done by spring.
It’s showing up for sale on Realtor.com for $149,950. Just saw it yesterday.
There was a crew scraping and painting the outside as of Thursday of last week. I saw them when I was walking my dogs. Not sure if they are doing any work inside.
According to the painters, the owner is painting and fixing up the interior to rent it out. He will then try to sell rented. That’s what I’ve heard, but no guarantees it’s accurate, not verified by actually speaking with the owner.
We’ve been disappointed with the quality of work, and guess this paint job won’t last very long. Let’s hope the cycle doesn’t just begin again. Never the less, it will be very nice to get the chain link fence down.
FOR SALE for $299,950
http://richmond.craigslist.org/reb/2972798321.html
House has basement. Didn’t I see someone wanting basement? Hmm.
A paint job, new linoleum floor, fake granite countertops and particle board cabinets and the asking price doubles? What planet are these people on?