RECENT COMMENTS
Got a house for sale?
Got this email in overnight. Drop a line to Thomas at ttvick@gmail.com if you can help out…
My wife and I have really fallen in love with the area and its history over the past few months, and would greatly like to be a part of the community and its return to glory. To the point of why I am emailing you – Jeanne (my wife) and I made an offer on a house in the neighborhood back in July. Turns out it had a nasty unresolved reverse mortgage situation, and some structural issues that ended up, to our discontent, turning us away. Luckily, the house across the street was also for sale, and fit our needs perfectly.
Despite the fact that it was a short sale, we made an offer with the best of intentions. Fast-forwarding over three months, we have just heard from our real estate agent that the bank has denied the short sale. With positive sign after positive sign, we really became emotionally invested in this place – meeting the neighbors (folks in at least 5 surrounding houses), bringing our dog to play in the house’s back yard (it’s vacant but well-kept), walking the neighborhood at least twice a week, and even volunteering for Hogtoberfest this weekend. We want desperately to be a part of this community, but really seem to have struck out here in trying to find a place to live.
I check for new listings in the area every day, but thought that perhaps if someone was on the fence about moving, a note on CHPN declaring our interest might bring two parties together who might not manage to find one another otherwise. Is this something you would be interested in helping us with? If so, I will give a quick laundry list of our desires below:
- Must be a single-family home (no condos/apartments).
- Must be older (i.e. not a place built by a developer two years ago).
- 2+BR, 1+BA (2BA preferred).
- Must be within the area bound by 22nd/Broad/M St/Chimborazo Blvd or South of Broad
- Must have a back yard of size suitable for a large dog.
We are both young architects, and would really prefer to buy in towards the lower end of the livable price spectrum (i.e. unrenovated) to allow us to put our own stamp on our first home. To put a number on things, we are generally looking in the $100-200k range, with location and condition weighing heavily on that amount. When we find the right place, we will be paying cash, and are prepared to make a deal immediately when the right opportunity prevents itself.
Good luck to these folks. Easy to understand how the community can make you want to call it home. With such a small boundary, dollar limit & list of requirements, they’ll likely have to prioritize certain things (large back yard comes to mind). The good news is even with a less than huge back yard, it’s a very dog-friendly community. I see many walkers/runners with dogs, water bowls outside houses & businesses, the dog park a quick walk away, etc.
Check out 414 N 26th St, & 510 N 32nd as they might fit your needs. Again – best of luck in finding your home!
There is a house in the 500 block of 27th for sale! Also contact Sean Priest at hometown realty he is a real estate agent and lives on that block too and knows a lot of the area homes for sale! I also know that another home on the same block will be for sale in a month as two of our lovely neighbors were transferred to Austin for work :(.
There is a vacant property at 2913 East Marshall. It’s owned by Wells Fargo and needs a lot of work. I don’t know if they would agree to sell it to you if you contacted them, or if your interested in doing THAT MUCH work, but it might be worth a shot… good luck!
Thanks so much for posting this, John. We are getting some interesting suggestions via email, and I will check out what I see in the comments as well. Unfortunately, our parameters (though not set in stone) have, as mentioned above, reduced our options. Regardless, I’m confident that the right property will present itself in due time. Jeanne and I have loved getting to know the area over the past few months, and look forward to getting to know more of our future neighbors as the search progresses.
Here is some advice:
1. Rent a house up here for a year.
2. Make some Hill friends (Very easy to do).
3. Ask you Hill friends about renovating their house.
4. Save your money and buy the house that requires the least work. (Imagine all the Saturdays you can spend with your wife? You can throw parties and make more Hill friends instead of buying tools.)
The neighborhood has been here 200 years. Chances are it will still be here when you find the right house.
Not quite within your preferred boundaries, but 2237 Venable is a VA foreclosure:
http://eservices.ci.richmond.va.us/applications/PropertySearch/Detail.aspx?pin=E0000426010
602 1/2 N 21st is going up for auction in October….
http://richmond.craigslist.org/apa/4065301281.html
Please use this craigslist posting to contact me! I may have a lead on a house that *could* be for sale that’s just a block outside your boundaries.
Alternately, the house in the posting is still for rent. You could certainly move here and then look. I’ve found it’s not uncommon for things to be for sale in this neighborhood without actually being listed – you just have to ask around. Also, tax auctions are coming at the end of the month – check with the city attorney’s office.