Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighborhood. Show all posts

Small projects


Deck railings still need to be built, but I made lattice panels to keep Pepper the dog from visiting the frogs under the deck. I hate, hate the diagonal lattice from Lowe's and HD. Or maybe I just hate that there is only one choice in lattice style. These instructions were useful, using my mom's pnumatic stapler. I've seen this style of lattice under front porches all over town, though mostly under victorians and 1910s houses. Sometimes I think what I really wanted was an even older house.




This is one of the old street markers. It's more aged than the house, I think. There are modern, taller, reflective signs planted next to them, but these still stick up all over the older areas of Jacksonville. This one is across the street from me in a park. All the paint was gone and it was mildewy so I finally re-did it. I debated using reflective letters from the hardware store but thought this way was more authentic. I enlarged the Arial font, cut out the individual letters and traced them onto the scrubbed, primed and painted post, then filled in the outlines with exterior glossy black. At least a full eight hours of work. There is another grungy one across the park, too.

What a cute dress!

The bad news- the house next door sold at auction yesterday for $59000 to a slum company! And Lightning? Rain? knocked out our internal phone wiring. Then I fried the phones (I think) by crossing all the red and green wires while trying to shore the place up. doh! I've had a bad cold for two weeks, it wasn't my hands' fault. The good news is the house is feeling better because it just bought a new dress. The body color is silvery gray, the porch is lavender-gray for now, and the window trim is a little more purply-blue than before. The front has been primed and half painted. The stucco sucks up gallons.













I know, it doesn't look all that different. What's important is that everything is clean and shiny. And someone's making ketchup in the kitchen!

2nd Housiversary

Today is our second anniversary of living here. I have a list of 54 items to be done to the house, and 14 have been crossed off so far (including the ones I crossed off after deciding not to do them). Per year, that's an average of ...oh never mind, that's too depressing to think about. Depressing like my conversation yesterday with the renter previewing the property next door. My old, recently broken fence stood between us as I watered my peppers and she said to no one in particular "of course, this fence needs to be fixed," and I said ashamedly, "That's my fence." Why mention the confluence of events: strong wind storms last week and careless renters bashing into the boards, and it being my first day off since November-I wanted to relax, not do fence repair! Despite words, the fence looks like it's been broken for years! Bad Kathryn! No wonder you get crap neighbors!

At that moment, since she was the first renter I've seen on that property in a month, who looked like a responsible person, I wanted to apologize for my peeling paint and the in-progress deck. I told her how long we'd lived here and it seemed her face got tight. Perhaps she isn't rehab-neighborhood material. Or maybe, now on my second day of vacation, I need to go outside right now and fix that fence if I want anyone good moving next door.

Sometimes it's easy to feel down about living in a rehab neighborhood, and I'm kind of a Debbie Downer to begin with. However, my sister is interested in the available house on the other side of us so last week we went tiptoeing around it. Literally tiptoeing, because the weeds and grass are so tall they obscure the "for sale by owner" sign that's been up a year and a half. We stood on their rotting back deck next to a weedy 2-foot hole in the ground, piles of rotting trash and falling-down roof overhang and my house looked darn good, like hot stuff! It could be much worse!

The taste of slimy water

Good news for me, the electric box in the laundry room won't need to be moved, and only the cable holes need readjustment. When I planned this out, I completely forgot about the dryer venting. It will go in the wall and through the attic now, but it's a shame because one of my only projects this summer was to install a pretty, flush vent in the stucco-drywalled sun porch window currently hidden by the dryer. But now I can reinstall a window there.

I'm still waiting for the crawl space to dry out enough so it's not sludgy and slippery to work under there on my knees. We thought about pumps and drain pipes but a low-tech solution occurred to me- why not raise the crawl space/swimming pool vent openings? Right now they are at ground level and make an excellent drain for storm water overflow. The crawl space bottom is 2-3 feet lower than the yard level. That might sound pretty stupid, but it seems to be the result of building up the yard with infill to encourage quicker draining. This explains why our 1928 driveway ribbons are 6" below the topsoil. And as this is Florida and we live on infill creek bed, maybe parts of the yard did indeed sink sometime and need refilling.

I can't say how many times we thought about moving during this week-long storm. But, improvements must be made so we're not flipping them onto a buyer as it happened to us. It would be super if those improvements don't include me trying to suck the end of the garden hose to make a crawl space siphon.

You Know Your Police are Understaffed When...

they ask your help in searching streets for the gun that was stuck to your forehead, and your missing wallet. Incidentally, yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary, and while I went off to buy some buttons, Jason went for his evening walk and was held up five houses down from us. The kids, who did it on a dare and were wearing white!, were caught thanks to a very observant neighbor who called the police before Jason even made it to the phone. Thank you, neighborhood watch! It really does work!

Rather than reform homeowner's insurance, (or fund education or environmental cleanup) our developer-friendly state legislature is trying to lower/eliminate property taxes to help homeowners on fixed incomes and vacation home-owners without homesteader exemptions (which, incidentally bring in lots of money). The missing money cannot be replaced by new taxation and this is creating a crisis in fiscally responsible cities and towns like Jacksonville, where property taxes are our largest source of revenue, $50-$85 million worth. Thusly, the mayor has asked departments to cut 10% of their staff, eliminating public health care, and has instituted a hiring freeze which includes the Sheriff's Office, already low on patrolmen.

This makes neighborhood watches invaluable. I've noticed anytime anything happens in the park across the street, like young kids trying to build a cardboard box camp with a camp fire, or the guy screaming at his cell phone, the police show up in numbers. It is odd to feel people watching from their homes when you walk down the street, but that's the best way, I guess. I do it too but always thought I'm too nosy. We do live near a "home" and the intersection of heavy-traffic roads so odd things and people happen frequently.

I worry about retaliation even though the guy was probably 15 and the detective said he was no thug. I'm nervous to be near the windows at night and well, I never answer the door when I'm alone during the day anyway. I am happy, though, to pay my full property tax.

A month of events

The irresponsible and overwhelmed neighbors with the five kids (+ a new baby) moved out!! They left approx. 70 cubic feet of trash on their front lawn (all weeds anyway) which for three weeks has been steadily rained on and picked through by passers-by. The tenants threw out all their furniture, matresses, beds, and piles of cardboard boxes with junk inside. Last weekend they came back from their new digs and replaced interior hollow-core doors, and painted, and also tossed a dishwasher (they must have brought it with them from their old house?) As delicious icing on this tasty cake, an hour before the end of February they jumpstarted their mini-van with the flat tires, parked on the street since July. Goodbye!

I observed all the action while building the deck railings. There is one more railing to go, and then onto phase two, continuing around the side of the house. I was dumbfounded on how to build railings; I hate toenailing because I always split the wood, but then I saw an episode of This Old House's Boston House in which Tom rebuilds an old railing. I'm glad I decided to go with a common railing, anything fancier would have been even more frustrating with the bizzaro stair angles.

That white and brown tail at the bottom of the steps is another thing the neighbors threw out, literally. His carrier was also in the trash pile. He's very, very sweet, and has one blue and one green eye. Anyone need a great cat?






John Quincy Adams and Ralph did this to Ralph's pirate toy. They pulled down his pants and tore his brains out. I can't find his eyes. Sounds very piratey to me.

O-o-oh who are the people in your neighborhood?

Speaking of creepy residents, a few weeks ago I was a block away (thankfully in my car) approaching a left turn in front of the train tracks. A hefty man with lots of jewelry crossed to the left, and walking 15 feet behind him was a tall, inconspicuously-dressed guy. He crossed very slowly in front of my car as I stopped for the turn, all the while looking at my car. I thought, "maybe he has my car, too!" because I always stare at my car when I see versions of it around town. But then, he paused at the left curb and turned to face me, then followed my face as my car made the left turn. Then he picked up where he left off, walking behind the first guy as they approached a convenience store. Weird! I made up several possible stories for them. Man and bodyguard? Stalker?

A block in the other direction is a main street in the neighborhod, though only two lanes wide. Many afternoons there are two girls standing on the corner, usually smiling and talking, while two guys stand across the street, looking more somber. Hooking? Easier done in pairs?

One morning soon after we moved in, I was getting in my car and saw a young guy, about 14-15 years old, on the street after our pocket park. He wore a dark hoodie, with the hood pulled up. I changed my route to drive past him, and he didn't hide the fact that he was looking in windows. I drove down to the main intersection for our neighborhood, waited for Amtrak from Miami to pass and made a right to circle back onto my street. Sure enough, the guy was standing at the end of what we'll call my driveway, looking into my backyard. I pulled up 4 feet from him, got out of my car, and went inside. He pretended not to see me and slowly ambled on down the road, eating cheese puffs.

We live a block down from a very poor "home". It has a tall chain link fence and the group of hundred-year-old houses are peeling but the grass is always mowed. In afternoons its gate is left open and people, mostly men, wander out, down our street. There is one man, who likes to stroll down the street, right up to where people are working in their yard, or walking their dog, and he immediately turns around and walks the other direction. A younger man about my age walks around the neighborhood yelling "WHAT!" There is also a couple who likes to lay in the park or right outside the home's fence, and make out.

So there, stories of people from the neighborhood. A cop lives three houses down from us, and I carry a cell phone, so I feel reasonably safe, but for months our ditzy new next-door renting neighbors let their pre-school son run loose. I caught up with him once down by the train tracks and talked him back with the promise of petting the fluffy kitty on our porch. A few minutes later, his father roared up in his car at the corner and yelled "git in the car!" to this kid, a mentally disabled 5-year old. I think the family found a lock for their door, thankfully. I debated calling child services but figured this newly-formed family of 7 had enough to worry about. The father is military, too and I'm sure the intrusion wouldn't have been nice at all, but maybe not as bad as losing his fiance's child. I'm glad they worked it out.

It's cat-on-a-post. The fireplace window is her favorite entrance. From there she watches me open the front door and call her, but won't move until I move the plants and vases and open the window above the bookcase. I'd been wondering how she got up there. Guess I can't cut off the excess post now.

Ranting and raving about people, that's what I do best

The house next door has been for sale for a month. It's a twin layout of our house, by the same builder in 1928 but with an 80's kitchen rather than 70's, plus a little laundry room and some of our swamp. However, I question its listing price for $60,000 more than our purchase price for Ralph's House, 5 months ago. The listing is $15,000 above Zillow's highest estimate for that house, which is probably $30,000 more than I would pay. At our other fence, that couple tried last year to sell their 1950s house for $224,000, left it on the market for 2/3 of a year, reduced the price twice, then turned it into a rental instead. In the past three months, five houses on our little block have been put up for sale. Four of the five don't even have logical prices; they're mind-bogglingly astronomical. This seems to be a current trend here in Jax. Do realtors bother to research the recent sales history of the neighborhood first? Anyone with a computer can do it on GIS mapping here in Jacksonville. It's fun to look up city-owned property. The land under Alltel stadium is worth $15 mil, apparently.

We received a form letter today from our recent realtor, and the first line read "it can take up to two years to sell a house now." Hm. Could there be a reason? Overvaluation? But like anything being sold, houses are only worth what someone will pay. Back in January every house we were interested in was under contract within a week of its listing on MLS, maybe because the prices still made sense. How does 8 months passing add tens of thousands of dollars? I thought the "bubble" was fizzling out.

These houses are just sitting... it's annoying how they're becoming rentals in a re-gentrification neighborhood as their owners become disappointed in the Florida boom. According to the city tax records, many of our neighbors purchased only in the last 2-3 years. This old, quiet residential neighborhood with broad streets and massive oaks was rumored to be the next big market in Jacksonville a few years ago, after urban neighborhood Springfield saw home prices spring 400% in the last five years. However, crack-hood Springfield's price spike coincided with the national rise, and also because of scads of free urban renewal money from city and state facade grants to people who bought those houses.

Aside from shaking my head at the crazy stupid prices, which were probably not set by the homeowners anyway, I'm sorry to lose our good neighbors. Maybe these otherwise sane, intelligent people who care about their property and have made the neighborhood a safe place, were just here to make money off a long flip, and fixed up their houses to that effect. Our great neighbors across the street told us as much about themselves. Which is sad - and they keep buying new furniture so I know their house is becoming smaller. I was hoping I'd moved into a community where people mowed their grass because that's what you should do, not because of future resale value. People are leaving in a herd, and renters with 4 cars and kids who hair-gel and flush our cats in their toilet are moving in instead.

Maybe I'm just bitter that my foray into buying my first house at an age when I planned on doing so happened to coincide with the real estate price boom. If I'd purchased this house last year when it was for originally for sale, I would have paid $44,000 less. It just seems so random to me. Zillow says our value is dropping $100 a month, but I don't care, I live here, it's not a piggy bank.
Please excuse my muddle and whining, and thanks for listening. If you made it this far you get a prize! kinda.
See the house next door.
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