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Originally Posted by Woodlands The single and greatest threat to Ashburton, Forest Park, Howard Park and other single neighborhoods in NW si that some are often purchased by organizations and converted into rooming houses or "halfway houses" which if not properly managed could have a negative impact on the neighborhood.
Quote:
Originally Posted by picardlx
This can't be understated and made me cross-off many homes on my initial list. If you're inclined not to be deterred by this (as I initially was), make sure you visit the property several times both during the day and well into the night before making an offer -- you may find yourself reassessing.
If someone comes into a neighborhood and buys a distressed property and fixes it up to live in, rent out, or sell as a rehabbed property, the Nazis from the various city departments are all over them like flies on you know what. Yet no zoning change is needed for those procedures and the investment helps the neighborhoods.
However, if one of those "social organizations" or an investor buys one of these big old houses, fixes it up and turns it into a rooming or halfway house, the city officials approve of that, for reasons that I'll never understand. All it does is destroy neighborhoods by driving prospective homeowners such as yourself away and upset the stability of the neighborhood by bringing in a lot of transients. A zoning change should be required for one to rent by the room or turn it into apartments, and the city needs to crack down. Of course that won't happen unless they find a way to make money on it because the city officials don't really care about the neighborhoods.
Originally Posted by Woodlands The single and greatest threat to Ashburton, Forest Park, Howard Park and other single neighborhoods in NW si that some are often purchased by organizations and converted into rooming houses or "halfway houses" which if not properly managed could have a negative impact on the neighborhood.
If someone comes into a neighborhood and buys a distressed property and fixes it up to live in, rent out, or sell as a rehabbed property, the Nazis from the various city departments are all over them like flies on you know what. Yet no zoning change is needed for those procedures and the investment helps the neighborhoods.
However, if one of those "social organizations" or an investor buys one of these big old houses, fixes it up and turns it into a rooming or halfway house, the city officials approve of that, for reasons that I'll never understand. All it does is destroy neighborhoods by driving prospective homeowners such as yourself away and upset the stability of the neighborhood by bringing in a lot of transients. A zoning change should be required for one to rent by the room or turn it into apartments, and the city needs to crack down. Of course that won't happen unless they find a way to make money on it because the city officials don't really care about the neighborhoods.
Yeah its definately a challenge...When I drove around one property that was next to a house that I was considering purchasing.. there were about a dozen chairs on the porch.. I went back that evening and every last one of them was occupied by young men smoking a cigarettes and drinking out of a red plastic cup.. much to the dismay of the showing real estate agent.(She noted that the City has been hit hard by the Feds on 'Fair Housing' and it was discrimination to use zoning to restrict such facilities..so the main tool is for them to go after management) Each one of those guys watched us as we toured the outside of the house as if we were the police walking a crime scene of a murder that had just happened.. I did my research and found out that neighboring home was indeed a "transitional shelter". It was hard to imagine my wife and daughter coming home in the evenings/night and having to park in the driveway and walk into the house with groceries under those circumstances. Again, some if not all of those gentlemen could be wonderful people or working to get their lives back together and they could watch my house while Im gone and the community at large, I could have hired them to rake my yard/do odd jobs and they could have been great neighbors... Since it is a transitional shelter.. there will be a rotation of individuals in and out of there over time and all it takes is one bad apple.. you know the rest.. I didnt want to spend $200k move my family in and gamble...
Yeah its definately a challenge...When I drove around one property that was next to a house that I was considering purchasing.. there were about a dozen chairs on the porch.. I went back that evening and every last one of them was occupied by young men smoking a cigarettes and drinking out of a red plastic cup.. much to the dismay of the showing real estate agent.(She noted that the City has been hit hard by the Feds on 'Fair Housing' and it was discrimination to use zoning to restrict such facilities..so the main tool is for them to go after management) Each one of those guys watched us as we toured the outside of the house as if we were the police walking a crime scene of a murder that had just happened.. I did my research and found out that neighboring home was indeed a "transitional shelter". It was hard to imagine my wife and daughter coming home in the evenings/night and having to park in the driveway and walk into the house with groceries under those circumstances. Again, some if not all of those gentlemen could be wonderful people or working to get their lives back together and they could watch my house while Im gone and the community at large, I could have hired them to rake my yard/do odd jobs and they could have been great neighbors... Since it is a transitional shelter.. there will be a rotation of individuals in and out of there over time and all it takes is one bad apple.. you know the rest.. I didnt want to spend $200k move my family in and gamble...
Fair housing, eh? Next time, ask that stupid city official how the counties that surround Baltimore City are able to restrict the use of properties in residential neighborhoods without violating "fair housing". There are literally hundreds and hundreds of neighborhoods in Baltimore, Harford, Howard, Carroll, and Anne Arundel Counties where there is no way the county officials would allow you to buy a property and convert it to two or more apartments, or rent rooms out by the room. The neighbors would be up in arms, and the county officials would stand behind the neighbors, not the real estate investors. That is if the residents were just plain hard working individuals. If the residents were recovering addicts, or recently released jailbirds, there would probably be bloodshed. I could name communities, but it would take me hours to name them all. And I am not just talking about communities of half million dollar McMansions, or gated communities, I am also speaking about older row home communities close to decaying close-in suburbs. Not long ago Baltimore County officials restricted the occupancy of several older row house communities in Towson, because of several Towson University students renting one property and pretending they were characters in the movie Animal House. Baltimore County officials restricted occupancy to two unrelated (by blood or marriage) people. Another house was occupied by three or four nuns who were teaching in the area. Obviously not related, I do believe even they were forced to move.
The beautiful community of Mayfield, bounded on the south by Erdman Avenue, on the west by Harford Road, and on the north by Chesterfield Avenue had a restriction in its deeds for many years that did not allow a homeowner to rent their property. It kept the community nice for many years. I do not know if that restriction is still in force.
Fair housing, eh? Next time, ask that stupid city official how the counties that surround Baltimore City are able to restrict the use of properties in residential neighborhoods without violating "fair housing". There are literally hundreds and hundreds of neighborhoods in Baltimore, Harford, Howard, Carroll, and Anne Arundel Counties where there is no way the county officials would allow you to buy a property and convert it to two or more apartments, or rent rooms out by the room. The neighbors would be up in arms, and the county officials would stand behind the neighbors, not the real estate investors. That is if the residents were just plain hard working individuals. If the residents were recovering addicts, or recently released jailbirds, there would probably be bloodshed. I could name communities, but it would take me hours to name them all. And I am not just talking about communities of half million dollar McMansions, or gated communities, I am also speaking about older row home communities close to decaying close-in suburbs. Not long ago Baltimore County officials restricted the occupancy of several older row house communities in Towson, because of several Towson University students renting one property and pretending they were characters in the movie Animal House. Baltimore County officials restricted occupancy to two
unrelated (by blood or marriage) people. Another house was occupied by three or four nuns who were teaching in the area. Obviously not related, I do believe even they were forced to move.
The beautiful community of Mayfield, bounded on the south by Erdman Avenue, on the west by Harford Road, and on the north by Chesterfield Avenue had a restriction in its deeds for many years that did not allow a homeowner to rent their property. It kept the community nice for many years. I do not know if that restriction is still in force.
If I recall her argument correctly.. in this same neighborhood people were setting up "assisted living facilities" for seniors and there was a public hearing and the community was essentially "OK" with it because most of the folks were seniors and essentially confined to the property and they did have cars so there was no on street parking issues. When someone wanted to do one of these "transitional shelters"... as you stated.. people came out of the wood work protested it and they were turned down by the City.. I believe they appealed/sued since the zoning simply looked at number of unrelated people.. not whether they were infirmed, seniors, juveniles, college students or ex cons and won because the City turning down their application violated the ex cons Fair Housing rights....
The City is currently re writing its Zoning Ordinance and in some of these single family districts.. they are going to remove the "public hearing" portion from these types of cases and allow them to proceed "by right" which means no public review. So when that house goes vacant next to you.. one of these operations can just open up without notice. The safeguard.. she added.. is they will have to have some for of administrative review which would require the city (for a fee of course) to come out and inspect the home before it is occupied to makes sure that ingress/egress is in place, ADA accessible, and related building codes.. though that may not make you sleep more soundly at night depending on who ultimately moves in there. So there are alot more surprises in store for folks in these neighborhoods.Of course this doesnt stop slumlords from operating illegal boarding houses in these areas also....
Last edited by Woodlands; 11-05-2013 at 12:53 PM..
This can't be understated and made me cross-off many homes on my initial list. If you're inclined not to be deterred by this (as I initially was), make sure you visit the property several times both during the day and well into the night before making an offer -- you may find yourself reassessing.
Better yet; have your wife or sister walk around the neighborhood at night. If you'll do that, then consider it.
First of all (unless you have a hearty sense of
humor) why would you want to live in a place
nicknamed Pigtown?
Asburton is okay. Used to have a better group
of gentility. Professionals with high-toned organizations.
Snooties, but damn attractive, dynamic, and watchers of
the community they were.
The current group are living off the reputation of those
from back in the day.
First of all (unless you have a hearty sense of
humor) why would you want to live in a place
nicknamed Pigtown?
Asburton is okay. Used to have a better group
of gentility. Professionals with high-toned organizations.
Snooties, but damn attractive, dynamic, and watchers of
the community they were.
The current group are living off the reputation of those
from back in the day.
Funny you should mention that.. I did hear from some residents that some of the families there that include members of the former "gentility" who moved there as part of the rep in the 1970s and 80s and whose children.. for whatever reason.. were not as successful as their parents and are now grown and living back with said parents.. There is a subgroup of that group that is not there to take care of their aging parents but have real social issues either drugs or criminal record that prohibits them from moving elsewhere.. thus they live at home and commit petty crimes during the day by pilfering their neighbors homes when they are away at work. I have heard from several residents that are colleagues of mine that they have a good idea broke into their home or car or atleast know the person who may know who did it.. but they cant prove it....Again, that is the challenge for this area given the current trend/taste of most city newcommers who want to live in a smaller home (i.e cottage in Lauraville or a rowhome in Canton) that is close to other amenities often in walking distance (i.e. Harford Road-Lauraville or Canton Square, Fells Point, Brewery Hill, now Canton Crossing along with a number of corner establishments in Canton) Ashburton has no such proxy..nor built in demographic that is interested in their wonderful homes other than those as you said are familiar with the history of the and heritage of the area.........
If you look at the average young professional African American family which Ashburton may often appeal..... they can now afford to by a similiar sized home in Reisterstown, Owing Mills, Randallstown, Parkville, Lochern, or even over in the Windsor Mill area for the same price or just a little more (though it may not have the character), be in a better school district, comparatively speaking, and have lower crime. The prices will be the same if you factor in the tax differential....Their commute may be slightly longer but only depending on when they leave/work hours.. since all of these areas along with Ashburton are still fairly car dependent
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