You know, it isn't easy being me. I say this all the time to which the wife adds "It isn't easy being around you." It isn't enough that I have to get the "Old Crackhouse" in shape so that we can move into it, I also have to keep up the existing home and fix a few things before I sell it. Well I got this legal notice from the City of Dayton telling me that I needed to paint my garage or tear it down at the resident house. My garage doesn't need painting, it is concrete block and I painted it 2 years ago when it did need painting and the inspector must have been on another planet at the time because I wasn't sent a legal notice. I did it because I needed to do it. The form they send out basically states that there is peeling paint about the entire structure that needs to be addressed. Well there isn't peeling paint about the entire structure, there is peeling paint and a couple of plywood patches from attempts to break in on the door. When I emailed our inspector he replied "You received a courtesy notice, which is a suggestion that you should paint the areas of the garage where the paint is peeling/deteriorated. it is not a requirement. Garages in very bad shape receive a Legal Order to paint the garage, and are required to complete the repairs. If you believe that your garage does not need to be painted, please let me know and I will re-inspect the garage and correct the error." Hey, at least he replied, even if his response was as vague as the notice. What he doesn't know is that I know my house is listed on a report of housing violations that is given to me every 3 months. I also know his boss and his bosses boss. How do I know them and get the report? Well, I am the president of our neighborhood council, an elected priority board member for our voting district AND I am on the housing and neighborhood task force committee that his two bosses attend. This committee told the City specifically that they need to get tougher on housing violations and ticket more people into compliance in order to keep property values from declining. I also know that if I don't comply by June 1st then I will get a ticket and have to pay a fine. They will only be sending one courtesy notice. I got to experience our request first hand! Last Thursday at our Priority Board meeting I was able to tell his boss that they need to be more specific on their notices though, it could have stated "Door needs attention." So, on Saturday I screwed plywood sheets over the four lower panels so that they look uniform and painted the door. If anyone out there wants to live in Dayton and be 4 blocks from the "Old Crackhouse" in a nice two storey, 1910 era Sears catalogue home that looks very 1920s let me know. I gotta sell this puppy soon! Here's pictures! Say $90,000 and I pay closing costs! What a deal!
*2022 UPDATE
After renting to two families between 2009 and 2017 and destroyed by renter #2, I renovated the house. The inside was completely remodeled. It was rented to a friend for one year (October 2020 - October 2021) while I had to finish painting the house and garage. The house was listed on Zillow.com in April 2022 and sold within 14 days for $184,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment