I just found out that taxes on a house I own in Montgomery County will be doubled. Yes, doubled. I went on a hunt to find out why they raised it. Called the 240 # I was given by the Department of Assessment and Taxation and made my inquiry. No one was able to tell me how they justified blowing up the property value in THIS market. They had assessed it at nearly 30% of what it’s currently worth. I asked how I could dispute it and they said that I have until December 31st to do it. Lucky for me that I even caught it! So I’m doing that and providing them with current sold comps so that they can lower the taxes.

Today, I did my yearly property assessment reports for my past clients and sure enough, every one of them who has bought in Montgomery County is seeing their property values increase disproportionately to what is actually happening in the local real estate market. Is this some kind of scam, Montgomery County? Is this a way to take care of your citizens in a time of crisis and uncertainty? I’d really like to know who’s behind this and have them answer the hundreds of thousands of people who will be affected by this.

I’m sending out reports to all of my clients who will be affected by this outrageous assessment and assisting them in appealing the assessment. They did this under *my* nose and they’re going to do it under everyone else’s nose, people who aren’t in the know of these kinds of things and those are the people who will be taken advantage of by the Montgomery County government and other municipalities that operate in similar fashion. I’m really appalled and want an explanation for this.

In the meantime, I’ll help out those I know will need help and we’ll see what happens next.

This is what you need to do in order to start the appeal process:

1) Go to http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/ and print out your tax information

2) Call 240-777-8950 and ask them what your tax liability was and will be. You can then request to be sent a dispute form.

3) Contact your Realtor to get recent sales reports/comparables in your neighborhood and attach with the dispute form. You can also pay for an appraisal; whichever is more convenient.

4) You will then fill out and send back the form along with your list of comparables BEFORE DECEMBER 31st, 2008 (please send via registered mail).

Hopefully, this will resolve it and you won’t have to stomach paying nearly double of what you used to pay for property taxes. No one should. Certainly, not in this across-the-board period of economic strife and hardship.

Mayor Adrien Fenty removed the restrictions on obtaining business licenses and property inspections so as to make the process of renting for inauguration as easy as possible.  I’m really impressed that they’re even lending a hand to people who do want to rent out their place for this occasion by providing leases and advice on their website, www.dc.gov (good luck navigating…not the most user-friendly website in the world, but hey, at least it’s there).

This means that people can now rent without the caveats I mentioned in a previous post, warning that the city can impose serious fines for those violating its housing laws.  You will have to still be careful with the whole security deposit issue, getting some kind of short-term insurance to cover your things should the tenant trash the place or steal things (though I would assume that most of us would remove valuable belongings, but you never know these days), and make sure the place is in good shape and habitable so as to avoid a legal dispute after the cheers and balls are done and over with.

I don’t mean to be Debbie Downer (again LOL), but such is the world we live in:  One has to be very careful in the U.S. of A.  In a litigious society where lawyers abound and court systems are flawed, one has to tread carefully when it comes to anything involving a contract.

Enough of my ranting.  Now go rent that place for gazillions of dollars : )  Speaking of gazillions of dollars:  I thought we were in a depression?!  Who has that kind of cash to throw around on a $10,000/week rental?!?  I’m a little baffled by this whole thing.

So you want to buy a condo?  Little do you know about the people you’re going to share your space with and what better way to find out than attending a condo association meeting.  If you were in my meeting the other night, you’d run, not walk, to the nearest exit!  Yes.  It’s that bad.  It all goes back to one little trickity thing:  We’re in a mixed-use building and, well, STAY THE HELL OUT OF A MIXED-USE BUILDING!!  DANGER AWAITS YOU!! CAVEAT EMPTOR!!

Oh, that sunny day when I first walked in to the condo I now own is still fresh in my mind.  The place had potential:  Knock out a few walls, tear out everything and start from scratch.  I was inspired by Gordon Matta Clark and creating my own site-specific artwork.  Oh, things went smashingly well.  I designed and completed the construction in literally two months, which is a record-breaker for me.  It was cathartic.  We move in.  Set up.  Make our first cup of coffe and cooked our first turkey for Thanksgiving.  Then came the first condo board meeting.

Oh, the board members were nice.  I got voted in as the VP of the association because of my experience.  It felt good.  Then came time to rip out the old carpets in the hallways and paint the hallways a more cheerful color than the awful hospital blue-grey.  I took over the transformation project because the president was…well…un-presidential.  People in the building were on board with me.  All was good until…a commercial unit owner showed up.  Yes, he threw a fit.  A bad fit.  This was beyond pms or my worst moments with my mother during my teen-angst years.  This was an Italian man pushing his weight around telling us what to do.  To make the long story short, it has been a contentious “battle” between the residential and the commercial owners.  The commercial people want things to be done cheaply or not at all, and the residential owners want to FINALLY pretty up the building.  We’re at odds, to say the least.  Last night’s meeting was a testament to that.  Everything we wanted was vetoed.  I felt like I was reliving the Bush years:  I didn’t vote for these people, yet they were controling my rights.

We share the same pot and we all need to agree.  Gridlocks happen, asses must be kissed, and words must be chosen very carefully.  It’s a lot of work and quite frankly, I would have loved to have been less hands-on and instead conserve my mental faculties for other things.  But I care.  I want our building to look Parisian-chic instead of the hodgepodge of awnings and tacky lit signs posted all over it.  If you’re like me, then go in with the expectation that you’ll be at odds with the commercial side.  Period.  Especially, if the building isn’t in good shape at the time of purchase.  Otherwise, live happily ever after in a building that will be in the hands of people who are addicted to deferring maintenance and put no improtance on aesthetics.

So, when it comes to choosing a condo building, READ THE BY-LAWS, ask questions, meet people, assess the history and then decide.  In Washington, DC, you get a whole three business days to do all of these.  It’s bs, if you ask me.  You need more time than that to really get the whole picture.  Either way, go in with the expectation that, should you choose to serve on the board, it’ll be tricky to deal with a bunch of people, all with their own personalities and issues.  Newer condos don’t have this problem but nothing is perfect.  I hear crazy things on their end, too.  Just use your common sense and take your time.

On a cheerful note, we absolutely LOVE our neighbors and this has been a great way to connect and become friends with the people we live with.  It’s truly a unique experience and one has to learn compromise.  I’ve learned a lot.  That’s for sure!

My, oh my!  It seems that the Craigslist for DC has been saturated with ads for short-term housing for the inaugural week.  People are charging up THOUSANDS of dollars to rent their place for the week.  I like this article here by slate.com.  Most folks are tenants and have come up with the idea that charging $6,000/week for their one bedroom apartment will pay for 4 or 5 months of their rent.  Clever, indeed.  To those tenants, I say:  Beware!

The consequences of being a short-term landlord are noteworthy.  First, you are 100% in violation of your lease should you choose to sub-lease without the explicit permission of your landlord.  Also, most leases have fees attached to sub-leasing which range anywhere form $250-$500.  In short, if you don’t let your landlord know what’s going on and who’s occupying their premise, you may find yourself in dangerous territory…especially if the place gets trashed, something happens to one of the short-term tenants (think banana peels), etc. etc.  Second, permits must be in place with the DC Department of Housing if you’re an owner and you decide to rent as temporary housing.  Certificates of occupancy and proper insurance (typically, this is landlord insurance) are advisable as, again, the banana peel story could come back and haunt you.  You may want to check more on landlord rules by visiting DCRA’s website to get more information on this often misunderstood requirement.

While this may be a lucrative way to exploit the historic event, it still needs to be pointed out that there are dangers involved when taking it this far.  Price gauging, as we may all remember with the gas station, is a punishable crime.  I’m not exactly sure what the exact ramifications are, but you may want to follow the rules and avoid risky business at all cost.  It could end up costing you big time…and who wants to have that hanging over their head with such an amazing, history-making event taking place.  Then again, this is probably the only time anyone is going to get this kind of return on a property they currently live in…it’ll be interesting to see how many people file claims with their insurance companies after the short-term tenants have vacated.

Okay.  Enough of this Debbie Downer.  Do the right thing and you’ll be okay.

Amidst the doom and gloom of the news lately, there are still people who can think outside of the box.  My clients recently have been cautious.  Despite the news, they’re convinced that now is the time to grab that “deal” and hold on to it as a long-term investment.  Posts like this are overlooked by the skeptics.

Ownership is such a big word, too.  Too big for some people to handle (I mean no offense to those who simply don’t have the financial means to own a home.  That’s a different topic all together).  It’s a full word that can encompass a lot of different things.  At this point in time, ownership is at risk and no one wants to own the responsibility.  Owning something does come with more weight.  Whoever was at the wheel during this god-awful administration, led the people to believe that they owned something, kept them temporarily sedated and happy and then they took it away.  Just like that!

For a society to thrive and progress, ownership has to be attainable, not elusive.  With ownership comes accountability and even that’s been taken out of the equation.  People are numb and want to connect to something.  Enter Obama:  The zealous, hope-inspiring figure who will supposedly lead this country to better times.  It starts with each of us and then it trickles down to a “president.”  If we own what’s going on in our country and do something to counter-act it, not succumb to fear (which ultimately perpetuates and prolongs this quagmire we’re in now), and have vision for our future, we’ll all be leading, on our own, for ourselves…with or without a head of state.  That’s true freedom.  That’s my belief and that’s the belief of anyone who can maintain a positive outlook despite everything happening around them.

I look forward to better days when we can all enjoy the rewards of what we’ve worked so hard for.  But a lesson must be learned from this, and that is that NOTHING comes easy and when it does, you better watch out!  It’s all hardwork and patience.  That, as my clients today are demonstrating, is what pays off ultimately.