historic homes: Any Historic Sears House Pictures To Share? - 03/09/12 10:42 AM
Oh, once more I feel so flattered! The mighty Rose Thornton, national authority on the history and identification of the mail-order homes of the early 20th century and author of books such as "Finding The Houses That Sears Built,"kind of featured me on her blog yesterday. Well, actually, not me, but some of the catalog houses I identified in my favorite DC neighborhoods.
I have often written about the stories behind the houses I sold or came across, from discovering they had a famous first owner to the long-forgotten murder in the basement. DC certainly has a lot of history of … (2 comments)

historic homes: Kit House Of The Week: 1928 Sears "Americus" in Chevy Chase, DC - 01/27/12 03:41 PM
As we skipped the Kit House of the Week feature last week, I'm making up for it by presenting you with two historic mail-order homes for this weekend. Both are on the market for sale, and both will be open this weekend.
Number one is a somewhat modified but still recognizable Sears "Americus" on Morrison Street in the historic part of Chevy Chase, DC. While unfortunately much of the original woodwork on the exterior has fallen victim to "modernization" efforts, presumably during the 1980s, there's a lot of it left inside. (Note the crude little wooden rectangles at the junction of … (6 comments)

historic homes: Yes! Blue Grease Pencil! -- My Historic Mail-Order Home Of The Week - 01/13/12 11:20 AM
Oh, what thrill it was! The one-hundred-percent, doubt-free identification that we so rarely get to see! But just wait; we will get to that later.
This week's historic kit home is actually a rare find, at least for Washington, DC (correct me, if I'm wrong--I'm always looking to make new discoveries). Once more, we located it in the Shepherd Park neighborhood in the northern tip of DC.
The bright home with its rather unusual roof line (worked-in layered arches above the windows) is a spacious Sears "Honor," was built in 1926 (model number P13071), and it's currently for rent through our … (12 comments)

historic homes: How Not to Renovate Your Historically Significant Home - 12/20/11 01:18 AM
Seeing the house in person was a bit like an encounter with a vampire: A once charming creature, full of life, adventures and stories, had turned into a bloodless, lifeless shell, generic, functional, and ... dead.
Not that I ever have encountered a vampire, but you will get my point here very soon.
For the past few weeks, I have been scrutinizing new listings in our area--in particular, houses built in the 1920s--for their kit home potential. Imagine my excitement last week when I came across a 1923 Sears "Fullerton" that's for sale right now--in a NE Washington D.C. neighborhood near … (9 comments)

historic homes: The Architectural Demands Of Trash - 08/01/10 07:59 AM

The lines between trash and recyclables are blurry and a favorite source of arguments, at least in our house.   We've never gotten straight answers on issues like cardboard packaging with glossy outside layers (does it go in the paper can or not?), broken glass (with the bottles or the trash?), or plastic toys.
The Germans, however, seem to have got this down.  The city of Berlin, for instance (where I arrived a couple of days ago), mandates everybody to sort their trash into 6 categories, and with great educational effort, the government makes sure every trash-producing citizen gets it.   
… (5 comments)

historic homes: DC’s “Real” Colonial Homes – A Well-Kept Secret - 07/19/10 04:50 PM
No, I’m not talking about 18th century houses which we don’t have a whole lot of here. (There have been too many termites, fires and riots in the Nation’s Capital.) Nor am I talking about the type of house we have more than enough of—probably 90 percent if you believe the realtors’ classification in the MLS--: the brick “Colonial.” (When in doubt, it’s always a Colonial.)
I’m talking about an amazingly beautiful NW Washington DC neighborhood that many of the city’s inhabitants west of Rock Creek Park have barely heard of: the original part of the "Colonial Village" near the northern … (2 comments)

historic homes: Progress on Military Road--My Shaky Flip Video Debut - 07/26/08 04:48 PM
Dear Vered and Allan and girls,
as promised, I'm keeping an eye on the renovation/construction of your home while you're overseas for the summer.   You've had enough time to witness the "demolition" and even more time to study what was left while waiting for permits from the DC bureaucracy, so let's see how it's all going to come back together in the next few months!
ActiveRain (thank you, guys!) rewarded us for our participation in the inspiring Makeover2Takeover contest with this amazing little flip video camera.  I have been playing with it for a few weeks now.  So much cooler than … (2 comments)

historic homes: House History, House Sentiments, House Envy - 05/05/08 04:13 PM
Do most real estate agents suffer from house envy now and then?  Or are we immune after a while?  We get to see a lot of magnificent homes.  Most of the time I feel inspired by a great place.  I don't ever recall wanting to live in one of them.
But how about a certain type of house?  A certain feel of house? Yes, there has been a longing, and it never left me.  Because in the end so much comes down to emotions in real estate, and in the end it's always somehow about our past.
When I went to … (23 comments)

historic homes: The Deluded Seller/Agent, Take 2 - 04/27/08 11:12 PM
Well, I'm excited to report that neither my clients nor I play any roles in this drama anymore.  There has been an unexpected turn of events, and from now on, we're just going to lean back and watch the show.
A week and a half ago, I wrote a somewhat desperate [members only] blog about preparing an offer on a very charming but outrageously overpriced house whose seller was her own agent.  She was blinded by love and pride.  (Or SAD,  Seller Agent Dementia,  thanks,  Andrew!)  Her former home was the only larger house in the historic district my friends and … (20 comments)