Earlier in the week, I blogged about a hot tip Gary gave me: Gary’s dad and uncles were looking to sell the rowhouse their late-father had owned. The rowhouse just happens to be in Remington. Well, Gary gave me directions, and today I finally got down to take a look at it.

No inside tour - gotta get in touch with Merf for that - but the place looks like its in great condition. Anyway, I was very excited, and we’ll see what happens … (I’m getting my hopes up, I don’t have the ability to buy a house now, on the other hand, no one said the house is going to be on the market for awhile, so, who knows?)

So much for moving to Reservoir Hill …

So 13 houses ended up the magic number here on Linden Avenue. Come on over and drive by and see for yourself. It’s over now though. TechBalt.com lives but there are no more cheap homes in Reservoir Hill. The speculators are here. Not a darn person is going to sell their house on this street for under 200k. It does not matter what shape the house is in. So you may want to stop emailing me about Reservoir Hill. Sure I would love to talk about my neighborhood but I just cannot help you find a house anymore for under $200k. There is a lot of (irrational?) exuberance here when it comes to houses. Speculators suck. I will leave it at that. If you drive around here, most of the hood still looks like absolute crap. Thanks to all the speculators holding on to their slums and wanting $200k

Don’t get me wrong - it’s great news, I just wish I’d been able to take advantage of what was going on there before the speculators got their grubbies on everything.

It turns out Gary’s grandparents used to live in Remington, and that his uncles will soon be selling the property, a rowhouse located on Atkinson Avenue. This will probably be well before I’m ready to buy - plus, I’m seriously considering doing the TechBalt thing and moving to Linden Ave, reply to my e-mail Adam! - however, I will be going down possibly tomorrow (Sunday at the latest) to look at the exterior of the home.

The last time I checked, this property was listed for $90k.

Also fair to mention: after falling in love — hard — with JWER’s place, I’m considering taking up the TechBalt challenge and moving to Linden Avenue. (Maybe)

Work today was slow. As in, no deliveries slow. As in, we folded every box in the place and were considering unfolding them again just so we could refold them.

Anyway, I got out of work at one. I was kind of dissapointed - I’d been hoping for some overtime, but Jamal didn’t want to give up any of his closing hours, and Noah didn’t want to give up any of their open hours. I wound up with 15 minutes of overtime, or a grand total of an extra $2.81 on my paycheck. Hey - every bit helps.

Getting out of work so early, I said to myself, “Jeff, what are you going to do until you go to your part time job tonight?”

Anyway, Molly Goatwax wound up shaking her head over my rowhouse sketch - boy was I waaay off on that thing. She let me head to the upstairs floor of Molly’s, and I got a good feeling for the size and layout of a typical Remington rowhome. The best news - and something I’d forgotten - is that Molly has a big pool table at the front of the bar, which means I’ll be able to have a big pool table in my basement. Woot!

I have a lot of photos, but the camera is in the other room. I was taking photos of all the 3-story rowhomes I could find - some on 30th Street across and down from Dizzy Issie’s, some on Huntington, and then there’s a whole slew of ‘em on 23rd across from Molly’s.

This post is entirely, 100%, conjecture.

This is a sketch I drew last week of the interior of a rowhome. Realizing that rowhomes vary in their internal configuration based on when, where, and by whom they were built, this is a bit of guesswork, generally as to the placement of the stairs, bathrooms, and top floor arrangements.

This “sketch rowhouse” has four floors, including a finished basement, and measures 14′ wide by 44′ deep - the parking pad adds an additional 18′ to the rear, and also includes a tiny deck, and if you look closely, some trash cans.

I spent a lot of time last night thinking about what I’d do if I was lucky enough to acquire a four-floor rowhome. As it is, I live in a two-bedroom apartment, so if I were to buy a three-floor rowhome, the only additional “rooms” I’d be adding to what I already have would be a recreation room in the basement. But with the additional rooms on a fourth floor?

A library? Workout space (lord knows I need it)? Theater? Oh, the possibilities are endless!

The other night at work I was telling Robin about my plans for my basement. See, what I’m envisioning is you walk down the stairs, and there’s a little seating area and maybe a TV. Then there’s a wall with french doors smack-dab in the middle of it. Walk through and you enter a bar area with a 7′ pool table in the center of it. Robin was all, “French doors cost thousands of dollars!” And I was very worried, because I’m not about to spend a couple of thousand of dollars on French doors. But! Home Depot had some pine-framed French doors ranging from $300 to $400 dollars depending on what size you get.

Also, I went by Michael’s and picked up a hardcover sketchbook. See, I’ve been doodling a lot of rowhomes lately, planning room layouts, stuff like that. And I’ve been devouring the Baltimore Sun’s real estate section for even the tiniest morsel of information on rowhomes. And I thought, gee, I should gather this stuff. Yes, that image above is one day’s gathering, ruminations, and sketches — including several of the parking pads from the alley walk.

I think I’ve mentioned - to everyone who won’t punch me when I keep blathering on - that I want to put a pool table in my rowhome’s basement (when I buy a rowhome).

(Assuming I get a rowhome with a deep enough basement, I’d actually like to have a front room for a nice entertainment center, then back through French doors the pool table room).

Oh, anyway, a few people at work were like, “You can’t fit a pool table in a rowhome! They aren’t wide enough!”

Actually, according to this page, I can fit a 7′ table comfortably in a home with a width of only twelve feet!

This, which I came upon totally by accident, gives me a good feel for rowhome living. Hoorah! (Still dreaming for two floors of bedroom space … oh, the possibilities!)

Hey - you rowhome owners … how much do your utilities work out to be?

One last thing before I unplug this computer …

… when I buy my rowhome, and I have a big, finished basement, I’m going to paint it dark red. And I’m going to put in a dark grey carpet. And then I’m going to put this in the center of the room:

(And, maybe at some point, a bar’ll go in the corner, and then we can have Blogger Happy Hour at my place*).

*BYOB, of course

I did go back down to the Remington/Hampden area. I didn’t really get out and walk around, just sort of drove through - didn’t even make it past Atomic Books. My heart just wasn’t really into anything but looking around, I guess.

Oh! But look! A photo! Of a bar! And not just any bar! Her bar! (I think those three-story rowhomes have basements, too. My mind boggles when I think of what I could do with all that space - a library? An entire room for my Legos? Workout space?)

However, I did find all the photographic proof I need to justify a parking pad. So, in keeping with Rachael’s “Ghetto Supermarket Parking”, I present “Remington Street Parking”:

And, before anyone asks, I was going to steal it, but then I was like, “What if the person I buy a house from sees me moving the furniture in and says ‘hey, that’s my chair! you stole it!’ and then beats me up?” So, uh, I didn’t.

A couple more photos:

Ugly fences, but I’m think that’s a parking pad-size space there. Woot!

These rowhomes were on Falls Rd., just north of 41st street, if I’m remembering correctly. I sort of like the gardens, but let’s face it, I don’t have a green thumb … oh, I also detoured past my parents’ place and retrieved my Baltimore Rowhouse book that eebmore reminded me about. According to the book, that above would be an example of a “daylight” rowhouse.

See? I’m learning. (There were some really neat “daylight” rowhomes in Remington - not sure where, leading to the BMA - that had glassed in porches. Neato!!!!)

I can’t remember where I took that photo but - look! A stray digit!

(Oh, I’ll be bloggin’ until Wednesday, Jason & I agreed it would just be simpler to get the CPU to him at a time and place we both knew we’d be. So, I’ll be blogging until then. And, y’know, I can always hook the old really-shitty-POS up if I’m in a need to blog until I get the Dell-POS back).

Question for those of you who have bought homes - I’ve been trying to figure out how a mortgage is calculated. I mean, you add the price of the home, property taxes for thirty years, interest, what-ever-else — yes, I’ve tried using a mortgage calculator, they always tell me my monthly payment will be $600,000 — I mean, is it simple enough - for a rough estimate - to say, “If I wish to buy a house that is $100,000, it is fair to guesstimate that my total mortgage will be for $200,000?”

Also, eXtraheavyMarcellus is over at his blog feedin’ my fever …

*Update*

I found a mortgage calculator - can’t find it now, of course - but it was something like $100k at 6.9 interest, I’d be shellin’ out $610 or so a month. Excellent!

This is the coolest real-estate tool ever made.

I think I have a real estate agent!

My friend — and ex-boss — Christina is, although two years younger than me, a veteran of purchasing homes. She bought a condo in Middle River, then a house on Harford Road. She’d always praised her agent - fella’ by the name of Brian - so as I’ve got co-workers and friends giving me the cards of agents they’d used - and knowing I want someone with experience in city buying - I gave Christina a ring and asked for Brian’s contact info.

Of course, she was at work, and didn’t have that info, but she’s going to bring it into work with her this weekend so I’ll have a chance to swing through and pick it up.

Of course, since I don’t want to buy until May or June of next year, I am wondering if perhaps I’m getting maybe just a little bit of an earlier start than I need to get …

Oh! Oh!

I found rowhome floorplans! (And ones not thirty feet wide!) Not unintentionally, I sort of stumbled across this website offering properties to rent in Baltimore … (uh, wow, I so can’t afford those rents …)

The staircase arrangement is a little weird. Don’t most rowhomes have the stairs against the wall? And … geez, what’s with the bathroom in the middle of the f’ing kitchen?