Front door is actually off Glenham but address is listed off Taylor. The last time a city-wide utility study was done, this house had no services hooked up in 2004. I can’t imagine anyone has lived here since (or before) then. For what it’s worth, it does look secure. The windows have been blocked up since at least 2007 though were only boarded sometime in the last two years.
Sign says “no trespassing”.
Looking left to right at the intersection of Taylor and Glenham: one block East on Glenham (three foreclosures) to vacant 304 Prairie Ave, one block South on Taylor St. to vacant 472 Public St, one block* West on Glenham St. towards Broad St, and four blocks North on Taylor St. towards vacants 62 Taylor St and 27 Taylor St.
Update June 2009
*update photo by Funsickle
Nearby Houses:
None yet photographed. Please take a picture if you see one.
Not sure what I think of “utility surveys”. The private utilities may be confused by the different addresses, they take the address you give them. I know that about 15 years ago close to 20% of the houses in Boston didn’t have a water meter. That doesn’t mean they weren’t getting water, just that it was unmetered. No one at the water dept seemed to care.
I note that none of these 3 houses have suffered “modernization”. I consider that a plus since so much “modernization” is slap dash. Catastrophic events have probably resulted in some upgrades to the heat and plumbing.
I also noted the sales prices, who could have ever believed that those values were “honest”. Bigger mistakes have been made, in the middle 90’s the city of Tokyo was mortaged for a greater value than the entire United States. Their banking system has never fully recovered. Still, the Yen is very strong compared to the current Dollar. That is driving Nintendo’s stock down, their “earnings” are in Dollars.
The proportions and details of this house are really quite nice, I can see this being fixed up and being a great place.
An interesting stat from Providence Data:
Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $268,300 (it was $101,700 in 2000)
That is a pretty astounding increase in 7 years, about 168%.
Assuming that the 2000 prices were related to reality, there is a lot of water to be lost there. Shortly, purchase of a well maintained house will be less than repairing an older house. I notice that the Journal is running a lot of “puff pieces” about builders and real estate brokers, that is not a good sign.
Burglaries in Providence are 122% of the national average. When I moved back here, I was astounded by the number of “security service” and “beware of the dog ” signs. I wonder about the wisdom of fixing up a house in a depressed neighborhood.
Don’t want to seem a “wet blanket”, but prices are already down 30% and one good burglary can ruin your whole day.
I already own a fixer(d) upper in a neighborhood that quite a few of the listings on FP are in. We haven’t been broken into yet, but I know my street is a lot better than this listing. These neighborhoods only get better when people see the potential and commit to trying to make it better.
Mainly I was just saying I like the house and its architectural details.
Glad to see some movement in these neighborhoods. And, you’re correct about seeing potential. This site may aid with that.
I have had a few burglaries, the most disheartening part is when they take a dump in your bed. The police tell me this is intended to show disrespect. I guess it is sort of like you didn’t leave enough cookies for Santa Claus. That fad may be over. I think it also means kids/amatuers, real burglars rarely go to the second floor. Escape options are limited. When I lived in an apartment on Beacon Hill, the burglars actually brought a sawz-all. They brought a socket adapter and plugged it into a light outlet, then cut the hinges off the door. (you’ll notice that the police make forced entry by shotgunning the hinges, they rarely bother with the lock side)In an urban “singles” neighborhood, it is a safe assumption that everyone is at work and the entire building is empty.
Here is a link to an interesting site, gives avg. listing prices and avg. selling prices in Providence, by zip code. Notice the spread between the “bid” and the “ask”.
http://www.trulia.com/home_prices/Rhode_Island/Providence_County-heat_map/
Acording to this weeks PBN, Providence house values have fallen 50% since last year. It is going to be tough to convince a lender that it has reached bottom.
I have a relative who has lives on Glenham two houses down from this house for 2 years. At first, the street was scary. But like anything, we all got used to it. The street actually isn’t that bad. Everyone seems to mind their own business, and occasionally neigbors will nod hello etc, like any other neighborhood. However, when living in any of these neigborhoods, and maybe even the outlying suburbs like Cranston, it’s a good idea to have a good alarm system.
I have always wondered about this house at 120 Taylor St. It has been vacant since my relative more there. It looks secured. That tells me it must have an owner. Is the owner current on property taxes? Is it forclosed. What is the deal with this house.
Hi Miguel
This house is not a foreclosure. Other than that, no one knows a thing. Care to pull a property record at city hall?
The city’s online database lists “David F. Jones Real Estate Trustee” as the “owner.” By my interpretation that would suggest someone left Mr. David F. Jones a property (or five actually) in their will. (Anyone care to counter?)
The “what is the deal with this house” question is what this site is attempting to answer. After six months, we’re still in an embryonic stage of figuring that out. Part of the answer lies in opening up the records and duties of our city government (see eight principles of open government).
Sheila Barrett, Providence Director of Inspections and standards is theoretically in charge of moving the public property records into a digitized and web accessible format. She is yet to return our phone calls as we try to assist in this process.
Also, the city’s Planning Director, Thom Deller, has met with us once to offer his hand at opening up the city’s records (and therefore, accountability) of the vacant properties already on the city’s radar of being involved with tickets, fines, or liens. Since then, though, he’s given us the buzz.
So, “what’s the deal with this place?” Everybody in the damn city wants to know that when they pass by a bombed out, vacant, or boarded structure. And then there’s a whole mess of neighbors, or would-be neighbors who are interested in revitalizing these old and forgotten houses and neighborhoods, but the red tape proves insurmountable.
Progress on answering that question is achingly slow at this point. And though I’m fairly new to Rhode Island, I hear that’s par for the course, and have been told it’s unlikely ever to change.
David Simon on the “Audacity of Despair”
“The Wire is angry in it’s dissent and routed in a country no longer able to recognize its problems let alone solve them.
You’re not going hear any serious discussion in this [current 2008] political campaign on the drug war, social security, the disaster that is no child left behind and public school systems, [etc].
You’re going to hear about her pregnant daughter, and his crazy minister, and all the other horse-shit that constitutes the American political system.
What can you do with that? Getting angry is not a bad place to be. Angry is not an irrational response if you’re a citizen. It’s not particularly useful. But it’s not useless either. It’s not bad to vent every now and then and let them no you no longer accept shit for gold. That’s not a bad place to be.
The other thing is, it is worthwhile to pick one or two places where you think you can assert on behalf of a better outcome. And to fight. With whatever means at your disposal.
And you can do it thinking, I’m probably not going to win. I’ve seen five seasons of The Wire; I know I’m not going to win.
Going down fighting is not a bad way to perceive yourself, and it’s not a bad way to waste your time. If your time is wasted anyway, you might as well scream a bit on the way down.
But you can’t be everywhere. Everybody has to pick one thing. Pick something that matters. That’s bigger than yourself. That’s bigger than your own game. And commit to it. See what happens.
If nothing else, the bastards will not be able to say, that they didn’t know.
And that was the fun of The Wire—rubbing in the face of the politicians. The only gratification we had, was to say ‘We know what you’re up to. We know that you get to be governor, but we figured you out.’
It doesn’t amount to much, but it’s better than being a sucker.”
http://townsendcenter.berkeley.edu/webcast_Simon.shtml
“The city’s online database lists “David F. Jones Real Estate Trustee” as the “owner.” By my interpretation that would suggest someone left Mr. David F. Jones a property (or five actually) in their will. (Anyone care to counter?”
More likely Mr. Jones is the trustee of a “Real Estate Trust”, quite a common vehicle for ownership in the Northeast. The idea is that the “real” owners separate the legal title by giving it to Mr. Jones, in short this removes it from claims of the owners creditiors. It may also be a simple “nominee trust” with Mr. Jones being both the “trustee” and a “beneficiary”. Once more, the idea is to confound creditors. The “Real Estate Trust” is slowly being replaced by the LLC.
There are numerous possiblities, but this being New England I think the above is 90%.
Thanks Faust. Silly for me for even taking a shot at the legal meaning of “trustee”.