RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
Location / Name:
Towson MD, Baltimore County
What's Here:
Cape Cod Style Home
Data:
GPS Coordinates: 39.41619, -76.63921
1225 Robin Hood Circle
Phone A/C: 410/443c
ZIP: 21204
Access by train/transit:
None, But the Baltimore Light Rail runs behind the house
The Scoop:
One of the very first things ANY real estate broker will tell you when you go to sell a house, is make sure your house has CURB APPEAL. Curb appeal is what will get potential buyers out of the car, and into the home. Without curb appeal, they will pull-up, take a look, and keep on going. That's not what you want, so strive to make sure you curb appeal is at it's best.
Using our example house here in Towson MD as an example, let's go over some of the things that can detract from the curb appeal, as the house was put on the market during Veteran's Day week of 2021, it's basically a $600,000 fixer-upper....
Is your lawn well manicured?
· Is it pretty free of weeds?
· Are there any low or high spots that might attract attention or make people twist an ankle?
If you have a sidewalk, is it clean/powerwashed?
Do you have the front of your house decorated with garden?
· Is it presentable or has it been let go and wild looking?
· Does it look like professionals did the work?
· Is it freshly mulched?
· Is there a clear boundary between the garden and the grass?
Do you have low-voltage lighting?
· Are all of the lights working?
· Are the wires all hidden?
· Are the fixtures straight?
Do all of your outdoor lights work?
· If you have motion sensors on them, do they work?
The roof, how old is it? Even the so called 20 and 25 year roofs need replacing after about 15 years!
· Are there shingles missing or torn?
· Are the (asphalt) shingles curling (time to replace the roof)?
· Are there stains on the roof (clean or replace)?
· If you have had ANY work done on the roof, DO THE SHINGLES MATCH THE ORIGINAL ROOF?
If the exterior of your house painted, is it in good shape?
· Are there spots that are flaking or otherwise need touch up?
· Is the paint all the same color?
Do you have vinyl siding?
· Is it clean and free of mold?
· Are there any holes that need to be repaired or pieces that need to be replaced?
Do you have wood siding?
· Is the siding free of rot?
· Is the waterproofing and caulking in good condition?
· Does it need a coat of paint or stain?
If you have brick or stone siding, is it in good shape?
· Is the mortar in good condition, or does it need repointing?
· Are any bricks spalling?
Do you have a chimney?
· Is the brick in good condition, do any need replacement?
· Is the mortar in good condition or does it need repointing?
· Is the cap in good condition?
· If the chimney has spark arrestors, are they in good condition and secured?
· If painted, is it in good condition and look good, or is it flaking and look scuzy?
Are the power and cable TV/phone cables secured to the house properly and the entrances water tight (if above ground)?
Do you have a fence?
· Is it in good repair, or does some of it need attention?
· If it is painted, does it look good, or could it use another coat of paint or stain?
· If vinyl, does it need powerwashing or cleaning?
· Have a gate, does it swing easily, does it latch properly and without binding?
Do you have trees?
· Are they all healthy, or are any of them failing and should be taken down?
· Do you have any that overhang the house and could be a problem in a storm?
· Are dead branches cut off?
· If you had a tree cut down, did you have the stump ground down?
This is just a short list of things, mostly predicated on the things at this house that have not been paid attention to.
Here is a good case study on what to do, and what NOT to do when you are planning to sell a house, and maximize your profit.
There are tons of good resources to advise home owners what to do with a house, especially one that was built around the 1960 timeframe, and has not had ANYTHING done to it since it was built. The house a couple of doors down at 1218 Ridervale was a good example of this, where the previous owners before the current owners did their best to destroy the house - among the things they did: both the husband and wife smoked 3 or 4 packs of cigarettes a day, and if you have ever seen pictures walls up at the ceiling, where moisture gets in and creates drip stains, well, they were ALL over the entire house, not to mention how the house smelled when you opened the front door! Yeeeech!
So this Cape Cod house was built around 1960, and what was done to it since? The basement stairway was replaced with a metal spiral staircase, a bar was built in the basement, a bathroom was added in the basement, and a shower was added in the basement. The bathroom and shower were installed, well, shall we say, very horribly at best - the shower was a metal stall placed up on cinder blocks! OMG - what were they thinking? Both of these have since been removed and replaced with a real bathroom!
As far as that spiral staircase goes, it is metal, and a tight curvy thing, with only one dim light, lighting it up. There is about a 10 inch drop-off when you step off the first floor, and there is insufficient headroom for an average size adult male to go down without hitting your head - this thing will certainly be an inspection item if and when he gets someone to make an offer..... The spiral staircase, I'm assuming, was put in to give the owners more usable space in the basement. I've been after him to put a regular staircase back in and get rid of the safety hazard, but he said it won't meet code.... that may be so, but then the 1st floor to 2nd floor staircase doesn't meet code either. He should be able to grand-father in the replacement. Besides, no-one would ever know if he had the metal thing replaced, unless he told someone. Another side deficiency from having the spiral thing put in, it took away space from an access doorway between one of the bedrooms and the hallway.
The current owners, as of 2021, are cousins of the owners who had lived there since the 60's, and inherited the house when Randy died in 2015.
Inside the house, a lot has been done, but it has all been to make the current owner happy, not what is best to sell the house to maximize its resale value. When you think about stuff like this on your own, without consulting someone who does this for a living, or just going on what contractors tell you should be done, you are (most of the time) playing with fire, and taking a big chance in the market, because what YOU think is best in a house, is very often NOT what is going to sell, but you can't tell that to the guy who currently owns the house.
I tried like a bandit to get him to just sell the house "as is" to no avail, as he seems to think that his repairs will make this a stellar performer, we will see, time will tell.
In order for him to sell this at a premium price, everything about the house has to be in near perfect condition!
Work done on the inside includes:
1) The kitchen has been remodeled. It doesn't look too bad, all in all, but still. The contractor was too lazy to put in two tight bends for the exhaust fan, so now there is just a recirculating fan over the stove. The poor guy just can't seem to find contractors who will do what he wants, so they have ALL taken advantage of him. The only appliance he updated was the garbage disposal.
2) The living room and dining room have a new 3/4" thick hardwood floor - this project was done because of the large number of dark stains in the old floor from having a dog - there were probably alternatives to replacing the entire floor, but the end result looks good. It's one of the few things he has done that turned out well, and will probably help the resale value. Floors in the other two rooms on the first floor were sanded down and restained.
3) The rug has been removed from the stairway leading up the second floor, and ugly trim strips have been added in an attempt to cover the stains left from the rug nails. This only covered about 50% of the nail holes, and looks horrible.
4) The main electric panel was replaced. It had to be, because the old panel was one made by Federal, and was a hazard. It cost him around $2500.
5) The house has an enclosed year round porch in the back. There was some bad wood on the floor, so he had the entire re-done with hardwood floors. Then he ruined the room by adding a second washer/dryer - one of those apartment style up and over units.
For the rest of the story, we'll just have to go picture by picture below..... I have called him "Harry", as in Harry Homeowner, to protect the innocent.
Baltimore Beltway, I-695, the "top side" of it near where I-83 takes off going north to York PA. Take the Charles Street exit, exit #25. Head south into Baltimore. At the first traffic that is NOT part of the Beltway interchange, take a right onto Bellona Avenue, Kenilworth goes to your left. Go down about 3/8 of a mile to Riderwood Road. The house will be on your left in about a quarter of a mile. Many people think that because 1220 is to the left of this house, that 1225 is a continuation of Riderwood, but it is not, it is on Robin Hood Circle, which comes off Ridervale at 1206, and then loops around, meeting Ridervale Road at the empty county lot.
In 2012Since this picture was taken:
· The bushes at the mailbox have been removed,
· The bushes in front of the house have been removed,
· The two holly trees on the left has been taken down,
· The chimney has been partially painted,
· The shutters have been painted, but they still droop,
· A new portico and roof has been built after the old one was torn down, but the roofing doesn't match the original.
Also:
· The spot where Randy and the dog are standing is a low spot in the yard, about two inches deep, he put grass seed down, but did not fill it in.
· The driveway light does not work, and if it does, only for a while before it trips a 15 amp breaker.
· The concrete sidewalk is dirty and needs powerwashing.
· Paint still adorns the brick at the front door as a result of not putting down a drop cloth.
· There is no electrical outlet in the front, how can you do Christmas Lights without a place to plug them in?
· Also, a simple thing - he should have had the driveway coated/sealed, but he hasn't so far....
· He also has not power washed anything, even tho he bought a really nice gas powered power washer, like, WHAT????
This picture shows the half done construction of a wall to keep mulch from spilling out onto the driveway. First, it is cinder block, second, there is no cement to hold the thing together, it has no footing or proper base, and lastly, it is not level!
Here we have a shot of the "side" yard, where mulch will be laid down, but there is no edging to delineate the mulch from the surrounding grass. Very sloppy.
Here we have a poor DIY approach to garden rehabilitation - mulch applied over a base of tree chippings left behind by contractors on the county property next door.
Paint on the bricks because a drop cloth was not used by Harry Homeowner when he painted the portico. Also, I know it's a detail thing, but is he going to clean the grass growing in between the bricks that are part of the pathway and re-parge the front of the step???
The ride side flower bed, with the very coarse tree chippings, before he puts on a layer of real mulch, but he has not installed any sort of trim to define the flower bed. There is also a tree root still in the ground, which should be removed - it plays hell on your lawnmower! Also, is the window well cover going to be leveled???
One of my many pet peeves is the chimney. He had a contractor paint the chimney, but only the parts of it he could reach from the ground with an extension pole. So, as a result, the "back" of the chimney is not painted and looks really scuzzy, the side of the chimney facing the dormer is not painted, because he couldn't reach it, and the top of the entire chimney has gone unpainted - because why? He couldn't reach it. The contractor who did this painted it in September of 2019, and when "Harry" found out that the contractor didn't want to go up on the roof to paint it properly (which right there should have been a red flag! :-), he should have then, gone and found someone who was willing to get up on the roof and do the paint job professionally and properly! Looks like shit, doesn't it?
While we're up on the chimney, there is an attic vent next to it. It looks like something out of a nightmare with the screening tacked to the outside. OY!!!
Under one of the living room windows is a rather substantial crack in the brick! :-( I pointed this out to him, like I did with everything else, and he paid no mind to it.
close-up of the stairsNow let's go into the backyard, where there is a hill that drops off from the rear edge of the yard, to go down to a stream (NOT a river as the listing states!) a couple of hundred feet below. A large section of the upper part of the hill WAS covered by pachysandra. People pay good money to have this stuff put in, because it is an excellent shade type NO maintenance ground cover. Here he has cut most of it down, so he can seed it with grass, forgetting that the pachysandra will grow back since the roots are still in the ground. So which will grow quicker, the grass or the ground cover? We'll see. He said the grass will look better, but who the hell wants to mow a steep hillside??? Not me, and nor do most people. A neighbor across the street did, but this summer, he started paying a lawn care service to mow his yard because of a hill like this!!!
He also went to the trouble to dig out the steps which were put in some 40 or so years ago, and I hope he fills in the hollow so you can walk on them without twisting your ankle. The Pachysandra was all around the steps, and looked really nice!
At the bottom of the steps was a flat area, which "Harry" said has been washed away over the years. He would like to bring it back, and asked if I would use my Kubota backhoe to help, but I told him to make the rest of the house look perfect before attempting to do this kind of thing.
The rear stairway has not been power washed or painted/stained to help preserve its lifespan, the new owners will have to replace it soon because of this. And see the extension cord coming out of the back door - that is your ONLY source of electricity for the ENTIRE yard, front and back!!! Ouch!
Here we have one of the trees in the back yard, that "Harry" trimmed himself, very unprofessionally done, because he has left two feet of the branches hanging off the side of the tree.
Last, but not least - another one of my pet peeves. "Harry" did good, and had the portico rebuilt, with a sloped roof, instead of a roof like the original, which was flat. However, the contractors made no effort to match the angle of the dormers above, so it kinda looks like shit if you look closely. It would have been very easy to match the angles to make it look like like they were built at the same time. Another mistake the builders did, was to use multi-colored roofing shingles, instead of a single color in an effort to try to match the new roof with the existing roof.
Here we can see the difference in the multi-colored portico roof and the original single color roof. When the sun is just right, you can plainly see the difference, but Harry Homeowner says he sees no difference... poor guy, he needs his eyes checked.... I would have also had gutters placed on the portico, to keep rain from splattering on you as you walk up to the front door! :-) And while we're talking about the "He should have replaced the entire roof, but he didn't" - the stains on the roof look awful.
In this slightly wider view of the front, we can see the shutters. The shutters are original, and are wood. Over the years, they have drooped. His contractor, and the people at the Home Depot said they could not be reliably repaired so that they would close. So he has chosen to do nothing but paint them. It would almost look better to have taken them off. I told him I could fix one of them in 10 minutes, without even taking them down, but he doesn't believe me, because he believes everything everyone else has to say. Don't worry, I haven't offered any more free advice.... I've only been working on shit and fixing things for 50 years.
This whole page is nuthin BUT Floobydust :-) :-)
Disclaimers:
I love trains, and I love signals. I am not an expert. My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page. This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.
Please Note: Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them. For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.
If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct. Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)
My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning. Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented. Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost! I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches. ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them. If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads. Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.
Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted. Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it!
By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.
Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given! Please be NICE!!! Contact info is here
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RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
NEW 10/14/2015, MAR14/2020, NOV12/2021
Last Modified 13-Nov-2021