Baltimore’s Vacants to Value sold twelve abandoned homes and awarded seven more

By Cari Crabtree

.

Vacants to Value successes

Seven vacant houses in Baltimore have been awarded, nine vacants are pending sale and twelve have been sold through Vacants to Value since the program’s start in November 2010.

Teresa Stephens of Baltimore Housing explains the program’s process for selling city-owned vacants. A property is marked as “pending” once the Vacants to Value office receives an application from an interested buyer. The community’s needs and the applicant’s apparent ability to rehabilitate the property are key factors in reviewing applications.

When these criteria are met, the application is labeled as “awarded.” Paper work is then sent to the Board of Estimates for approval. If approved, the buyers move to settlement, the property is labeled “sold.”

“There are some soldiers who have hung around through the increase of vacancies. We want to help” said Stephens. She is optimistic about the progress of Vacants to Value.

Cooperation: enlisting helping entities

To sell homes, Baltimore enlists the help of One House at a Time, a non-profit vacant building receiver for the city. One House at a Time auctions properties that have been foreclosed. This non-profit is working to sell many Baltimore vacants that are not owned by the city, but they sell city-owned buildings, too.

While One House at a Time organizes groups of homes and deals with the foreclosure aspects, A.J. Billig and Co. is the company that handles the auctions.

Ten abandoned homes were listed for auction by A.J. Billig and Co., April 5. Three of these lots did not hold auctions because there were no bidders. Four properties sold for the starting bid of $5,000, meaning that only one bid was offered. The remaining three homes sold for between $6,000 and $15,000.

The house at 914 Whitelock Street is one of those homes that did not receive a bid. The surrounding Reservoir Hill area is evolving and qualifies as a transitional neighborhood.

.

The Reservoir Hill neighborhood is what the city considers “transitional.” Most of the homes are occupied and owners are involved in the community.

Two vacant rowhomes sandwich six renovations on the 900 block of Whitelock Street.

The shell of what was once a home stands at 914 Whitelock St in Baltimore. It was scheduled for auction on April 5 but no bidders attended.

The vacant home’s dilapidated porch contrasts with those of the six new homes that sit next to 914.

The vacant home’s dilapidated porch contrasts with those of the six new homes that sit next to 914.

A small tree grows through the front porch.

The bay windows are boarded up and this is one small piece of floor is almost all that remains.

The house at 914 Whitelock St. is one of 5,000 homes that Baltimore City is actively trying to rehabilitate through sale to a developer or tenant.

The backyard is littered with debris and overgrown vegetation.

Fifteen vacant homes were auctioned on May 3. All fifteen were sold. On the 400 block of E. Oliver Street, nine of them were sold in a bundle for $45,000. Two of the fifteen were sold for $3,000. Three went for $5,000 and the final property was sold for $7,000.

A.J. Billig sold 30 additional properties since April 5. Again, these properties are not necessarily owned by the city but the sale of any vacant Baltimore properties helps to solve the overall issue of urban blight.

Vacants to Value is also using Project SCOPE to sell the city’s vacant homes. SCOPE properties are the “cream puffs, so to speak,” said Stephens. These are the “better properties” and aren’t next to other vacants. These properties are handled by the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors as most non-vacant homes and lots would be.

Stephens updates the list of vacant homes for sale on the Vacants to Value Website. As of April, about 700 properties were posted for interested citizens to access.

The Vacants to Value “goal is truly, truly, truly to help the neighborhoods” said Stephens.

But there’s one neighborhood that feels differently.

Criticisms of the initiative

.

The Little Africa community of Baltimore has tried for almost a decade to buy the fourteen vacant properties on its two blocks, according to a spokesperson from the Little Africa Community office. The 700 block of Dolphin Street and the 900 block of Harlem Avenue are Little Africa.

Vacants to Value has awarded the homes located at 742 and 745 Dolphin St. for $6,500 and $7,000, respectively. They are two of the seven awarded homes.

But that still leaves these two blocks of families with 11 vacant homes and one vacant lot.

Sometimes those people who have the money to invest in homes still don’t have the experience and knowledge to really rehabilitate homes or even a neighborhood said John Bullock, a Towson University professor of political science and an expert in city planning.

________________________________________________________________

Stories

.

SELLING VACANT BALTIMORE PROPERTIES TO REVERSE DECAY OF DYING NEIGHBORHOODS

Baltimore, like most cities, experienced population decline that left properties vastly abandoned. Vacancy lends itself to disrepair and public safety hazards and issues of crime and vagrancy. Reversing the dilapidation and blight of Baltimore is important to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. MORE

..

DESPITE SMALL SUCCESSES IN RECENT MONTHS, BALTIMORE STRUGGLES AGAINST DECADES OF VACANCY

Little Africa, Baltimore is a community that has struggled with vacant homes. More important than physically vacant properties are the effects of blight on communities and Baltimore residents that have remained through population decline and mass abandonment. MORE

.

.

.

.

.

.

Multimedia

.

INFOGRAPHICS

.

Baltimore has a significant number of vacant homes. A large portion of them will not be rehabilitated because they are in areas that are not marketable for housing. These infographics give a visual representation of the vacancy issue in Baltimore City.

.

VIDEO

Urban blight is a term found in numerous text books and documents about housing and other urban issues. John Bullock, a professor of poltical science and an ex-city planner discusses the term urban blight and how it affects residents living in “blighted” neighborhoods.

MAP

As of March 4, this is the map displaying the Vacants to Value properties. This includes the few that have been awarded, pending and sold. This map gives a good idea of the concentration of vacant properties that Baltimore Housing has deemed salvageable.

________________________________________________________________