Green Row House

A little shabby. About three blocks east of where streets are revitalizing. Their time will come. 

In the meantime, the green paint has faded and cracked and softened. I know improvement is good, but when these houses are rehabbed, who will be able to afford them? 

Yet there is absolutely nothing I would do to prevent someone from trying to get their money back. Rehabbing is expensive. It frequently doesn't pay to make a house of smaller expectations. I think that is why condominium ownership is a good way for inner cities to keep a middle class. 

In the case of this rowhouse, though, we are talking four families, maximum, to split the costs--three floors plus the English basement. There is a problem of scale with that. It would be better to own the whole row and defray the costs by that many families. And that takes a larger investor. Again, where does the middle class go?

Truly, I love them just as they are.