String of nearby abandoned homes concerns Montgomery Village man

gazette.net ^ | 04/23/2014 | Jenn Davis

[detective]

When Alberto Trigo moved into his wife’s Montgomery Village townhome over a decade ago, the block was full of occupied, well-kept homes. Now, he says, the street is plagued with several abandoned residences that have severely deteriorated.

Trigo said he believes up to four properties on Coltfield Court, which is across the street from Watkins Mill Elementary, have been abandoned by their owners and left in disrepair.

Chipped exterior paint, trash in the yards and other issues have him concerned that his own property value is sinking and that the neighborhood is losing its appeal to prospective buyers.

“I cannot sell my house,” he said. “Whoever is going to come to try to buy the house will see the neighbors. What kind of explanation am I going to give them?”

[detective]

Montgomery Village is just one of the areas in Montgomery County that is in rapid decline. Abandoned homes are everywhere. Crime, poor maintenance, garbage, rats. Home values are declining and residents can't sell their homes.

A few years ago this was a prosperous middle class area. Around ten years ago Montgomery County was the second most prosperous county in the entire United States.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

What state?

[detective]

“What state?”

Maryland.

[PeteB570]

Townhome?

That usually means a homeowner’s association that deals with the outside of the properties.

Even if the abandoned properties have quit paying the association will (should) maintain all of the exteriors just to prevent falling values.

The problem where values start to drop and properties are abandoned is investors start snapping up the properties.

Any regular owner in that situation had better start going to the HOA meetings. The investors will make every one and vote all their properties in a block. That’s when they start voting down and improvements like painting and the overall property gets more run down.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I’ve heard that Montgomery County was very properous. And I’ve heard people say how great their schools have been, and that people paid a premium price for housing there, just to send their kids to Montgomery County schools. I wonder if things are changing there. I understand that nearby Prince Georges County has mostly gone ghetto. I wonder if Montgomery County is going downhill. So sad to see.

[expat2]

Montgomery County was a very nice area not long ago. While it till has some very nice areas, large parts of it are rapidly turning 3rd world, largely because of a former high proportion of (often Jewish) libs living and voting there.

[expat2]

That was then, this is now.

[VanShuyten]

Most of the county is in good shape, but there are pockets where the locals decided to show their diversity by allowing illegal alien safe havens (and creating “nuclear-free zones”).

[bigdaddy45]

So its the jews fault huh?

[Svartalfiar]

That sucks, maybe look into buying them yourself, fixing them up? Property (in the long run) will not go down.

Funny thing, everyone always says declining property values are bad. Which is true, if you’re trying to sell. But if you’re just living there/owning, you NEVER want the value to go up, because that means property taxes will rise. You want your value to decline as much as possible, as you keep more of your money that way. (Obviously the reasons for the decline may be detrimental, but the decline itself wouldn’t be)

[expat2]

It’s the libs fault. Jews are a big part of the constituency that votes lib in MC, but not the whole story, of course.

[expat2]

Big problem with that is that, if values go down, the pols just raise the tax RATE. You don’t think they are going to happily settle for lower revenues, do you?

[Fresh Wind]

Welcome to Obamaville.

[WayneS]

Decay.

[WayneS]

The State of Maryland, and Montgomery County, have been under the complete totalitarian control of democrats for several decades.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Chipped exterior paint, trash in the yards and other issues...wow, this must upset the planners in Montgomery Village, where you have to go before the Architectural Board just to get approval to paint your front door, no end......

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

For a county more like Detroit . . . VOTE DEMOCRAT!!!

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[bigdaddy45]

Then why call them out?

[PA Engineer]

Montgomery County was a very nice area not long ago. While it till has some very nice areas, large parts of it are rapidly turning 3rd world, largely because of a former high proportion of (often Jewish) libs living and voting there.

As of the 2012 census there were there 1,020,000 people living in Montgomery County, Md. You are saying that there were at least 510,001 Jewish voters that voted in lockstep. Do you have a link for such a large population of Jewish voters?

Maybe it was something much more mundane for those of us that lived there in the past. We were renting for two years while my Wife did her fellowship. We were shown a townhouse rental there. It was obvious then what the the problem was. Each block had to have at least one section 8 unit.

You may find some other forums more to your liking. Anti-semitism is not held in high regards here. The Democratic Underground may welcome you.

[familyop]

"Whoever is going to come to try to buy the house will see the neighbors.

Before that, he said that lack of neighbors was the problem. Little slip of the tongue there. His neighborhood became so exclusive and upscale, that the current problem occurred. Same story with areas all over the country.

We Baby Boomers are continuing our croakfest for at least the next couple of decades. Most properties will be abandoned before long. Property tax hikes are causing even more to be abandoned. Banks don't pay property taxes, until the properties sell. Many of those properties will not sell in the foreseeable future. Properties owned by local governments will cease yielding debt/revenues.

BTW, a few states with a Montgomery County: Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland,...