maurice martin : : freelance journalist & playwright

At first glance, the house looks like an abandoned wreck. Its windows and doors have been nailed over with plywood, and someone has spray-painted “MR S,E,” where the front door should be. The ornamental iron gate opening onto the sidewalk hangs askew, and the surrounding fence has disappeared. Gray dust covers the yard.

However, closer inspection reveals that the wraparound porch is in good shape, as are the turned posts along its outer edge. The yellow shingles covering the main floor still fit together snugly. Tracey, my girlfriend, inspects the brickwork of the foundation and declares it sound.

“How much for this one?” she asks.

I consult my stack of papers: “$1,542.94.”

By Maurice Martin

From the December 13, 2002 issue of the Washington Business Journal.

Back in the freewheeling days of the dot-com boom, local companies — particularly technology companies — gobbled up office space to accommodate the ever-expanding army of employees they saw in their futures.

How I got priced out of the only housing market I had left.

Convention Center Authority moves to protect businesses during construction