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Old houses getting fresh coats of paint
BY JACQUELINE BRILL
STAFF WRITER
Paint suffocated the walls after
40 years of retouches and color
changes. Beautiful pine floors were
hidden under layers of dust and
dirt. Weeds crept up the faded
white exterior.
Just last year, this was 1 Cobb
Terrace, built in 1912, until current
owner Jane Young looked to bring
life back to her cozy bungalow and
its history.
She turned to Adam Jones and
his small company, Mill House
Properties, for help.
After seeing a previous example
of Jones’s restoration work on
Oakwood Drive in Chapel Hill,
Young had no doubt she had found
the right person to work on her
home.
“I knew if anyone could restore
it, it would be Adam,” Young said.
French doors have been added,
the floors have been refinished and
new crown molding now adorns
the living room.
Jones and his company suc
ceeded once again in merging
architectural history with the
present day.
Mill House Properties was offi
cially incorporated in 2001 and
since has expanded only in the
services it offers.
Jones and his assistant work
within the confines of a single
room with two desks crammed
into either comer.
Back issues of This Old House
magazine and framed photographs
of the houses they have restored
decorate the nook that serves as
homebase.
“This is it,” Jones said. “We’re
Tenant rights
affect students
Read , discuss
lease at signing
BY MEREDITH MILLER
STAFF WRITER .
For most students, the idea of
moving away from a cramped
dorm room to a private apart
ment sounds like a step toward
independence, but officials say
students must be aware of the
risks involved in renting an
apartment.
In January 2003, the Chapel
Hill Town Council and UNC stu
dent government collaborated on
the Good Neighbor Initiative, a set
of rules that outline the responsi
bilities students who live off cam
pus have with their neighbors and
landlords.
Attorney Dorothy Bemholz,
director of Carolina Student Legal
Services at UNC, said students
should understand the rights they
have as tenants, along with the
commitment of signing lease doc
uments.
Most problems between tenants
and landlords arise when there is
misunderstanding about the con
tents of the lease, she said.
“A lease is your promise to stay
(at the apartment),” she said, and
students must understand that
they are obligated for the terms
designated in the lease.
Bemholz said students should
bring confusing lease papers to the
Legal Services offices to under
stand fully the contract that they
are entering into with their land
lords.
“If you don’t understand the
lease, do not sign it,” she said.
She said these documents are
usually “very pro-landlord,” and
students should watch out for any
violations of their rights as ten
ants.
Bemholz added that right now
there is a “good tenant market,”
which makes it easier for students
to negotiate with owners and
make additions to the lease.
But, she said, students must be
sure to have landlords initial any
additions to the contract, because
“if it is not in writing,” landlords
are not responsible for performing
a task that they had “promised”
when a student was signing the
lease.
Adam Jones, a UNC alumnus
and owner of Mill House
Properties, said he understands
the process students go through
when renting properties and
working with owners to ensure a
satisfactory living environment.
“We are very student-friendly,”
Jones said. “We walk them
through (the leasing process).”
He added that the most impor
tant thing students must do when
looking for a place to live is to find
the environment that best suits
them.
Sheryl Davis, relocation special
ist at The Villages in Carrboro,
‘7 got into property management because
I needed a consistent revenue source. The
renovations are the gravy, the fun part.”
ADAM JONES, OWNER, MILL CREEK PROPERTIES
just four walls.”
These four walls can accomplish
quite a bit for their clients, though.
In addition to restorations, Mill
House Properties handles sales
and manages several properties
they rent out.
“I got into property manage
ment because I needed a consis
tent revenue source,” Jones said.
“The renovations are the gravy, the
fun part.”
Real estate is not quite where
Jones expected to be when he
graduated from UNC’s School of
Journalism and Mass
Communication in 1991.
For 15 years he worked in New
York and North Carolina in the
advertising and marketing busi
ness.
He gained a background in real
estate by working summers for his
older brother, who was a contrac
tor in Wake County.
While between advertising posi
tions, Jones went back to working
on houses for pleasure.
“The first eight houses I did
were really just hobby houses,”
Jones said. He did all of the neces
sary jobs, such as carpentry, design
and painting, without help from
anyone.
As time passed, however, Jones
realized he was ready for a career
change and began buying and sell
ing homes in addition to renovat
said she has not encountered any
problems with student tenants
abiding by their contracts.
She said agents work closely
with student renters to explain
important features they need to
know when renting a property.
“What gets students in trouble, we
explain.”
She advised that students ask
questions and talk to their land
lords about important living
issues, such as maintenance, early
termination and parking.
Bernholz said owners are
responsible for complying with the
Chapel Hill Housing Codes, which
list rights of tenants and the min
imum standards of living in an
apartment or house.
One part of the code specifical
ly addresses discrimination in the
housing process. People looking to
rent in Chapel hill can expect not
to be discriminated based on race,
color, religion, sex or national ori
gin.
In addition, people placing clas
sified ads looking for a roommate
are not allowed to specify a gender
preference in their ad, as it violates
the nondiscrimination clause
required when allotting housing.
For more information about
landlord compliance, students
may contact the town of Chapel
Hill Inspections Department.
A full list of tenant rights and
responsibilities can be found by
visiting the town’s Web site, locat
ed at http://www.townofchapel
hill.org.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
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ing them. He obtained his broker
age license in 2002 and eventual
ly began managing rental proper
ties.
He said he has been a much
happier person working in real
estate than in advertising,
although the skills he acquired in
the previous business still help him
today.
Using technological and design
savvy from his prior career, Jones
designed Mill House Properties’
logo and Web site.
What really sets the two careers
apart, though, is the unexpected
pleasures found within each of his
new projects.
“The most fun thing about ren
ovating old houses are the things
you find,” he said.
“I once found a bunch of
antiques in a shed that the previ
ous owner had left.”
Some of these items included
tables and chairs he personally
refinished, a Seth Thomas clock
and a stack of News & Observers
dating back to 1940. He also found
a shoebox filled with an old man’s
childhood toys.
But Jones enjoys all aspects of
working with older homes.
“I just love bringing old houses
back to their original grandeur.”
Contact the Features Editor
atfeatures@unc.edu.
To get off
L campus, just
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View our large selection of rental
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LOUISEi@BECK
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203 Providence Road
Chapel Hill
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DTH FILE PHOTO/ALEX FINE
Adam Jones, owner of Mill House Properties, sits in front of 1 Cobb Terrace, a home built in 1912 that his
company has restored recently. Jones, a UNC alumnus, works to restore local houses to their original state.
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