Comments on: It’s Time To Play Good Deal or Not?

By: SG

SG — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:43:16 +0000

Thanks, SM!

By: city girl

city girl — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:51:59 +0000

Unless you plan to pack up and move to Nebraska when you retire, escalation of the value of your home won’t change your life much but it may be nice for your children or whomever you put in your will. Who else is tired of DC real estate talk? I hope all the unemployed realtors have kept up on their bartending and cater-waiter skills. Besides, it isn’t the money, it’s how you live. Have you ever walked into someone’s grand house and felt the chunks rise up inside because of what they have done to it?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:41:02 +0000

Zip Realty is the best for trying to assess home values. Which, by the way, is akin to reading the crystal ball in this market. A search on Zip results in 280 homes for sale between 200-800K in zips 20009, 20010, and 20011. 146 of these have been sitting on the market and have reduced prices (some reduced by as much as 100K or more), and 28 are short sales or foreclosures.

In reviewing the listings, my guess is there are far more short sales as many of the listings say “subject to 3rd party approval”. Apparently it is now a selling feature to specifically indicate the home is not a short sale or foreclosure, as they are notoriously difficult to get bank approval. I would also guess that this area was ripe for originating loans to people who couldn’t really afford them when the market was going up, which makes it ripe for foreclosures when these folks can’t make their payments.

I would look up the tax records/sales data on this house anywhere from 2000-2002, then assume a 10% appreciation rate per year plus $$ for renovations and offer that. Anything substantially over that reflects fundamentally unreasonable appreciation that will eventually correct. It is shocking to me that people are still trying to sell homes as “investment properties” in a market that is already totally oversaturated.

By: SM

SM — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:23:15 +0000

For SG #2, there are a lot of developments just beginning or planned around the Georgia Ave/Petworth metro, and once they are in place, the area will be a lot more pedestrian-friendly, more retail, etc. Right now there are a lot of closed businesses and empty lots and that puts people off…at least I don’t do much walking on Georgia Ave at night if I can help it.

Some things that are in the works:
– Great Streets program sidewalk/street improvements including planted medians on New Hampshire Ave and redesigned crosswalks
– Park Place condo building by Donatelli Development with Mocha Hut and other retail
– 3910-12 Georgia Ave — new residential building by Jair Lynch w/ ground level retail
– Safeway on Georgia Ave will be torn down and rebuilt, with residential above
– new apartment building at Georgia & Taylor with Yes! Organic Market on ground floor
– several lots and buildings on the 3800 block of Georgia Ave to be developed
– new CVS (?) to be built on the triangle-shaped empty lot south of the intersection of Georgia & New Hampshire
– planned setup for a farmer’s market including bricking over 9th St NW b/w Taylor & Upshur, and closing it to traffic on market days
– renovation of Petworth library (budget something like $15million)

These are just a few of the planned developments, and just north of the metro…I think all will contribute to increased housing values in the future…that’s what I meant by making Georgia Ave more welcoming.

By: GP

GP — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:48:08 +0000

I see a lot of advertisements that say “plenty of street parking” as a selling point. That’s all well and good, but who is to say that wouldn’t change as more people move into the neighborhood?

By: StubsDC

StubsDC — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:09:54 +0000

To answer MM’s questions – we just bought a house in the northern area and used ziprealty.com as our search engine. It was great because we could set the parameters based on size, price and use the map to plot out the geographic area. I didn’t like our agent, but I loved the search engine side of it all.

By: SG

SG — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:12:31 +0000

From the other SG

Can someone explain the Georgia Ave. comment that SG #1 made? And what did SM mean by “and once the area around the Petworth metro looks more welcoming”? I thought it was ok now but I live in VA.

I am not picking. I am thinking heavily of moving to the Petworth-ish area next year and I am trying to gather info on various streets, good vs bad, etc. Thanks!

By: D

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:38:39 +0000

It doesn’t compare to the good deal at 3811 13th, which I think is listed at about $400,000 and looks to be in good dhape. I think the father of the house is a professional painter, so I suspect the pictures on the net aren’t too misleading. There’s no off-street parking, although there is a back yard. And the house at Kansas and Randolph just dropped to $575,000, and it looks incredible from the outside and has a vast corner yard. I agree the one listed here is probably $100,000 over-priced.

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:28:55 +0000

The house isn’t 4 bedrooms and an in-law suite – it is actually 3 bedrooms upstairs and a finished basement that could be used as a fourth bedroom/in-law suite. The flier is misleading. There is a bathroom on each floor, which is nice. The house, however, is lacking in updates. And because of the location and the off-street parking in the back there is no yard behind the house. I definitely think it is over-priced. It’s been on the market for quite awhile now and there doesn’t appear to be any potential buyers. The open houses have seen very little traffic and the last open house was several months ago.

By: nate

nate — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:00:31 +0000

DCDireWolf,
It looks nice from the outside. How about the inside?