Prince Of Petworth » Blog Archive » Good Deal or Not? Turret Edition

Good Deal or Not? Turret Edition

15 June 2009 1:00 PM | By Prince Of Petworth in Good Deal or Not?, Neighborhoods - Shaw, Neighborhoods - U Street, Real Estate - Shaw, Real Estate - U Street

This condo is located at 1301 T Street, NW:

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The flier says:

“Fantastic location! Just 1 block to U St. Metro. Attractive corner 3 unit condo. The turret is the dining room just off a fully equipped kitchen w/ granite counters. The LR has built-ins, skylight & a gas FP. MBR has a balcony. Unique fetures & wood floors throughout. Off street parking is included and pets are welcome. .. huge wrap around yard to play in. A charmer in a great neighborhood!!”

More info found here and a virtual tour found here.

I think this is a pretty interesting unit. You have to check out the virtual tour. The rooms are really uniquely shaped in a pretty cool way. It’s also nice that it’s got skylights. What do you think of the shapes of the rooms? Does $499,000 sound good for a 2 bed 1 bath unit in this location?

15 June 2009 1:06 PM | anonymous Said:

I couldn’t deal with the sloped walls and low windows. I’d feel the need to hunch over all the time.

otherwise, not a bad price. good $/SF. kitchen’s tiny, so’s the second bedroom, but good location.

15 June 2009 1:20 PM | anon Said:

Hmm. The parking, yard, and balcony are all huge pluses. But the 2nd BR is more than small … it’s like a crawl space! Unless photo is just taken at a bad angle. Actually, the first bedroom is pretty small, too. But as anon said above, good $/sf for the location.

So this one’s tough — lots of strong pluses & lots of strong negatives. Probably not ideal for a tall person. I think it’ll go for $460-$480k.

15 June 2009 1:20 PM | Anonymous Said:

I love it. It beats that generic cookie cutter garbage that they turn everything into these days. I’d love to see the other units.

15 June 2009 1:31 PM | Anonymous Said:

I like it. But I’m only 5 feet tall, so the ceilings don’t bother me (in fact, when I saw the low countertop in the kitchen I thought “oh good! a place to knead bread dough without my arms getting tired”). Plus, I’m a sucker for built-in bookshelves. I don’t love the bathroom tile, I wish there were a half bath, and it feels smaller than 1084 sf, but overall a good deal for the right person and a great location.

15 June 2009 2:00 PM | eric in ledroit Said:

perfect if you are a hobbit

15 June 2009 2:36 PM | Anon Said:

I love it.

15 June 2009 3:55 PM | AA Said:

I love the layout, but if you actually look at the front of the building you’ll see how absolutely tiny your windows are compared to the 1st and second floor. I feel like I’d have to duck just to look out the window. Price is nice though for sqft… so either be a hobbit or hate windows/views…

15 June 2009 4:10 PM | CAHBF Said:

It’s cool, good location. Usually I ask how much is the mortgage assuming 100% financing, versus what can you rent it for. In this market they should be at least roughly equal. I think it’s a bit of a stretch using that methodology. But for style, I give it good marks.

15 June 2009 4:18 PM | jeff Said:

it’s a great location, if you discount all of the robberies, muggings, and murder (or 2) that have happened in that block recently…

15 June 2009 4:27 PM | anon Said:

CAHBF, yeah, I think that’s a good way to look at it as well. But I also think you should factor in condo fees and taxes. So for this one it’s:

$2,833 (30-year fixed at 5.5% w/o no downpayment) + $225 (condo fee) + $375 (taxes) = $3433.

Rent for this place would be I’d guess around $2000 – $2500.

15 June 2009 4:43 PM | EdTheRed Said:

@anon 4:27:

Yeah, but don’t forget about the mortgage interest deduction…also, no one gives out $499,000 loans with no down payments anymore (I mean, I hope not!)…with a 20% down payment, you’re making monthly payments on $400,000. Not sure if you’d get down to rental parity, but you’d be a lot closer.

15 June 2009 4:50 PM | anon Said:

EdTheRed, that’s true about about zero downpayment being unrealistic now — but with a 20% DP you have to factor in the opportunity cost of plunking down $100k on a piece of real estate (vs. investing it elsewhere or having it available as liquid cash).

More realistic is FHA financing with a 3.5% (around $17,000) DP, which would put the payments at around $2,700 but you’d have to pay mortgage insurance of a few hundred a month on top of that.

You’re right I didn’t factor in the mortgage interest deduction, though.

15 June 2009 5:09 PM | Goldberg Said:

Bad new…Jeff is absolutely right about the increase in crimes around the building…
Good news…the assessment is going UP in 2010!

Overall, crime is up 57%. For the record: 58 total crimes in 08′ comparred to 91 crimes over the last 60 days.

Thefts from autos had the biggest increase where it went from 15 to 55 when you compare 60 days period between 2008 and 2009. It is a very troubling stats that the police seem to downplay across the city.

15 June 2009 8:39 PM | LNic Said:

I love this place. It’s the kind of place I dreamed of living when I was growing up… However, in reality, there are drawbacks. Lots of light, but not lots of views, so a person could feel cramped easily. The second bedroom reminds me of my brother’s German flat, which is great for vacationing but not for the long-term.

Parking is SUCH a huge plus in that area, wow. That’s worth $50k right there.

I’d say it’ll go for $475k or so.

16 June 2009 10:27 AM | bogfrog Said: