Prince Of Petworth » GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc

GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc

In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 651 8^th St NE

Original List Price: $599,000.

List Price at Contract: $575,000.

List Date: 06/24/2009

Days on Market: 59 days

Settled Sales Price: $565,000.

Settlement Date: 09/24/2009

Seller Subsidy: $16,950.

Bank Owned?: No

Type Of Financing: Conventional with $113,000. (20%) down payment. There also appears to be a 10% second trust, which is very unusual in this day and age.

Original GDoN Post is: Here.

The recent listing is: Here.

Now that the Prince of Petworth is a full-time blogger, I am looking forward to his continued ventures into the other neighborhoods of Washington, DC (aka The Hill). There’s something about that significant increase in price per square foot that makes for a heated Good Deal or Not (GDoN) smackdown between the NWers and Hill/H Street dwellers. According to the GDoN comments, I expect more than a few readers will be surprised at the current sales price of this two bedroom, two and a half bath home. For NWers who haven’t been paying much attention to the subject neighborhood, it’s worth a glance at the H Street Main Street web site.

The sales history over the past ten years speaks to the extensive changes both the overall DC real estate market and this neighborhood have experienced.

1999: Listed for $169,900. Sold for $169,900. less $3350. subsidy. 98 Days on Market.

2001: Listed for $299,000. Sold for $312,000. less $6240. subsidy. 5 Days on Market.

2005: Listed for $529,500. Sold for $529,500. less $500. Subsidy (usually a subsidy this small indicates a repair credit). 14 Days on Market.
2009: See above for details.

Category: GDoN revisited, H St. NE, Real Estate

By: Prince Of Petworth | 24 September 2009 10:48 PM | 7 Comments

Anonymous

Hipchickindc,

I very much look forward to and like following your column as you point out interesting trends and options in DC real estate, houses in particular.

What neighborhood(s) or sub-neighborhood(s) in DC today do you foresee or can you can recommend to a stable long term homebuyer to buy today in 2009 that will have a similar appreciation by 2019 as this Capitol Hill house on 8th Street, N.E. ?

It would be nice to live and work in DC for ten years and have this type of equity built up in one’s home as this one. Thanks.

September 25, 2009 at 6:14 am
hipchickindc

Thanks, Anon. Great question. I always enjoy the opportunity to put my crystal ball to use.

First off, “stable long term homebuyer” is an anomaly in DC. We move around a lot. Fortunately, that’s great for our market, as it keeps properties in circulation, and even better for those of you who actually ARE stable long term homebuyers.

I would say that the key things to look for with an eye for longer term appreciation are 1) close in to downtown DC (commutes outside the city seem to get worse every year), 2) an active push for economic development (hint, watch areas that have a Main Streets designation), and 3) good housing stock (I’m a big fan of solid brick construction).

I make no secret of my love for Bloomingdale, so, of course, that is my number one pick. I also think the current Petworth buyers will be happy campers in ten years. There’s still a lot that’s going to happen around H Street and NOMA, so that area is pretty hot, as well.

Keep in mind that some of the appreciation seen over the past ten years was driven by the infamous mortgage backed securities. We’re lucky to currently still be able to borrow money on the cheap (5% interest rates on a 30 year fixed FHA!), but if the price of borrowing goes up significantly, we could see a lull for a period of time.

September 25, 2009 at 7:51 am
cavexin

hipchickindc – what are your thoughts on brookland/edgewood near the cua campus? there’s development done by abdo slated to begin, but the 12st main street of brookland has pretty abysmal shopping options and there are virtually no entertainment options, in part because folks in the neighborhood seem to like the sleepy character of brookland.

September 25, 2009 at 9:17 am
hipchickindc

cavexin, after I wrote that, I was thinking that maybe I should have added Brookland, as well. I had an office over there for almost two years. I agree that it will probably stay very residential (not that that is a bad thing). It’s not far from downtown and you can get a LOT of house for the money. The thing that my buyers seem to comment on over there is that it does feel more settled and less urban.

Over the edge of the DC line, I will also put in a shout out for Mount Rainier, MD. I’ve recently sold two very nice, large single family detached homes in that artsy enclave for under $300k.

September 25, 2009 at 9:49 am
North of H

My boyfriend and I looked at this house over a month ago. It needed quite a bit of remodeling in the bathrooms, but it was solid and nice. No real yard though, just that front bit and a deck off the back w/ no rear yard space. It had a more “Capitol Hill” feel to it than an “H Street” feel to it I thought, even though it was just a block south of H Street. We ended up buying on the other side of H though. Got more house for the money, with less redo’s needed.

September 25, 2009 at 11:33 am
andy

so you think PoP has a NW bias? very interesting. i work on cap hill and live up in nw, and think you might be right. every PoP story about a trip to H St seems like a venture into foreign territory.

September 25, 2009 at 11:47 am
WDC

I’m not surprised at all. That 5-10 block area from 7th to 12th just south of H Street has got to be one of the smartest investments for a place to live available. It is still south of H so it already feels like the better parts of Capitol Hill and is convenient to the rest of it, but is close enough to H that you can enjoy all of that and will reap enormous benefits once the rest of the development there happens. Sure, most of what is already done is the east, but the entire the south side of two block stretch from 8th to 10th is getting replaced to be replaced with high-end retail and residential http://www.anc6a.org/HstConnectionReplaceDesign.pdf
and the streetscaping will totally refurbish H Street from 2nd to 15th soon as well. There are a few others on the market around here now as well (at least 2-3 on G Street between 8 and 10 and 10th between D and G). Once the streetcars get going, the folks who own these homes will be sitting pretty. This house will be worth another $100K or more in 3-5 years no doubt.

September 28, 2009 at 12:00 pm