The French Market at Georgetown looks fun:

“Join the Book Hill neighborhood of Georgetown as the shops celebrate the 7th Annual Georgetown French Market with discounts up to 70% at over 30 shops, grilled merguez, French breads, pastries, kids activities and more! All of your Georgetown favorites will have their goods out for the pickings and fabulous spring promotions.

Wisconsin Avenue btwn P Street and Reservoir Road”

And Eighteenth Street Lounge celebrates 15 year anniversary on Sunday! You can buy tickets here.

Plus I fixed the formatting on Amy’s Free in DC pick’s here.

This rental is located at 243 Florida Ave., NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“With loads of charm, this property is located in an historic building with beautiful maple hardwood floors. These units have recessed lighting, pendent and track lighting with tons of natural light, beautiful kitchens with granite counters, maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances, washer/dryer and rear entrance/access. The property is only 3-4 blocks to the Howard/Shaw Metro and the metro bus stop right in front of the building, and off the street parking.”

I’ve walked by this house tons of times, I was pretty intrigued to see what they are asking. Does $1650 sound reasonable for this “3rd Level – 802 sq ft, this unit is a 1 bedroom with 1.5 baths”?

“Dear PoP,

I’ve also thought about doing a tasteful third floor addition (or pop-up, if you will) but I would build it towards the back of the house so that you can’t see it from the street and so it doesn’t ruin the historic look of my block. Anyway, my question is whether you’ve ever done a post on pop-ups similar to the one you did on basement dig-outs. I’m interested in reading about the experiences that other folks have had and how much they’ve spent to do similar projects. If it’s gonna be $100K, it would probably be worth it and I would probably see a 90% return on it. If it’s gonna be $250K on the other hand, I’m not doing it. That’s prohibitively expensive and I’d never see that money again.”

Folks have asked this question a lot but I’m not sure we’ve ever got a clear answer. For those that have had one done or are in the know – is it possible to estimate how much this project would cost? If not, any educated guesses?

The beautiful shot above was taken by ewilfong. And in contrast but equally beautiful is the shot below of 1426 Ninth Street, NW from rockcreek.

Submit your photos via email or to the PoPville flickr pool here. Follow PoPville on twitter here.

This condo is located at 703 6th Street, NW:

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The flier says:

“Gorgeous multi-level two bedroom penthouse condo in the heart of Penn Quarter. Beautiful 600 sq. ft private roof deck with view. Dual entry, 10″ ceilings, hardwoods, open floor plan, gourmet kitchen with stainless, granite, six burner stove, wine frig, center island, LL media room, cedar closet, jet tub. Perfect for entertaining and luxurious city living!”

You can find more info here and a virtual tour here.

I would consider doing something illegal for that roof deck. Holy cow. But what do you guys think of the condo itself? Do you like the staircase? Does $649,900 ($436 monthly condo fee) sound reasonable for this 2 bed/1.5 bath? I can’t stop thinking about that roof deck…

Thanks to a reader for sending the news:

“I don’t know if you read PASTE magazine but it is awesome. Anyways, they have a lists of the day category and they did the 30 Best Beer Bars in America and DC made the list!”

Congrats to PASTE’s selection of Churchkey (1337 14th St, NW). We took an early look of Churchkey here and we judged it here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Lalaroo

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday. So anything good happen to you this week?

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“Dear PoP,

Just left my house on Kansas Ave NW and turned West bound on Decatur when I noticed the police blocked off all of Decatur down towards Georgia. They also blocked off other roads around the block of 8th and 9th St. Police van midway down the block as well. No idea what was going on, but it looked serious. Maybe readers will know more?”

MPD says there could be a barricade situation going on. Another reader says that a woman could possibly be being held against her will at a home. Surrounding streets are closed to vehicles and pedestrians. More info as it becomes available.

Photo by PoPville flickr user a.w.miller

Griffin & Murphy, LLP, is a boutique law firm in Washington, D.C. concentrating its practice in real estate law (including development, finance, leasing, zoning and condominium conversions), as well as estate planning and probate, civil litigation, and business law. The attorneys of Griffin & Murphy, LLP are licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. Griffin and Murphy, LLP was founded in 1981.

Please send any legal questions relating to real estate, rentals, buildings, renovations or other legal items to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com, each week one question will be featured. You can find previous questions featured here.

Question:

I had my own question this week based on a listing I read: What happens when you buy a home/building that is tenant occupied?

Answer:

The laws governing rental housing in the District of Columbia were drafted to provide ample protection to ensure that renters have affordable and reliable housing options. The downside of this, at least in the eyes of many purchasers and sellers of houses and condos, is that it can be very difficult to sell or purchase a tenant-occupied property.

If a house is occupied by a tenant, any sale of the house will be subject to the tenant’s lease. That means that if a tenant is occupying the house pursuant to a lease with a two year term and you purchase the house after the first year of the term, you will have to allow the tenant to live in the house during the first year of your ownership. You are not allowed to terminate the tenant’s contractual right to occupy the house simply because you now own the property. Continues after the jump. (more…)

In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia, 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 Properties: 3600 13th St NW

Original List Price: $1,195,000.

List Price at Contract: $1,075,000.

List Date: 05/01/2009

Days on Market: 321

Settled Sales Price: $975,000.

Settlement Date: 04/16/2010

Seller Subsidy: $5,000.

Bank Owned?: No

Type Of Financing: FHA…Super Conforming. Until the end of this year, the upper limit for FHA loans remains at $729,000. A “Super Conforming” or “Jumbo Conforming” is a loan that is above the conforming loan limit of $417,000. yet below the current upper limit. There are lobbying efforts in place to make the higher limits permanent, which is significant for a high dollar market area like DC.

Original GDoN Post is: here. Note that the original GDoN was from back in late July 2009.

Listing is: here.

There have been several requests from readers to profile this home, which has finally, finally gone to successful settlement this week. Denise Champion-Jones, a most awesome agent with Long and Foster, represented the Seller and reported that there were a few contracts along the way that did not work out. The property was on the market for nearly a year. Continues after the jump. (more…)

I’m not gonna lie to ya, when I found out that DC was getting a lobster roll truck in June I nearly cried with joy. Lobster rolls are among my favorite foods in the world. Yes, I’m aware I’m a bad Jew but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway it got me thinking of what food truck I’d most like to see next. Personally, I’d love to see a really good Gyro truck. But then it got me thinking, should I be this excited about food trucks anyway? Because a restaurant that has a good Gyro will always be there and I can find it whenever I want. But with a food truck you have to get a bit lucky, lucky in the sense that it comes relatively close to where you are. Or do you think it is worth hunting down the food trucks as they are pretty easy to find on Twitter?

I guess this is a two part question – first, what type of food truck would you most like to see come to DC? And second, do you think food trucks are over-rated? When you find one you like how easy is it for you to actually get food from them? Do you find them convenient or a tease?

Well this nominee doesn’t get me as agitated as the burned out apt. building at 3145 Mt. Pleasant Road, NW but it’s still disappointing. The house on the right is an iconic Mt. Pleasant row house. You know the one with all the tricycles on Park Road, NW. Well the one on the left has been boarded up for what seems like years. I think it’s time to renovate or sell, right? I’m seriously curious about what you guys think about this one? Do you think it’s ok for the owner to keep it a boarded up shell as long as they pay vacant property taxes? Though serious taxes only come when a property is deemed blighted.

Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour

Youth wrongfully charged in Southeast shootings
rash judgment about 14 year-old and juvenile justice agency led
to escalated tensions rather than responsible dialogue

WASHINGTON, D.C.

In light of new information clearing the wrongfully accused 14 year-old of any connection to the tragic shooting in Southeast D.C., experts and advocates condemn hasty judgments which have misdirected attention to the youth and escalated tensions about the juvenile justice system in the city. The three other individuals allegedly involved in the shootings are all adults. The advocates also condemn the public disclosure of the young person’s name, which brazenly ignores the District’s confidentiality laws which prohibit the identification of court-involved youth.

“While this tragedy rightly required swift response, ignoring the presumption of innocence and the myopic focus on a youth rather than the multiple shooters was unacceptable and irresponsible,” says Daniel Okonkwo, executive director of DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY), an advocacy group focusing on juvenile justice reform in the city. “Rather than a reasoned exploration of public safety, confidentiality laws were ignored when the young person was publicly accused of a crime he didn’t commit. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Following the March 30 shootings in Southeast Washington, a 14 year-old was arrested and charged with being the driver of the car involved in the drive-by shooting. But on April 22, the Office of the Attorney General dismissed all 41 charges against the youth after learning that he had no involvement in the planning or execution of the incident. Like many other states, the District of Columbia prohibits the publication of the names of youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Media outlets, policy makers and community members disclosed the name of the 14 year-old youth, who has been cleared of all connection to the shootings.

“The inappropriate focus on the youth has vilified the juvenile justice system and distracted us from important issues relevant to the shooting, like the availability of automatic assault weapons and more coordinated approaches to public safety,” says Okonkwo. “We’ve been talking about derailing juvenile justice reforms that have helped reduce juvenile crime and improved conditions of confinement, rather than talking about ways to prevent violence in our most vulnerable communities. It’s time to get back on track.”

Recent hearings focused on the role of the Department of Youth and Rehabilitative Services (DYRS), although all of the individuals now believed to be associated with the violence are adults. DYRS is nationally recognized for its juvenile justice reforms, which have contributed to more serious youth offenders being confined for longer periods of time and a drop in juvenile re-offense rates.

DCLY supports continued juvenile justice reforms based on experience, research, data-analysis, and a review of best-practices. To further strengthen juvenile justice and crime prevention efforts in the city, DCLY commended Councilmembers Jim Graham, Tommy Wells, and Phil Mendelson for calling for the creation of a Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and urged them to charge ahead with the Commission’s creation despite the fact that no youth was known to be involved in the planning or execution of the March 30 shootings.

“While DYRS has made incredible strides in improving safety for our youth and community, more can be done,” said Eduardo Ferrer, DCLY’s Chief Operating Officer. “The Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform proposed by Councilmembers Graham, Wells, and Mendelson, if implemented correctly, will be a great vehicle for exploring how we can improve current reforms and implement others. This idea should not be scrapped just because those currently charged with the March 30 shooting were all adults. The time to act is now.”

DC Lawyers for Youth is a local non-profit dedicated to improving the D.C. juvenile justice system through advocacy, direct service, and the dissemination of information. By bridging the worlds of ideas and action, DCLY empowers and engages the District’s legal community and youth to effect positive change.

Congrats to Monkey Daddy with USA! USA!

If I get to go to half of the countries these t-shirts have been to, I’ll be a happy man. A reader sends this one from Dubrovnik, Croatia.

If you want a t-shirt you can win one or buy one at the next PoP happy hour Thursday, April 29th at Social.