GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc – 1225 10th St NW

Hipchickindc is a licensed real estate broker and a professional artist. Her official real estate bio is here and her art website is here. 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: 1225 10th St NW

Legal Subdivision: Old City #2
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Old City #2
Original List Price: $850,000.
List Price at Contract: $850,000.
List Date: 05/16/2011
Days on Market: 12

Settled Sales Price: $815,000.

Settlement Date: 07/28/2011
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Conventional

Original Good Deal or Not post is: here

The listing can be seen: here. Pics can be seen by clicking through the arrows on the main pic after opening the listing link.

In downtown DC, even within a very defined neighborhood boundary, the wide range of styles, conditions, sizes of homes and corresponding lots provides challenges for pricing and appraisal. In this case, we have a very unique property (a carriage house), on a large lot that had once been three lots, with a combination of residential and commercial zoning, located on a historic cool funky alley in a historic district, all in play. Some of the comments in the original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post (see link above) provide some additional perspective.

Continues after the jump.

I had the opportunity to visit the property twice with a buyer client who was quite enamored with the quirkiness and possibilities. I wrote an offer on their behalf, but there were ultimately several competing offers and it went to another party. My clients were a young family with children, who were planning to renovate the existing carriage house for their own residential use. I believe the buyers who actually went to settlement purchased with the intent of residing in the property. There was definitely developer interest in the property, but the zoning restrictions made it a potentially expensive project.

The major obstacle for residential purchasers considering this property was financing. Carriage houses can be similar to loft condos in that the space can be expansive, but technically there may be only one or two actual bedrooms (one in this carriage house). The property also has an unusually large lot. Unless the financing was approached as a commercial or renovation loan, it is unlikely that the development potential was factored into the appraiser’s valuation. Properties that are outliers present quandaries to residential lenders, whose guidelines for avoiding risk are based upon norms and comparison.