GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc

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: 1830 18th St NW (Four Condo Units)

Original List Prices: $753,900.-$847,900.

List Price at Contract: $639,000.-$764,000.

List Date: 09/14/2009

Days on Market: Average for all 4 listings is 114 days

Settled Sales Price for first settled unit: $775,000.

Settlement Date for first settled unit: 04/22/2010

Seller Subsidy for first settled unit: $0.

Bank Owned?: No

Type Of Financing: FHA…Another Super Conforming (last week’s GDoN-R featured one as well). 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. A purchaser in this price range would have to put more than 3.5% down (the typical down payment for FHA loans) in order to not finance more than $729,000.

Original GDoN Post is: here.

Listings for the building are: here.

The original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post for this new construction building with four condo units appeared back in October 2009, when the original pricing for these units was in place. At that time, the units were priced with a very broad range of $453 per square foot all the way up to $642 per square foot. In December 2009, pricing was reduced 10-15%, which seems to have been a good move. We only have settled sales information for the one unit that recently settled, but it appears that this unit went under contract shortly after the price redux. The settled sales price is $11,000. above list which could mean that either the Purchaser negotiated a parking space into the deal or that there were possibly competing offers. (If it was for a deeded parking space, that’s a helluva deal in this location where deeded spaces can easily sell in the range of $35,000-$50,000.) Two additional units are under contract, and one unit (1669 square feet listed for $639,000) is available. Continues after the jump.

I did not get in to see these units, but the developer wins points from me for using reclaimed hardwood floors. These floors tend to be extremely expensive, but are also typically of far better quality than new wood floors, and are an eco-friendly flooring option. The units are on the large size compared to other available new construction units.

Speaking of available new construction units, it’s probably time to start reminding people that the perceived glut of new construction inventory is history. Sure, there were a bunch of humongous supposed-to-be-condo buildings that went rental. No argument there. That all happened because the timing from development to construction to delivery did not jive with the market at the time. Over the past couple of years, however, the tightening of commercial lending has caused developer activity to slow way down and we’re currently seeing the effects to the pipeline of new construction properties available to the market.

Somewhat unrelated, but generally relevant to the real estate world, is the sunset of the deadline for contracts for those eligible for the Federal Housing Tax Credit, which is today (04/30/2010). If you know anybody who has been trying to find a property and get it under contract in time, both they and their agent are exhausted. (Be nice to them.) I suspect that people who have been pushing hard to meet the deadline may back off from trying to buy and may take a rest for a couple of weeks. With interest rates still crazy low and confidence returning to the local real estate market, I don’t think they’ll be staying away for long, though.