GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc – 2719 13th St NW

In real life, hipchickindc is actually the not-so-hip Suzanne Des Marais, an associate broker with Urban Pace. Voted one of the best real estate agents in DC by the Washington City Paper Readers’ Choice Poll in 2009, Suzanne is currently Chair of the DC Public Policy Committee for the Greater Capital Area Association of REALTORS® and is President Elect of the Washington, DC Association of REALTORS®. She lives (and sells a lot of houses) in Bloomingdale, but works all over DC, with everyone from first time buyers to highly regarded developers.

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: 2719 13th St NW Unit #1 & #2

Original List Prices: $799,000. & $899,000. respectively

List Prices at Contract: $699,000. And $899,000. respectively
List Dates: 02/22/2010 & 2/26/2010
Days on Market: 108 & 15
Settled Sales Prices: $685,000. & $899,000.

Settlement Dates: 07/12/2010 & 04/23/2010
Seller Subsidies: $0. & $0.
Bank Owned?: No & No
Type Of Financing: Conventional for both (although it is now possible to get FHA approval for 2 unit condos)

Original GDoN is: here, but only for Unit 1.

The Listings can be seen: here. The pics are spectacular and can be seen by clicking through to each listing, then clicking the arrows on the main pic to scroll trough.

First off, sorry there was no Good Deal or Not Revisited (GDoN-R) last week. I had planned to write it while
on vacation but the wireless in Jamaica was way slow, Mon.

This conversion of one of the very large rowhomes on 13th Street NW made for two very large duplex units.
Commenters to the original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post, which only featured the lower unit, noted the
quality of the design and finishes of the unit. Interestingly, the consensus was that the original price of
$799,000. was a good deal. I’d say that the buyer who purchased it for $114,000. (nearly 15% less than original
list) got a fantastic deal.

Continues after the jump.

I’ve profiled quite a few of these rowhome to condo conversions in the recent past, although this may be the
first in Columbia Heights. I always try to include price per square foot for these properties because I think it
is very useful to see the variations from one neighborhood to another. For example, a recent conversion of
a similarly sized unit near Logan Circle that was featured settled at $431 per square foot, whereas a unit in
Dupont went at $579 per square foot. In this case, unit 1 sold with parking at $285 per square foot (again, a
ridiculous deal) and unit 2 sold at $358 per square foot. If you’re wondering how far off those values are from
other recent (since March 2010) sales of similar units in Columbia Heights, I just looked at nine properties in
geographic proximity to this one, and came up with an average of $358 per square foot (not all with parking).
Prior to its transformation, 2719 13th Street NW was yet another of DC’s vacant and blighted properties. In
December of 2006, it changed hands as part of bankruptcy proceedings to a cash purchaser for $425,000. It was
subsequently sold a few months later in April 2007, partially gutted, to (presumably the current developer) for
$520,000.