GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc – 23 Randolph Place NW

Voted one of the best real estate agents in DC by the Washington City Paper Readers’ Choice Poll in 2009, hipchickindc aka the not-so-hip Suzanne Des Marais is an Associate Broker with Urban Pace. 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: 23 Randolph Place NW

Legal Subdivision: Eckington
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Bloomingdale
Original List Price: $519,999.
List Price at Contract: $474,985.
List Date: 06/26/2010
Days on Market: 118
Settled Sales Price: $472,000.
Settlement Date: 11/30/2010
Seller Subsidy: $5,000.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: FHA

Original GDoN is: here.

The Pre and Post-renovation listings can be seen: here. Check out the virtual tour.

I live quite close to this house and have sold three other houses (same size and design) on this block over the years. This was one of the last hold out vacant properties on the block. It was rumored to have been vacant for over twenty years due to an ongoing disagreement over an estate. I had also heard rumors that at some point there was a fully grown tree that had sprung up through the middle of the property. One of my neighbors insists that was never the case, though. A few years ago the city went in, secured the property, and again, unsubstantiated rumor, put a new roof on the property.

Continues after the jump.

On the original Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post, there was some debate over the comparable sales in relation to this house. This is a very challenging block to comp because the houses on this part of the block tend to be smaller than those on surrounding blocks and even just up the street. What most agents and appraisers are not aware of is that these particular houses had dirt cellars that are a fraction of the footprint of the house. One of my clients a few doors down had this type of space and actually dug out his entire basement during the renovation.

In this case, the basement was not dug out or even finished. The house was also missing (in relation to the other properties of similar design and size) the ubiquitous sleeping porch addition, so in this case the house was not as deep as those surrounding it.