GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc – 726 Quincy St NW #1

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: 726 Quincy St NW #1
Original List Price: $249,000.
List Price at Contract: $199,000.
List Date: 01/22/2010
Days on Market: 178

Settled Sales Price: $201,000.

Settled Price Per Square Foot: $266 **Including offstreet parking space
Settlement Date: 08/13/2010
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? Yes
Type Of Financing: Conventional

Original GDoN is: here.

The Listing can be seen: here. To see pics, after opening the listing link, click on the main pic and scroll through.

Located less than two blocks from the Petworth Metro, this Far East Columbia Heights rowhome was divided into two condominium units in 2004. As is common with these types of conversions, the upper unit is a 3 bedroom, 2 and a ½ bath duplex (two levels), while the subject property is a single level 1 bedroom 1 and ½ bath basement unit. Originally sold for $400,000., the larger unit saw the value of increased commercial development around the Petworth Metro and re-sold for $450,000. less a $10,000. subsidy in May 2008.

Continues after the jump.

Back in 2004, the basement unit was listed for $239,000. and apparently drew multiple offers in that it ultimately settled for $257,300. with no subsidy. (Note that a settled sales price higher than the list price with no subsidy and an odd amount…that additional $300…typically indicates that there was an escalation clause invoked). Unfortunately, the recent market value was lower than the amount financed which resulted in a short sale. In this case, where the settled price is higher than the list price, it is possible that there was more than one offer, however, it is also likely that the bank countered an offer at or below list price.

I feel that it is important to mention that it has been a significant week for real estate news. The release by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) of the July numbers resulted in a lot of negative speculation on where the real estate markets are going. In response, I looked at numbers for my own local zip code (20001) to offer some perspective of our local real estate activity. Yes, it is true that compared to July 2009, sales volume in zip 20001 was down 20.5%, but it’s really worth looking at the information from the prior months in relation. If you are not sure about my take on the numbers, you may be interested in Karl Case’s (of the Case-Schiller index) response in yesterday’s New York Times. The other piece of important real estate news? Unreal interest rates for fixed-rate mortgages with an average of 4.32%, which is a thirty nine year low.