Talking Co-ops vs. Condos in today’s GDoN Revisited

Good Deal or Not Revisited (GDoN-R) is a weekly post that reviews the settled sales data of a recent individual real estate transaction in the District of Columbia. Each post is intended as a case study and a snapshot of the real estate market at a particular moment in time. GDoN-R generally posts on Friday in the late morning.

GDoN-R has been written exclusively for PoPville since 2009 by Suzanne Des Marais. Suzanne is a practicing Realtor with Compass. 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 Bright MLS, which is the local multiple listing system and/or Smartcharts by Showingtime. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 3001 Veazey Terrace NW #1517
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Van Ness
Bedrooms: 2 Baths: 2 Parking: Street Ownership: Cooperative
Square Footage per Listing: 1385 Monthly Co-op Fee: $1053.
Original List Price: $550,000. List Price at Contract: $531,000.
List Date: 9/29/2018
Days on Market: 81
Settled Sales Price: $520,000.
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Settled Price per Square Foot: $375.
Settlement Date: 12/14/2018
Transaction type: Standard

Original GDoN post can be seen: here.

The original listing can be seen here: here.

So far in DC in 2018, there have been 430 co-op units sold, so they are fairly common here. Understandably, cooperatively owned units often get dismissed by prospective buyers due to four figure monthly fees. (Monthly co-op fees were brought up in comments on last week’s GDoN-R.)

Co-op ownership differs from condo ownership in that the building, rather than the individual unit, is owned cooperatively by all of the members. Otherwise, it feels pretty much like owning a condo.

The biggest differences between the fees for co-op vs. condo ownership are that a) property taxes are included in the monthly fee and b) the building, as a whole, may have some underlying financing.

With a condo, you generally have a monthly payment to the building to cover common expenses (management, reserve funds, maintenance, etc.), as well as a separate mortgage payment that includes property taxes.

With a co-op, many people still pay a mortgage, but the payment to the mortgage servicer may be significantly lower than a condo that cost the same amount. This is because the property taxes are paid through the monthly fee. If there is an underlying mortgage for the building, the amount that the unit owner is responsible for is subtracted from the individual mortgage for that owner (since that owner’s portion is paid through the monthly fee), so the amount financed through the mortgage is less.

In the case of many co-ops that are older buildings, the utilities, maintenance of electrical, and other systems, are covered in the big fee, as well. This particular building has a concierge at the front desk, elevators, a pool, and an exercise room.

The subject unit might be a bit dated, but it’s huge, on a high floor with outdoor space overlooking Rock Creek Park, and it sits on top of a grocery store and Red line Metro.

The listing agent for the subject transaction was William Mulligan with Century 21 Redwood Realty. Joan Caton Cromwell with McEnearney Associates, Inc., represented the Purchaser.