GDoN Revisited by Hipchickindc – 468 Ridge St 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: 468 Ridge St NW
Legal Subdivision: Old City #2
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Mount Vernon
Original List Price: $559,900.
List Price at Contract: $524,900.
List Date: 10/14/2010
Days on Market: 41
Settled Sales Price: $512,500.
Settlement Date: 01/10/2011
Seller Subsidy: $15,735.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Conventional

Original GDoN is: here.

The Pre and Post-renovation listings can be seen: here. The current subject listing is at the top of the list once you open the link. To see pics, open the link for that listing and scroll through the arrows on the main pic. Once you open the listing, you can also see a location map.

For my first posting of the new year, I’m happy to review this recently settled sale in a neighborhood that has not seen much Good Deal or Not (GDoN) action. As was mentioned among the comments to the original GDoN post, the surrounding area has experienced tremendous development activity in the past few years. It’s worth considering that it has only been a very short while that nearby Chinatown has become, for better or worse, full of (non-Chinese) restaurants and stores that attract lots of people. Several large scale new construction condo projects sprung up in this area during the boom years, including Yale Lofts, Madrigal Lofts and its sister building, The Sonata. Some nearby projects that initially sold well pre-construction, fell victim to the shift in the real estate market and became high end rental buildings. The Sexy Safeway and Busboys and Poets opened up three blocks away. The (I will probably always call it New) Convention Center and associated Metro stop are a couple of blocks away.

Continues after the jump.

Despite the radical changes to the area, the residential part of Mount Vernon has maintained the character of a distinct neighborhood. There are a number of geographic boundaries, including New York and New Jersey Avenue that contribute to this sense, as well as the maintenance of a historic district. There are some old buildings in this area that are very interesting architecturally.

It was not surprising that the comments on the GDoN post turned to the sketch or not sketch argument. It’s worth, however, taking a look at the changes from the two sales of this property prior to the most recent transfer. (See link for “Pre and Post-renovation listings”). Be sure to check out the photos.

Easily accessible records of listings only go back to about 1999 when DC real estate agents were able to post to a computerized multiple listing service. Even within that relatively limited period of history, we can see much transformation. The listing at the turn of the millennium sold for $109,000. in AS-IS but apparently livable condition. In 2004, in what seems to be about the same condition, the property sold $45,000. above the list price, for $274,000. In both of those listings, the house had only one bedroom and no half bath. At 2174 square feet, the lot size is pretty huge for a downtown rowhome.

For those who question the investment potential of this location, please review the appreciation of the previous two sales and recall that there was a bottoming out of the real estate market between the 2004 sale and this one.