Photo by PoPville flickr user Jess J
You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday. Anything good happen this week?
In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland. 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: 1300 Kenyon St NW Unit 2
Original List Price: $529,000.
List Price at Contract: $529,000.
List Date: 04/24/2009
Days on Market: 15
Settled Sales Price: $529,000.
Settlement Date: 05/22/2009
Seller Subsidy: $5000.
Bank Owned?: No.
Type Of Financing: FHA
Listing History: Purchased from the builder new in 2004 for $420,000.
Original GDoN Post is: Here.
Recent Listing is: Here. Click the main pic to see the rest of the unit.
Note that this is the second Good Deal or Not Revisited (GDoN-R) to have been active on the market for a very short period of time. This property sold at asking price with a $5000. credit toward the buyer’s closing costs. Real estate in DC is moving at a nice healthy clip as lots of buyers are taking advantage of sub-5% fixed rate mortgages and the $8000. Federal Tax Credit for first timers.
Built by Bogdan Builders, the four units in this condo originally sold in 2004. I love that the previous listing indicates the date and time that offers were due in by. For anybody that missed the insanity of the DC real estate market in 2004, people really were falling over each other to make offers on condos and they were rushing to make those deadlines. The purchase price for the brand new unit was $420,000., but remember that at that moment in time, Target was a mere giant hole in the ground. The buyer paid cash.
One thing that we see on this transaction that never would have happened in downtown DC for a new condo in 2004, is that the buyer used FHA financing. FHA allows the buyer to make a 3.5% down payment, rather than the 15% minimum now required for many conventional loan products for condos. Since none of the condos built in the early to mid-2000s needed to get FHA approval for the entire building, the lender uses a process called a spot approval to make sure the building meets certain criteria, such as a limited percentage of units owned by investors and appropriate reserve funds in place.
photo by JUDGE DREDD76
Back in April we had a FQoTD about street harassment. Now I don’t mean to be insensitive but I have to follow up on this question. You see, today as I was walking home from the metro I saw a woman wearing very similar shorts to the one from flickr above. And it got me thinking about this issue again. Let me just say I don’t mean to imply that anyone deserves harassment based on the clothes that they wear. I’m just wondering if it’s a smart choice in certain sections of the city where street harassment is a known problem. God knows, I hope women will be able to wear whatever they want to wear in any neighborhood of the city.
But it reminded me of when I was a kid going into NYC before NYC became much safer. When I would travel to the City I would always put my wallet in my front pocket. And I even remember school trips where they would tell those who wore jewelry to leave it at home. (There were lots of jewelry snatchings back then.) Of course nobody deserved to get there jewelery stolen but it was considered a prudent choice to leave it at home or put your wallet in your front pocket.
Anyway, my question is that maybe it’s not a good idea to wear shorts like this on certain streets, particularly if you are by yourself. Again, I’m totally disgusted and appalled by the street harassment stories we have heard. But isn’t it a good idea to dress slightly more modestly to avoid such unpleasantness? Or is that kind of like letting the terrorists win? I’m totally sincere with this query. I don’t know what the “right” answer is. I’m guessing there might be a slippery slope argument here. And I know there are harassers who would happily torment a woman regardless of what she is wearing. Like I said, I’m conflicted on this one.
So I thought I’d throw it out there for a FQoTD – in known street harassment areas should one choose their dress more cautiously?
I thought this one was awesome!
“Dear PoP,
The post about the dead tree at the police station got me thinking… how about you have a once-a-week post about something in one of the neighborhoods that needs to be fixed/repaired?
The San Francisco Chronicle has a similar feature called “Chronicle Watch”… They describe the problem, and then report back 15-30 days later on the status… Here is a link – click on a few to get the idea: http://www.sfgate.com/columns/chroniclewatch/archive/”
I think this is a great idea. I propose we call it the Horses Ass Award. I’ll make the first nomination. I’m very disappointed in the progress at 3145 Mt. Pleasant Street which was gutted by fire.
Please send your entries with a photograph to princeofpetworth (at) gmail (dot) com.
This is gonna be great!
Winner is from Markus:
“Half-used blood-orange lipstick sold separately.”
The reader says the music is actually pretty good. I say there is no way it is as good as the cover! “Brazil’s Number One Organist”, too freaking good. The bar is getting higher…
The reader writes:
“Three years trying now – notice it is a small scrap of rowhouse yard – finally a huge crop!”
Nicely done! I’m hoping to finally get cucumbers this year…
These houses continue to knock my socks off. They are located on 17th Street in Mt. P overlooking Rock Creek Park.
