“Friends of Rock Creek Cemetery are invited to help Casey Trees and St. Paul Parishioners plant trees from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. Who’s a friend? Anybody who enjoys the cool of the Rock Creek Cemetery in the summer, the quiet on any afternoon, the green surroundings and a place to stroll with dogs, children and friends. We will be planting in the historic Oak Grove behind the Parish House.”
For more information, contact Carol Herwig at 202-722-4385 or [email protected]
What do you think of the trend of new office buildings being built entirely of glass? I have to say I’m not a big fan at all. These two are located near the old convention center.
Close up photos after the jump. (more…)
I’m a huge fan of the building on the right (located downtown on G Street). I found the contrast of these two buildings pretty wild. Do you like the contrast or is it too abrupt?
This home at 925 O St, NW was a previous door(way) of the day. (Interestingly this is the second former door of the day I’ve seen for sale…) Anyway, the flier says:
“ESTIMATED $1800 FROM 2 BR MAKES THIS HOME AFFORDABLE & A GOOD INVESTMENT. VERY UNIQUE SPACIOUS & LIGHT FILLED CORNER HOUSE. OWNER’S RESIDENCE HAS 3 BR 2.5 BATHS. SPACIOUS LIVING ENTERTAINING AREA W FP, GOURMET KITCHEN WITH FP DECK, MASTER SUITE W FP & LOFT. PARKING, WALK TO NEW CONVENTION CENTER VERIZON CENTER GALLERY PLACE & O ST. MARKET.”
More info and photos found here.
I’ve always liked corner rowhomes. This property was originally priced at $1,249,500 but is now listed at $997,500. Ed. note: the Web site says a prior price was $975,500. I’m not sure if they increased the price. Is that possible? So for this home at this location is nearly a cool million a good deal or not? How much value do you add to a corner home?
Has anyone checked this museum out yet? Does anyone want to? I have to admit I don’t really understand the appeal of looking at wax replicas of celebrities. Maybe if there were celebrity replicas fashioned out of mashed potatoes…
Perhaps more interesting, given the plethora of museums in DC, what’s your favorite museum in the city?
Those of us who were around DC before the early 2000s, a relatively short time ago, can remember areas like Columbia Heights and Bloomingdale being dotted with several abandoned, boarded houses per block. Around that time, with the introduction of an internet bidding system, there was a major overhaul of the management of government owned real estate. It was deemed that the federal government was not in the business of residential property management and that this extensive inventory, comprised of houses that had been financed with FHA loans and were ultimately foreclosed upon, needed to hit the market. Thus began the speculative housing boom that revitalized many areas of the city.
As the market got hotter, the prices escalated, properties got renovated and re-sold, and there were fewer and fewer affordable shells on the market. Now that we are seeing a changing of the tide in the economic landscape, bank owned properties or REOs, are starting to appear on the market once again. The current bank-owned inventory is not, however, being managed by the federal government this time around, simply because for several years buyers did not frequently utilize FHA loan products.
Within the past month, I helped a couple of first time homebuyers make a deal on a bank-owned property in the Truxton Circle neighborhood of NW DC. (The house is pictured above on the far right). The property had been sold in August of 2006 for $500,000. When we wrote the offer, it was listed at $249,000. It was in surprisingly good shape for a foreclosure, and anybody that’s been perusing the market lately in DC knows that it’s tough to come by a decent one bedroom condo in NW for under $300,000. Not unexpectedly, two other offers came in at the same time ours did. Story continues after the jump. (more…)
I noted a colorfully painted rowhouse.
I spotted a classic mural on 13th Street.
I was surprised to find Manischewitz wine for sale next to Wild Irish Rose in my local bodega.
A reader writes:
“So, we read and hear all the time about all the down sides to our neighborhoods – the crime, the racism, crack houses next door. What we don’t always hear about are the really great things about living in our area of the city. I had an experience in Columbia Heights that is a good example – and perhaps we could hear what other people have experienced?
I was at the Giant in Columbia Heights, rushing to get food and props for a baby shower I was hosting the next morning. I’d been out of town and crazy busy with work, so I was super stressed out. I got my groceries and got in the elevator to go to my car, when I realized that I’d forgotten to get my parking validated. There was a young guy in the elevator with me – maybe late 20’s – and he noticed my “I’m so tired and stressed I want to cry” state. He offered to give me his validated ticket and go back and get mine done. My first reaction was that this was a scam – he’d probably been there 48 hours or something and wanted my ticket so his parking would be free. I resisted. He then offered to go down and get my ticket stamped and bring it up to me, so I could unload my groceries. I was still wary, but gave in. He brought the ticket back to me just as I finished loading the car and the whole way to the street I kept thinking “this better not be a scam.” But it wasn’t – he really had just taken the extra time on a perfectly good Friday night to go get my ticket validated for me. That sort of thing never happened to me west of the park where everyone was too concerned about themselves – so that is one of the many reasons I love life in PoPdom.”
The beautiful life can be experienced at the most unexpected times. Not exactly the same but my favorite experience was when I was told to put some glide in my stride. Do you think these experiences are more common east of the park? What’s been your favorite encounter with the beautiful life?
Thanks again to DC realtor Kevin Wood for compiling this list of home/condo sales for zip codes – 20011, 20010, 20009 and 20001. Kevin notes: “You might want to let readers know that if they know of a property that has sold but is not in the list, to ask me and I can look it up for them. Agents manually enter the “sold” information and it sometimes takes them several days, so there could be things that sold yesterday, for instance, that are still listed as being “under contract” and thus not in my list.”
Click below on “September Sales” for the full list in pdf format.
A commenter had inquired when the demo was going to take place. I noticed a demo vehicle in the parking lot so it seems the demo will be imminent…