December 2009

Jumbo Mortgage Thaw?

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 6:12pm. 419 Views, 1 Comments.

Jumbo mortgage financing was certainly challenging to obtain in first half of 2009.  Here in the District, single-family home loans over $729,750 are classified as jumbo mortgages.

Realtor Magazine reports that as we gain distance from the credit crunch of a year ago, lenders are getting more comfortable with riskier financing instruments including jumbo mortgages.  The institutions participating in this space are mostly larger banks that  have the means to hold jumbos on their balance sheet.

This jumbo thaw is good news for anyone considering a Washington DC luxury home!

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Adams Morgan Lofts

Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 10:06am. 1199 Views, 5 Comments.

While many consider Logan Circle the hub of the DC loft scene, Adams Morgan has a plentiful choice of loft options.  In fact some of the district's first loft conversions were in Adams Morgan.

Many of the loft developments in Adams Morgan are in intimate boutique buildings with fewer than ten units.  This certainly limits the available inventory of lofts in Adams Morgan and helps to hold values up.

Here are selected Adams Morgan loft developments:

• 1700 Kalorama Lofts - 32 unit boutique building with 10 ft ceilings, located at the corner of Kalorama and 17th.  Currently two lofts available for $999.5K and $649K.
• 2424 Lofts - High-end, four unit building by Capital Design Group with private elevators, garage parking and private terraces, located on 18th…

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Stephanopoulos Selling in Georgetown?

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 8:55am. 645 Views, 4 Comments.

The Washingtonian opines that new Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos may soon be selling his Georgetown home.  Stephanopoulos has a long track record of buying a new digs each time he changes jobs.  He has done very well in the DC real estate market working his way up from an $835,000 townhouse all the way up to the current $5.2M home located on 31st Street in Georgetown.

 If George and his lovely wife Ali Wentworth do decide to cash out of Georgetown for new digs in Manhatten, we are sure going to miss you. Godspeed and best of luck!

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Real Estate Reality Shows Are Fake

Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 2:14pm. 578 Views, 0 Comments.

The first real estate reality show I ever watched featured the Car Barn, one of my favorite Capitol Hill condo developments.  If memory serves me correctly, the buyer on the show did not end up purchasing the unit at the Car Barn.

If you still believe in the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy, you may want to stop reading this post.  According to Mary Ellen Podmolik of the Chicago Tribune, all those real estate reality shows on HGTV and other networks are fake!  An example cited by Ms. Podmolik was that one show filmed 40 hours of home shopping that was cut to create the 25 minute House Hunters episode.  In fact the buyers in this particular show had to shoot the same conversation about a property over and over from different angles.

Sorry to let the…

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DC Condo Foreclosure Round-up

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 1:38pm. 1536 Views, 2 Comments.

Foreclosures are bank-owned properties, which are often (but not always) priced at a discount to competing listings and can offer significant savings to a savvy buyer.  Banks are not in business to own homes and condos and are generally very motivated to sell their foreclosed assets.

Foreclosures have not impacted the DC Condo market like they have in other markets like Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix.  In the District, our developers are primarily building on infill parcels with both and infrastructure like the Metro are already in place.  This is in contrast to markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix where developers are pushing outward to create new neighborhoods where land is cheap but little infrastructure is already in-place.  The steady and diversified…

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Solea @14th & Florida

Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 10:01am. 805 Views, 1 Comments.

Not quite sure why, but lots of search hits this week for Solea, a new condo project at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Florida Avenue. Solea was designed by Sorg Associates and developed Jair Lynch Development Partners.  It features 59 condos with 52 residential and seven live/work units and 20% classified as affordable.  This 65,000 SF project also include three street-level retail condos.

Solea units feature hardwood floors, stainless appliances, granite countertops and washer/dryers.  Over-sized seven foot windows create panoramic views from Solea living space. Solea units have a spacious feel with a minimum ceiling height of ten feet.

The Solea location is being marketed as "the Gateway to Columbia Heights."  Florida Avenue serves as…

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Top DC Condo Sales - November 2009

Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 3:05pm. 1357 Views, 6 Comments.

The most expensive condo to sell in the District during November 2009 was in the West End at  the new 2501 Penn project located at 2501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW #3A, Washington DC. This new construction unit is features 2 BR and 2.5BA.

The selling price was $2.1M.  Congratulations to selling Realtor Michele Topel of Urban Pace for closing the most expensive condo sale in the District in November 2009.

Honorable mention for the 2nd most expensive DC condo sold in November 2009 was in Observatory Circle at the Colonnade Condominiums located 2801 New Mexico Avenue NW #PH 7-8, Washington, DC.  This penthouse unit is 3,100 SF and features 3 BR + library and 3.5 BA.

The selling price was $1.4M / $451 SF.  Congratulations to Diana Hart of TTR Sothebys…

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