January 2016

Capitol Hill provides the perfect blend of convenience, comfort and a premier location in downtown DC within walking distance to a Metro Station.  With a world-class address, we have picked some of our favorite Capitol Hill developments below.  While preserving Capitol Hill’s historic charm on the exteriors, most of these buildings are historic landmarks converted from schools to luxury residences combining traditional elements with contemporary upgrades that today’s home buyers are looking for.  These luxury developments encompass spacious open floor plans, vaulted ceilings, oversized windows, private terraces, and exposed brick and beams on the interiors with modern amenities.

First up: The Bryan School Lofts are ensconced in a historic landmark

Trees, friendliness and old-time charm are draws in the Kalorama neighborhood in northwest DC.  It’s a unique blend of urban and suburban, and within walking distance to the Woodley Park Metro Station.  Residents tend to stay a while in this D.C. neighborhood.  We have featured below some of our favorite Kalorama Triangle developments---all historic residences set in beautifully ornate architecture featured on the National Register of Historic Places.

2029 Connecticut in Kalorama is a 7-story Beaux Arts-style building featuring only 26 condo and penthouse residences.  The historic property is a highly sought-after address, and has been home to many of Washington’s elite, such as President William Howard Taft, singer Lena Horne, as well as Presidential

The West End neighborhood in DC will be getting new luxury residential condominiums soon converted from previous office space property.  The former headquarters of the Association of American Medical Colleges, located at 2501 M Street, NW, was sold a year ago to an investment group that plans to convert the entire building into a high-end condo property, while adding ground-floor retail and a much anticipated, world-class top restaurant into its mix.  The location in the West End neighborhood is a real gem, as it is an easy walk to both Georgetown and downtown DC, and is just south of Rock Creek Park with a lot of recreational opportunities.  Residents will be able to walk to two Metro Stations, Dupont Circle Metro Station on the Red Line, and Foggy

Arlington County is working on a master plan for redevelopment of the Shirlington Crescent community.  Plans for revitalizing Shirlington Crescent, an area of Arlington County, will be moving ahead in 2016 with community planning starting this year.  The goal by Arlington County will bring together different elements under one umbrella: environmental sustainability, economic development and cultural changes in order to develop a clear and united vision of the swath known as Shirlington Crescent.  The Nauck and the Four Mile Run corridors will be redeveloped, stemming from a 2014 study that recommended reviewing changes to reinvigorate this part of Northern Virginia.  The planning process will focus on 95 acres along Four Mile Run Drive and Shirlington

DC is one of the most expensive metro areas in the country to raise a family, NBC News confirms.  Based on data analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that studies economic policies on behalf of low-and middle-income workers, DC is one of the top most expensive places in the country to live as a single person, and as a family with children as well.  The study measured two-parent households with one child in metropolitan areas around the country.  The data is derived from EPI’s family budget calculator, measuring the income a family needs in order to have at least a modest standard of living.

The calculator totaled the cost of housing, food, health care, child care, taxes and transportation for over 600

The historic Shaw neighborhood in central DC, located between Florida and New Jersey Avenues and 11th and M Streets, NW, was once an inner city DC neighborhood but times have changed.  Shaw is thriving, thanks to young professional urbanites that are attracted to its stylish residential condo buildings, and its destination for restaurants, trendy retail shops, and art spaces on the ground floors.  DC’s food, music and nightlife are attracting Millennials to this energized neighborhood.  The U Street Corridor, the area’s main thoroughfare, is seeing a bright resurgence due in large part to a walkable urban lifestyle that resonates with 20-and 30-somethings who want to live and play in Shaw, and be able to walk to their jobs or hop on the Metro.   Two

DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is leaving her duplex home in Riggs Park that she purchased for $125,000 in 2000, a year after taking the top position in DC, and moving to a more upscale neighborhood east of Rock Creek Park in Colonial Village, an upper Northwest neighborhood in DC surrounded by colonial-style homes with price tags around $1 million.  Colonial Village is part of a group of neighborhoods in upper Northwest along 16th Street known as the “Gold Coast.”  The neighborhood features distinctive, stately brick and stone residences, and more modern ranch styles were built over the past two decades on the northern edge of Colonial Village.

The “Gold Coast” is an area in the city that has been home to many African American elite.  After the mid-20th

Arlington, in northern Virginia, ranks 6th as the wealthiest county in the United States as measured by income, according to Census Bureau data.  This month, the U.S. Census Bureau unveiled its 2014 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, a study of poverty and income in counties and states.  The top three wealthiest counties in the nation are all in the DC metro area, and more specifically in northern Virginia: Falls Church, Loudoun County, and Fairfax County. 

At #6, Arlington’s median income topped $107,143 in 2015.  There are many rich counties concentrated around D.C.  The DC metro area dominates the list of highest earning counties in the U.S., topping six of the Top 10 and 13 spots on the Top 30.  DC, in fact, has an unusually high concentration

Row houses are the fastest selling type of home in the DC metro area.  According to data collected from the real estate MRIS listings, row homes sold in 27.6 days.  Row houses are usually clustered in urban areas of the city, like  Capitol Hill, Old Town Alexandria in Virginia, Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and other areas deemed desirable.  Row houses are selling swiftly, above the asking price, and all-cash offers are being made quite often.

Detached homes in DC, which are found throughout the city, took longer to sell, averaging 42 days on the market.  Real estate agents agree that attached homes, in general, like row houses, semi-detached or a duplex, sell faster than condos or detached homes and closer to list price.  Attached homes offer a