Pat Kennedy - Your Washington, DC Real Estate Connection

Cleveland Park is one of my favorite Washington neighborhoods.  It is incredibly architecturally diverse, in terms of sizes and styles.  There are a couple of tiny little tudors like the one at the right, and a couple of really unusual contemporaries, but mostly big old turn of the century Victorians.  So looking at sales numbers can get interesting.

For example, 2007 is generally thought of as the peak of the market here in Washington.  But in Cleveland Park, that peak happened in 2008, at least looking at the number of sales and the average sales price..  And the 2008 average sales prices were boosted by the sales of more of the larger homes than the smaller ones.  In 2009, the median prices are higher than either year.  But it's taking a lot longer for homes to sell.

Prices in this popular neighborhood start in the high $600's for the smaller homes, most of which are row houses or semi-detached and needing a bit of work.  The larger homes with big porches and quality restorations can go up to, well, just add a zero.

Here are the numbers.

• Year                                                   2009                   2008                   2007
  
• Number Sold                                       29                      37                       31  
  
• Average List Price                        $1,376,806           $1,741,445         $1,325,735
  
• Average Sold Price                        $1,304,167           $1,642,802         $1,305,095
  
• Median List Price                          $1,049,000            $995,000            $985,000
  
• Median Sold Price                         $1,030,000            $981,785           $1,004,625
  
• Average Days on the Market              88                       35                      31

To understand what’s happening in the market in Georgetown, you have to really look at the numbers carefully. 

The number of sales is barely lower than they were two years ago.   And today’s sales  are taking a tiny bit less time to sell.  But what about the their prices?

If you just look at the changes in the average sales prices, today’s numbers don’t look fabulous.   The averages are about 86 percent of what they were two years ago, and 89 percent of last year’s.  But in  2007, there was a single huge estate that sold for $25 million – that can skew things a little bit.  And the highest number in 2008 a sale for $11,500,000.  Year to date, there haven’t been any big ones.  The largest so far is only $5 million. 

 When you look at the median prices, the numbers look a whole lot better.   They’ve increased each year.   

 So bottom line, I think the numbers help to tell a story, but you have to look behind them for the real story.

And here are those numbers:

• Year                                         2009                 2008               2007
  
• Number Sold                              70                     72                   74
  
• Average List Price              $1,609,055        $1,771,253      $1,807,035
• Average Sold Price             $1,486,186        $1,663,385      $1,710,514
• Median List Price                $1,360,000        $1,295,000      $1,249,000
• Median Sold Price               $1,250,000        $1,261,000      $1,175,000
• Average Days on Market           94                     105                 100
  

Sometimes it's called the Buffalo Bridge, because it has four big old buffaloes, two at each end, that welcome people to Georgetown.  And sometimes it's called the Dumbarton Bridge, because when it was built, they had to move Dumbarton House, a huge Federal style mansion, a couple fo blocks west of its original site.  Whatever you want to call it, this bridge that links Georgetown and Dupont Circle is one of my favorites in Washington.

It was built between 1914 and 1915 by Glenn and Bedford Brown, a father and son architect team.  The design was tricky, because the streets it connected didn't quite line up.  This meant the bridge, with five large arches, had to curve a little bit. 

The bridge originally had, in addition to the four buffaloes, 56 carvings that were modeled on a Sioux Indian Chief, known as Kicking Bear.  But I didn't see them - I hope whoever removed them took them to a safe place, like the Smithsonian!

Alexander Phimister Proctor is credited with sculpting the four buffaloes.  While he did several US presidents and Joan of Ark, the Denver artist was famous for his work with animals. 

It's hard for me to imagine what it was like before this bridge connected these two popular neighborhoods.  I love to walk across it, and I always stop to look down at Rock Creek and the Parkway that takes me around town. 

In another couple of weeks, the leaves will put on an amazing show.  I'll save that for a Wordless Wednesday.

© 2009 Patricia Kennedy. Unless otherwise noted, the content, both written and in pictures, is the property of Patricia Kennedy . If you would like to use this image, please  email me (housepat@mac.com) with your request. I'll almost certianly say yes, and ask only that you provide a link back to my original content as well as an acknowledgment.  The same thing applies to any other material you see posted here on Active Rain or on any of my other blogs.

When I first got into real estate back in the early 1980's it was really easy to lose track of sellers after settlement.  This was especially true when they moved to another part of the country - or to another country!  But today, thanks to Social Networks, it's getting easier.

My lunch today is a wonderful example of how Facebook makes it fun.

Maureen and David Wilmot were not my typical clients.  Maureen's father was my parents' best man when they got married right after Pearl Harbor.  And my whole life, I heard about Tom & Sis, her parents and my parents' best friends when they were all newlyweds.  And they were at the top of the invite list when I threw a 50th Anniversary party for my parents. 

Tom and Sis couldn't make it, but they sent their daughter, Maureen, as their representative.  The next week, Maureen called to say that she and her husband, David, saw a house for sale in Georgetown, and could I please get them inside.  They wound up buying a house on my block, and it was like Maureen was a newly discovered family member.

A few years later, job changes took Maureen and David first to New York, then to California.  And after the California move, I realized I didn't have their current address or phone number.  Then, a few months later, we found each other on Facebook.  Maureen and I  volunteered together at an Arlington, Virginia polling place last election day.  This week, Maureen and David are here for a conference, and Maureen and I had a fun lunch today with friend, neighbor, and Facebook addict, Jean Cochran. 

So often, we meet amazing people on their way out of town.  They are wonderful, fun clients.  We have an intense shared experience getting their homes sold.  Then they seem to vanish.  But now, maybe they'll be Friends and Tweets and it'll be easier and more fun to stay connected. 

Oh, and it's a justification for one or two more addictions!

Forty six years ago, as a completely immature teenager, I ran away from home in Topeka, Kansas for my great adventure.  I moved to New York to study flute with my idol, Julius Baker. 

During the months before I left home (while I was planning my getaway), I went to a lot of movies filmed in New York.  And they all had something in common.  There were masses of people all over the place.  So imagine my surprise when I emerged from Penn Station to find the streets deserted.

I hailed a cab to go to residence for young women where I'd planned to begin my life in the Big City.  And I asked the cabbie where all the people were.

"It's a holiday, honey."

I started thinking, in September?  What holiday was he talking about? 

So he explained that it was the New Year.  But, um, what happened to January 1st?  Oh!  It was the Jewish New Year - rosh hashanah!

Oh, Toto!  We're not in Kansas anymore!

And it was a great adventure that totally changed my life.  My parents were horrified, and looking back on the experience, I must have had a very busy guardian angel.  I was a baby!  And right off the turnip truck!  And it was an amazing decade of studying flute, working for an airline and traveling the world, and picking up my degree in bits and pieces.  When people ask me where I grew up, I tell them "New York."

Anyway, I've always thought of September as a time of new beginnings.  And tonight, as the sun set on rosh hashanah 2009, I realized that I've adopted this particular 2-day holiday as a very special time for this shiksa!

Early fall Open Houses here in Washington, DC can be tricky.

Today was a perfect September day, with clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid- 70's.  No humidity, either!  So, is this a perfect day for an Open house, or what? 

No!  It's a perfect day for a long bicycle ride through Rock Creek Park.  Or maybe lunch at an outside restaurant overlooking the Potomac River, either at Washington Harbor in Georgetown or maybe Old Town Alexandria. Conventional wisdom is when the weather is this fabulous, people get distracted from house hunting and reduces traffic at Opens.

It was also a day when the Washington Redskins were playing the St. Louis Rams at Fed Ex Field, and people who didn't make it to the game could enjoy it on TV.  Conventional wisdom?  A Redskins game cuts way down on Open House traffic.

Well, today conventional wisdom went down the tubes.  My Open House at 1352 Kearney St NE was a total mob scene!  I was lucky because there were several other homes open in the immediate neighborhood, and we were all in the approximate price range of mine.  There were over 50 people who came through, and there are several second showings being arranged for tomorrow! 

I'm crossing my fingers that one of them will turn into a ratified contract.  Then I'll feel great about missing a nice long bike ride in the park!

© 2009 Patricia Kennedy. Unless otherwise noted, the content, both written and in pictures, is the property of Patricia Kennedy . If you would like to use this image, please  email me (housepat@mac.com) with your request. I'll almost certianly say yes, and ask only that you provide a link back to my original content as well as an acknowledgment.  The same thing applies to any other material you see posted here on Active Rain or on any of my other blogs.

The sellers have two children.  My buyers have two children.

The sellers enjoyed living near the shops and restaurants in Cleveland Park.  My buyers want to enjoy the shops and restaurants in Cleveland Park.

The sellers want to move.  My buyers want to move.

OK, what's wrong here?

Yesterday I showed a house in Cleveland Park that should have been pretty near perfect for some buyers who definitely pass the fun test.  You know they type - smart, funny, not overly picky, able to articulate exactly what works and does not for each place we see. The house was a preferred location, and it had all of the necessary bedrooms and baths.  The price was smack dab in the middle of their price range. Oh, and it's a pretty house, too.

And their feedback on this one?

"I'm not feeling it!"  That would be the husband.

"I feel like I'm caught up in a Pottery Barn catalog!"  The wife.

The house was, in fact, furnished in early 21st Century Pottery Barn - the same furniture that a lot of local stagers prefer to use.  The entire house was spotless, impeccable - oh, and it was hard to believe that real people actually lived there, especially with two little ones.

My buyers couldn't imagine themselves in this house - a house deliberately neutralized to the extent that it seems like anyone could imagine themselves living there!

For other reasons, mostly the small yard, this house won't work.  If it did have the necessary outdoor space, I'm sure they would be able to look beyond the spotless property condition, just as they could look beyond a house that was cluttered with toys and smelled like a combination of Labradoodle and diaper pail.

But this has me re-thinking my approach to staging.  If this had been my listing, I would consider myself blessed to have such neatniks as clients.  But maybe what this house needs is a little bit of funk.  Not a lot.  Just ashes in the fireplace, or a chewed up dog toy under the coffee table.  Perhaps pet hair on the upholstery.

In the meantime, I am way too chicken to be the first agent on the block to advise clients to live normally in one of my listings!

Brookland is my favorite champagne taste, beer budget neighborhood in all of Washington.  It's like a little college town where you can still find a fabulous place for under half a million!

And tomorrow (September 20th) between 1 and 4 in the afternoon, I'll be opening up my new listing at 1352 Kearney Street NE.

And this one is priced at an affordable $395,000!

This 3-bedroom charmer was renovated in 2002, and then compulisvely maintained by its current owners.  So the kitchen and baths are all up-to-date.  The wood floors look amazing.  And the back yard, well, Willie the Labradoodle would love it! And for those sultry DC summers, there is central air conditioning.

In addition to a wonderful house, you get the benefits of a great community.  Brookland has it's own Metro stop a quick walk from this house.  And if you live here, you are eligible for a deep discount if you want to join the gym and pool at Trinity College - and it's completely state-of-the-art.  There are shops and restaurants along 12th Street, including Yes Organic Market.