Pat Kennedy - Your Washington, DC Real Estate Connection

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.

There comes a time in every relationship where one or the other person – maybe even both of them -  wants to use the “L” word.  But it gets tricky.  Neither one wants to go first.

Then you feel like the writers for Sex and the City are taking over your life.

It’s dangerous to say it first.  What if you say it and he’s not there yet? 

What if you thought you heard him say it but he really didn’t?  Then you say it and he gets that look on his face.   Ewww!

Well, Brad Blanton, author of Radical Honesty and my favorite therapist, once suggested that instead of saying, “I love you,” you look your sweetie in the eye and say, “You love me!”

So, I’ve had this particular issue on my mind lately. 

You see, I have a new listing coming on this weekend.  And I am anticipating a big Open House on Sunday.   Now, I know it’s like a first date.  I don’t care.

I want this house to be a shameless flirt that looks every buyer in the eye and says, “You love me!”

So I priced it right (I think).

And the floors have just been refinished.

And it’s beautifully staged and looks pretty amazing if I do say so.

So on Sunday afternoon between 1 and 4 pm, don’t show up at 1352 Kearney Street NW unless you are open to hearing the “L” word.  Oh, and you’ll need to be open to a long, committed relationship.

More about the Open later.

DC’s Brookland:  The Land Of Multiple Offers

I’ve been doing this all wrong.  I’ve been focused on the high end of the market for the past few years, most of it in Northwest Washington.  And guess what?   With all of the new lending restrictions and with so many people who were in that market losing it in the stock market, it’s not as brisk as it was a couple of years ago.

But then I got lucky!  An old client called looking for a house under $450,000, a definite challenge in Upper NW Washington.  As we went through my repertoire of Champagne taste, beer budget neighborhoods, we kept coming back to Brookland, a neighborhood in Northeast Washington.

What I love about Brookland is that it’s like a little college town.  It’s the home of Catholic University, Trinity College, among others.  While many of the homes are the DC cliché homes – center hall brick colonials, it also has its share of Victorians, bungalows, and wood farm houses.   Then, every here and there, you’ll find a little mid-century number all on one level.

The neighborhood started out around the turn of the last century as a commuter neighborhood when the streetcar line came to the area.    While many of the homes here are close to their “original” condition, many have been beautifully restored.

And in Brookland, well-priced homes tend to actually sell!  The last two contracts I’ve written here have been bidding wars, and we lost one and won the second.

So in a couple of weeks, I’ll have a new one coming on a couple of blocks away from the place I sold this week.  With some luck, all of the people who missed out during the last two bidding wars will be fighting over mine!

One thing that has always made me feel a little pit in my stomach is anticipating a home inspection with an inspector I don’t know.  It may even be worse than anticipating one with an inspector I do know who is a little goofy.

Today’s inspection is on a really old Victorian house, built somewhere around 1914.  And I have to say, it appears that Jack Reilly, the inspector my buyers selected, is very much an old house guy!   He’s an inspector who also has a lot of knowledge about architectural history, and he knows exactly what to look for.

What a relief!

In this area, a lot of the inspectors don’t really get old houses.   They may be faulous with mid-century tract houses in the suburbs or new construction.  But here in DC, we have a lot of turn-of-the-century homes.  And we are not even sure which century.  !942 is considered to be new construction!

Jack, thank heavens, was not one of the inspectors we city types fear.  He could spot the location of a fireplace that got covered up.   And he knew it was coal burning.  He could tell that the spider cracks at the side of the house didn’t mean it was falling down, but needed attention..  And, he’s a huge fan of Victorians.

And for an old guy (OK, he’s about my age) he was pretty techedi out.  Not only is there the normal stuff – moisture meters, gas sniffer, etc.  Most impressive, Jack used a video camera throughout the inspection, and he’ll supply a DVD to the clients.  This is great because one of the buyers is out of town, and now he’ll be able to see first hand what happened. 

Another thing I really like is that he does find a lot of stuff that’s going to need attention, and he is really good at explaining it without making the buyer want to hop the next flight to Kansas.  It's what I call a good house-side manner.

The man is a house whisperer!

Now, I really think that Jack needs to join Active Rain.  Maybe he could even find a really cute mascot to be Nutsy's pal!

© 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.