Round House-Ruined House?

Last year I posted a photo of one of my favorite homes in the Brookland neighborhood of DC. Although in poor condition, the home has always been a total charmer. Built in 1901 and designed by architect Edward Woltz, this home was bought last year by a local developer after it's long term owner passed away. A few weekends ago it was featured in the Washington Post and one has to admire the slick new home that they created out of it which is now on the market for $899,000.  Of course, this does not sit too well with me as the original charming historic home has been totally erased and will no longer be there for people to enjoy. I wonder what the DC government was thinking or doing when they allowed this remodeling to go on. It is a prime example of a developer taking a fantastic historical property and significantly alter the character of the home in order to monetize the property. Well, there you have it. The home is still mostly round but everything that was original about the property is gone. The original layout, interior, windows-you name it, is no longer there.

In order to make the home larger and  more palatable to the high end buyers now relocating to the District the developers put a hideous addition on the rear of the home that has destroyed the ascetic beauty of what was a totally round home. Don't get me wrong, this is a nice modern home and somebody is bound to jump on it. The Brookland neighborhood just like most of the District is a very hot market. However, whoever buys this home will never have the satisfaction of owning a real historic property. That home is gone forever and it just make me sad.

Post Election Notes

I am not really going to write about real estate today but just wanted to comment on the election and what I saw in Silver Spring this past Tuesday. Last year we went downtown to have dinner and noticed that you could vote early there. Since there were no lines, we just jumped in and voted. It was such a breeze that we decided we would go back downtown this year and vote early. To our surprise, the early voting line was very large and we decided to skip early voting since our own polling station in Hillandale has never had very large lines in the past. We had a nice dinner at Thai Derm and never gave early voting another thought.

However, on Tuesday when we went to vote, the line was incredibly long. Longer than any line I have ever seen at a polling place. (That covers a lot of elections) Well the wait was not too long and most people were in a very good mood so it was not much of a bother. It was nice to see everyone there. Apparently a lot of folks in our area thought that the issues were important enough for them to get out and vote this year. I was also pleased to see the amazing diversity of the people standing in line to vote. It seems like every ethnic and age group was well represented this year. Sometimes in the past our polling places was very quite and it seemed like the only people voting were elderly-but not this time. Anyways, it was great to see and made me feel a whole lot better about our political process.

As for real estate. With the elections behind us, look for a steadily improving market in 2013. There, you heard it here first.

Sitting the fence?

Let's admit it. We Realtors are the eternal optimists and it would seem that by reading our marketing material that it is "always" a good time to buy a home. Well here is the honest truth, it is sometimes not a good time to buy a home and  Realtors are not necessarily the most reliable source about this subject. However, I can say that most of the time it is a good time to buy a home and as a long term investment owning your own home is usually the best investment you will make over the course of your life. Right now is really a fine time to think about getting off the fence and buying a home. Here are my reasons.

• We have seen home values bottom out and they are now back on the rise. This especially holds true in Montgomery County and the District.
• Interest rates are not going to "ever" go lower. They just can't go lower and in my almost three decades as a Realtor, I have never seen rates this low. Low rates mean monthly payment that are as cheap or lower than  paying rent.
• We are already seeing a shift from a buyers market to a sellers market. There is currently a shortage of inventory in many areas. Expect that to get worse after the elections are over.
• Rents are steadily going up. Does it really make sense to help pay off someone else's mortgage. That is what tenants do.
• Be the master of your own domain. Surely you must be getting tired of moving. The average tenant stays in a place about two years. The average homeowner in this area stays put for about seven years.

 So now you have it. Probably not for the first time either. If you want to buy a home, now is the time. Wait if you want but I assure you that the costs for you will be higher if you delay. Drop me a line if you have some questions about this. I am always willing to talk.