Anthony Trevisan emails:
Thought you might enjoy this. One of my friends is trying to buy a house in DC but is having zero luck with anything. Everyone pays in full in cash and he can't compete.
D.C. house inspires 168 bids in red-hot real estate market
By Annys Shin, Published: DECEMBER 20, 10:14 PM ET
It didn’t look like a house anyone would pay $400,000 extra for.
Several walls inside the gray townhouse with blue trim were streaked with water stains. The first floor was noticeably uneven. And termites had dined in front.
The big pluses: It was 2,850 square feet, had off-street parking, and was in walking distance of Union Station and the bars and restaurants along H Street NE. Then there was the list price: $337,000. Similar houses in the neighborhood were going for closer to $500,000.
Two weeks and 168 bids later, the house — in the 800 block of Fourth Street NE — was sold this month for $760,951 to an unidentified buyer.
The sale floored many real estate agents, including James Lisowski, whose clients put in a losing bid. “I don’t think it was worth that finished,” he said, alluding to the house’s distressed condition.
While much of the nation is still struggling to emerge from a historic housing-market meltdown, the District is reliving its boom days. High rents, low interest rates, low inventory, and a flood of new residents in their 20s and 30s are making parts of the city feel like it’s 2005 again.
The median home sale price in the District is up 14 percent from last year, according to RealEstate Business Intelligence (RBI). And the average number of days houses spend on the market has fallen by nearly 30 percent, to 53 days.
Bidding wars have become commonplace along H Street NE, in Trinidad and in Eckington, among other areas. So have multiple cash offers and sales that soar past the asking price. In certain neighborhoods, buyers once again are snapping up unbuilt units based on floor plans. And more are forgoing inspections or appraisals.
Read the rest here.
"making parts of the city feel like it’s 2005 again."
ReplyDelete... or 1999?
... or 1989?
The more things change...
It's just like with the communists...it pays to work for the government and be a part of the State.
ReplyDeleteI use to live in Denver, CO. It has always had a strong and resillent housing market, because of the diversity of types of businesses, and because it is at the intersection of two major Interstate Highway with one running north-south and the other east-west with the so called mousetrap intersection a nightmare. The Denver Post reports Denver has year-over-year home value increase of 10.8 percent. National home values continued an upward march in November with Denver showing a year-over-year home value increase of 10.8 percent, according to the November Zillow Real Estate Marketing Report released Wednesday. Denver experienced a monthly home value gain between October and November of 0.7 percent, according to the report. Home values in Denver were listed at $225,900. Zillow said November marks the 13th straight month of home value increases, the largest annual gain since 2006. Home values were up nationally 5.2 percent compared with last November, the largest gain since August 2006, when home values rose six percent year over year. Home values nationally stood at $156,200 in November 2012. The last time values stood at the level was May 2004, according to the data. Only nine cities showed home values higher than Denver, CO; these were San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Washington, DC; Boston, MA; Seattle, WA; Portland OR; and San Diego, CA.
ReplyDelete