December 2012 RSS Feed

Homes near Rock Creek Park have long been sought after for their proximity to Washington D.C.’s largest park. With more than 2,000 acres of trails and green space, Rock Creek Park offers the District’s residents and respite from the city’s dense and populated concrete city space.

Owners of homes near Rock Creek find the national park, with a golf course, horse trails, a tennis stadium and playground facilities, is an amenity in the District that is hard to match elsewhere. It’s  the nation’s oldest federal park, but it’s attracting many new home buyers.

Neighborhoods with homes near Rock Creek Park’s south end include Adams Morgan, Georgetown, Mt. Pleasant, Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, West End, and Crestwood. Neighborhoods with homes near Rock Creek…

Schools in Georgetown include, of course, Georgetown University, but Georgetown’s school system boasts many more top-notch education facilities – from charter schools to Montessori schools.

The public schools serving Georgetown, the District’s historic and upscale community in northwest Washington on the edge of the Potomac are Hyde Elementary School, Hardy Middle School and Wilson High School.

Georgetown is an elite community with an array of international influences like the embassies of France , Mongolia, Sweden, Thailand and Ukraine. And many schools, especially for younger students, in Georgetown are just as tinged with international culture. For example, The British School of Washington on Wisconsin Avenue, offers a personalized curriculum…

Luxury homes in Bethesda offer homebuyers a slew of options for upscale living. Bethesda, tucked inside the Beltway in southern Montgomery County and one of the most well educated communities in the country, has long been ripe with multimillion-dollar luxury homes.

Bethesda is rich in history and luxury homes listed there include a wealth of upscale properties such as a $7.25 million home, 9,322-square-foot home on Arrow Head Road or a $3.4 million, 6 BR luxury home, also on Bethesda’s Arrow Head Road. And the market houses a wide array of luxury condos in Bethesda as well, especially downtown. Several condos in Lionsgate on Woodmont Avenue, built in 2008, are listed for just over $1 million and those in Adagio on Wisconsin Avenue start at about…

Whole Foods in Logan Circle is the largest Whole Foods Market in the DC Metro area at 40,000 square feet.  This Whole Foods on P Street, NW combines the friendliness of a corner grocery store with the freshness of an organic farmers market, plus a custom cuts butcher, a gourmet specialty shop, a European bakery, a fresh fish market, and a vitamin store.

The Whole Foods in Logan Circle arrived in December 2000, just two blocks west of the circle in Ward 2.  The grocery store is bordered by U Street to the north and Dupont Circle to the west.  

The Logan Circle area was already changing when Whole Foods arrived, but it seems like the grocery store helped to speed up the gentrification process.  Whole Foods in Logan Circle replaced an abandoned service…

Schools in 16th Street Heights (an area bordered by Columbia Heights, Petworth, Brightwood, Crestwood, and Rock Creek Park) are generally mediocre.  The area is served by 6 DC public schools, 5 charter schools, and 2 private schools. 

The schools in 16th Street Heights include 6 DC Public Schools:   

• Powell Elementary School educates 314 children in Pre-K through 4th Grade.  This school has an 11:1 student to teacher ratio with a Great Schools Rating of 5 out of 10.  
• Brightwood Education Campus is the most northern of the public schools in 16th Street Heights.  It serves 549 students in grades Pre-K through 8 with a 27:1 student to teacher ratio, and received a Great Schools Rating of 5 out of 10 based on state test scores.  
• West Education…

Real estate near the World Bank in downtown Washington D.C. in the heart of the Foggy Bottom area offer a range of property selections and rental opportunities. Foggy Bottom, defined by Pennsylvania Avenue on the north and Constitution Avenue on the south, borders the Potomac.

Here, house hunters looking for real estate near the World Bank can find properties like a $215,000, 500-square-foot studio on 21st Street NW or a $229,000, 447-square-foot studio on I Street NW or a $255,000, 825-square-foot, 1BR apartment on Virginia Avenue NW, according to Rock Creek Realty listings.

The World Bank, located at 1818 H Street, provides loans to developing countries in an effort to reduce poverty worldwide.  Many of its roughly 6,000 D.C.-based employees find…

Southwest Waterfront development is taking shape as part of DC’s Anacostia Waterfront Initiative.  This new mixed-use development, called the Wharf, will span 27 acres of land and 24 acres of water from the northern landmark of the Maine Avenue Fish Market to the southern point of Fort McNair.  This swath of land has remained largely untouched since the infamous Urban Renewal 50 years ago. 

The Wharf aims to change the waterfront to include cafes, restaurants, homes, office space, hotels, retail, and public spaces.  Those public spaces will include waterfront parks, promenades, piers, and docks.

The first phase of development along the Southwest Waterfront includes 3 apartment buildings, a cultural venue, a condo building, a co-generation power…

The public schools in Arlington serve a diverse community of students, just across the river from DC.  While Arlington’s 26 square miles is rather small compared to counties in the rest of the state, the Arlington Public School system is the 15th largest in Virginia serving over 22,000 kids in Pre-K through 12th grade. 

The schools in Arlington are highly ranked.  In fact, the Washington Post Challenge Index listed all three Arlington public high schools in the top 1% of US high schools for the 7th year in a row.

Arlington is a diverse county, which is reflected in the schools in Arlington.  The public school system serves students from 123 different countries, speaking 97 languages.  Less than half of the students are white, about 30% are Hispanic,…

Row homes with basement rentals, popularly referred to in D.C. as “English basements,” have been all the rage with renters here the past few years.

Row homes with basement rentals, common in older cities like the District, are prevalent in communities on the outskirts of downtown like Shaw and Dupont and attract many young professionals. Many owners of row homes with basements are renovating them to accommodate for the growing demand for the rentals. But the basement rentals in the row homes must by law include features like deadbolts, removable bars on the windows and smoke alarms.

Row homes with basement rentals often offer more affordable rental options, with monthly rents like $1,375 for a renovated, 550-square-foot basement rental in Logan…

203k renovation loans offer funds for the purchase and renovation of homes and are considered important tools for neighborhood revitalization and homeownership opportunities, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Many lenders have issued 203k renovation loans by partnering with state and local housing agencies or nonprofit agencies that renovate homes, and they’ve been quite successful. They’ve found ways to get money into homeowners’ hands with other financial opportunities, like HUD’s HOME, HOPE and Community Development Block Programs.

Other lenders grant 203k renovation loans to prove they are valuable players in low-income communities and to meet Community Reinvestment Act responsibilities. Properties that are…