January 2013 RSS Feed

Found 28 blog entries for January 2013.

Relocating to Capitol Hill is easy for professionals new to the District because the area is ripe with rental options and properties in a range of price brackets.

Capitol Hill, the community just east of the Capitol building, attracts many new residents relocating from other parts of the country who may be moving to the District permanently or temporarily, say for legislative sessions.

Those who’re relocating to Capitol Hill should know that living in the District is not cheap.  Rents and housing prices are some of the highest in the country. But Capitol Hill is among the more “affordable” communities here. People relocating to Capitol Hill can find properties like a $312,000, 1BR, 525-square-foot home at 337 Maryland Avenue NE or a $225,000,…

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petworth_real_estate_auction_3264A Petworth home was auctioned off today for $461,000.  If you add in the 6% charged by the auction company the grand total becomes $488,650.  The home at 514 Quincy St NW has 4 bedroom and 2.5 baths.  The total square feet on this Petworth home is 2,562 including the basement square footage.  The property is 2 blocks from the Petworth metro station on the green line.  An agent in our office that attended the auction estimated that over 200 buyers viewed the home on this rainy and dark Wednesday afternoon.  The home needs a full renovation and the sales price would only make sense for an end user. Considering the cost of renovations, the sales price was well beyond what would make sense for a flip.  The auction left many real estate investors who were…
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Luxury homes in Arlington, many of which are perched along the banks of the Potomac River, are among the more breathtaking properties in the Washington D.C. area.

Arlington, a northern Virginia community just over the Potomac from Georgetown, boasts luxury homes of all types on the market: from massive 12,000-square-foot mansions to smaller upscale condos. Arlington County borders Alexandria, Virg., and Fairfax County.

Unlike the District, which is widespread with high density housing, Arlington’s high density housing is centered around its Metro stops. Meaning luxury homes in Arlington further from the Metro stops often have more land space than the District’s luxury homes.

In 2010, Arlington had about 91,000 residences, according to U.S. Census…

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Food services in DC Public Schools (DCPS) is changing due to staggering financial losses. In the 2011-2012 school year, the food services loss for all DCPS schools totaled $14.35 million. 

When DCPS operated its own food service in the 2007-2008 school year, schools were losing about $80,000 per year. But when a new vendor, Chartwells-Thompson Hospitality, took over food service, those loses skyrocketed to $115,447, and later stabilized at a deficit of $90,000 per school each year. Other local school systems do not suffer the same losses. In fact, some like Montgomery County, profit from their food services to the tune of $2 million. But Chartwells disputes the numbers in the DCPS food services audit.

DC public schools have aggressively promoted…

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Are there armed guards in DC schools? Yes and no. DC public schools do not have armed guards, but some private schools do.

Sidwell Friends School, a selective Quaker private school with a campus in the Tenleytown neighborhood and another campus in Bethesda, employs several armed guards. These guards do not include Secret Service protection for President Obama’s daughters. Rather, the guards exist for the protection of all students who attend the school since many of them have high profile parents.

Since the Sandy Hook shootings, there has been a great deal of discussion about armed teachers, administrators, and/or guards in public schools. However, DC Public School (DCPS) Chancellor Kaya Henderson is opposed to guns in her schools. She believes that…

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2224 PERRY ST NE, WASHINGTON, DC 20018

List Price: $234,950

This is a single family home in Woodridge.  The total sq ft is 2,002 w/ 1,386 of that being above grade.  This is a great home to renovate.  The biggest challenge with this property is the tenant that is occupying it.  That tenant would need to be removed prior to purchasing it if you are an investor.  Homeowners can give them a 90 day notice to vacate if they are occupying the property. 

1509 CHANNING ST NE, WASHINGTON, DC 20018

List Price: $299,000

This is another single family home in Woodridge.  The home is listed as a short sale. Needs work.  As-is sale.  For an investor the price would need to be negotiated down for it to make sense. 

3534 6TH ST NW #3534, WASHINGTON, DC 20010

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Developments coming to Fort Totten and Riggs Park areas, including another D.C. Walmart, are forging ahead after developer JBG Cos secured a permit last month for excavation, grading and sheeting, and shoring for Fort Totten Square, at 300 Riggs Road.

Aside from the anchor Walmart store, developments coming to Fort Totten and Riggs Park areas will include about 110,000 square feet of retail and 350 apartments. Another project at 77 H. Street NW by JBG and Walmart will also feature 300 apartments and the mega retailer. The other Walmart in the District broke ground late last year at 5929 Georgia Avenue NW.

The Fort Totten area’s developments also welcomed the District’s first Costco, a 154,000-square-foot facility at Dakota Crossing, at Market Street…

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A new Education Committee was recently established by the DC Council. For the first time in six years, the DC Council has created a stand-alone Education Committee chaired by David Catania, an Independent who holds an at-large seat. In his first couple weeks as chairman of the Council’s Education Committee, Catania has already had meetings on organizational development, budgets, truancy, free lunch, and more.

Catania wants to bring transparency to the school budgets.  He bemoans the “total absence of transparency in our budgets. These numbers don’t add up, and you can’t track them.”  Chancellor of DC Public Schools, Kaya Henderson, says she is excited to work with Catania and wants “to be as transparent as possible. I want people to know where our money…

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DC school boundaries are a hot topic of debate. In fact, the chancellor of DC public schools, Kaya Henderson, says that the boundary issue is “the thing that, I think, I fear most.”

The boundaries define which children go to which public school. So children who live within the boundary for a particular school have the right to attend that school. If there are any openings after all the in-boundary children select a school, then others have the opportunity to apply. 

The existing DC public school boundaries and feeder patterns have been in existence since the 1970s. But the city of today is quite different than it was even 10 years ago, let alone 40!

As a whole, DC public schools have not been known for stellar academics, prompting many parents to…

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Real estate near the U.S. State Department on C Street in NW Washington D.C. likely houses many of the young professionals who have spent their undergraduate years dreaming of a job in the Harry S. Truman Building. The U.S. State Department was voted the fourth-most desirable place to work by undergraduates in 2009, BusinessWeek reports.

Real estate near the U.S. State Department, including areas in Foggy Bottom and downtown, is ideal for these younger employees because it includes a wide variety of condos and apartments. Real estate near the U.S. State Department is on par with District property prices as still among the more highly priced in the nation. But savvy real estate hunters can find likely properties a bit lower priced than in Georgetown or…

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