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bjarvisThere is a house at the east end of our street north of Washington, DC which was recently renovated and put up for sale. Looking in the windows, it seems a nice place and we harboured (briefly) fantasies of moving up to a larger, nicer house without having to move far.
The thought was nixed within seconds because the soundwall of the Capital Beltway off-ramp for south-bound Georgia Avenue is a mere 20 feet from the back of the house. This means that highway noise would be considerably more intense than the negligible white noise of our current location. It also means that the house is under dire threat of imminent domain demolition if/when the state decides to expand the beltway.
The house is larger than ours: two stories with one extra bedroom, twice the floor space and a slightly larger lot of land but no garage.
$674,995.
That's almost $200k more than I think it's worth, and three times more than we paid for our home only a few years ago. It's a nice house, but considering the flaws of its location, I think the sellers are exceedingly optimistic.
Despite the lack of occupants, I dropped a newsletter from the civic association in the mail slot. It might help the sale to demonstrate there is an active association of homeowners in the area. Besides, anyone with pockets deep enough to afford the place is someone we'd definitely like to have involved in the association.
Interested parties can see the listing here. The photo makes it look much larger than it actually is, but from a seller's perspective, that's probably a good thing.
The thought was nixed within seconds because the soundwall of the Capital Beltway off-ramp for south-bound Georgia Avenue is a mere 20 feet from the back of the house. This means that highway noise would be considerably more intense than the negligible white noise of our current location. It also means that the house is under dire threat of imminent domain demolition if/when the state decides to expand the beltway.
The house is larger than ours: two stories with one extra bedroom, twice the floor space and a slightly larger lot of land but no garage.
$674,995.
That's almost $200k more than I think it's worth, and three times more than we paid for our home only a few years ago. It's a nice house, but considering the flaws of its location, I think the sellers are exceedingly optimistic.
Despite the lack of occupants, I dropped a newsletter from the civic association in the mail slot. It might help the sale to demonstrate there is an active association of homeowners in the area. Besides, anyone with pockets deep enough to afford the place is someone we'd definitely like to have involved in the association.
Interested parties can see the listing here. The photo makes it look much larger than it actually is, but from a seller's perspective, that's probably a good thing.
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Date: 2006-07-27 03:17 pm (UTC)And a lot of home sellers on both coasts are being exceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedingly optimistic right now.
Not that that makes me feel any better, mind you.
(I'm not having buyer's remorse; I'm merely pointing out the ironic juxtaposition. Besides, it feels so good when I stop pounding my head onto my desk.)
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Date: 2006-07-27 04:43 pm (UTC)Yeah, as you mentioned in many prior postings, a lot of folks have gotten use to 20% --or more-- appreciation per year and don't want to consider the possibility that the party is over (or at least calming down) even if no one is talking about hangovers yet.
I'm so glad I'm not shopping for a house right now. And I'm extremely glad our household income is well above the local average: we couldn't afford our neighbourhood or lifestyle any other way.
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Date: 2006-07-27 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-27 05:22 pm (UTC)