Found a City Center bargain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assumed the pricing was originally propped up by the Qataris or something. That development never made sense without some sort of political and/or corruption angle.

The development made perfect sense. As the old convention center was torn down at the City Center site, the city planned for a mixed use retail center to revive the downtown shopping scene, which was traditionally focused on F and G Streets, where the big fancy department stores were. DC’s mayor and councilors wanted a downtown Bloomingdale’s, but eventually settled on the upscale mixed use City Center development. DC real estate was hot at the time, especially downtown. There’s nothing shady about it. The developers hired architects out of Europe to give it that extra edge, and the pedestrian “alleys” with shops are based on the traditional alleys of DC. Adding to the neighborhood’s allure, Apple decided to locate its flagship Apple Store in the old library a block from City Center at Mt Vernon Sq.

The last piece of the City Center master plan to be developed will be the first class landmark office tower, designed by another famous European architect, to be located where the temporary surface parking lot is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assumed the pricing was originally propped up by the Qataris or something. That development never made sense without some sort of political and/or corruption angle.

The development made perfect sense. As the old convention center was torn down at the City Center site, the city planned for a mixed use retail center to revive the downtown shopping scene, which was traditionally focused on F and G Streets, where the big fancy department stores were. DC’s mayor and councilors wanted a downtown Bloomingdale’s, but eventually settled on the upscale mixed use City Center development. DC real estate was hot at the time, especially downtown. There’s nothing shady about it. The developers hired architects out of Europe to give it that extra edge, and the pedestrian “alleys” with shops are based on the traditional alleys of DC. Adding to the neighborhood’s allure, Apple decided to locate its flagship Apple Store in the old library a block from City Center at Mt Vernon Sq.

The last piece of the City Center master plan to be developed will be the first class landmark office tower, designed by another famous European architect, to be located where the temporary surface parking lot is.

Oh okay then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all sound like a bunch of petty, jealous and out of touch old ladies. It’s a friggin 1 BR CONDO in the downtown. It’s not one of your boring colonials in Upper Caucasia where nothing is going on. 635 square feet is a decent size for a 1 BR, especially one with an open floor plan, and that condo fees covers quite a bit not to mention a parking space.

We had a 640 sf condo in Logan that we sold several years ago for 500k. It was the same size as this unit, and was big enough to have a den and a bedroom and was plenty spacious.

This is not a bad deal at all. You’re all clueless.

Frankly 600 square feet is too small especially in today's paradigm of hybrid work. That coupled with the fact that it is in city center (no appreciation, declining area) just makes that a no go when you can get a bigger apartment for a similar price somewhere nice. The PITI on that, assuming 20% down is close to 5k. You can also get a 2br townhouse with similar PITI (well more like 5500) in north Arlington (close to Ballston, or Clarendon) and actually live in a decent area. Or like I said a bigger apartment in a nicer area in DC (here is an example https://redf.in/OQLT7o). Here is an example of slightly higher PITI townhome near Rosslyn (https://redf.in/4yXwe3).

Don't know why you overreacted to everyone's comments...no one sounded jealous or anything of the sort...

[Anonymous]

Also wow was curious and looked at some other condos in that area and damn the property values for them have been slowly declining (per redfin estimate, which granted aren't always accurate but first time in a while I have seen declining trend over 5 years in dmv area). At that point, given high HOAs, prices, transaction costs and the declining values, might as well rent rather than buy (may make more financial sense).

[Anonymous]

If you want to live downtown near your office or need a pied-a-terre, it definitely makes more sense to rent right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all sound like a bunch of petty, jealous and out of touch old ladies. It’s a friggin 1 BR CONDO in the downtown. It’s not one of your boring colonials in Upper Caucasia where nothing is going on. 635 square feet is a decent size for a 1 BR, especially one with an open floor plan, and that condo fees covers quite a bit not to mention a parking space.

We had a 640 sf condo in Logan that we sold several years ago for 500k. It was the same size as this unit, and was big enough to have a den and a bedroom and was plenty spacious.

This is not a bad deal at all. You’re all clueless.

Lots of blacks, browns, asians live in "upper Caucasia" you racist fool

[Anonymous]

It's not a bargain, but it's nice. Condo prices always need to be balanced with the condo fees - high fees mean lower prices. That means it's probably not a great investment, but you'd have to see if it is better than renting.

It looks like lots of Boston apartments - very compact but convenient.

I am not sure what the long term future is for City Center. The smash and grab robberies at the luxury stores are concerning (Chanel hit twice recently) and with the arena moving out of DC that may make the whole are less lively. It's too bad, because it had promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not a bargain, but it's nice. Condo prices always need to be balanced with the condo fees - high fees mean lower prices. That means it's probably not a great investment, but you'd have to see if it is better than renting.

It looks like lots of Boston apartments - very compact but convenient.

I am not sure what the long term future is for City Center. The smash and grab robberies at the luxury stores are concerning (Chanel hit twice recently) and with the arena moving out of DC that may make the whole are less lively. It's too bad, because it had promise.

I hope the city council just doesn’t give up on downtown. It took years of planning and sweat and tears to bring nice retail back downtown. But it seems priorities lay elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all sound like a bunch of petty, jealous and out of touch old ladies. It’s a friggin 1 BR CONDO in the downtown. It’s not one of your boring colonials in Upper Caucasia where nothing is going on. 635 square feet is a decent size for a 1 BR, especially one with an open floor plan, and that condo fees covers quite a bit not to mention a parking space.

We had a 640 sf condo in Logan that we sold several years ago for 500k. It was the same size as this unit, and was big enough to have a den and a bedroom and was plenty spacious.

This is not a bad deal at all. You’re all clueless.

Cool it, angry poster.

I lived in a condo similar to this one for a few years in my late 20s. It's the condo for an associate or analyst starting out in their career. You see the exact same soulless overpriced condo/apartment in every major city and global city. Identical twins exist in Dubai and Singapore and London and Tokyo and Sydney. And it is tiny. It's a hotel suite for people who have hotel lives, overpaid, overworked, overtravelled, and ephemeral, and that's all there is to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all sound like a bunch of petty, jealous and out of touch old ladies. It’s a friggin 1 BR CONDO in the downtown. It’s not one of your boring colonials in Upper Caucasia where nothing is going on. 635 square feet is a decent size for a 1 BR, especially one with an open floor plan, and that condo fees covers quite a bit not to mention a parking space.

We had a 640 sf condo in Logan that we sold several years ago for 500k. It was the same size as this unit, and was big enough to have a den and a bedroom and was plenty spacious.

This is not a bad deal at all. You’re all clueless.

Cool it, angry poster.

I lived in a condo similar to this one for a few years in my late 20s. It's the condo for an associate or analyst starting out in their career. You see the exact same soulless overpriced condo/apartment in every major city and global city. Identical twins exist in Dubai and Singapore and London and Tokyo and Sydney. And it is tiny. It's a hotel suite for people who have hotel lives, overpaid, overworked, overtravelled, and ephemeral, and that's all there is to it.

Yup. I truthfully last week was in a near clone of this except an additional bedroom on the other side, and same cabinets but gray, in Jakarta. They all look pretty much the same. Not much that can be done with them really they are so small. I lived in a similar but much bigger 1 br apartment for a decade. Regret it now.

[Anonymous]

The place makes 0 sense to buy. The PITI on that is almost 5k. You can rent a 1br for half that price in a nice (nicer than Chinatown with its increasing crime, as someone else said Chanel was just robbed again) area..

DC really needs to do a better job in tackling crime. They need to increase penalties, and not let the criminals out while they are awaiting trial. For example let's take a look at car jacking or car breakins, some countries (back in the day) had problems with that but they implented stringent punishments (think 20-30 year minimum jail sentence for breaking into or stealing a car) and the problem pretty much disappeared overnight. No one wants to go to jail for 30 years just for stealing (risk/reward makes no sense).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all sound like a bunch of petty, jealous and out of touch old ladies. It’s a friggin 1 BR CONDO in the downtown. It’s not one of your boring colonials in Upper Caucasia where nothing is going on. 635 square feet is a decent size for a 1 BR, especially one with an open floor plan, and that condo fees covers quite a bit not to mention a parking space.

We had a 640 sf condo in Logan that we sold several years ago for 500k. It was the same size as this unit, and was big enough to have a den and a bedroom and was plenty spacious.

This is not a bad deal at all. You’re all clueless.

Cool it, angry poster.

I lived in a condo similar to this one for a few years in my late 20s. It's the condo for an associate or analyst starting out in their career. You see the exact same soulless overpriced condo/apartment in every major city and global city. Identical twins exist in Dubai and Singapore and London and Tokyo and Sydney. And it is tiny. It's a hotel suite for people who have hotel lives, overpaid, overworked, overtravelled, and ephemeral, and that's all there is to it.

Yup. I truthfully last week was in a near clone of this except an additional bedroom on the other side, and same cabinets but gray, in Jakarta. They all look pretty much the same. Not much that can be done with them really they are so small. I lived in a similar but much bigger 1 br apartment for a decade. Regret it now.

Just curious, do you regret living in a 1 br for so long? Did you have other options, but not take them? (I'm always curious about how we get comfortable with things, and don't want to move, even if it's for a better situation.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a bargain, but it's nice. Condo prices always need to be balanced with the condo fees - high fees mean lower prices. That means it's probably not a great investment, but you'd have to see if it is better than renting.

It looks like lots of Boston apartments - very compact but convenient.

I am not sure what the long term future is for City Center. The smash and grab robberies at the luxury stores are concerning (Chanel hit twice recently) and with the arena moving out of DC that may make the whole are less lively. It's too bad, because it had promise.

I hope the city council just doesn’t give up on downtown. It took years of planning and sweat and tears to bring nice retail back downtown. But it seems priorities lay elsewhere.

+1. If we give in, the city will be in greater decline. We should be glad that City Center was developed, and cheer for it to survive.

We also need to give at-risk teenagers more to do - let's fund after-school, evening, and weekend programs. It's often teenagers who are committing these crimes, including car-jacking. Who knows why their parents are allowing this, but presumably the parents are overwhelmed with managing their own teens, and need support. I saw a news story about a smash and grab at the Bethesda Nike store, and the thieves in the photos are clearly very young and presumably came there via Metro.

[Anonymous]

No one would use this as their primary residence anyway, so size is kind of irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

No dog in this fight, but I think the hate on this place is overdone. These apartments are well built and very nicely outfitted relative to your standard DC fare (appliance quality, cabinets, etc). Personally, I prefer that kind of quakity over quantity (ie, square feet). The HOA isn't cheap, but, again, lesser buildings still charge $600-700 and may not include parking / storage. Perhaps a little overpriced given where rates are, but don't think it should be compared to more dumpy 1-2 bedrooms (like some posted above). And remember that in comparing with a rental, you've got to factor in: 1) the tax savings on currently high interest rates; 2) the monthly equity your building. Once you do, and considering the higher quality build/design of these units (space concerns aside), I think these apts can make good sense for the right person.