Why isn’t this house in H street corridor selling?
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Anonymous
And how long has your house been sitting on the market? It must be torture living in that staged home. |
Anonymous
Not the PP, but I thought the kitchen placement was a problem too. The island design, which you pretty much have to have for a kitchen in the middle of the house, limits cabinet space. It's probably also why there's no microwave (there goes some of the limited counter space). And, yeah, the fridge opening away from the kitchen is weird, but might be fixable. Plus...well, we don't keep our kitchen in showing-pristine condition, so I'm not a huge fan of open kitchen designs anyway, but I've sort of resigned myself to the fact that it's trendy in all the flips. But an open kitchen right next to the living room just makes the "you can see all the dirty dishes" problem worse. Yeah, I could be better at doing the dishes, but if I'm going to spend $1.35 million on the house, I'd rather the house fit me than make me fit the house. As for why it hasn't sold: yeah, that location is a problem. As others have mentioned, it's a little too close too H & 8th. The big glass door just screams, "Hello, thieves! Break on in!" Plus, the bedrooms are small, the halfway-up-the-wall two-tone paint is weird (and is that brown/blue rectangle in the LR painted on the wall?), and it lacks any green space at all. There's lots of space, but it's not use efficiently IMO. I do like the solar, though. I wonder if having a family room downstairs instead of a separate unit isn't hurting it, too. It's a lot easier to swing the payments on a $1.35 million house if you can rent out the basement. |
Anonymous
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Location. I agree with others that the house itself has some drawbacks, including a lack of functional outdoor space and some awkwardness in the layout. But that’s true of almost any row house in the city— I’ve seen bigger and much more expensive houses on the Hill with the same quirks, and yet they still demand more than this house.
H Street is at an interesting crossroads because it’s being pulled in several directions. Some people want it to be more like Cap Hill— a little sleepy, very family friendly, but still convenient to services and commerce. Some of the developments on H lean more in the direction of U street and Shaw, catering to a young professional crowd. And then importantly, you have the folks who have been around H for decades, who look at both of the above groups and say, “Go away, gentrifiers.” H & 8th is pretty emblematic of those tensions— houses like this, the huge development on the south side of H completed earlier this year, and the dozens of folks who camp out near the bus stops as they have for years. It is not a comfortable coexistence. |
Anonymous
Most refrigerators come with hardware so you can switch direction the door opens. That needs to be done regardless of the sofa placement. The fridge should open towards the kitchen. If this fridge door cant be switched, they should have bought a different model. It should be a free and simple fix. |
Anonymous
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1) price for the
2) location compared to 3) what else is out there I live a few blocks from here in a house with nearly identical square footage that wouldn’t sell for more than 850k. We’re on a quieter street and have a nice yard. Our house itself is nowhere near as “done” as this one, but if people can find a nearly identical house in the same neighborhood for 400k less, why would they buy this one? |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
If you can’t figure out that all refrigerators are designed to open either way, you probably shouldn’t be giving advice as well. It’s a 5 min job to have the door open to the left. |
Anonymous
You have to be kidding me. I live near Wilson High and I have teens with bikes hanging out nearby all of the time. Sometimes they even commit actual crimes. And there are a lot of popular $1.3 mil homes nearby including mine. Sometimes there isn't a logical explanation and you have to go see it yourself. There is a lot of new development going on in that neighborhood, so you won't see the "bad neighborhood" discount any more. The new development is priced in. |
Anonymous
That's great, but the fact is the house is sitting in a market with almost zero inventory and historically low rates. |
Anonymous
You're right: you really need to see a location yourself to know what you're talking about. The people who hang around H & 8th aren't "teens with bikes." I don't think they're all drug addicts or anything like that, but anyone viewing a house near that corner is going to see the people who hang out there every day and get nervous. Another point against this house is that this house was also for sale right across the street: https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/814-8th-St-NE-20002/home/9901072 It's larger, has more usable outdoor space, a better kitchen, and was listed at $275k less. |
Anonymous
We need to see what that comp closes at before judging. We sold our rowhome on 8th about a block from these a few years ago. We interviewed 6 realtors and they and a $300k spread on their suggested list price with zero convergence. We went with the second highest and sold for $80k above listing in an 8 way bidding war. For the record, when we lived there the corner of 8th and H was pretty much always a shit show. Lots of loitering. Open air during sales and drug use. As a woman, ridiculous amounts of harassment. I took the X2 to and from work so I was there daily and it was never pleasant. That said, those issues didnt extend down 8th. There was no reason to walk away from H street, so no one did. We owned only a block off of H on 8th and it was completely fine. No issues at all. Not a super sleepy street with traffic, but normal for a city. |
Anonymous
Right on 8th street one block of of H is a LOT different from living near Wilson High, for many reasons. At a minimum, the traffic on 8th street. And what goes on on 8th and H st is not of the level of "teens with bikes hanging out." I love the area, but the fact is, 1.3 mil is the most expensive house on the block, and unless your #1 priority is a fancy renovation, you can get a lot more for 1.3 million in the same area. I think this is a pretty simple case of expensive renovations not paying off. For example: https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/704-G-St-NE-20002/home/9901112 |
Anonymous
that's so interesting on the pricing disparities. did you ask any of the low-ballers their rationale? I have a row house near Lincoln Park and I really have NO idea what it should go for, even by looking at comps. I feel like the houses on the Hill have so many different variables that there's a lot of subjectivity: do you value fancy renovations, original details, outdoor space, parking, zoned school, under 15 min walk to metro, really close to bars/restaurants, proximity to parks, walkable to Hill offices, renovated basement, extra bedroom ... depending on how you value any set of those things, the prices could be very different. |
Anonymous
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A few things jump out to me:
-no half bath on the main floor -the basement “bedroom” has no legal egress method. No way is anyone getting out those tiny windows -No door between basement stairs and main level For $1.3M I’d want those things |
Anonymous
Lol this really made me laugh. There is NO comparison between Tenleytown and 8th an d H NE. And I went to Wilson over 20 years ago and grew up near 8th & H. |