Schools cause PoP to leave Petworth

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Maybe he sold because he realized that Petworth is at the height of the market now. Cash out, plain and simple.

Correct, PoP bought in 2003 for 207k. Sold for 700k. Sitting on about a half-mil in profit.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4110-4th-St-NW-W...shington-DC-20011/485208_zpid/

You don't seriously think that 12 years of depreciation and inflation results in a true 1/2 mil in profit? If so, I have some timeshares in Fl. I'd like to sell you.

economists...

Seriously. When I say a half-mil in profit, i really meant a half-mil in his POCKET...depending on how much he may have borrowed against the house to do work on it, etc.

ok -- so ignore the fact that 2015 dollars are worth less than 2003 dollars. Ignore the cost of maintenance, upkeep and improvements. Ignore opportunity costs of money tied up in acquisition costs.

You still need to close on a property and most likely pay commission on the $700K. As a buyer there were settlement costs too. Not to mention anything else purchased has appreciated along with the original house. That's not even remotely near $1/2 mil.

so seriously, I'll fly you down and put you up for the weekend. . . all you have to do is sit through a brief marketing presentation. . .

I'm familiar with how finances work. I've lived in my house for 6 years and put plenty of money into it in terms of upgrade and maintenance. And I've taken plenty in deductions on my taxes. But if I sell it for 700K tomorrow, and my original mortgage was 200k (assuming it was in the heady days of 0% down), when I'm finished with my sale, I"m leaving the settlement table with something around $500K coming my way. Assuming I haven't put myself into debt to stay in my current place, that is a nice chunk of cash to put down on my next house.

would you mind sharing contacts for your realtor, settlement company, and real property officer who provides so much free service? Or the magic raygun that counters the economic reality that 2015 dollars are less valuable than 2003 ones

$½ mil is not that much to put towards houses in upper NW btw unless you can pay out a substantial nut on a jumbo mortgage. Don't really see it for bloggers, but don't know what Princess of Petworth does to earn a living.

you have a cialis grade hard-on for this guy

[Anonymous]

I think he was referring to the blogger's wife, who presumably contributes to the mortgage; not referring to the blogger as "princess"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

.... a small house in Van Ness

People. There is no such thing.

Just like there are no Tudor mansions in "Petworth" or high-rises in "Palisades". Van Ness .... has no houses. It's a metro stop, 5 condo/apartment buildings, UDC and a handful of commercial-only addresses right on Connecticut.

If you own a home near the Van Ness metro station on Van Ness St., it's in Forest Hills, Wakefield, North Cleveland Park or something like that.

Plenty of people living in that area of town call it the "Van Ness neighborhood."

[jsteele]

In the other PoP thread, someone said that I had Dan's back (that would apparently be a bad thing). He would probably vehemently disagree with that suggestion given the crap that has been spewed about him here. Nevertheless, I do want everyone to be cautious about dissecting someone's personal financial affairs. Even public figures deserve a modicum of privacy.

[Anonymous]

Can I ask the off-topic question of if this is the guy who now owns brownstoner? Or were pop and brownstoner both bought out?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yeah, he was rezoned from Powell to Bruce Monroe. (We were too, and there is honestly no way I'd send my kid there either.)

Strange to imply that the schools are that different, they are very similar, with similar demographics. A few years ago Bruce Monroe had better test scores. Don't have a kid in either school but Powell is not that much better than Bruce Monroe. And Bruce Monroe now has a new, young, dynamic principal.

Powell has higher test scores, a lower percentage of English Language learners, and its percentage of whites+asians+mixed race is three times that of bruce monroe. I do not know if those are related to DS's concerns, but that stood out for me comparing the profiles.

This is funny. Bruce Monroe has a white population of 2%, at Powell it's 5%. Whites+asians+mixed race is 3% compared to 8%. Give me a break, compared to a WOTP school, or a school in the rest of the country, their demographics are very similar. 11% black (powell), 19% black at bruce Monroe, similar Hispanic populations.

It doesn't really matter in a Powell vs BMPV comparison that there would be 2 or 5% white students, when his child is entering PK3 in over a year. If you look at BMPV early ed today (or rather, a month ago before the summer break), you'd see that it is way more diverse than the school-wide figures would suggest to someone who isn't looking too closely and isn't realizing that 5th grade doesn't have the same demographics as PK3 at a school in a gentrifying neighborhood. Effectively, for BMPV, the concern isn't about succeeding in attracting the Pop, but the long-range worry is becoming maintaining enough of an ELL population to cater to in the immersion model. A child entering PK3 in 2016 will be in a classroom likely at least 40% white, just like at Powell.

Eh, good riddance. He was getting creepy and conceited. A lot of statements less subjective than factually incorrect, and him deleting comment after comment from different readers attempting to correct the inaccuracy.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:C'mon people. Despite what he said on his blog, I am sure that the last year's spike in violent crime, including some notable incidents in Petworth (several daytime shootings with people and children walking around), played a role in their decision to move.

I do not see why you would be sure. As he stated, he has been there 12 years, and it is certainly safer now than it was 12 years ago. And the schools issue is quite enough for a move to make sense - Occam's Razor suggests no need to speculate on other motivation.

People move due to crime when they have kids, not when they're single 20 somethings. He has a 2 year old and baby on the way - I think it's highly likely that consideration of safety was equally as important as school choice.

Plenty of single people move because of crime, and plenty of parents live in neighborhoods that some people consider unsafe (obviously including Petworth) Given those facts, and the fact that DS explicitly said it was not about safety, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth.

I agree. He doesn't want to dump on Petworth as being unsafe, at least not by explicitly stating so. But he has no problem dumping on Bruce Monroe, a school which he's never had a child enrolled and he likely knows little to nothing about the school as a parent of an enrolled student. That rubs me the wrong way. He could have left the school question open the same way he did on neighborhood safety.

How is he dumping on it? He didn't even specify the school. I have a lot of problems with that blog, even besides the blindly pro-gentrifier perspective (such as the way he never makes a phone call to find out the answers to questions people pose, just puts the question up and lets people click through the comments to find some useful information), but I don't think saying he's moving for better school options is unfair or unreasonable.

Everyone knows it's Bruce Monroe and he was rezoned out of Powell. That's a given. People's reasons for moving are never a given unless they actually STATE it's because of schools, which is what he did.

"Everyone" knows? I live in-bounds for Bruce Monroe and have been reading his blog for years, and I never knew what schools he was or wasn't zoned for. It's a bit much to slam him for saying he was moving for schools when he didn't mention any school names. Is there anyone on this board who, if they were being honest, would say they think the school options -- from PK3 through 12 -- look better in Petworth than they do in whatever west of the park neighborhood he's moving to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

.... a small house in Van Ness

People. There is no such thing.

Just like there are no Tudor mansions in "Petworth" or high-rises in "Palisades". Van Ness .... has no houses. It's a metro stop, 5 condo/apartment buildings, UDC and a handful of commercial-only addresses right on Connecticut.

If you own a home near the Van Ness metro station on Van Ness St., it's in Forest Hills, Wakefield, North Cleveland Park or something like that.

Person. You are not the namer of neighborhoods.

I live near Van Ness and Reno. When someone asks me where I live, I say "Van Ness." I have yet to be arrested by the official neighborhood name authorities. Everyone knows where I am talking about.

Conversely, the few times I said North Cleveland Park I was laughed at and asked if that was like North Bethesda (aka Rockville).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C'mon people. Despite what he said on his blog, I am sure that the last year's spike in violent crime, including some notable incidents in Petworth (several daytime shootings with people and children walking around), played a role in their decision to move.

I do not see why you would be sure. As he stated, he has been there 12 years, and it is certainly safer now than it was 12 years ago. And the schools issue is quite enough for a move to make sense - Occam's Razor suggests no need to speculate on other motivation.

People move due to crime when they have kids, not when they're single 20 somethings. He has a 2 year old and baby on the way - I think it's highly likely that consideration of safety was equally as important as school choice.

Plenty of single people move because of crime, and plenty of parents live in neighborhoods that some people consider unsafe (obviously including Petworth) Given those facts, and the fact that DS explicitly said it was not about safety, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth.

I agree. He doesn't want to dump on Petworth as being unsafe, at least not by explicitly stating so. But he has no problem dumping on Bruce Monroe, a school which he's never had a child enrolled and he likely knows little to nothing about the school as a parent of an enrolled student. That rubs me the wrong way. He could have left the school question open the same way he did on neighborhood safety.

How is he dumping on it? He didn't even specify the school. I have a lot of problems with that blog, even besides the blindly pro-gentrifier perspective (such as the way he never makes a phone call to find out the answers to questions people pose, just puts the question up and lets people click through the comments to find some useful information), but I don't think saying he's moving for better school options is unfair or unreasonable.

Everyone knows it's Bruce Monroe and he was rezoned out of Powell. That's a given. People's reasons for moving are never a given unless they actually STATE it's because of schools, which is what he did.

"Everyone" knows? I live in-bounds for Bruce Monroe and have been reading his blog for years, and I never knew what schools he was or wasn't zoned for. It's a bit much to slam him for saying he was moving for schools when he didn't mention any school names. Is there anyone on this board who, if they were being honest, would say they think the school options -- from PK3 through 12 -- look better in Petworth than they do in whatever west of the park neighborhood he's moving to?

And who knows? He or his wife might have been willing to give DCPS a try for a year or two, but knowing that they might throw in the towel, they did the math and concluded that the blowback from leaving a school they'd been attending (and supporting) would be even crazier than what they're already going through. They'd be pissing off their fellow parents at the school - who they actually know - as well as shi--ing all over their neighborhood.

This way, less damage done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:C'mon people. Despite what he said on his blog, I am sure that the last year's spike in violent crime, including some notable incidents in Petworth (several daytime shootings with people and children walking around), played a role in their decision to move.

I do not see why you would be sure. As he stated, he has been there 12 years, and it is certainly safer now than it was 12 years ago. And the schools issue is quite enough for a move to make sense - Occam's Razor suggests no need to speculate on other motivation.

People move due to crime when they have kids, not when they're single 20 somethings. He has a 2 year old and baby on the way - I think it's highly likely that consideration of safety was equally as important as school choice.

Plenty of single people move because of crime, and plenty of parents live in neighborhoods that some people consider unsafe (obviously including Petworth) Given those facts, and the fact that DS explicitly said it was not about safety, I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he was telling the truth.

I agree. He doesn't want to dump on Petworth as being unsafe, at least not by explicitly stating so. But he has no problem dumping on Bruce Monroe, a school which he's never had a child enrolled and he likely knows little to nothing about the school as a parent of an enrolled student. That rubs me the wrong way. He could have left the school question open the same way he did on neighborhood safety.

How is he dumping on it? He didn't even specify the school. I have a lot of problems with that blog, even besides the blindly pro-gentrifier perspective (such as the way he never makes a phone call to find out the answers to questions people pose, just puts the question up and lets people click through the comments to find some useful information), but I don't think saying he's moving for better school options is unfair or unreasonable.

Everyone knows it's Bruce Monroe and he was rezoned out of Powell. That's a given. People's reasons for moving are never a given unless they actually STATE it's because of schools, which is what he did.

"Everyone" knows? I live in-bounds for Bruce Monroe and have been reading his blog for years, and I never knew what schools he was or wasn't zoned for. It's a bit much to slam him for saying he was moving for schools when he didn't mention any school names. Is there anyone on this board who, if they were being honest, would say they think the school options -- from PK3 through 12 -- look better in Petworth than they do in whatever west of the park neighborhood he's moving to?

Clearly your reading comprehension is off, unless you haven't been keeping up with this thread. Did you even read his article about his move?

[Anonymous]

He didn't name names, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. It's not surprising that the public face of gentrification gets a little closer examination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He didn't name names, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. It's not surprising that the public face of gentrification gets a little closer examination.

Oh, wait, I was taking the thread's word for it. But couldn't he have been rezoned to Barnard or Raymond? I don't want to know his Petworth address, but I would hope that those who know it have looked at the zoning map before naming Bruce Monroe?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, all that is public info if you know how to look it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He didn't name names, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. It's not surprising that the public face of gentrification gets a little closer examination.

Oh, wait, I was taking the thread's word for it. But couldn't he have been rezoned to Barnard or Raymond? I don't want to know his Petworth address, but I would hope that those who know it have looked at the zoning map before naming Bruce Monroe?

His home was posted some pages ago. It was also in the Real Estate forum, unless it was deleted.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:There always have been people who couldn't deal with the the stark differences that they have to face in Petworth when their kids hit school age. This guy is just one more in a long stream. Really, nothing new.

+1 yawn.
Take note all you pre-kid hipsters. Life gets a lot more real when you start thinking about your own kids. And schools. And really, once your kids start hitting school age, you aren't hanging in coffee shops, jazz clubs or pop up restaurants like you did before kids, or when your kids were babies. Welcome to adulthood.

What about us non-pre-kid(s) couldn't-really-pass-as-hipsters supposed to do with our kids who are already in school here? Do I run west when my panties get in a bunch or when I clutch my pearls hard enough?

You save up for when the kid is 22 still living at home with a coke problem and thinks they are a OG.