Capitol Hill State of the Market?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
+1, especially because people buying IB for schools mostly buy when their kids are toddlers or in preschool. Now is actually the perfect time to buy if you like Brent and have a 2 or 3 year old. You can send your kid to one of the other perfectly great preschools on the Hill or in Navy Yard and then they can go to the newly renovated Brent for Kindergarten. I think some Brent homes even get proximity preference for Peabody. Even with an older kid, I might buy IB for Brent if I found the right house and just send my kid to the swing space. They'll have buses running and if my kid was in 2nd or above, I'd be fine with that. It even functions as extra childcare because the commute time on the bus means drop off and pick up can happen earlier/later. Also while I don't know their renovation schedule, I sincerely doubt it's 3 years. Usually it's 18-24 months, even for a full scale renovation. For a family with multiple kids (which is most families) this might mean spending 1 or 2 years in the swing space with your oldest so that you can be IB for one of the best elementary schools on the East side of town (in a brand new building!). That would be worth it to me. |
Anonymous
|
What do folks think of 339 8th St NE? (https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/339-8th-St-NE-20002/home/9902859)
Further north than many on DCUM prefer, but 3BR for <1m is pretty rare these days, especially for a move-in-ready house. |
Anonymous
That price seems right. The cons are obviously location on 8th Street (busy bus route), one bath, no parking. Not too far north at all but a lot of people would rather not be on 8th. It’s very cute! |
Anonymous
Paying $1 million to live in a house with only one bathroom also is pretty rare these days, though I guess with the zoning someone could use the downstairs as a small office and live upstairs. It just seems like the buyer pool for such a place might be limited. |
Anonymous
I'd take 1 bath and a thoughtful layout over some of the houses that sacrifice flow for extra toilets every time. If you have little kids, basement is WFH space or playroom or whatever... |
Anonymous
Yes, when OP said "too far north" I was thinking it was close to H Street. But it's on a great section of Capitol Hill. It's right next to Music on the Hill, so I could maybe see where that could be a downside. |
Anonymous
| I think it's safe to say the vast majority of people looking to buy on the Hill will not even consider a house with only one upstairs bathroom. |
Anonymous
Don't know if that's fair... 357 2 bed+ houses were sold in 20003 in the last year, and only 276 had 2+ Baths (~75%). If you narrow to 3BR+, 217 houses were sold and 187 had 2 BA+ (~85%). 1 bath houses are the outlier, but it's clearly not a disqualifier. |
Anonymous
|
Another Constitution hit the market today: 419 Constitution Ave (https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/419-Constitution-Ave-NE-20002/home/9895637).
2 BR + office upstairs, 1+1 basement unit for $1.265 think this is a cute steal and will move quickly |
Anonymous
Won't work if you're the PP who requires two toilets, though |
Anonymous
Imagine wanting convenient bathroom options. Crazy, I know. |
Anonymous
| Ok, another cute "starter" Hill house for <1.5m-- 1013 C Street SE (https://www.redfin.com/DC/Washington/1013-C-St-SE-20003/home/9907400). I really like the layout, parking and they've packed a ton into a small package. It's only 1300 sq feet though, so I imagine it feels *tight* on the inside |
Anonymous
Yeah, the first floor seems nicely done for the space involved, but man, two of those three bedrooms are tiny. We lived in a Hill house that was approximately the same square footage and only had 2 bedrooms/1.5 baths, and even that was tight. |
Anonymous
Tiiiiny - you could always knock a wall down I suppose. Feels like a nice spot for reverse retirees or grandparents. |
Anonymous
It's totally fine to want more than one bathroom. It's also just the reality that if you are on a budget on the Hill, the age and style of options does not always give you a ton of options with a bathroom on every floor. If I found a house I loved with just 1 bathroom upstairs and some options for maybe putting in a full bathroom in the basement, I would buy it. It also matters the stage of life you are in, as well as size of family. Our family only has one kid who is in middle school. We currently have two bathrooms but the shower is a lot nicer in one than the other so everyone uses the same bathroom to shower and then our kid just uses the other bathroom for the toilet and to get ready in the morning. It's really not that hard for me to imagine a situation with 1 upstairs bathroom, a spare in the basement for when two people have to use the bathroom at once, and then we put a vanity in my kid's room. If you have 3 kids, that won't work for you, but I imagine a lot of things on the Hill don't work for a family of 5. |