When Will Crime Start Affecting Prices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington agent here. I settled three houses this year and have another settling in a few days for people leaving DC because of crime. All of them rented their properties, so the rental market doesn't seem to be affected by the crime rate.

Cannot wait to hear their stories when they try to sell their DC rental. Dumb move on their parts, they should have sold those homes. You should have advised them to do so.

They probably have a sub-3% interest rate and keeping the property is a hedge that crime will improve in DC (hint: it will).

The current crime wave is driven by deliberate policy choices made by entrenched actors. Those policies (and actors) will change at some point.

Even in the awful 80s and 90s, DC prices were either rising or flat AND exceeded national trends:

My comment was not related to crime. It's related to the blindly, pro-tenant policies of the DC govt. If you are a landlord you are screwed. There are pretty much no protections in place for you because you're unworthy scum in the eyes of DC. You want to be a low life tenant though? Come on in! Don't pay your rent, it doesn't matter there is nothing anyone can do to you. The homeowner wants to sell the home when your lease is up? Too bad for them, you the tenant have the right of first refusal, and you can also just refuse to leave - aka "squat".

And yet somehow so many owners are choosing to be landlords rather than sell and so many tenants are being priced out by rising rents. Landlording business is doing just fine!

[Anonymous]

To those that think crime isn’t affecting prices or are staying put, does this change at 400 murders a year? 500? How much crime is too much? Murders have more than doubled since 2008-2010 so it’s not impossible for this trend to continue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those that think crime isn’t affecting prices or are staying put, does this change at 400 murders a year? 500? How much crime is too much? Murders have more than doubled since 2008-2010 so it’s not impossible for this trend to continue.

Realistically it’s probably going to take the people who are able to move being the ones that are at risk of being in that 400-500. They’re not and they’re probably not going to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those that think crime isn’t affecting prices or are staying put, does this change at 400 murders a year? 500? How much crime is too much? Murders have more than doubled since 2008-2010 so it’s not impossible for this trend to continue.

What is the point of this question? And who knows? And why do you assume everyone is focused on crime? Unlike a PP who says they’re leaving the same upper NW neighborhood I live in because they are so much more worried about crime than they used to be, I don’t think about crime at all, really. (I spend a lot more time worried about unsafe drivers and pedestrian deaths.) Everyone is different!

What do you hope to learn from asking this question? Validation that your fear of crime is widely shared? Are you a real estate vulture trying to figure out when to buy? This whole thread is so weird.

[Anonymous]

I came upon this thread by googling ‘is crime affecting dc real estate’ and I find it interesting to read people’s opinions. I have considered putting my Petworth house on the market or renting it because I would like to feel safer. I have not been the victim of crime but it’s so nearby it’s a big possibility. I tend to drive everywhere and take shorter walks with my small dog.

[Anonymous]

I moved here in 1990 and had almost no awareness that crime was a problem. It was exciting to be in DC as a young 20s professional. I took basic precautions but don't ever remember being afraid.

The only reason we moved to Bethesda was to have better school choices. So far, the only crime I know of affecting our neighborhood are unlocked cars occasionally being burgled. Our teenagers roam freely to go buy ice cream or skate board. Houses do not sit more than a few days on the market. So maybe I'm still just clueless after all these years, but I think there's some alarmist tendencies in this thread.

The biggest difference I've noticed is the smell of pot. And it does really really bother me that some people's choice to get stoned in the day means that my 14 year old is breathing it. He recently pointed out to me a nurse in the parking lot of his doctor who was vaping in her car with the smell wafting out.

[Anonymous]

Prices will freeze not drop. Other areas will increase faster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington agent here. I settled three houses this year and have another settling in a few days for people leaving DC because of crime. All of them rented their properties, so the rental market doesn't seem to be affected by the crime rate.

Cannot wait to hear their stories when they try to sell their DC rental. Dumb move on their parts, they should have sold those homes. You should have advised them to do so.

They probably have a sub-3% interest rate and keeping the property is a hedge that crime will improve in DC (hint: it will).

The current crime wave is driven by deliberate policy choices made by entrenched actors. Those policies (and actors) will change at some point.

Even in the awful 80s and 90s, DC prices were either rising or flat AND exceeded national trends:

My comment was not related to crime. It's related to the blindly, pro-tenant policies of the DC govt. If you are a landlord you are screwed. There are pretty much no protections in place for you because you're unworthy scum in the eyes of DC. You want to be a low life tenant though? Come on in! Don't pay your rent, it doesn't matter there is nothing anyone can do to you. The homeowner wants to sell the home when your lease is up? Too bad for them, you the tenant have the right of first refusal, and you can also just refuse to leave - aka "squat".

TOPA doesn't apply to single-family homes: https://ota.dc.gov/release/topa-single-family-home-reform-law-takes-effect
And if you went to landlord-tenant court you'd see people getting evicted all the time for nonpayment of rent.
Does DC have more tenant-friendly rules than most places? Do the landlord-tenant judges expect landlords to follow the law on things like service, notice to quit, remedying housing code violations, etc.? Yes and yes. But you are exaggerating...if you weren't, why would any tenant pay rent and why would any individual or company operate rental real estate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I came upon this thread by googling ‘is crime affecting dc real estate’ and I find it interesting to read people’s opinions. I have considered putting my Petworth house on the market or renting it because I would like to feel safer. I have not been the victim of crime but it’s so nearby it’s a big possibility. I tend to drive everywhere and take shorter walks with my small dog.

When we left Petworth, crime was a major reason why. I don't think it's going to get better.

[Anonymous]

That area on Military Road right by 5333 Connecticut has had so much crime it surprises me. Between the armed robberies - recently for the Canada goose which was fake and the car jackings. The day there was a shooting and tons of shell casings were left behind with no apparent target. I wouldn’t be surprised if that impacts buy/sell for those blocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved here in 1990 and had almost no awareness that crime was a problem. It was exciting to be in DC as a young 20s professional. I took basic precautions but don't ever remember being afraid.

The only reason we moved to Bethesda was to have better school choices. So far, the only crime I know of affecting our neighborhood are unlocked cars occasionally being burgled. Our teenagers roam freely to go buy ice cream or skate board. Houses do not sit more than a few days on the market. So maybe I'm still just clueless after all these years, but I think there's some alarmist tendencies in this thread.

Your experience living in Bethesda right now might be a tad different than a family living in DC.

[Anonymous]

For the first time ever, I have considered leaving the District. Actually, crime is not a factor. I just think the City is so poorly run again. The mayor and council are a mess. City services are bad again. Those affect my quality of life.

I don't actually fear being a victim of crime.

[Anonymous]

DC has been poorly run (or struggling to manage around its problems) and a higher ratio of crime to its nicer satellite suburbs that have no obligations to DCs problems and operations for over a hundred years . People have done the math and left for these ever since. It is only the current crop of transplants that want their cake and eat it too that seem to think if they whine loud enough that someone will come along an fix everything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has been poorly run (or struggling to manage around its problems) and a higher ratio of crime to its nicer satellite suburbs that have no obligations to DCs problems and operations for over a hundred years . People have done the math and left for these ever since. It is only the current crop of transplants that want their cake and eat it too that seem to think if they whine loud enough that someone will come along an fix everything

To be fair, DC wasn't like this before the '68 riots. It used to be a very diverse area with lots of MC and UMC people of many races. Then of course it became very bad. Things started to get better and many of us had hopes for a return to the pre-riots DC. Now things are on the downslide again and the outlook looks grim. It became untenable for us so we sold our DC home and left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the first time ever, I have considered leaving the District. Actually, crime is not a factor. I just think the City is so poorly run again. The mayor and council are a mess. City services are bad again. Those affect my quality of life.

I don't actually fear being a victim of crime.

We sold our NW house and moved to Arlington a couple years ago. for crime reasons (just too close to our front door) and have been shocked how NICE it is to live in an area where everyone cares, and city services are plentiful