Brookland?

[Anonymous]

Long time Brookland resident here. Love the neighborhood and have always felt safe here, but there's always been an unrealistic subset of sellers here who think that if a large, high-end reno, SFH on a large lot just east of the Brookland Metro sells for $1.5M - their shoddily-flipped TH in Edgewood full of builder-grade finishes can command a similar price.
This phenomenon has gotten worse as the market has cooled in the past year or two. Really nice and well-located houses still sell for a premium, but buyers aren't as willing to overlook being on a busy street, being in a less walkable HOA development, etc.

Also, at least in the recent past the area has been affordable enough that it attracts less sophisticated builders (both individuals and flippers) and unfortunately they sometimes run out of money and either do a bad job or leave things to sit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope that the DC council understands that people are leaving DC. Forget about tax hikes, the council needs to focus on bringing down crime. Not just violent crime, but petty theft as well. So tired of going into stores where everything is locked up.

DC's population is actually growing (slowly) it's just not growing the demographic that buys million dollar houses in Brookland.

The real problem though isn't crime, despite the weird obsessions of this board, it's that houses in Brookland were only worth a million dollars with a 3% interest rate. A $900,000 mortgage at 3% is $3,794 a month, which is a totally reasonable price to pay to live in a SFH in a decent part of the city with a good commute despite not having amazing schools or walkability. A $900,000 mortgage at 7% is $5,988, which is absolutely not a reasonable price to pay for that same neighborhood.

If people listed their homes at $600-700K to get that sub-$4k mortgage payment houses in Brookland would sell like hotcakes, but nobody wants to lower their price and take a haircut.

Something's got to give though, because there are only so many buyers who can afford a million plus and they have no reason to pay that in Brookland when that same money could get them so much more elsewhere.

This. If you have a million dollars to spend on a house, you can stretch a bit more and/or wait a bit longer and find something WOTP that has good schools and barely any crime. People bought in Brookland and Petworth (where I live) for those prices because they either had family money and wanted to live in a "cool" area or thought they were guaranteed appreciation and instant home equity. But increasing crime has dampened the cool factor for DINKs planning on kids and interest rates have made the recent rates of appreciation a thing of the past. I sometimes wonder if we should have gotten out in 2020, but our mortgage for a 4 bedroom rowhouse is under $2k a month and our kids lotteried into WOTP schools. So we deal with the school commute and put the extra couple thousand we save on a new mortgage into retirement and travel. If we get tired of the school commute, we'll rent and rent for a few years, and that super cheap mortgage will subsidize a more expensive rental home near schools.

[Anonymous]

EOTP areas are always the first he feel downturns and then the hardest. Did people think that because a couple white people from state schools moved in that the dynamics of disproportionate crime and economic impacts would cease? That the schools would turn around?

People with means didn’t want to live there for the last 100 years but you thought the last ten years was the new forever normal? This could be a blip a dip or a crash but what ever it is you signed up for a front row seat to it and all future neg fluctuations. Not the end of the world but don’t act surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. That’s all.

Too dangerous, too mosquitoey, too isolated, too no-good-school

Just no

You are ridiculous. Your post is stupid and wrong. Brookland is a wonderful neighborhood and not isolated at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EOTP areas are always the first he feel downturns and then the hardest. Did people think that because a couple white people from state schools moved in that the dynamics of disproportionate crime and economic impacts would cease? That the schools would turn around?

People with means didn’t want to live there for the last 100 years but you thought the last ten years was the new forever normal? This could be a blip a dip or a crash but what ever it is you signed up for a front row seat to it and all future neg fluctuations. Not the end of the world but don’t act surprised.

Brookland has ALWAYS been stable because of Catholic. Some neighborhoods don't want to mirror WOTP. The people there are fantastic. I also think in the last 10 years it's become too expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of Brookland, you would be better off in Anacostia. Better location, cheaper and newer built homes.

I believe in Anacostia, but they are completely different neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stats say NW appreciates the most

Went to Brookland, was burglared and almost shot, never stepped foot in again. Good riddance

Where and when? I've lived in Brookland twice. Was wonderful both times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:EOTP areas are always the first he feel downturns and then the hardest. Did people think that because a couple white people from state schools moved in that the dynamics of disproportionate crime and economic impacts would cease? That the schools would turn around?

People with means didn’t want to live there for the last 100 years but you thought the last ten years was the new forever normal? This could be a blip a dip or a crash but what ever it is you signed up for a front row seat to it and all future neg fluctuations. Not the end of the world but don’t act surprised.

Brookland has ALWAYS been stable because of Catholic. Some neighborhoods don't want to mirror WOTP. The people there are fantastic. I also think in the last 10 years it's become too expensive.

Arguing two different perspectives. One is the ability to have a stable home life at a place which all areas will be different strokes for different folks. The other is market position of an area and there is a course a spectrum. Brookland is sliding towards the lower end of the spectrum but it isn’t Barry Farms or inner PG when it comes to market dynamics. The lower end tends to feel market effects worse relative to their place on the spectrum. That seems true enough

[Anonymous]

There will always be a ceiling on appreciation in Brookland because of the neighborhood schools. Until the residents who are buying $1 million homes start sending their kids to their neighborhood schools instead of sending them out of the neighborhood, nothing will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will always be a ceiling on appreciation in Brookland because of the neighborhood schools. Until the residents who are buying $1 million homes start sending their kids to their neighborhood schools instead of sending them out of the neighborhood, nothing will change.

There are a dozen good charter schools quite close to Brookland. Many people actually move to the neighborhood because their kid found a place in the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will always be a ceiling on appreciation in Brookland because of the neighborhood schools. Until the residents who are buying $1 million homes start sending their kids to their neighborhood schools instead of sending them out of the neighborhood, nothing will change.

There are a dozen good charter schools quite close to Brookland. Many people actually move to the neighborhood because their kid found a place in the schools.

+1. And it’s one of the closest neighborhood EOTP to downtown where you can get a SFH.

[Anonymous]

Buy on 16th. Brookland is hellish for crime, but even if that miraculously got better, the neighborhood is so cut off from the rest of DC that the commute isn’t worth it. Might as well live in the burbs.

Brookland is an acquired taste. People who bought there have a Stockholm syndrome. We almost bought there and thank your lucky stars every day for bailing on it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stats say NW appreciates the most

Went to Brookland, was burglared and almost shot, never stepped foot in again. Good riddance

Where and when? I've lived in Brookland twice. Was wonderful both times.

12 and the middle of the alphabet, not that long ago. Why don’t you post a few entries from the daily listserve stuff? That tells the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear it’s also the smell of weed. It’s not the weed itself for me, but the smell is awful.

Ha ha that's everywhere in DC now, and actually a lot of other cities also.

Never ever in my neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy on 16th. Brookland is hellish for crime, but even if that miraculously got better, the neighborhood is so cut off from the rest of DC that the commute isn’t worth it. Might as well live in the burbs.

Brookland is an acquired taste. People who bought there have a Stockholm syndrome. We almost bought there and thank your lucky stars every day for bailing on it

What are you even talking about? You are ridiculous.