July 20, 2007
Go Home Already: This is Why We're Hot
>> D.C. is the fifth most overpriced real estate market in the country. [Examiner]
>> Four teenage girls were arrested today after Frederick police said they found 33 pounds of marijuana in their car. [NBC4]
>> A police chase led a fleeing driver in a white Cadillac to drive on the wrong side of I-295. [WTOP]
>> The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the union representing 10,000 Amtrak workers, has reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the passenger railroad. [WJLA]
>> Vice President Dick Cheney will temporarily be in charge of the United States of America while President Bush undergoes a routine colonoscopy on Saturday at Camp David. We're stockpiling canned goods. [Associated Press]
>> What it Means to Be a Potterhead. [WaPo]
Photo of the DC Rollergirls by JamesCalder
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I love these surveys that rate DC, or New York, or Oslo, as having "overpriced homes." If a homes sells, then it is not overpriced. There is not set "value" on a home (contrary to what your realtor who probably never took an economics class tells you), the correct price for a home is the price that buyer is willing to pay. If I own a tiny house in a bad neighborhood, with holes in the roof, a rotting floor, and termites, and I sell it for $4.5 Million, then guess what the value of that house is? $4.5 million dollars and that house is not overpriced.
DC may be (and is) an expensive market. But if there are buyers willing to pay expensive prices (and there are) then it is not "overpriced."
@guest1
I'd like to agree with you, because I do think "overpriced" isn't being used correctly here. There are entirely unique things about DC that compel people to pay more than at comparable urban centers and it's unfair to call prices fitting of the demand "overpriced."
However, your example is pretty crappy. I mean, if four dilapidated houses as you described each sell for 100k, and then a fifth sells for 4.5m, and then a sixth totally identical house sells for 100k, that fifth house was undeniably overpriced, isn't it? I mean whatever the motivation of the person who bought it, they got a bad deal.
As I recall from civics, the president is not "in charge of the United States" but rather is in charge of the Executive Branch of the federal government. At least for now.
But Reid, it serves your purposes so much better when you attribute more power to those you dislike, and vice versa.
Clearly for anyone to wait that DC prices going to go down a little bit more- they're in it for a surprise. Data gathers from MRIS, GCAAR indicates that DC actually is seller's market. The total number of available (active) listings as of today (7/19) is 2623 homes. Over the past 30 days the number of homes went under contract is 1092 homes, and sales 609 homes.
Here's what interesting. The total number of homes under contract in June 2007 declined by 10.2% from 2238 to 2010 homes. But, prices remain strong. The average price for single family increased from $644,115 to $679,088 or 5.4%.
If prices is any indication, you can see from the chart below that condo prices also creeping up. The average price up from $406,501 in 2006 to $413,531. Still below the peak of 2005 at $426,576.
http://metrodchomes.typepad.com//urbantrekker/
Forbes is using "overpriced" when what they mean is "unaffordable."
The way people usually use the word "overpriced" is to indicate that they feel like whatever it is doesn't offer good value for the money. That's an individual judgement - what might be worth the price for some won't be for someone else. The prices alone can't show if it's a good price unless you know what the buyer values.
"Cheney in Charge" was some old sitcom, right? But seriously, Dick Chaney can't pinch-hit for the president. Cheney says he isn’t even in the darn Executive Branch.
The Presdient was not in charge before shrub started using the constitution as toilet paper. Now his minion has his fifteen minutes of fiat. At a minimum he is in charge of our paramilitary. Arguably he’s got his special police for those who are Muslim, do drugs, or have a criminal record at home. It is hard to believe this is the same country where Tom the Tinker and Shay lived.
It's hard to say if housing purchase prices in DC will fall a bit or not.
But those expecting it to drop 50% are fooling themselves.
I routinely hear people (usually young and stupid people) saying they are just waiting for those pricey 1 BR condos in their hip neighborhood to drop from $400,000 to around $175,000.
Ain't going to happen.
The days of DC being artificially cheap are over.
One caveat: if we don't get serious about crime then a highly publicized crime increase would put a serious dent in the city's revitalization, and DC real estate would lose value.
Hillman has it almost right. I'll put a caveat on his caveat: "if we don't get serious about crime then a highly publicized crime increase would put a serious dent in the city's revitalization, and DC real estate would lose value."
My caveat being that the neighborhoods which are already considered safest would see continued increased demand pressure, and a even higher rate of appreciation, were the marginal neighborhoods to slip backwards. Broadly speaking, this would hurt the city's revitalization. But certain, wealthy, micro-local real estate environments would continue to appreciate at a higher rate than the city average. Just as they have for years.
About those teens from Thurmont and Hagerstown with 33 pounds of marijuana in their car: someone needs to tell those girls that this is not what we mean by “Going Green."
The days of DC being artificially cheap are over.
Great! Just the incentive I needed to pack up and take my stagnant career elsewhere. Goodbye, DC. Your middling salaries won't keep me here long enough to participate in your inflated real estate market. Farewell, bureaucratic androids. One day you might just learn what it means to love.
Seriously, why would anyone pay $400K and up for a condo in Columbia Heights? Here's what you'd get along with that spiffy new apartment: kids throwing rocks at you, rampant street crime (many committed by said kids), a police force that seems intent on simply letting it all happen and a city government that is too busy handing out slaps on the wrist (especially to said kids). Oh, and that new Target complex is gonna make an already horrendous traffic situation about 100 times worse.
What a bargain!
I saw the DC Rollergirls once. After parading around for a half hour so that everyone could see how ohsocute they are, they got creamed by Pittsburgh. Fucking embarrassment if you ask me.
Flashback to late-70s: The days of [NYC] being artificially cheap are over.
Great! Just the incentive I needed to pack up and take my stagnant career elsewhere. Goodbye, [NYC]. Your middling salaries won't keep me here long enough to participate in your inflated real estate market. Farewell, [fashion, editing, and finance] androids. One day you might just learn what it means to love.
Sniff-sniff...
Nice pic of the Cherry Blossom Bombshells taking on the Secretaries of Hate...