Park View, D.C.

When I first heard from a realtor friend of mine that the Park View neighborhood has become one of the current “hot” places for new home buyers and developers, I was fairly certain that he was teasing me. However, in looking around the neighborhood over the past month or so, I’m not so sure now.

My experience with Park View real estate in the past few years is that it infrequently comes on the market, and when it does it can sit for a while if the house isn’t perfect. During the past year, however, this has changed. Houses are being listed more frequently and those that need more than a little work are attracting developers if not home buyers. Most interestingly is that there is a growing trend for a house to be listed but not have an open house. Most still have signs out front, but even that isn’t a given. I’ve also seen the return of multiple offers with escalations.

Below is a sample of four houses in the neighborhood that are currently under renovation. It will be interesting to to see how these properties fair when they’re completed and put back on the market.

1. 

   445 Lamont Street

   445 Lamont Street. This three bedroom, 2 bath home sold on June 12, 2012, for $261,500. It has 1,320 sq. ft. Permits were issued on June 29 for the “Interior renovation all levels: 1st floor: Relocated bath room and kitchen, add lighting, modify joists, replace windows. 2nd floor: relocated bath room, add beth room, add lighting, replace windows. basement: add bath room, relocate, remove walls. Add lighting.” A good benchmark for this property is 453 Lamont Street, which was fully renovated and placed on the market in September of last year for $424,900. In that property, they finished the basement and it sold in December 2011 for $419,000.
2. 

   434 Luray Place

   The next property to watch is 434 Luray Place. The property has been empty since November 2010 when a fire sent the owner to the hospital and left the house in need of major repair. I have not been able to find any recent sales information on this three bedroom, one bath property … so its possible that it is getting fixed up for a member of the family. Based on the permit issued on June 22, 2012, the renovations are extensive. They read as follows: “Interior Renovation-framing, drywall, doors, trim, paint, cabinet, appliances, flooring, upgrade fixtures electrical, plumbing, mechanical”
3. 

   624 Princeton Place

   624 Princeton Place sold on April 5, 2012, for $349,900. It was built as a three bedroom, one bath house in 1920. It was last listed as having 1,920 sq. ft. of living space. Permits were issued on June 15 and July 6 for the following work: “Interior demolition of non-bearing elements in a space up to 5,000 square feet (464.5 square meters). Add new bedroom, full bathroom, and utility closet in basement. Reconfigure kitchen layout on first floor. Add new half bathroom on first floor. Add new master bathroom on second floor. Add new w/d closet on second floor. Install new duct work.”
4. 

   622 Rock Creek Church Rd.

   Last but not least is 622 Rock Creek Church Road. It was built in 1911 as a three-story five bedroom, three bath house. It has 2,034 sq. ft. of living space and an unfinished basement. It sold on April 20, 2012, for $460,000. Several permits have been issued since April 11th. While the first ones were for “Interior demo: remove drywall and plaster. Clean all debris. non-load bearing wall,” it is clear in reading later permits and in watching the crew work on the property that the house is being converted into two living units. The basement was dug out and it along with the first floor will be one unit. The top two floors will be the other unit. I’ve been told both will contain two bedrooms.