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Oh, really? My friend swears the parking in NW is horrid, she wants to stay away! But I don't think she'd pass it up for a good deal....
You can't just paint an area as large as NW with such a broad brush. Your friend is probably familiar with the popular spots of NW like downtown and Dupont, where, yes, you can spend half an hour driving around and never find a parking spot at times. But there are other parts of NW that are more like suburbs and where you can usually easily park in front of your house or at least near it. Takoma is more like that.
NW DC covers a VERY diverse amount of neighborhoods. You can't assume they are all the same in any one aspect, be it parking, crime, schools, housing prices, etc. That goes for the other quadrants as well, but to a lesser extent. NW is probably the most varied.
A lot of the misconceptions I read about DC on this forum revolve around people assuming that if part of a quadrant is a certain way, then all of the quadrant is like that. The most popular of these myths is "I heard SE/NE DC is dangerous and ghetto." Well yes, a lot of it is. There are also parts of NE and SE with multi-million-dollar homes where Senators live. Then there are other parts that are middle-class and relatively safe, like Brookland.
It may be a distinction without much difference, but I think Takoma DC is wholly within NW. Riggs Park is in NE
It gets a little funky up there because North Capitol is still the NE/NW divider, but it starts to meander around some once you get north of the hospital.
Oh, really? My friend swears the parking in NW is horrid, she wants to stay away! But I don't think she'd pass it up for a good deal....
Parking in the area of NW where Takoma is, is actually far easier than it is in the rest of DC. In fact the only area I would consider it consistently bad is downtown. Whether that is in the NW, NE (NoMA/H St NE), or SE (Capital Hill) section.
Again, it's not a good idea to paint with too broad a brush. Again, it's a very simplistic understanding of DC. Having some neighborhood knowledge helps.
Takoma, Manor Park, and Brightwood you would not run into many parking issues in NW. They are three NW neighborhoods she should check out considering her budget. Again parking in much of NW is pretty easy once you are outside of Downtown.
I'm from Atlanta, but have been helping a childhood friend look for a new home via internet listings, and making phone calls to realtors for her; she's a single mom and quite busy.
I know in general that DC is a large metropolis, and of course, with all the conveniences, there will be pricey homes, but I don't think I was prepared for what I've seen. I mean, where do I start? First off, can anyone explain the residential home esthetic to me? Everything in DC proper looks VERY OLD. Like, almost run down. Even in what's considered a "nice area." I'm just not sure what I was expecting exactly. I've been to DC to visit her a few times, but I must have forgotten the landscape. Even when I go to NYC, they're tearing down entire buildings to put up brand new, luxury apartment buildings. I just fail to see more new real estate in DC. Maybe it's a space issue, I'm not sure. Then again, I'm used to Atlanta, where we have 5x the space of DC, and every time I turn around some big time developer is throwing some new, swanky, hip apartment building or condos up. Heck, The Palms hotel and casino just put in a bid to build a new casino downtown. But I know up north is more dense, with less space so I guess that's the difference.
Why aren't developers coming into neighborhoods in DC and totally gentrifying a whole neighborhood, instead of buying 2 or 3 houses on the block, which leaves you with old and new mixed?? Then once they do buy one, they renovate it and flip it for an ASTRONOMICAL, RIDICULOUS price! I'm so confused. I just don't know how the average person with a family affords to buy there.
I suggested to my friend that maybe she should just buy a fixer-upper, and renovate it to her liking; then maybe she can save some money. Well, first of all, when she DOES find a fixer-upper in a fairly good community, she's competing with investors who have cash on hand, and will always win if the property comes to a bidding war. And let me just say: At some point, they all seem to get that point!! I'm so serious right now. Like, two days ago, I called her and told her to text her real estate agent STAT on a property that was in her desire area, and in her price range. By the time the agent called about the property and got back to her, the status had changed to PENDING!! What?! Wow, it's red hot up there in DC, clearly.
Anywho, I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to better navigate this process. She's an attorney and makes $130k per year, and her budget is $425K. She's been approved for an FHA loan, and wants 3 bdrm and 1.5 to 2 baths with a basement and small yard (she has twin boys). Her target areas are these:
Michigan Park
North Michigan Park
Riggs Park-Ft. Totten
Ft. Lincoln
Atlas
Woodridge
Queens Chapel
Brookland (In her price range, even the fixers are over $400k)
Trinidad (MAYBE. As she said this is "up and coming.")
If there are any other nice, safe areas that would fit into this budget that you guys know of in DC proper, I really appreciate it in advance. She's is totally against moving out to Virginia, because she said the traffic is a NIGHTMARE! And according to her, DC has better schools than Maryland, so that's out. Thanks!
D.C. is building more luxury class A condo and apartment buildings than any city in the nation outside of New York City and its not close.
Here is a website that tracks development in the D.C. area for reference. D.C. is a very urban, dense, apartment high-rise style city and apartment/condo high-rise's are the only thing that gets built in cities with the density and vibrancy of Washington D.C.
D.C. is building more luxury class A condo and apartment buildings than any city in the nation outside of New York City and its not close.
Here is a website that tracks development in the D.C. area for reference. D.C. is a very urban, dense, apartment high-rise style city and apartment/condo high-rise's are the only thing that gets built in cities with the density and vibrancy of Washington D.C.
In this respect the OP has no clue what they are talking about, DC has tons of new developments, more so than any other city in the US as it stands. The problem is where she is looking, what she is looking for, and what her budget is. In DC to get into a new building you need to at least have around $700k, if not more if one is talking about a condo.
Most of these are apartment buildings, not condo buildings. There is a ton of apartment buildings being built, but condos are bit harder to find and tend to be older, especially in the OP price range listed. What may get you a very new A class building or luxury house in Atlanta, will not get you much in DC.
Houses though are limited in terms of growth, there are not many places to build large numbers of them. Again, the price range thing comes up again. The newer houses in Brookland for example START at $800k.
Again, this is a real estate market that the person from Atlanta is not used too. Somebody diving in from a higher COL city like SF, Boston, or NYC would be able to adjust. But Atlanta is comparably cheap, it's a low COL city.
It's really not even worth it anymore, unless you're rich.
That applies to nearly everything. Always has.
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