About Washington's Crestwood

Crestwood is where I live. It's surrounded on three sides by Rock Creek Park, and about two and a half miles north of the White House. So it's downtown, but it has just a bit of a suburban feel to it.

The housing stock here is pretty eclectic. There are Wardman style row houses off 16th Street. As you go further west, there are mostly detached homes, some quite spectacular. And not surprisingly, the wide range of sales prices reflect this. Here are the numbers for 2011, as compared to 2010:

Last year, the number of homes that sold increased from 18 in 2010 to 29. And the homes that did sell took less timer to attract offers, down from 110 to 78 days on the market. The high, low and average prices for 2011 were higher than those in 2010, but the median took a bit of a dive.

Compared to some other neighborhoods in Upper Northwest DC, Crestwood did not see significant price gains. But that could be a market adjustment to reflect the steep price increases during the bubble years.

Currently there is very little inventory - only four homes are currently for sale. This is the smallest number I've seen in three decades of selling real estate in this neighborhood. If you'd like more information about homes in Crestwood, please contact me.

If you are planning a move to or from the Washington, DC area, I can help! I am licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. You may call, email or text me at:

Housepat@mac.com, 202-549-5167

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CHECK OUT MY LATEST BLOG IN THE WASHINGTON POST!

For a week now, there have been baited Have-A-Heart traps on my second floor veranda waiting for The Raccoon (The Beast in the Attic) to go for the sardines.

The guys from Adcock's Trapping Service, the professionals I had to call in, were becoming concerned that this fellow might be what they call "trap smart". Like he'd been through the drill before.

I accused Trapper John of coddling the raccoon. I wanted him gone.

He's been quite happy, sleeping in my warm attic by day, then crashing in and out as he leaves for a night of carousing and knocking over the neighborhood garbage cans, then comes back early in the morning. By Monday, when Trapper John showed up to re bait the existing trap and add a couple of others, I was getting sick of the beast. Sunday night, Dick actually went online to see if he could find out what the penalty might be for shooting this pest - would he just have to pay a fine, or would they throw him in jail?

I'd actually had a conversation with Adcock about the possibility of using a "lethal" trap, then my liberal guilt kicked in, and I decided to give him another couple of days.

Finally, last night at about 11:30, I heard some crashing around on the veranda, the location of the baited traps. I turned on the light, and I could see that one trap had been sprung and there was somebody furry - and pretty pissed off - trying to get out.

So the saga is over. They will seal up the spot where he was letting himself in, and they'll take the animal to a better place. I'm told he'll be relocated to a beautiful 4-H camp ground far enough away that he won't be able to find his way back.

Living near Rock Creek Park is wonderful. There are hiking trails withing an easy walk from my house. The place is teeming with deer, raccoons, possums and even a few foxes and coyotes. And I guess the price I have to pay is the occasional visit from someone who is supposed to be living in the park - especially when it's cold and icy outside!

If you are planning a move to or from the Washington, DC area, I can help! I am licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. You may call, email or text me at:

Housepat@mac.com, 202-549-5167

SEARCH ALL LISTINGS IN THE DC METRO AREA

CHECK OUT MY LATEST BLOG IN THE WASHINGTON POST!

For the last few days, Snowball, my beautiful blue-eyed kitty, has been going nuts. There is a noisy raccoon in the attic. And Snowball wants to do what he thinks is his job and scare the guy off.

Sorry, Snowball! We called in the professionals!

Raccoon Doom (a.k.a. Adcock Trapping Service) dropped by to check the trap. Smart coon! He hasn't gone near the thing.

I suggested that they just go up into the attic and get him, and the trapper looked at my like I was nuts. Then he told me that they didn't work weekends, and just in case he got caught in the trap, they didn't want the poor thing to have to sit there until they come back on Monday. So they tied it open.

What? What? The raccoon isn't going to leave for the weekend!

I work weekends!

Right now, I am a little annoyed. They are pampering this pest! Will I hold this against them when I write their Angie's List report?

The animal rights people have worked to pass some anti-cruelty laws. The trappers have to remove the critters live, as a "family", if necessary, and relocate them to a new home. My guy will go live at the 4-H camp facility somewhere in Montgomery County.

But somehow, when I hear this creature lumbering around my attic doing who knows what, I want to get a gun

Grrrrrrr!

It started a couple of days ago.

I was having a fun conversation with blog buddy Jeff Dowler when I heard footsteps an the ceiling above my home office. Sounded way too big to be a squirrel. It sounded like something that should be living in Rock Creek Park, which surrounds Crestwood on three sides.

A monster in my attic?

Then I started to remember all of the homes I've sold in Crestwood where I had to include addenda that read:

"Raccoon dung in the attic to be removed and attic to be professionally cleaned at owners' expense prior to settlement."

Or another:

"Mummified raccoon on the fireplace shelf to be removed at sellers' expense prior to settlement."

Or:

"Hibernating raccoon in attic stairwell to be relocated to parkland with point of entry to the house sealed up."

You get the drift.

Suddenly, one of these guys seems to have moved into my own attic. He sounds HUGE! He's not hibernating. And it was time to call in a professional relocation company.

When Raccoon Doom showed up, I was out previewing houses, and Dick let him in. Trapper John bravely went up to the attic and found him. He then backed down the stairs. Our monster was huge!

He found the point of entry, near the roof of the second floor verandah, so he set a trap there, just outside the bedroom door. It's one of those "have a heart" things, so it won't hurt him, but it will totally piss him off.

Trapper John will be stopping back each day until the monster comes out and heads for the bait - I'm guessing peanut butter or Raccoon Chow. They don't want to trap him in the attic because I he's heavy and it's probably hard to get a giant, angry, squirming raccoon down narrow, steep attic stairs and out of the house. Then they take him away to some nice woods. I'm hoping it's West Virginia where he won't find his way back to my nice, warm attic.

In the meantime, he is making his presense known with footsteps all over the attic. Once, it sounded like he tried to come down the stairs, making me very glad I have a good, sturdy door that Willie and the cats cannot open.

The relocation company is not really called Raccoon Doom. It's Adcock's Trapping Service, and I'm reaching the point where I don't really care weather the big guy is relocated to the wild or becomes part of someone's new coat!

Oh, Pat! That sounds mean!

But so do the noises over my head!

If you are planning a move to or from the Washington, DC area, I can help! I am licensed in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. You may call, email or text me at:

Housepat@mac.com, 202-549-5167

SEARCH ALL LISTINGS IN THE DC METRO AREA

CHECK OUT MY LATEST BLOG IN THE WASHINGTON POST!

Whether I'm at my block's book group meeting or a neighborhood picnic, the subject of Crestwood real estate never fails to come up.

Traditionally, one of Crestwood's draws has been prices that are somewhat lower than those west of Rock Creek Park for a close-in neighborhood with wonderful residents and many amenities. It is surrounded on three sides by Rock Creek Park, has a mix of architecture, and is very convenient to downtown. And until the big price run-up between 2002 and 2007, it was relatively affordable.

What's happening now?

If we look at the numbers for the year-to-date, there are some interesting signs.

Total Number of Sales: so far this year, 28 homes have settled - the highest number since 2005 (32 sales), and by the end of the year, we could set a record.

Average and Median Prices: At $794,623 (average) and $749,000 (median) both are lower than last year, and still below the 2004 levels. But most of the sales have been of the smaller "granny houses" that needed a complete gut renovation. There have only been three sales of the more expensive homes in the southwest part of the neighborhood, where the homes and lots tend to be very large, and where many of the homes have had extensive renovations. There were also two sales of homes that sold dramatically below the market value

List Price vs. Sold Price: The average house sold for 93% of the original list price, up from 92% for 2010 and below the 97% number at the 2005 peak. Also, there were 6 homes that sold over the asking price (23%), compared to 1 (5%) in 2010 and 6 (23%) at the peak year for bidding wars of 2004.

Days on the Market: the average house took 73 days to sell. Compare this to 106 for 2010, and 31 days for 2005 when the market was white hot.

Distress Sales: Like most of the DC market area, there have been very few distress sales in Crestwood. The one foreclosure and one short sale were not, in my professional opinion, the two best deals in the neighborhood so far this year.

Total Dollar Volume: During only 4 of the last 10 years have we seen the total dollar volume in Crestwood sales. Year to date, there have been a total of $19,332,048.

Here's the Chart: