About Washington's Shepherd Park

Oh, what thrill it was! The one-hundred-percent, doubt-free identification that we so rarely get to see! But just wait; we will get to that later.

This week's historic kit home is actually a rare find, at least for Washington, DC (correct me, if I'm wrong--I'm always looking to make new discoveries). Once more, we located it in the Shepherd Park neighborhood in the northern tip of DC.

The bright home with its rather unusual roof line (worked-in layered arches above the windows) is a spacious Sears "Honor," was built in 1926 (model number P13071), and it's currently for rent through our company. (You can find more pictures at the listing link. I will link to a virtual tour later.)

The interior woodwork, floors and other details are pretty much intact and have been preserved nicely. Some modifications to the house appear to be original (Sears allowed for customization), such as the pantry and back porch addition off the kitchen that still features an original ice box that could be loaded from the outside. That way, a larger eat-in kitchen was created.

Likewise a possibly original modification is the configuaration of the three front bedrooms on the floor plan that have been made into two huge bedrooms (the dividing wall is now between the two windows that appear to belong to the middle bedroom).

But there have been modernizations as well: the bedroom above the kitchen for instance is now a generous master bath and walk-in closet.

Back to my thrilling moment: as the basement is still unfinished, we could go after the tell-tale signs and traces that might make it possible to truly authenticate the house.

My heart beat a lot faster when I discovered the blue grease pencil markings kit house historians always talk about! They were on different types of pre-cut lumber, behind the stairs for instance, or on some of the floor beams. The numbers all contained the sequence "13071" which was the catalog number in 1926.

Of course, there were a bunch of other Sears-typical identifiers, such as the vertical block between the baseboard and the stair trim at the bottom of the steps, that was thought to make the kit's assembly easier for the not quite so skilled do-it-yourself carpenter. But the grease pencil truly made my day!!

The property manager, Judy Meyerson, had no idea that this was a kit house. But I hope she will pass my post on to the owners who are diplomats somewhere out in the world and couldn't be asked yet.

And if you are a kit house enthusiast--here is your chance to live in one!

Following our look at the state of the market in Colonial Village, here comes the third quarter comparison for its twin neighborhood, Shepherd Park. And that turned out somewhat more interesting.

When it comes to listing activity, the trends are almost the opposite of those in Colonial Village: while there were no new listings in Colonial Village for all of the third quarter, Shepherd Park saw a record number of 15 new listings, triple that of the two previous years. As the houses were scattered about the neighborhood and very different in style and shape from one another, there's no obvious explanation for it. Mere chance perhaps? Or was it that some potential sellers finally got to a point where they no longer wanted to wait? Where they realized the low interest rates worked in their favor as well?

I'm not sure. The other interesting discovery, however, has to do with sellers as well: they finally seem to price their houses a little more realistically. The average closed price for houses in Shepherd Park was lower (about $550k, down from $580k), but it was skewed by one very small house and one fixer-upper. The real surprise here is the fact that there is practically no difference in average list- versus sold price! Some properties sold for less while others got bid up (in one case more than $30,000). So, there's definitely some stability here.

Another good sign: the average listing sells fast. It spends 17 days on the market (DOM), in comparison to the 85 days it took last year.

Of course, not every single house sells so fast. Of the 15 new listings, three are still active for sale, eight have closed their sales, and the other four were taken off the market.

Well, turns out that--at least in Washington--the average middle class guy in the early 20th century might not have known that much more about house building after all. But we'll get to that later.

Yesterday, I promised more on kit homes. Here we go.

The next amazing discovery I made when I was browsing all kinds of libraries and websites to find out more about the other big pre-cut/catalog companies. (Sears, Roebuck and Co. has not only been the most written about, most well-known and largest in numbers of units sold; the term "Sears home" has also become more or less synonymous with "catalog home." But that's actually unfair, as there were seven major manufacturers as well as some off-shoots.)

In particular, the pictures of homes from the Michigan-based Lewis Manufacturing Co. seemed strangely familiar and reminded me of the neighborhoods I walk and drive through daily, namely Chevy Chase and Shepherd Park. I had seen Sears bungalows and colonials in other parts of town, but clicking through the Lewis pictures struck another cord.

I soon recognized a couple of impressive models I'd been in before, both larger, very solid Dutch Colonials. And then there it was! My friend's house!

It was impossible to miss the likeness because the house had a very unusual appearance, with an asymmetrical, sweeping roof line, a huge stone chimney and French doors to an uncovered raised patio in the front yard.

I had helped my friends buy the Shepherd Park house about three years ago, and while it had seen a bunch of owners and changing tastes in its 85 years, it hadn't lost its very special appeal.

We had no idea, however, that it had once arrived by train! (The stucco exterior, by the way, was offered as an option.)

And guess what, on Sunday I found another Lewis "Ardmore" across Rock Creek Park in Chevy Chase.

Now back to the not-so-handy men. Searching the archives of the Washington Post, I discovered an article from February 12, 1922 in which the local representative of Lewis Manufacturing Co. in D.C. was interviewed. The ready-cut system, the sales director said, had become so popular that not only individual families ordered house kits from him, but builders and real estate developers as well! Lewis had sold $500,000 worth of homes in and around DC that year, which must have resulted in a couple of hundred houses. There were about 70 or 80 very different styles in the 1922 catalog, so many buyers might never have noticed.

And while Rosemary Thornton (The Houses That Sears Built) estimates that half the families who bought kit houses in the 1920s actually assembled them by themselves, I wouldn't vouch for that number to be nearly as high when it comes to the Lewis customers in Washington, D.C.

Catalog page image courtesy of Antique Home.

With housing prices at an all time low and spring in the air this equals buying season. From investors to first time home buyers, everyone is looking for a deal or a steal especially with little to no repairs needed. Buying season usually runs from April to September. People move during this period for various reasons, some strategize on the kids leaving school or moving before the next school year. While others look for more space or to downsize. Some just season a bargain & realize they can get more house for less.

With buying season comes the competitiveness of buyers and investors. Along with multiple offers before a seller can sign off on one offer in order to change the status in the MLS. I had a client ask me how come many agents do not change the status when they have offers on a property. I explained they could change it to contingency (reviewing documents) but some agents either aren't aware, don't care, or are waiting for the seller to sign off on a contract before doing so. Also it's the reason I called before we even went out to view the properties or we would of been wasting time.

With buying season comes the longer days to view more properties & to see more in the houses with those that don't have electricity, the nosy neighbors who watch everything then come and talk to you because they want to see the inside of the house or tell you how the neighborhood is and how long they've been living there, the kids playing in the neighborhoods, again the multiple offers of the the better lower priced houses, the listing agents not returning calls, the houses needing much repairs because of foreclosure, the banks taking a while on some short sales. Yes it's buying season again, buyers beware if you snooze you lose especially at the current prices.

Damon J. Brockenberry (Damon The Agent)

Your Washington DC Area Realtor

Servicing Washington, DC, Maryland, & Virginia

cell: 240-694-6460 e-mail: sold@damontheagent.com

Earlier this month, we examined the 3rd Quarter market statistics for the upper DC neighborhood of Colonial Village. Today, we will take a look at Shepherd Park.

The two neighborhoods, divided only by 16th St, are often seen as a unit, as they share many characteristics as well as a very active citizen's association. Since their real estate profile and 20th century history are somewhat different, however, it makes sense to separate them for the purpose of market analysis.

To begin with, the homes and lots are--on average--a little smaller on the Shepherd Park side. Although the neighborhood has calm, wide, green streets, its character is strongly influenced by the proximity to vibrant and big city-like downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. (The Colonial Village side, on the other hand is determined by its serene location as an oasis nestled against Rock Creek Park.)

Average list prices in Shepherd Park have been about 100k lower than those in Colonial Village. It's not unlikely that this might explain the different trend in sales activity that we saw this summer. Transaction rates did not decrease here, but instead they went up (see the graph on the upper left), and the number of home sellers that were courageous enough to put their homes on the market remained stable.

Another interesting fact is the observation that they have also become a little more flexible than their Colonial Village counterparts when it comes to price negotiations. 3rd quarter buyers in Shepherd Park paid an average of 87.9% of the original list price for their new homes (as opposed to the 91% that Colonial Village buyers had to lay out). The reward for the sellers? The time their homes spent on the market (85 days, or DOM, on average in 2010, 83 last year) did not increase here, while it alsmost doubled on the other side of 16th St.

Currently, there are 7 homes on the market in Shepherd Park, with asking prices between $299,000 (for a smaller, semi-detached foreclosure property) and $1,350,000 (for a contemporary on 16th St that's still under construction), at an average of $657,000. Three homes are under contract.

There are 8 homes for sale in Colonial Village, priced between $695,000 and $4,000,000. (It needs to be noted that the average current list price of $1,250,538 is skewed by the 4 million-dollar home, a large Tudor on a stately 1-acre lot.) Three homes are under contract here, as well.

You can find all Shepherd Park and Colonial Village homes that are currently for sale here. As always, I'll be happy to answer any questions or comments you might have.