About Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Forest

Original source: DChouseCat--Over And Over Again

It was a joyous day on Sunday, when we all came out of our houses to assess the damage that wasn't. I had fallen asleep to some scary wind gusts that occasionally bent the 120 foot trees in my neighbors' backyard much more than I liked. When I woke up in the morning I instantly noticed the humming of the AC--we still had power! Outside, the air was fresh and clean.

My parents--visiting from Berlin--didn't understand a thing that was going on, neither the three-day hype before nor our fears when the winds arrived or the relief when they had passed, and even less so the fact that more than 200,000 households in the DC area were still without power the next day. To illustrate what could have been, I showed them pictures I took in my neighborhood after a bad storm last summer.

I have long given up trying to explain to them what I have been struggling to understand myself: things like the overhead power lines or the fact that houses are seen more as temporary structures in this country where few people expect the next five generations of their children and grandchildren to live in the same place.

There are great advantages to this mobility, constant flow and freedom. But -- just like many other aspects of freedom -- there's a price as well. That price is vulnerability.

I'm glad we didn't have to pay it this weekend. I know that once more, many others weren't so lucky, and I hope for all of them that they will be able to rebuild and recover quickly.

It was an accident, but I just love it! I went around an upcoming new listing today, a very cool mid-century "California Modern," and snapped a few casual pictures with my little old Lumix. They were by no means for publication but just to help my memory as I'm starting to put together some info and description for the brochures.

This one was taken from the outside, through a wall-to-ceiling window. Because of the reflection, I couldn't really see the picture until I downloaded it. And guess what -- the floating ceiling had softly taken off!

One of the revolutionary and enduring principles of 20th century modern architecture is the idea to integrate indoor living space with the surrounding outdoors. I don't think that concept could be illustrated any better than this!

I may need some help here.

Yesterday, I showed a listing that is the biggest kid on the block, meaning, it's not only much bigger and sitting on a bigger lot than anything else in the neighborhood, but it's also unique and has features few of the homes around it share. It's surrounded by National park land, was designed by a well-known architect, has an indoor pool and a bunch of other things. Yet it fits very well into the landscape.

The list price is about two and a half times that of last year's average sales price in the neighborhood.

Make no mistake--the price is justified by the trend of the neighborhood's values, by the neighborhood's typical sale price-to-tax assessment ratio, by relative (to the location) comparison to other unique and striking houses in the surrounding areas. We have approached this in every possible way and have come up with a price that objectively makes sense.

But--it's still more expensive than anything else that has sold here, and it always has been (at least for the previous two times it was on the market).

How much do buyers really care about that? Or do they? If they love the house and the location, how many of your clients would be bothered by the fact that, to approach their home, they will have to pass a bunch of more moderate and, perhaps, boring places?? How many of them who might love it will never consider looking at it for that reason?

Opening the floor.

While January traditionally sees the fewest closings under any market conditions in the DC area—a consequence of the lowest level of contracts entered during the holiday season—the current weather improvement gives hope that market activity soon will pick up. (The groundhog can’t be wrong!)

This would be good news for many frustrated buyers. The inventory in the more desirable neighborhoods in DC and its close-in Maryland suburbs is so low at the moment that it has actually been rather hard to find homes for those who are ready, able and willing to buy.

The Rock Creek Forest neighborhood--right on the District Line between DC and MD—is no exception here. Only three houses are on the market at the moment (one of them only since yesterday), and they can be expected to move fast.

But before musing about what this spring will bring, let’s have a look at how 2010 closed in comparison to 2009. As it turns out, our neighborhood has been doing incredibly well. The overall sales volume for RCF actually increased in 2010: $21,155,550 compared to $17,042,000 in 2009. This is largely due to a substantial price recovery: the average sold price increased to $682,437 (range $450,000 to $1,265,000) from the previous year’s $608,643 (range $315,000 to $975,000).

While the total number of houses sold (31 in 2010 and 28 in 2009; following a sharp drop from 40 to 22 between 2007 and 2008) was further proof of stability, there was another piece of good news for sellers: the reduction in the time houses sat on the market (DOM) began to shorten again to an average of 45 days in 2010 versus 56 days in the previous year.

Compared to other parts of the country, or even the region, this is a fabulous picture. Time will tell if the trend continues this year and beyond, or if there might be some fallout from a sort of double-dip recession as some have predicted. (We hope not!) Much will depend on the development of mortgage interest rates which have started to creep up a little since the beginning of the year.

(To be continued.)

Numbers cited include sold listings only; stats for withdrawn or previously listed properties have not been considered.