Patricia Kennedy

While I love working all parts of Washington's market, from tiny condos to the big ones in Georgetown and Kalorama, the high end of our market is just fascinating. Let's face it, showing big gorgeously renovated homes is probably more fun for most of us that traipsing through run down wrecks that smell like cats. Strangely enough, though, it's a lot easier to sell a run down wreck at the low end of the pricing scale than to negotiate the sale of most upper brackets properties.

There has been lots of anecdotal evidence that things are slow at the higher price points.

It may be my faulty memory, but it seems like homes in neighborhoods like Georgetown, Kalorama, and Spring Valley have higher asking prices than they did at the peak of the market, which was probably somewhere in 2007. So I decided to take a closer look to see what kind of story the numbers tell.

There are currently 68 homes listed for over $3million. The top 50 range is list prices between a low of $3,945,000 to a high of $39,500,000, with an average current list price of $6,757,920. This is almost 9% lower than their original list prices that were an average of $7,547,420, at least during the current listing period. (Many were listed before their current listing at higher prices, which would increase the average.) The average days on the market is 235.

Right now, there are only four homes in this price range that are under contract.

Here is the breakdown, comparing the average sales figures for the top 50 sales during first three quarters of the last three years.

Year 2007 2008 2009
Original list price $4,641,860 $3,977,841 $3,595,736
Final list price $4,641,860 $3,881,600 $3,420,328
Sold price $4,248,914 $3,587,110 $3,052,576
Days on market 125 days 145 days 228 days

The days on the market numbers do not include the "private exclusives" that were not placed into the MRIS database until after they sold.

What this is showing is that the 2009 average list prices are (even after price reductions) are double the average sold price. And they are much higher than the selling prices for 2007, the year the market is thought to have peaked. And even if you exclude two large, historic estates that are currently for sale in Georgetown for $39,500,000 and $19,500,000, the today's average list prices are still much higher $5,810,333.

In addition to perhaps overly optimistic price tags, there are also issues with obtaining upper brackets financing. But I think it's mostly overly optimistic price tags!

And it wasn't my imagination or faulty memory! What a relief!

But the really good news is, if you are in search of a luxury home in Washington, DC, it appears to be very much of a buyers' market, and there are opportunities to purchase a wonderful home

And if you want to see what the top 50 homes in DC look like, just click here!

The big boxy-looking building on the cusp of Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan, looks nothing at all like it should e a Tex-Mex restaurant, but it is. And one of my favorites, and I went to dinner there tonight with an old friend.

I've never had a bad meal at Lauriol Plaza. In fact, I've never had one that wasn't pretty wonderful. Tonight, there was ceviche, I had a seafood chimichonga, and key lime pie. And there were all the trimmings with guacamole, black beans and rice.

The menu pretty much covers all the bases. And there is bruch fare with Huevos Rancheros, Chorizo con Huevo, Crab Quesadilla and other standards, like French Toast and Eggs Florentine.

They also have an impressive Margarita menu, with strawberry, peach and mango.

There is an outdoor cafe where you're almost sure to see someone you know pass by, and roof deck has a wonderful view of the neighborhood.

It's a favorite with people who live in the neighborhood, and with people like me who drive down - they actually have a huge parking lot (a good thing in Dupont Circle. It's also a favorite because the atmosphere is fun, with a huge mural of a fiesta you can stare at while you enjoy your meal. And the staff is wonderful and they seem to really enjoy their jobs.

Lauriol Plaza is at the corner of 18th and T Streets. For more information, call them at 202-387-0035 or go to their web site at www.lauriolplaza.com.

The DC City Council is considering a change in an old law to make raising chickens within our city limits easier to do.

A local family decided to install a backyard chicken coop after their children got involved with a school project involving baby chicks. One thing led to another, and soon the little guys were growing up to lay eggs for breakfast in the family’s back yard coop.

If the idea of free-range chicken so close at hand appeals to you, there was a catch. There is an old law that prohibits chicken coops within 50 feet of a house, and most of our urban yards are just not quite big enough to allow for a little chicken farmette. So until they can work things out, the birds have been moved to a friend’s farm in Loudon County.

The family is appealing to the City Counsel to change the law. The folks supporting the change are not asking for roosters to be legalized, as they are sort of noisy and would be considered by some to be a bit of a nuisance, although they would make things a lot more interesting for the hens.

My brother, Jack, lives on Bainbridge Island near Seattle. The last time I was out there for a visit, his wife Mary Ann began each morning by going out to find the eggs that their hens hid somewhere. Then she’d bring them in and they would collaborate on the most delicious omelet’s I’ve ever eaten. So I am contacting my council woman and asking her to support the change.

Free-range chickens make good eating too, although with all of the cats in the neighborhood, I dunno. Then there’s Willie the Labradoodle who would love another thing in the back yard for him to chase!

I’d need one big sturdy coop for the little fellows.

Then there is the possibility that it could get addictive. I like goat cheese, and before long I might want to add a goat to my little farmette to eat all of the weeds back there. Then, who knows? I might call Andrea Swiedler to see about getting one of her baby cows – one that might not get too, too big! I could make my own butter to use to coat the omelet pan for the fresh eggs!

And yikes! There goes the neighborhood!

Hmmm. Perhaps I should rethink how I'm going to ask my counsel woman to vote on this one!

Well, I have to qualify this. We tied with my other favorite city and in the other Washington.

That's right, Washington, DC and Seattle, Washington are tied for first place for the honor of Youth-Magnet Cities in today's Wall Street Journal.

Seattle is probably cooler than we are in some ways. I love the fresh oysters and salmon. The street musicians are pretty great. And all the lakes and sea planes and hills make it hard for me to come home whenever I go out to visit my brother, Jack. The list goes on with the Washington State wine and, oh, the the architecture - can't forget that! Did I mention Starbucks? The guys who discovered coffee?

But DC is pretty cool, too!

It's not just all the government jobs here, but other jobs in the high tech industry (more than Silicon Valley), law firms, lobbying organizations, and tons of non-profits for young idealists who can afford to work for minimum wages and want to make a difference. And at any age, it's also a great place to sell real estate.

If you are thinking about a move to this area, it has a lot of wonderful real estate choices. In Washington, as well as the close-in Virginia and Maryland suburbs, there are condominiums and houses for a first time buyer's budget.

Well, maybe not if you're going to work for a non-profit. Then you'll have to find space in a group house with a bunch of roommates! But when you sell out like I did, and get a real job, there will be many options to consider.

And we now have a Starbucks on every other corner, and they fly in salmon and Washington State wine to sell in our local Whole Foods. We don't however, have the gigantic lakes, islands, and ferry boats, but we do have a ton of history and very cool architecture.

I can see how it could be a tie!

Last night, I had a conversation with a favorite client who called from Memphis, where she and her husband are trying to sell what I'm sure is a beautiful home. It's been on the market for long enough that I'm sure they're pretty sick of the whole routine. And something she said last night reminded me of a lesson I learned many years ago about curb appeal.

She told me that some buyers had made an appointment to see the house. She scurried around to make it even more perfect, left with the pooch, then learned that when the agent arrived with her buyers, she couldn't even coax the buyers out of her car.

Oops!

And I remembered something like that happening to me many years ago. The listing agent and sellers were furious. Actually, I was a little annoyed at my buyer, too, because this plain brown wrapper house was amazingly beautiful inside, and actually not too bad from the street.

And you know what? Two weeks later, I convinced my buyer to go back (oh, and I groveled to the sellers to get them to let us back in), and it's the house she bought.

We spend a lot of time on staging these days - and we should. Absolutely! And we all know that curb appeal is important. I mean, du-uh! If the place looks like Dogpatch from the passenger seat of their agent's Lexus, the buyers won't even see the stager's magic!

And it doesn't have to look as bad a s Dogpatch. In this market, the house has to open the agent's car door, extend a hand, open the front door and then draw the buyers inside.

I've seen some wonderful before and after photos of rooms in houses here on Active Rain. But I've rarely seen similar photos of front yards. And while our stagers probably get it, a lot of us agents need to pay a little more attention to helping sellers make our listings start the Big Flirt from first sight from the street and not as the buyers open the front door!