U r b a n T r e k k e r

Wholefoods Coming to Penn Quarter?

That's according to Washington BizJournal. After Balducci bailed out from the deal, Wholefoods might be coming to Penn Quarter after all. If it does come to realization, the grocery store would occupy 21,000 s.f. of space at the Jefferson, on 7th between D and E Streets.

Douglas Development Corp. has been negotiating with Whole Foods Market for six months to bring the specialty grocer to Penn Quarter.

Area residents started an online petition to show their support after an Oct. 9 Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting. It was there that Douglas Jemal of Douglas Development filled them on the latest news regarding a grocery store in the area.

via Washington BizJournal

Bring that Wholefoods effect to the hood.

WaPo: A Thoroughbred of a Price

We reported DC Top 10 residential real estate deals for 2006 a month ago, including the record breaking deal for this area, in Upperville, VA. Washington Post has the full story on the transaction.

Via Washington Post.

Image: Washington Post

The buyers aren't movie stars after all, but the price is still stellar.

Llangollen Farm, a 1,100-acre equestrian estate in western Loudoun County, has sold for a record-breaking $22 million, according to agents representing those involved in the transaction.

The buyer of Llangollen, at the foot of the Blue Ridge mountains in Upperville, is Llangollen LLC, a corporation controlled by Donald P. Brennan, a longtime Morgan Stanley executive and entrepreneur, and his wife, Patricia, according to selling agent Mary Ann McGowan of Thomas & Talbot Real Estate in nearby Middleburg. Daughter Maureen Brennan will oversee the property, which has a manor house that dates to the late 1700s and a thriving cattle operation.

So, it's not Tom Cruise after all... The fact that the house is under conservation easement, they can only subdivide the parcel in 100-acre per house. And good thing -- the Brennans said they do not plan to subdivide the parcel.

* A Thoroughbred of a Price [Washington Post]
* DC Metro: Top 10 Deals in 2006 [Urban Trekker]
 

To be Built: Most Expensive Home in Montana

Montana, fast becoming the playground for the rich and famous... because it has more land than people living there. A long list of celebrities own vacation homes here. I don't blame them -- Montana is pristine beauty. I spent a couple of years, traveling to the state. According to Reuters, the most expensive home is to be built there.

Via Reuters.

Forbes.com, the online site of Forbes magazine, on Thursday said timber and real estate baron Tim Blixseth has just upped the ante in the price of the world's most expensive home, planning to build and sell a home for $155 million.

The 53,000-square-foot stone and wood mansion will be built at the Yellowstone Club, a members-only, residential ski and golf resort near Bozeman, Montana developed by Blixseth.

I wonder if it costs him that much to build the place, how much will the resale be? See more pictures here.

* U.S. Home to Set Record at $155 mln [Reuters]
* The Word's Most Expensive Home [Forbes.com]

Image: Forbes.com

Location Matters

Sometime last week, I drove around DC neighborhoods to check on new developments. It is different when you are just reading the information versus seeing it with your own eyes. I had not paid much attention to some of the hoods before. After getting my DC real estate license, I decided that I need to get out there to learn the ins and outs of new projects slated for DC. These are the hoods that I think have room to grow or have upside potential and not yet fully developed. Sort like when buying stocks, you're looking for companies that would be the next Microsoft, Starbucks, Wholefoods or Google. Okay, you get the idea.

In the District of Columbia, they have a ReStore DC Program. This is a program that helps revitalize neighborhood business districts and small businesses. Having a thriving business corridor is important for neighborhood development.
I remember in Arlington, when Clarendon was still a boring place, not much going on at night. Only few shops and restaurants here and there. That's about it. Life was different then. Ever since Wholefoods opened up its door in the neighborhood, development in the area just took off after that. That was less than 10 years ago. Look at Clarendon today! Until recently, you couldn't find single family homes under $600,000. Now that the market shifted, you can find ramblers for under $600K. Or in DC, look at U Street corridor.

If you want to find where the upcoming hoods be, track where new developments are being built. Most likely developers are working in neighborhoods close to metro stations, because that's where people want to live. Close to a metro station -- is a big selling point! The gap in prices is big. Every inch a property gets closer to a station, the asking price gets higher.

It will be a plus, plus, plus -- if in addition to a metro station, the area offers other amenities like shops, restaurants, etc. These are some of the hoods that come to mind: Mount Vernon, Union Station, Columbia Heights, U Street/ Cardozo, and Shaw/Howard U. The first round of the proposed Capital City Market near NY Avenue metro station has just been approved. The 24-acre site (where the wholesalers are now) would be redeveloped as mix-use project that includes a hotel, condominiums, ice skating rink and warehouses.

Brookland, is another potential, simply because homes around Catholic U and Trinity U, still affordable. Sure, there are other factors to consider when it comes to buying or investing in real estate. At least, this is a start. There are 27 homes on the market from the upper-$300's to mid-$700's. With most homes in the-$500's. Compare that to neighborhoods around Dupont Circle/ Kalorama, where a one bedroom condo, starts in the mid-$300's. What's more, entry level townhouses are pushing 7 figures!

There are more homes on the market under $400,000 than on the high end luxury home market. One hundred fifty six homes on the market under $400K, combination of single homes and townhouses. It costs more to buy properties in a sought-after neighborhood that offer great community amenities. Look at Georgetown. The home prices there -- mind boggling. But, again that's Georgetown. Condodomain.com, a partner of urban trekker, their DC website gets a lot of hits because of a mock listing of a studio condo in Georgetown, listed for $100,000. Yes, everybody wants to buy "that" condo -- if it ever is for real. 

The most expensive home in Washington DC, is a property located near Embassy Row, a 10 bedroom house on the market for $21,000,000! Wow....lots of zero there. Even the remarks for the listing reads, "Purchasers to provide pre-qual letter from bank or atty day before showing." Sure. It's their way of making sure that only selected "few" or very serious buyers, access the property.

For the most expensive homes in DC, I have compiled a list of homes on the market in the million dollar plus range. Location, location, location. It's very simple. You see, the difference in prices tells you that location matters.

Top Dollar Dig for Sale: $135M

The vacation home of Prince Bandar, former Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S., in Aspen, CO is on the market. The asking price is the highest according to Unique Homes. Donald Trump's beachfront home in FL for sale $125M.

Via Aspen Times by way of CNN.

Bandar is the former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States. His 95-acre Starwood Ranch property includes a nearly 56,000-square-foot mansion, and several smaller homes and buildings.

The main home is larger than the White House, and includes 16 bathrooms, 15 bedrooms, stables, a tennis court, an indoor swimming pool, outdoor water features and a snowmelt driveway.

Who needs 56,000 SF? Anyway, all they need is "the" one buyer ready, willing and able. Wondering about the mortgage payment for $135M, Aspen Times has some sort of calculation.

We'll start with 10 percent down, or $13.5 million. That drops the principal down to $121.5 million.

For a 30-year mortgage at an interest rate of, say, 5.75 percent, your monthly payments would only be $709,041.

* For Sale: Nation's Most Expensive Home [Aspen Times]
* Saudi Prince Asks $135M for Aspen Ranch [CNN/Money]

Real Estate Links

Here are the links to selected stories around the Internet on real estate:

* Is $75M Too Much for a House? [BW-Hot Property]
* Plan to Bring 6,800 Homes Pulled [Washington BizJournal]
* SAIC Opens Facility Near Quantico Base [Washington BizJournal]
* CPI and Owner's Equivalent Rent [Calculated Risk]
* NY's Newest Workplaces -Wifi Parks [CoolTown Studios]
* State Revenues to Slow [The Walk-Through]
* A Georgetown Tradition Hops for Now to Arlington [Washington Post]
* County Considers Preserving Complex [Washington Post]

For Sale: Homes with Trace of Annandale's History

Two houses believed to have ties to George Washington, Robert E. Lee and William H. Fitzhugh, are on sale now. They're located in Annandale.

Via Washington Post.

The properties aren't officially linked by local or national historians. But the owner of the smaller house, Claudia Moose, a magazine writer, is convinced of the ties. She thinks the oldest portion of her red clapboard house, high on a hill at the corner of Old Well Road and Queen Elizabeth Boulevard, was home to slaves owned by the Fitzhugh family or to the slaves' overseers.

Moose, who has researched land records and spoken with former owners, said county records dating her house to 1925 probably reflect when it got public utilities and not its likely earlier use as an outbuilding for either the bigger house or a sister mansion, both built in the 1700s.

"Nobody really knows what this house was for," Moose said, but it still has an old well, later upgraded with an electric pump, in the basement. And she says a line of pine trees starting just outside her back door marks the old driveway that used to connect her home to the entrance of the mansion that's also for sale. (The well in her basement, she said, is not the well of Old Well Road. Developers in the 1960s named it after the Old Well at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

This house is listed for $895,000. The other one, Oak Hill mansion at 4716 Wakefield Chapel Road, is one of the only three grand buildings that survived with trace to William Fitzbugh, is on the market for $2.375M.

* A Piece of Annandale's Plotline [Washington Post]

MD Surplus for Auction

In an effort to raise revenues, State of Maryland, wanna auction their surplus of properties. Via Washington BizJournal.

Looking to get surplus government-owned property back on its tax rolls, Anne Arundel County said Wednesday it will auction a one-acre piece of Edgewater real estate formerly home to a police station.

The property being auctioned is on the corner of Route 2 and Virginia Avenue, in the southern part of the county. It's the former 40-year home of Anne Arundel's Southern District police station.

The property is located in a C-2 commercial office district, county officials said, and has been appraised by the state at $1.1 million.

Go to Washington BizJournal for the full story.

Bankruptcy Auction

We haven't seen too much of bankruptcy auction for million dollars home for years. But, here is one that caught my attention. Click on photo to enlarge.

Palatial Estate Home in Northern Virginia
on 5.6± Fenced and Gated Acres

Wednesday, March 15, 1 p.m., On-site

Property features include:

• 11,946± sq. ft., plus guest house and cabana
• Grand, two-story foyer with marble tile and dual, curved staircases
• Large gourmet kitchen, indoor pool, and spa
• Master bedroom suite of over 800± sq. ft.
• 5.6± acres, fully fenced with gated drive
• Private pond

A master bedroom of over 800 square feet? Wow. That's the size of one bedroom condo, right there! I am interested more to learn what's the story behind this auction, so am going there today for their open house.

Related Links Valentine's Day Edition

Happy Sueeeet Love Day. Here are selected stories from around the Internet on real estate:

* Despite Fed Tax Credits, Solar Power Isn't For Tightwads [Real Estate Journal]
* Thoughts For Tuesday: NoMa, etc.... [Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space]
* One Thing Lead to Another and Soon or Later Its $400M [Matrix]
* Inverted Yield Curves, GDP, And A Goldilocks to Make Our Head Spin [Matrix]
* Women's Book Has Deep Ties to Housing [Chicago Tribune]
* White House Plans Large Sale of Public Lands [Planetizen]
* Why Growth Doesn't Always Spell Happines for Ethical Investors [Christian Science Monitor]
* The Donald's In, Ivana's Out [BW Hot Property]