🚀 go-pugleaf

wrob wrote:
> 
> Sir, I share your concerns. But I am afraid that your situation is the
> quentessential illustration of the decline in DC's middle class tax base.
> 
> >I am a little confused about housing costs within DC.  According to all the
> >statistics, DC has had a loss of population the last 10 years wheras noVA
> >has had a gain.  Would this not bring housing costs down due to an
> >over-supply?
> 
> Simply put, the market demands of the wealthy are forcing the middle
> class out of DC. DC spends much of its gov't effort keeping "desirable"
> and "emerging" neighborhoods safe and clean, leaving very little to attract
> middle income people to anywhere else in the city.

Well, who th' heck would _want_ to live at, say, 5th and I SouthEast, given
any other choices? Although actually the area is improving rapidly, and is
expected to continue to do so. For ex-military, that general area might be
fairly attractive. 

> 
> (To klaatu -
> The Brookings Institution says this is a *good thing* - because after all,
> who else would "take care" of those horrible-looking neighborhoods like
> Shaw and Petworth that only the middle-class can afford to live in?)

Actually, only the middle- and upper-classes can presently afford to _buy_
in those neighborhoods. Most of the homeowners in that neighborhood bought
those houses with VA loans, generally quite some time ago; on average within
a few years of WWII if memory serves. Most of those houses are long-since
paid-off and the sales-prices are being jacked up by the kids who stand to
make enough of a bundle off of selling to yuppies so as to move their entire
extended family to nice houses in the 'burbs. So you can place the
gentrification of, say, Columbia Heights/Petworth squarely at the feet of
greedy ghettites. And it'll only get worse as the Columbia Heights station
opens, and construction of the new Megaplex at 14th and Park NW gets towards
final staging. 

BTW, I just drove through there last night, and actually, living right
around 14th and Irving NW doesn't look too bad _now_ and I predict that in
two or three years, the place will be in very high demand. They've taken
most of the vacant lots, yanked absolutely all vegetation, and surrounded
all of the vacant wasteland with razor fences. All of the people who were
formerly lurking in there are, however, right out on the street instead.
Still, even now there are worse places in DC that you could live, there's a
Safeway right there, it's walking distance to Adams Morgan if you don't look
affluent, it's a short drive to Rock Creek Park, etc etc.

> 
> >Ultimately, I would prefer to live in Washington, DC vs Northern Virginia,
> >but according to everything I mentioned, this does not economically
> >feasible.  Is this correct?  or  am in misinformed?
> 
> If you buy a house, you might actually be able to find good bargains but only
> in middle-ring neighborhoods such as Mt. Pleasant and Takoma Park.
> On Capitol Hill, however, you will probably be able to find a good deal in a
> slightly higher price range, with the ability to sell up.

Market value probably won't increase at as rapid a rate as in the rest of
DC; the place is pretty overpriced as-is.

> 
> >I would greatly appreciate any input anyone may have, or any advice from
> >people who have had to make a similar decision.
> 
> I don't know enough about the condo market, but my recommendation is DC..
> There are real quality of life issues that you give up in Arlington,
> unfortunately.
> The homeowner tax credit, if it applies to condos (anyone??) should offset things
> somewhat, the overall tax rates aren't that much different. Also, DC just
> slashed its taxes.

Takes effect over the next three years, and can be halted at any time if
there's an economic downturn, very wise I think.

Actually, the thing to do would be to pick up on some of the squatter's
wrecks and do the Homesteading Act thing, live there for five years and
return it to habitability and meeting code, and it's yours for a song. Of
course, that's definitely not an adventure for the timid.

> 
> -BER Takoma Park, MD

-- 
                    "We look through a glass but darkly:
                 What we see is more colored by our beliefs, 
               than what we believe is colored by what we see."
    Be kind to your neighbors, even though they be transgenic chimerae.
Whom thou'st vex'd waxeth wroth:   Meow.    http://www.clark.net/pub/klaatu/