valentinosdcpulse: July 2009

Gyms and pools, low maintenance, and a community environment... Condos are a wonderful lifestyle choice, and in highly populated urban areas, may be one of the few homeownership choices. But make sure you understand what you are buying and what you are buying into. Buyers should think about the real differences between buying a condo and buying a single family home.

Any owner of single family home knows that repair costs and other home-related expenses add to the cost of ownership.  Condo ownership brings it own set of unexpected costs.  For this reason, Mortgagenewsdaily.com suggests that one of the first questions you ask is if the complex is you are interested in is professionally managed? If it is, ask for the number of the Management Company. If it isn't, ask for the name and number of the head of the Home Owners' Association (HOA).

Since condo owners share responsibility for certain expenses, you need to know if the HOA is involved in any lawsuits.  Condo owners may end up in litigation with the developer, the manufacturer of building products used in the development, or with an individual homeowner.  This may cause you to think twice about purchasing a specific property with high liabilities.

Needless to say, you will want to know what to expect in upcoming years.  No crystal ball comes with the keys, but you should ask about major maintenance, improvement projects, or planned special assessments over the next one - three years.  Are there enough resources on hand to cover these needs?

If you are buying a newly built condo or one that will be built in the future, extra caution is necessary.  It is almost never a good idea to buy a home that you have never actually seen, though it happens all the time. This piece of advice was found on buyingacondo.org: "Those great developments that promise a better lifestyle with all the amenities attached, but aren't built yet, tend to be bad buys. Why? Believe it or not, developers do not actually have to sell you the condo that they show you in the brochure."  If you are buying a home in an unbuilt complex, you'd better check out the builder's track record of completion.

Even when you look at a model, you are seeing a showplace where any flaws in finishing have been masked, and where there are often many upgrades.  Upgrades come with a price tag, but be sure to sure understand what is standard and what is an upgrade, as what is included varied by price and by builder.  If you're not going to be happy with the bare bones model, you will need to choose if you want to pay the asking price for the upgrade.  In some situations, you or agent can negotiate to have upgrades included at minimal cost.  You might find that your desired place with the upgrades prices out like urls in a more expensive building that includes the upgrades you want as part of the standard package.

A final piece of advice:  your condo offer should, of course contain all of the contingencies you would put into one on a single family home including the need to pass a home inspection.  This may seem unnecessary for new condo, but it could be worth it if the inspector uncovers something not covered by your warranty.

Condos can be great homes if you know what you are getting into. However, if you don't bother to ask questions and do your homework, you could end up with a lot of costly home repairs - or a home that looks nothing like you thought it would.  With so many things to think about, consider all your options carefully and do your homework before deciding which D.C. area condo to purchase. After all, it is you, the buyer, who will be calling it home.

Rachel Valentino is a condo specialist in the D.C. area. She will help you exercise due diligence when you are condo shopping and can you point to the best D.C. condo values in just the right neighborhood for you.  Check out her Atlantic Coast Connection website to pre-shop your dream home.

The Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. currently draws in crowds of people daily (and nightly) to its jazz clubs, restaurants, boutiques, and cultural attractions.  Once the site of free slave encampments, the area became the center of African American intellectual and cultural life in the late 19^th - early 20^th century, before Harlem took that role around 1920.  Duke Ellington came out of Shaw.  Howard Theological Seminary (later Howard University) was established there.  Many of the great figures of the Harlem Renaissance like Langston Hughes and Alain LeRoy Locke frequented the cafes and jazz clubs still on U Street.  

Shaw is located in the northwest quadrant of the city between N Street NW to the south, New Jersey Ave. NW to the east, Florida Ave. NW to the north, and 11^th St. NW to the west.  Areas such as Logan Circle, Cardoza, and the circleless Truxton Circle were once considered a part of Shaw but are separate now.  It is east of Dupont Circle and south of Adams Morgan.

Like Columbia Heights, Shaw was the scene of riots after the death of Martin Luther King but appealing housing stock, a central location, and stable housing prices in D.C. made it a target for gentrification in the last 15 years. In 1986, a major city building, Reeves Center, was built at 14^th and U.  This triggered renovations of boarded-up commercial buildings and construction of more than 2,000 upscale residential condominiums and apartments between 1997 and 2007.  The result is a more diverse population in one of the most lively neighborhoods in D.C.

"Lively" does not come cheap; according to Trulia.com, the average listing price for homes in late June was $829,436, with a median sales price of $399,000.  Based on what I am currently listing in this neighborhood, you can find a nice 2 bedroom condo for considerably less.  Rentals in the neighborhood run over $2,000 for a 2 bedroom, which gives you a comparison figure to play with when you are deciding if you want to rent vs. buy a place of your own.

So what is so compelling about Shaw?

The Music Scene - Once known as "Black Broadway," the area is home to Lincoln Theatre, Howard Theater, Bohemian Caverns, and other clubs and historic jazz venues.  An older , more affluent crowd tends to patronize these clubs in contrast Georgetown.  The area is also home to great live music spots like the 9:30 Club, the Black Cat, and the Velvet Lounge.

The Food - Noted for its soul food and African cuisine (especially in the Little Ethiopia region of 9^th St. NW between U and T Streets), the area boasts a variety of low to medium price ethnic restaurants: Ben's Chile Bowl, the Florida Avenue Grill, Etete, Negril ....the list goes on with great places frequented by politicians and neighborhood folks alike.

The Galleries - High end exciting contemporary art galleries are located on 14^th Street, including the Adamson Gallery, Irvine Contemporary, and Curator's Office present the work of both well known and less known artists and photographers.

The Shopping - The boutiques on U Street offers trendy "funky" clothing and accessories from lesser known designers that offers an exciting alternative to many of the button-downed shops in other parts of the city with stores like Blink Optical, the Circle Boutique, Nana's, and Redeem.

The Cultural Attractions - The roots of neighborhood are honored in such treasures as the African American Civil War Memorial, the Lincoln Theater, and the Thurgood Marshal Center, constructed as a YMCA, designed by preeminent black architect W. Sidney Pittman, and frequent destination of the former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marhall.

Interested in locating in the Shaw area of D.C?  Visit Rachel Valentino's Atlantic Coast Connection website for a rundown of available listings and the scoop on the D.C. neighborhoods where you might like to live and play.  For a full rundown on what's happening in Shaw, see http://wikitravel.org/en/Washington_(D.C.)/U_Street_Corridor.