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Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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14 comments:
Just for fun. Way too much info...
Rental listing in FC
Did a quick search for the word "super". 17 entries.
Sounds as if s/he's on some super speed.
I'm having a hard time translating into English from Crazytalk, but is that $1800 a month for 480 square feet? And somehow that 480 sq feet has 2 bedrooms? And a family of 4 is currently living in 480 sq feet?
Two more from the same person.
$1950
This is funny:
"I'm going to do something else entirely new here. In the recent past, while doing this sort of thing, I wrote what may have been the longest listings on CL. They got rave reviews from those who contacted us, but, well, they were very long, hard to do, and CL took forever to register them. So, what I'm doing now is a minimalist listing, with the offer that, if you want to know and see MUCH more, just e-mail me, and I'll produce for you descriptions of house, suite, location, who's with us now, and loads of photos. Just inquire."
$1250
Is it legal to run a boarding house in FC?
p.s. this guy is a NUT!
hello - new to the forum. I'm a solid renter, never owned. I saw a condo at the Westlee, which has had a number of foreclosures. I am thinking the prices are on their way down, and I should wait.
Am I crazy?
I am so conflicted with what I hear. Arlington holds its value, it is unique, interest rates are low... I've done all of the calculators including the rent or buy at the NYTimes site. I just don't know, if I should wait just a while longer.
Anybody have any thoughts?
imperfect, welcome!
Here are two inputs but others will know a lot more than I do about the main things you're interested in.
1) in general, buying condos can be risky where there are a lot of foreclosures, or where owners are renting them out (e.g., to avoid foreclosure), because new buyers who WOULD live in them, cannot get financing if the percent owner-occupied for the building drops below a certain level. Your Realtor should have a lot of info about this. A high proportion of financially stressed owners also means that the condo fees may not be paid on time, leading to maintenance and improvement issues or higher fees for other owners, over time.
2) Westlee looks a lot like one of the buildings in Clarendon, which is quite pretty and was hot in sales several years ago, but which (according to rumors I have heard FWIW) has had some issues with the quality of the building, things breaking, etc. Same builder? You might want to investigate this, if you haven't already.
Imperfect - Hi and welcome. Ace brings up some good points. Here is some more information you should know.
c,
Thanks for the good article.
Imperfect,
Here's a photo of 1021 Garfield, in Clarendon:
http://franklymls.com/AR7353145
and of the Westlee, on the border of Arl. and Falls Church:
http://www.lessardgroup.com/Portfolio.aspx?PID=136
Same builder?
From experience I can tell you that there are a ton of design flaws at 1021 Garfield. I've rented there for about a year now and there is no way in hell you could convince me to buy there even without the ridiculous pricing in the building.
Imperfect,
In addition to what everyone is saying about condos, look at the condo fees. The fees are usually very high, and even if it sounds reasonable now, the management can increase it suddenly or levy a special fee, over which you will have little control. In general, condo buyers are better off buying a TH in the same price range unless the convenience makes the huge premium worth in your particular situation.
Imperfect - The Westlee was built by Ken Silverman who worked with Arlington Co. in developing a property in S. Arlington called the Sierra to clean up a neighborhood off Columbia Pike. 1021 Garfield was built by the investment banking firm The Carlyle Group. They panicked when they saw the condo market declining and cut back on construction budgets and dumped a lot of the units to Chinese and Korean investors who are slowly defaulting on their loans leading to foreclosures and shorts in the building. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BUY IN 1021 because they are going to have major problems in that building and big special assessments like Courthouse Hill. Look for some of the smaller, more solid buildings in the Orange Crush corridor.
Condo Buyer
Would you explain in more detail what the deal is with Special Assessments? I didn't know about this sort of thing and my google searches are not particularly informative.
Thanks.
condo buyer, thanks for that very useful info.
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