Shock and Awe
Yet another article in the Post today about how real estate prices in Washington are skyrocketing, and how that has impacted property taxes and affordability.
Just to give you an idea how distorted the market is, my wife and I used to live in a one-bedroom apartment in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of DC. An identical one-bedroom unit one floor up from our old apartment recently sold for over $330,000. That’s just sick. It went for that much because the neighborhood is very desirable and the building is very close to Metro.
It’s funny to hear stories about people who desperately want to live in certain neighborhoods bid up crappy houses to ridiculous amounts just to get a certain zip code. It’s amusing because people do this not because of good schools or services or anything like that, but to be able to tell people they live in Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, or McLean. Granted, if I had unlimited means, I certainly would look at houses in the decent areas in DC, but would refrain from overbidding for a dump.
There are certain areas in the Maryland suburbs that insist on being called Potomac or North Bethesda even though they are located in Rockville, a charm-less, strip mall haven. People want so badly to be uppity that they end up looking ridiculous and it’s fun to tweak them by telling them they are in Rockville. Hey, there is a cool REM song about Rockville, how bad could it be?
Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy living in our quaint little colonial in East Bethesda.
Just to give you an idea how distorted the market is, my wife and I used to live in a one-bedroom apartment in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of DC. An identical one-bedroom unit one floor up from our old apartment recently sold for over $330,000. That’s just sick. It went for that much because the neighborhood is very desirable and the building is very close to Metro.
It’s funny to hear stories about people who desperately want to live in certain neighborhoods bid up crappy houses to ridiculous amounts just to get a certain zip code. It’s amusing because people do this not because of good schools or services or anything like that, but to be able to tell people they live in Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, or McLean. Granted, if I had unlimited means, I certainly would look at houses in the decent areas in DC, but would refrain from overbidding for a dump.
There are certain areas in the Maryland suburbs that insist on being called Potomac or North Bethesda even though they are located in Rockville, a charm-less, strip mall haven. People want so badly to be uppity that they end up looking ridiculous and it’s fun to tweak them by telling them they are in Rockville. Hey, there is a cool REM song about Rockville, how bad could it be?
Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy living in our quaint little colonial in East Bethesda.
posted by DC-Giant at 11:24 AM
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