Sasha

Dear Eve,
D.C. has a wealth of great neighborhoods, but every buyer has a different definition of "good". One of our most popular neighborhoods is Dupont Circle, so let's start there. Dupont is a nice mix of professionals, with beautiful row-house architecture and apartment building situated right on the red line metro, and surrounded by great shops, bars, and restaurants. The neighborhood is vibrant, convenient to downtown, and has all of the edginess and virtually none of the grit. Moving north on the red line, the Woodley Park and Cleveland Park neighborhoods offer similar characteristics on a slightly smaller scale. As you start getting even more north, Van Ness and Tenley Town are also lovely areas, but some folks feel like they are getting too far away from downtown and the hustle and bustle at this point -it all depends on your lifestyle. West of Dupont is the lovely but ritzy area of West End, the gateway to the even ritzier area of Georgetown. Charm abounds among century-old row homes, painstakingly preserved by proud owners, and anchored by M street - the city's primary shopping and fashion district. West of Georgetown is the Palisades neighborhood, and north of Georgetown is Glover Park - both great, peaceful communities, neither of which are metro accessible. If you're a driver - these are good neighborhoods to live. Many places come with parking, prices are a little lower, and you will need your car to get around. North and slightly east of Dupont is Adams Morgan - an ultra funky, ultra busy neighborhood and the city's primary entertainment district. Expect diversity, expect lots of loudness coming from the club district, expect noise, dirt, grit, but also an sense of fun and energy unmatched. Push north into the metro-accessible revitalizing neighborhoods of Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights, and you will find a booming new commercial area of new condos, shops, and restaurants in neighborhoods struggling to redefine themselves without ridding themselves of the funkiness and diversity that made them cool to begin with. East of Dupont, you'll find Logan Circle, the epicenter of the DC condo boom. Anchored by the Whole Foods, Logan is like "Dupont East", with similar character and energy. But unlike Dupont, where there is no more room to build, fancy new construction abounds in Logan - a great neighborhood with easy access to downtown, but less access to metro. North of Logan is U street - similar in character to Logan itself, further from downtown though, but metro accesible. Push slightly south and east, and you will find yourself in Chinatown - another hot spot that has bloomed as of late. Lots of great restaurants and clubs and condos, as well as ever-increasing shops of the corporate ilk, are making this area compete more and more with the G-town shopping strip. Push further east and there is capitol hill. Similar to Georgetown in its architecture and attitude, and anchored, of course, by the Capitol, as well as the lovely Eastern Market, an outdoor farmers market. Because it is a bit east of downtown, Capitol Hill feels to some to be a bit inconvenient to the rest of the world, unless, of course, you work on the Hill! Push even further east and the newest frontier neighborhood - the H Street Corridor - is trying to start fresh, with big investors with big money starting to pay attention. Lots of value to be had here - but lots of work and waiting to be done as well.

So, there's a quick primer - I didn't touch on a bunch of other great neighborhoods, not to mention VA and MD, but I hope that gets you started. If you are looking to buy in DC, make sure to get an agent that really knows the area - it makes all the difference. - Tue Aug 12 2008, 23:48

I'm partial to North Arlington; a stone's throw from D.C., much of it metro accessible, very safe, and great schools, parks, and family-oriented communities. The downside, of course, is the price tag. - Tue Aug 12 2008, 23:15

A low-ball offer should always be viewed as an invitation to negotiate. Perhaps your agent was trying to be a savvy negotiator; by not engaging the buyer he was hoping to convey that you are not desperate sellers willing to give away the farm. This seems to have backfired. Should you get another low-ball buyer, a better tactic would be to engage them with a counter that shaves a few thousand off your list price. This would demonstrate that you are already fairly close to your lowest price but willing to negotiate a little bit., increasing the likelihood that the buyer will come back to you with a higher offer. - Mon Aug 11 2008, 21:50

Pay close attention to Michael's response. My client and I showed up at our REO closing only to discover that the bank had not signed off on the HUD 1. We did manage to shake loose a signed HUD from the bank after about 2 hours, but it was not exactly smooth sailing. Make sure your lender issues timely lender instructions and the title company gets that HUD 1 to the bank for their approval well in advance, if at all possible. Even if you give the bank plenty of time to sign the HUD 1 (48+ hours), be prepared for the possibility that the bank will not have fulfilled its paperwork requirements in time on your closing date. We decided to hunker down and wait for the paperwork to come in instead of postponing closing until the next day - you might want to schedule your closing around mid-day because of this. We were scheduled to close at 4 PM, and the title company wasn't exactly thrilled to have us still hanging around at 7 PM, waiting for paperwork from California to arrive. - Sat Aug 9 2008, 08:53

It depends what your lease says - many leases will specify the condition in which the property is to be left, for example "broom clean" or "professionally cleaned." Depending on your jurisdiction and your lease requirements, you may not have to paint to correct reasonable wear and tear (scuff marks and the like), but if you radically alter the walls, you might be responsible to restore them to their original color/condition. - Fri Aug 1 2008, 21:32