DC Gov to Sell Vacant Properties the Old-Fashioned Way

• November 6, 2009

by Will Smith

The DC government is trying a new approach to selling some of the abandoned properties that it owns: real estate agents. A new program from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will see four trial properties listed in the local multiple listings service (MLS) just like most other real estate that is bought and sold.

The move represents a departure from traditional tactics that the city has used to rehabilitate vacant, distressed housing stock that it owns and get it back under private ownership. Auctions are a common method to sell such housing, and in fact DHCD auctioned off 30 abandoned properties earlier this year (see our coverage here and here). Four of the properties that were sold at auction never made it to closing, and it is these four properties that DC will now sell on the MLS.

According to the announcement, other cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and St. Louis have had success selling abandoned houses (“vacants”, as Baltimoreans call them) this way.

DHCD has selected auctioneer Alex Cooper as the listing agent. Information on each of the properties for sale is available here. They include a 1,600-square-foot row house in Ledroit Park for $225,000 (“in need of extensive renovation”) and a $125,000 row house a block and a half from the Petworth Metro station.

Interested buyers must submit offers to the agent no later than February 5th and can visit the properties by appointment only.