19 Offers, $412,000 Above Asking: The East Capitol Street Premium

• July 6th 2016

by Nena Perry-Brown

The desire to own a home on one of Capitol Hill’s premier streets is leading to stiff competition.

Just before July 4th, the three-bedroom, two-bath corner home at 701 East Capitol Street SE (map) sold for a whopping $412,000 above its asking price after garnering 19 offers.

The home was part of a larger estate sale, listing agent Linda Chaletzky told UrbanTurf. Chaletzky noted that interest may have inadvertently been drummed up during an auction of the home’s furnishings, which drew over 500 people on its first day.

The three-bedroom townhouse was priced at $1.089 million after Chaletzky and several Capitol Hill realtors looked at comparable properties in the neighborhood and calculated that the price was fair considering that any purchaser would have to put in roughly $500,000-$600,000 worth of renovations and updates in order to bring the house to modern living standards. The previous owners had lived there for over fifty years and had done very little to update the house during that time.

All of the major systems require updating, and renovations will need to be done on everything from the unfinished basement to the backyard garage. However, with a corner lot; front, rear, and side yards; a garage and parking; and classic interior details such as leaded windows, original pine floors, and a basement with six windows and a fireplace, the home offers many things not often found in Capitol Hill properties.

The home sold to a neighborhood resident who knew the previous owners and put forth a contingency-free, all-cash offer just above $1.5 million. Surprisingly (or perhaps not) this was not the highest offer on the table: another went up to $1.6 million, but included a financing contingency.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/above_asking_412000_for_great_bones_and_a_prime_location/11432.