The Pursuit: From a Four-Bedroom to a Studio

• January 6th 2012

by Shilpi Paul

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For eight years, Sam Gonzales, 33, lived large in a three-level home in Gaithersburg.

“I had an office, a gym, a guest room, and still had enough space for a roommate,” he told UrbanTurf.

Gonzales, a social media manager for a Bethesda company, bought the four-bedroom townhouse in Gaithersburg because he wanted to be close to his family in Germantown. The roommate helped with the mortgage.

However, Gonzales was finding that he was spending more and more of his free time not at the house, but in the city. He would often crash on a friend’s couch in DC on Friday night, hurry back to walk and feed his dog Lexie on Saturday morning, and then drive right back in. “It was starting to take a toll on me,” recalls Gonzales, who ultimately decided that DC proper was where he wanted to be.

So he began his search for a home in the District, first in the H Street Corridor, attracted to the restaurants, bars and row houses that could offer him a similar amount of space in a city atmosphere.

His budget was in the $300’s, and he soon learned that the houses in that range needed too much work or were not quite to his liking. After six months without finding anything, Gonzales took a break.

A couple months later, he met friends at Kastles Stadium at The Wharf in the Southwest Waterfront for a concert. Arena Stage had just reopened, some shopping options had popped up, and people were out and about. “I drove down and was amazed by how much the area had changed,” Gonzales remembers. His housing search not only resumed, but took an unexpected turn.

Gonzales called his agent Jennifer Myers, who pointed him towards Potomac Place Tower at 4th and I Streets SW (map). The eight-story building is filled with relatively inexpensive studios, one-bedrooms and one-bedrooms plus den. Condos hadn’t occurred to Gonzales before, because of their size, but then he started thinking about all the things he wouldn’t have to worry about.

“I don’t have to mow the grass, don’t have to worry about the roof. All of it started sinking in,” said Gonzales.

While maintenance wouldn’t be a major concern, what about the home office, the gym, and Lexie? The towers have a gym and business center in the building and the National Mall and waterfront could offer places for Gonzales to take Lexie on walks.

Realizing her could afford to buy at Potomac Place and keep the Gaithersburg home, Gonzales purchased a 550 square-foot studio there last fall. He says downsizing has been freeing.

“I had a dining room set [in Gaithersburg] that I’d used only twice in eight years. My guest room was used maybe a couple times a year. I realized I didn’t need any of those things.”

Gonzales says Lexie is loving the change of scenery; at the old place, she mostly hung out in the backyard. The waterfront has also been inspiring to Gonzales. He is exploring the possibility of starting a ceviche and fresh fish taco restaurant in the area, and his proximity to the water has helped get him back into sailing.

“When I lived in the suburbs, I had a sailboat that I never sailed,” he said. “Now, I am a block away from the water.”

As for the big house out in Gaithersburg, Gonzales is now the landlord to a family of four.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_pursuit_from_a_four-bedroom_to_a_studio/4776.