WaPo: (Condo) Size Does Not Matter

• December 7th 2009

by Mark Wellborn

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It is no secret that plenty of young home buyers would sacrifice square footage to be a quick walk from their favorite bar or restaurant. While not exactly groundbreaking news, The Washington Post had a good story this past weekend about young renters and buyers who have not only prioritized location, but are making maximum use of every accessible square foot.

Most of the people interviewed for the article live in spaces that range in size from 450 to 600 square feet. However, these small units are more than just homes, serving as offices and art studios for industrious tenants:

Andy Klatt [works] as a consultant for a property management software company from his 450-square-foot studio apartment in a complex near 11th and M streets NW. His rent, $1,200 a month, looked like a deal compared with other places in the area, he said.

“I actually took a pay cut to take this job — to get me at home,” Klatt said. “It was a life choice.”

He said he loves the lack of office politics and commuting traffic and enjoys working while lounging on his couch-bed, computer on his lap or on a computer tray. He has no desk or file cabinets. “I keep it really small. . . . I don’t want my home to feel like an office,” he said.

Statistics in the article seem to bear out that this trend extends beyond DC proper:

In Fairfax County, sales of condos priced from $200,000 to $299,999 rose 81 percent in October from a year earlier and the under-$200,000 market jumped 62 percent, according to the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/wapo_condo_size_does_not_matter/1578.