Update on “Columbia Heights East” Property

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a condominium for sale in this multi-unit townhouse in Petworth or "Columbia Heights East," as a listing described it. The piece was for our Buyer's Market feature, which examines properties that have undergone significant price reductions. As of mid-August, the unit---located at 735 Rock Creek Church Road NW---was priced at $325,000. It originally was listed at $442,500. The seller was an investor, who'd been able to get rid of his two top units. All that remained was the basement, home to some lovely high highfalutin appliances, a stylish exposed brick wall, and, at one point, quite a bit of flood water, according to listing agent Roger Neely. After the piece went up online, a few people posted their thoughts and feelings about the property. They were not entirely positive:

"The ubsurdity of this market never ceases to amaze me," Kam shared. "Please keep up the good work of reporting this stupidity!"

"How true Kam, this entire market is out of control," Jamnew stated, kick starting a little dialogue. "I wouldn't pay 425,000.00 for the entire building! This throwing money down a wet hole."

Then, the attacks got personal: "I've looked at a lot of properties listed by Roger Neely. Without an exception they were all way overpriced and sat on the market for ages. It was infuriating trying to deal with him. Between the brilliant developer (with what the other 2 units sold for how can he not come up with $8K?) and Roger Neely, I would stay far, far away from this one!"

Oh my. Well it appears the property---at least according to craigslist---has dipped again! As of August 31, that last posted update, the property was down to $295,000. That's a 33 percent price drop. The advertisement also throws in the real estate f-word: "NEED IMMEDIATE SALE TO STOP FORECLOSURE."