End of an era here folks! Union Row, the enormous condo complex at 14th and V Streets—heck, the "Second Best Condominium" in D.C.—is almost sold out. For the past eight months, I've been getting alerts about its remaining units. By late October, there were only ten left out of an original total of roughly 270.

According to this week's e-mail, there's just one!*

*Correction: just one in The Warehouses at Union Row, a smaller complex of townhouse-style residences, which sits behind The Flats at Union Row, the 14th Street highrise—where several units still remain unsold, according to Urbanturf.

Anyone even vaguely familiar with the local real estate market (or, for that matter, almost any real estate market in the U.S. this year and last) has noticed a slow-down in construction. The big story in D.C. was about condo projects suddenly transforming into apartment projects.

Anyway, here's a clear picture of just how things have changed in the last few years. The numbers represent completed new units in the given year:

Perhaps the first-time homebuyers credit—which was set to expire by Nov. 30, but now is being extended—has been good to D.C.'s condo market. It looks like for-sale condos are being snapped up around the city.

Last week, we heard that Union Row, the mammoth 14th Street complex with some 270 units, was nearly sold out. This week, McWilliams|Ballard announced that Ten Ten Mass, located near Mount Vernon Square, had finally unloaded the last of its 163 condos.

Yes, both buildings have been on the market for several years. Ten Ten Mass first began sales in 2005, before the building had completed construction. Union Row completed construction in 2007, and began pre-sales in late 2005.  But sales have been moving at a speedy pace recently—or at least they were according to the last numbers I saw.* A recent Delta Associates report noted that condo prices will probably start to rise in the District and the Arlington/Alexandria areas given the current number of units for sale.

*MRIS stats show that condo/coop sales in D.C. (between $100,000 and $5 million) dropped off slightly between August 2009 and September 2009, with 296 and 274 sales respectively. But that sales were up significantly between September 2009 and September 2008, which reported 194 sales.

Delta Associates third quarter condo report was released yesterday, and the numbers look good—well, better than usual—for the District. I did not spot the term "condo glut" once. In the last few months, several projects were cancelled and a few were "reprogrammed," but Delta expects that demand will rise again soon here and across the river in Arlington and Alexandria. As we reported during the last go-round, it looks like prices won't be falling too much more.

• In the last year, condo prices dropped three percent in the District, compared to six percent in the entire metropolitan area.

• The report suggests that condo prices will probably start to rise in the District and the Arlington/Alexandria areas given the current number of units for sale. ("History tells us that at 2 to 2.5 years of inventory and below,prices tend to move up smartly. Currently, Arlington County & the City of Alexandria and the District have the lowest inventory-to-sales ratios in the metro area. Prices declined the least during the past twelve months in these two submarkets.")

• Price increases may lead to new developments in "select submarkets," likely D.C. and Arlington/Alexandria. The report suggests that in the next 12 to 18 months, "we may see a trend of apartment projects switching to condos in select submarkets due to a tightened condo pipeline and increased demand." And a waves of new developments may start rippling through high-demand areas in 2011.

Occasionally, I find myself  inexplicably writing over and over, the same day, about the same area of the city. 

Today, the mini onslaught comes from the east of the river neighborhoods—or if you please "River East."

DC MUD is reporting that there are 24 new condos in the works—Condos! Imagine that! It actually may be time to build some more—in the city. 

The amazing thing is they're coming to Anacostia, an area not known for its robust condo stock (see above for a classic Anacostia abode). 

According to DC MUD, Manna would like to take control of six townhouses on W Street SE. They intend to preserve the building's exteriors, and redevelop the properties into "24 two-bedroom, two-bath for-sale units...A quarter of the units will be made available to households earning 60% or less of the area median income (AMI), the remaining 16 units will be available for households earning 61-80% AMI."

Image by Darrow Montgomery

The kittens at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington live differently than the adult cats. Adult cats—including Sheba, the even-temptered black 10-year-old and Bennett, the 11-year-old orange tabby—have a divided, single-level home they can crawl through. But the kittens get the most affordable  condo in Shirlington.

It's two floors with multiple windows that fill it with light. A bathroom is convenenienly located in the main living space. Renovations, including occasional hair removal and an updated food bowl, were lovingly completed by the cleaning staff around 7 a.m. New carpet. Hammock included.

Still, these cats are looking to relocate. Interested adopters should call (703) 931-9241.

It’s still a good day to be a gangsta in “Arlington: The Rap,” but Remy Munasifi is moving on. Creatively (to a video for the Tax Foundation), not physically. The star of the smash NoVa hit on YouTube (as well as “Partly Cloudy: The Rap” and the only slightly less-hilarious one about 2 percent milk) actually does love him some Clarendon.

His homage to his new hood—he grew up in McLean and moved to Clarendon about a month ago—went up mid-June, caught e-mail and Facebook fire, and is now getting a touch cold. Still, for those of you who have yet to experience the existential question: “Why are all these dudes wearing brown flip flops??,” here you go:

Housing Complex notes that some of the filming took place in Munasifi’s phat Clarendon pad. Munasifi agreed to play along with this angle. As a result, we bring you…

Ten Questions for YouTube Star GoRemy:

1. How many hits did you have to get to be able to score a place in Arlington?

Hmm, I'm really not sure. I got invited to be a partner by YouTube in November 2007, so that was helpful. My YouTube channel has over 30 million video views, so somewhere between zero and 30 million, I guess.

2. Is getting a condo there a dream fulfilled?

Well, everybody was saying, "now is the best time to buy!" As if anybody knows. If you're not offering me advice from your massive yacht at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday, I'm not listening. I did want to buy, but ended up renting. I'm a pretty impulsive person. I went to West Virginia last fall to visit some friends and thought to myself: I should live here! So I got a place there, sight unseen. I moved back to Virginia four months later. So when I decided I wanted to buy a place in Clarendon, my dad tactfully suggested, since I can be a bit impulsive, I rent something first to see if it's really something I want. So I'm in a trial period right now, renting in a condo building. I now realize what he meant.

3. What else can you tell us about your sweet-ass crib?

It's filled with ladies. And by "ladies" I mean "pencils." There's nothing in the fridge. I got some artwork framed, but the frames are all on the floor, since I don't know how to hang them.

4. These condo fees you mention in “Arlington: The Rap”: What do you get for them?

I guess that would be a bit of poetic license there. No condo fees since I'm renting. "Condo fees" sounds funnier than "rent." To me, at least. We have a pool on the roof here. It's like 3 feet deep. I'm pretty sure you could jump over it if you ran fast enough. When I got the building tour, I thought it was a puddle.

5. Do you own a pair of brown flip-flops?

I don't own any flip-flops. I do own a brown face, however.

6. What's the lamest comment you've heard/read about your Arlington piece? Paraphrasing is fine. I see there are a lot to choose from [more than 3,200], so I don't expect you to memorize them.

No lame comments at all! If someone watches my video and doesn't like it, I can't complain. They gave it a shot by checking it out. That's a tremendous gesture in itself.

[Editor’s Note: This, in fact, is a totally lame comment: "The sentiments espoused by the revolting maker of this video and his gross and spurious accomplices indicates a stunted and retarded worldview. This performance is a pollution upon the fair name of our county, and indicates the level of mentation common to those seen knuckledragging their way through the shops and along the sidewalks in the Clarendon area."]

7. What's the best comment you've heard/read?

I made a video about an online role-playing game called "Warcraft: The Rap." In the video I played a character who was a member of the "Alliance faction." One commenter wrote something like, "That's what Alliance people look like in real life? ROTFL at Alliance." I ROTFL'd at that comment myself. For readers who don't know, "ROTFL" is "rolling on the floor laughing." It's a great thing to do if you're sad. Or on fire.

8. Clarendon or Court House? Discuss.

I have to go with my home, Clarendon. You just can't deny the 'Dizzle. It's a great place to live if you're a fan of fine dining or construction.

9. Why do all the thugs live in Arlington?

The toughest people are just drawn to the toughest places. It gets pretty rough in between the yoga studio and the gelato place.

10. What are you working on next?

Perhaps a home-improvement project? I want a gold toilet.

"With mortgage interest rates remiaing low and job growth rates remaining on course, we expect a net sales pace of 3,000 to 3,500 per annum over the next two years," he says. Last year, sales totaled 1,458. Rich projects this year's will be about 1,600. But he stands by the 3,000 projection for next year, even if there is a recession. Rich says that more than 3,000 contracts have been signed in the last year, and the net sales figure reflects high cancellation rates for buyers who signed before projects delivered."

So, good news for condo sellers here. Now, check out stats reported by New York magazine, which did a neat little roundup of new condo buildings, how long units have been for sale, and how many condos are sold or under contract. Here's a peek: One Madison Avenue 40-unit building has been on the market for 30 months, with 15 listings still available, and ten units being rented out. Another upper Manhattan building is described as having "Nineteen [units] in contract, eight presently on the market, price cuts galore."

For a city with supposedly untouchable real estate stability, this is surprising.