Real Estate

Georgetowner • July 26, 2011

Alessio Alessi flew into D.C. to help Deborah Kalkstein open her Alessi store in Cady’s Alley, Oct. 21. Many Alessi classic designs are familiar, such as the juicers, kettles and baskets, and follow the company’s commitment to function and emotion in its designs. “These are items to make you smile,” said Alessi during his pre-opening lecture on the history of the company, founded in Omegna, Italy, in 1921 by Giovanni Alessi. With its family company and freelance designers, Alessi offers thousands of kitchen and home items, valued and copied by many. Original Alessi designs, some from the 1930s, make up the “Memories from the Future” line. It was such a big deal that the Washington Post’s Jura Koncius and Robin Givhan, along with other local media types, showed up. The firm considers Georgetown residents and visitors “the ideal audience for Alessi’s products.” Kalkstein, the Georgetown store’s owner, also owns Contemporaria in Cady’s Alley. [gallery ids="99409,99410,99411,99412,99413" nav="thumbs"]

Amy Engle •

In hopes of discovering why tea has grown so popular recently, The Georgetowner interviewed the owners of two local tea shops, Hollie of Ching Ching Cha in Georgetown and Guy of Zen Tara Fine Teas in Bethesda, MD.

Tell us about your background and how you decided to open a tea shop.

Hollie: 15 years ago I ran into a Taiwanese Teahouse in Paris during my year of traveling in France and decided to have my own. I am chinese from Hong Kong.

Guy: I teamed up with co-owner Methee Thavornvongkajorn to open the shop. My background is in architecture and design, Methees’ is in the spa industry. We wanted to create a more contemporary version of a tea shop. We actually started looking onto it back in 2007 and worked on become knowledgeable about tea while having a part-time tea counter at the Farm Women’s Cooperative Market in Bethesda. We were attending the World Tea Expo every year and took almost 2 years to find the right location which turned about to be less than 2 blocks away from the Farmer’s Market on Wisconsin Avenue. We’re happy with the way things turned out, the shop is 1600 sq.ft., the largest tea shop we know of in the Metro DC region, we have a separate glass walled tea tasting room where we hold monthly events and true to our Zen name, it is a very relaxing, serene environment focused on tea.

Why do you love selling tea?

Hollie: I love selling tea because I love tea!

Guy: It is a great tasting beverage that is good for you. It is great to be able to go to the shop every day and work with a product that has such positive qualities. It is also a product with a tremendous history that literally has changed the fortunes of more than one country from Asia to Europe to the United States – tea has a great story. Here in the U.S. it is a particularly exciting time to be a part of the tea industry as our country is (finally?) living up to its’ potential of being great tea consumers. Right now, we’re probably getting the widest variety and some of the best teas we’ve ever been able to import into the U.S. We have 114 teas at the shop and weekly get customer requests recommendations for just one more tea they
would like us to find.

What about tea do you think is making it so popular all of a sudden?

Hollie: It’s a beverage taste delicious and good for health which is a rare combination.Nowadays, most of us are searching for food and drinks that will benefits our health. It’s also affordable, and easy to prepare.

Guy: Better tasting loose teas are available now – grocery store tea bags aren’t the only options (similar to when the coffee industry broke open from a limited number of coffees in a can or “freeze-dried” jars in grocery stores). Consumers are more aware of health benefits. There is also a generational shift in more than one direction perhaps. The baby boomer generation is more sensitive to coffee’s effects and seems to be stepping away from caffeine spikes and crashes to the more gentle sustained lift of teas. At the same time for younger tea drinkers, now that there are more contemporary teahouse options that aren’t just about lace tablecloths and finger sandwiches, tea has become something hip they are embracing, like what happened with coffeehouses 20 years ago.

What is the question you get most when customers visit your tea shop?

Hollie: A lot of people come in asking what kind of tea will benefit health or help them lose weight.

Guy: It would be a tie between a question and a misunderstanding. The question is about caffeine levels of different teas or between coffees and teas (in general, tea has half the caffeine per cup depending how it is prepared). The other is that loose tea is too complicated or takes too long to prepare. With most mugs and pots coming with their own infusing basket or the disposable loose tea infusing bags like we use at the shop, we can quickly show customers it isn’t such an ordeal.

What makes one tea better than another?

Hollie: A tea is made better by the quality of the leaves, the taste, the aroma, the texture and the after taste.

Guy: Tea, like wine, tastes different depending on where it is grown depending on the soil, climate and how the tea is cultivated. Certain regions have produced the best types of tea going back sometimes thousands of years. Limited growing seasons or production will make these teas more expensive. In general, loose teas have a better flavor and are of a higher quality than lower grade teas used in teabags. That said, we always tell customers whatever tea they enjoy is the best tea for them. Some customers prefer pure teas without any floral or fruit blends, others like the wide range of flavored teas that creatively used added ingredients blended with tea leaves. However; like with wine, there does seem to be a path that tea drinkers at the shop progess through from drinking black and green teas to more complex oolong and puerh teas.

What is your favorite type of tea and why?

Hollie: My favourite kind of tea depends on the season. I like Dragon Well in spring, Dongding Oolong in the summer, Pheonix Oolong in the autumn and Pu Erh in cold winter days.

Guy : Very hard to answer. Methee and I have a luxury in buying tea for the shop in that we get to taste and explore literally hundreds of teas a year as we constantly try and select the best teas for the shop. From month to month the favorite changes but a couple of teas that are always on the list are our organic Golden Yunnan black tea, organic Dragon Well green tea and our Cherry Blossom White Tea.

Tell us about the teacups and kettles you sell in your tea house.

Hollie: Our teawares are mainly from china, taiwan and japan. we use different size and different material of pot and cups for different types of teasdepending on the water temperatures that are needed to brew the teas. For example for green teas, we use a ceramic cha chong(a tea bowl with a lid and a sauce) because the material and the shape of the bowl allows the teas cool rapidly so it won’t bring out the bitterness of the teas. When the visual effect is important we will use a glass so you can see the shape and the color of the teas. Oolong will is served with a “kung fung” style tea set containing a Yixing clay teapot, an aroma cup, a drinking cup, an ocean of tea, a tea pool and a dreg spoon. It is quite elaborate and lots of fun to prepare. It’s best to always have the hot water accessible or ready on the table because running back and forth to the kitchen is not relaxing.

Georgetowner •

Doyle New York will auction the estate of the legendary actress, singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 2pm, at Doyle New York, 175 East 87th Street, New York, NY.

Born in Brooklyn, Lena Horne (1917-2010) began her professional life at 16 in the chorus line at Harlem’s Cotton Club, before moving to Hollywood and appearing in a series of acclaimed film roles. Beginning in the 1950s, she focused increasingly on live performance, becoming one of the world’s premiere nightclub entertainers. Through her many recordings and television appearances, millions more became her fans.

The Lena Horne collection comprises approximately 200 lots of elegant costume jewelry, accessories, gowns, memorabilia, decorations, silver, furniture, books and fine art from her home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

For more information visit DoyleNewYork.com, or contact Doyle New York client services at 212 427 4141, ext 207. Or email ClientServices@DoyleNewYork.com. [gallery ids="99603,105045,105039,105041" nav="thumbs"]

Gregg Busch •

Case Shiller Index reported that of the 20 cities it recorded, home prices are off to a dismal start, with 18 cities down in price. Only 1 city actually had a 3.6% increase in prices. Guess which city that was…?

You got it right, the Washington, DC area. So with all the negative press these days about housing being in the dumps and prices poised to drop further, one needs to recognize that these are national numbers, not local.

Why is the District fairing better than the national average? Low unemployment with a rate of 5.6%, high affordability, above average home price growth, falling foreclosure rate, less houses under distressed sale, cheaper to buy then rent, and an increasing population. All these bode well for the future of housing in the Washington region. This is why we are actually seeing multiple offers this spring with low inventory levels. Realtors’ biggest complaint is that there is not enough inventory to sell, which is starting to drive up prices.

So now you ask yourself why you should pull the trigger today. Here are the best reasons why now is a good time to jump off the sidelines and get into the housing market:

1.) You can still find a good price if you look hard. The MRIS (multiple regional listing service) and Delta Associates are estimating that the increasing number of jobs into the area will continue the price gains long term. Buying now makes sense as clear statistics show prices are on the incline.

2.) Mortgages rates are still low, but not for long as the economy shows continued signs of improvement. Today you can get a loan around 4.75%, where just 2½ years ago rates were at 6.25%. Over a 30-year period, that can save you many thousands of dollars.

3.) You will save on income taxes to be able to afford more per month. You can deduct the mortgage interest and real estate taxes off your net taxable income.

4.) You will be able to hedge against inflation in the long term. You are not guaranteed a quick return in 2 years, but history has shown that owning a home over an extended period of time does beat inflation by a couple of points a year over average.

5.) It’s forced savings. As you continue to make your mortgage payment monthly, more dollars go into principal to pay the loan down which builds up equity. On top of those savings you have the appreciation of the property over the long term. Like the stock market, it is risk capital. As the stock market continues to go up and the economy improves the price will start to appreciate again. Just look at history.

As populations continue to grow in our country and here in the DC area, strain is going to be felt in the price of homes if new housing is not being created. New building permits are only growing at 4%, and while this is sufficient to cover population growth, it won’t be enough to cover those moving to the market or the people coming from being renters to buyers. Act now, and don’t pay attention to the negative headlines about housing.

Lisa Gillespie •

Stacy Berman never saw herself working the real estate industry. She studied computer science and communications in college, two industries she followed into her career in software marketing, which eventually ended as vice president of marketing at BEICOM, a computer networking company.

September 11 happened and the software industry bubble burst. She was out of a job.

“When I made my transition, I thought it would be temporary. But I get to bring all of my marketing and management experience to real estate,” says Berman, who first worked as a realtor with Long & Foster in 2004 and nearly four months ago took the job as manager and broker of the Long & Foster Georgetown office. “It’s a lot like my marketing job. There’s strategy in selling a house; my product is the house and you have one day to make a presentation. If it’s not looking perfect, your first impression is blown. There is competitive analysis—how does the house compete price-wise against the competition—and all those are all marketing methodologies.”

Berman moved to the Washington area in 1990 and has lived in Adams Morgan, Cleveland Park and Logan Circle. With two children both under the age of six, she hopes to move to Georgetown when they go off to college because she says she loves the community.

“This is a community and a neighborhood. There aren’t many long-standing enclaves of neighborhoods anymore because Washington has gotten so big and so transient,” says Berman, who currently resides in Chevy Chase with her husband. “You could take Georgetown and put it in a small town in rural Virginia. There are a core group of people that know each other and new people feel that warmth, which is rare in a large metropolitan area.”

Berman fills the shoes of Darrell Parsons, who served in the Georgetown office for over 20 years, but she’s excited to grow the Long & Foster/Christies International brand in Georgetown.

“People are proud of their homes no matter where you live in the world, but even more so in Georgetown. I walk down the street and see the pride people take in their homes.”

Samantha Hungerford •

How did you get your start in the real estate business?

Marc Fleisher: In 1976 I acquired my real estate license at the suggestion of a friend and commercial developer. I chose at the time to handle the distribution and sales of roller skates and, upon meeting my wife-to-be, was convinced by her that if I were to spend so much time and energy as a sales person, I should consider activating my real estate license and perusing real estate as a career.

What was the most memorable home you’ve closed yet?

MF: Since I have had the good fortune to settle many unique and exciting properties, it is difficult to reduce the answer to one home. However, one of the most unique properties I ever handled was a contemporary home on 5-acres designed as a space ship that contained 8,000 square feet of granite walls and floors and two kitchens designed with a patrician to allow for either the chefs to view the dining guests or the guests to view with kitchen preparations.

What is your favorite thing about being a real estate agent?

MF: A number of things appeal to me about being a real estate agent: the opportunity to meet and work with many different people of many different backgrounds, the ability to pick and choose the time that I wish to allocate to the business. But foremost is the satisfaction of seeing people truly get excited about the purchases and sale of their home as a result of my efforts.

Where do you live now and why did you pick that area?

MF: I currently live in downtown Bethesda. After having raised my family and commuted to work, as well as carpooling the children to various activities, I wanted to downsize my housing and take advantage of being able to walk to the heart of Bethesda.

When you’re not closing deals, what can you usually be found doing?

MF: I have found over the years that the best way to succeed and enjoy life is to create a balance between work and other activities. I enjoy golf, tennis and particularly travel both within and outside of the United States.

What is the hottest neighborhood in DC right now?

MF: Over the past 10 years it has become apparent that Washington DC itself has become an attraction for many homebuyers. I cannot define one area over another as being the hottest neighborhood, since buyers choose different neighborhoods for various reasons. Whether it is the palisades community, Wesley Heights, Spring Valley, or Kalorama and Dupont Circle, there is demand for every one of these neighborhoods.

For more information visit MarcFleisher.com