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Buying or Selling a Home? You’ll Want to Read This
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In Georgetown, an Improbable Family Reunion
Designing House
November 3, 2011
•What happens when you gather the greatest minds in the Washington design world and sic them on a newly built home? You end up with the Washington Design Center’s 2010 Design House, a glittering amalgam of styles new and old tied together by some of the freshest design thinking around. John Blee sits down with a few of the Design House’s featured decorators to get their perspective.
How did you accessorize your section of the house?
NESTOR SANTA-CRUZ [STUDY]: I used mostly my own personal accessories, paintings, vases, etc. I wanted it to be a very personal look, something that matches my work and meets the style of Elle Decor. I wanted a sense of abstraction, but also a realism in the actual pieces I selected. Mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. I use objects, textiles, carpets and furniture as pieces of an interior architectural vocabulary. Objects must talk to each other. The design language is the same even when mixing styles/periods. It’s a Latin and an American mixed way of looking at European precedents.
MELINDA NETTELBECK, ADAMSTEIN & DEMETRIOU ARCHITECTS [MASTER BEDROOM]: To accentuate the cosmopolitan feel of the space, we collected photography and ceramics from local galleries in black, white, and neutral shades. The sensual lines of the pieces add a feminine touch to an otherwise masculine space. The rich colors in the photography above the bed and unique lighting bring a playful element to the room.
FRANK RANDOLPH [PORTICO]: I put classic furniture that can stay there in all seasons. The entrance and exit of a home should look as good as the interior. I was thinking of classical Tuscany. Porticos go back to the Greeks and Romans.
Are there any aspects of your way of decorating a room that have changed in the last few years?
RANDOLPH: Yes, I am using more color, including shades of lavender and mauve and periwinkle blue. They make me happy. I bought a periwinkle shirt at Brooks Brothers the other day and it made me feel the same.
SANTA-CRUZ: That’s really a good question. I really think my work evolves, but if I had to say something, my work is more edited, more sophisticated, because I know the reference to the history of design, yet I want to provide a point of view, a personal quality, and both visual and physical comfort. It’s more edited than ever.
Did you have an imaginary client in mind when you designed the room?
KELLEY PROXMIRE: I imagined that a young female New York socialite living on Park Avenue lived in this space.
RITA AT. CLAIR [FAMILY ROOM]: I had an imaginary client: a family that enjoyed being together. An active family that enjoys sports, travel and art. That uses this room for family planning of their activities. A family that enjoys television, as well as the use of a fireplace. This family is also aware of design, perhaps not the trendy styles but good design in both antiques, art and contemporary styling.
SANTA-CRUZ: Yes, in a way. I really looked for inspiration to French decorator Madeleine Castaing. I wanted to use blue, her favorite color, and combine it the way she did: with yellows, reds, greens and dark furniture. But, I also wanted to fit the Elle Décor style: personal, designed and yet very today, very eclectic. I also do not like rooms to be only masculine or feminine. I like it to be able to be both.
Do you coordinate with other designers when you do a show house?
SANTA CRUZ: No, I never do that. That’s of no interest to me.
I think a show house needs to be like haute couture: present a point of view, a moment, yet send a message that design is important in our lives, regardless of cost. I have items in my room that cost very little when I bought them. The point is that I explore ideas that I have been “floating” in my mind for a while, and a show house can test those. With all the respect to my Hall of Fame colleagues, and I truly respect them, I am doing this to inspire: other designers, students and amateurs of design, manufacturers and editors, the public in general.
I hope when visiting this room, one takes an idea or two, good or bad, like it or not. I want people to question why I did what I did, even if they wouldn’t do it with my vision. If a show house is not used by the designers as way to teach or inspire, or confront other ways, then we are not doing our jobs as designers. I can tell you that I don’t want it to look like a high-end hotel room or a show room.
ST. CLAIR: Yes, I coordinate with two or three people on my projects; however, the showhouses we do are few. This particular showhouse has my personal name on it. Therefore, it is my design concept, selections and oversight. However, like in all my personally designed spaces, two designers on my staff, Brian Thim and Polly Bartlett, have not only coordinated my ideas but they have made the room happen.
What are you happiest with about your effort?
PROXMIRE: Scale. The space is very large for a foyer (approximately 18.5 by 27 feet) with very low ceilings. I wanted to make the space be welcoming and not too cavernous. I accomplished this by using dining room table bases for console tables, large round skirted table in the middle and adding a window to break up one long sidewall.
NETTELBECK: Because the architecture was about sculpting the walls, the faux finish was instrumental in creating a dark and seductive foundation. We used a simple crosshatch finish that provided the elegance of wall covering without the seams. In contrast, the light polished marble and luminous wall covering helped to define focal points, creating zones of activity within the large room.
ST. CLAIR: I am most happy with the room because it is as I wanted it. A family room is a very special place in a home. It must first be expressive of the taste and character of its occupants. A designer’s role is to organize the room with the necessary furnishings, personal objects and the usual family chaos that the family comes with, and form a functional and an aesthetically pleasing space. If that is accomplished, we have a successful design project.
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Steeping with Charm
July 26, 2011
•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.
Auction of the Estate of Lena Horne
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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"]
DC Home Prices Increase, Despite National Trends
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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.
Italian Innovator Alessi Opens
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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"]
Stacy Berman: The New Face of Georgetown Long & Foster
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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.”
“WWD: 100 Years, 100 Designers Book Party at Bergdorf Goodman
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“100 Years, 100 Designers” paid homage to a century of WWD news and coverage, and 100 designers who have who have each left an indelible mark on the history of fashion and style. The designers recognized in the book are among the most influential style icons and tastemakers of our time. The book is filled with hundreds of stunning photographs, lavish illustrations and also acknowledges the photographers, editors and illustrators who have made invaluable contributions to WWD for the past 100 years [gallery ids="99414,99415,99416,99417,99418" nav="thumbs"]
Q&A With Marc Fleisher
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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
The Difficulties for the Self-Employed Borrower
March 25, 2011
•As all of us are aware by now, after the largest housing bust since the great depression, getting a mortgage is far from the pre-bubble days where just filling out an application gave you an over 70% chance of getting a loan if you had good credit. Everything you can think of involving your financial picture now needs to be disclosed and reviewed by a lender. For those of you that are self-employed or own your own business, getting a loan can be even more toilsome.
Pre-housing bubble days allowed the “self-employed” to just state their income and put a decent amount down in cash. We, the lenders, just focused on the borrowers’ credit scores, the value of the property, and in most cases savings in the bank. As the housing market nationally started to crash, so did more of these stated income loans, referred to these days as “liar loans.” Not all self-employed borrowers that used stated income loans were lying about their income, but since the program was abused it went “pop” with the bubble.
Here is what you need to know about getting approved as a self-employed borrower:
1) You must have a 2-year history of being self-employed with reported 1040s to qualify for a mortgage. There are some exceptions, so e-mail me if you have any questions.
2) Lenders are looking for several months of “cash reserves,” which are total mortgage payments in liquid assets. Many mortgage programs, especially if the loans are over the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits, are looking for as little as 6 months or up to 12 months of cash reserves, depending on the loan size and down payment.
3) Lenders are now using income reported to the IRS as taxable income to qualify for a loan. If you are writing-off a lot of deductions then you are going to have a harder time qualifying for a loan. You have to be more conservative in your business deductions, which is hard in this economic climate. Bottom line: pay more in taxes to qualify for a larger loan.
4) Declining income is a red flag for an underwriter. If your business is still reeling from the economic tsunami of 2009, getting a loan can be even more difficult. Lenders will only use the lower of the two years of income to qualify you if, for example, 2010’s income is lower than 2009’s. We can make exceptions for declining income for a health issue or call to active duty, for example.
5) The higher your credit scores are, the better chance you have of getting a higher loan and qualifying for more. Reducing credit card debt is one of the easiest ways to improve your credit score, since credit card debt has an immediate impact on your score. Work with a credit repair company to get rid of any inaccurate information and make sure you check your credit scores regularly.
Gregg Busch is Vice President of First Savings Mortgage Corporation. For more information or a free pre-approval contact him at GBusch@FSavings.com or 202-256-7777.
Ask the Realtor
December 1, 2010
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-Dear Darrell:
I picked up a copy of The Georgetowner last weekend, and once again began to think about moving to the city from our home in the suburbs. I love the energy of the city and think I would love living in D.C., but we have a one-year-old and another child on the way. I worry that living here will be difficult for the children, and that the cost of owning real estate in D.C. is way more than where we now live. This isn’t exactly a “real estate” question, but I would appreciate your thoughts.
— Melissa H, Gaithersburg, MD
Dear Melissa:
Great question, and a very difficult one, because the choice of where to live is based on so many case-by-case variables. In principle, I believe very strongly that children can thrive in the city environment, and in some ways the city model is more like small-town living than suburban life is. In Georgetown, for instance, there is a town center, and one can walk to the post office, the library, parks, schools, tennis courts, restaurants, and the town “stream” (i.e. the Potomac). Kids still play on various sports teams and belong to youth clubs — two which come to mind immediately are the Jelleff Boys & Girls Club and the Guy Mason Park rec center complex. Imagine living on R Street, rolling out of bed, and taking the kids across the street to Rose Park to run in the fields, play on the playground, hit a tennis ball or hike down to Rock Creek Park to throw rocks in the stream. The about-to-open renovated Georgetown library is two blocks away. There are French, Turkish, Korean, and Egyptian restaurants — not to mention Ledo’s Pizza — a stone’s throw away, and countless other restaurants within a few blocks. It’s an easy stroll to a showplace Safeway, and there is the easy access to the museums, monuments, galleries and music venues of downtown D.C.
Then there are the properties themselves: one-level, two-level, three-level row houses, condos and co-ops, many with decks, patios or back yards. With a little work, I believe you can find a property which would suit your family.
In general, the prices are likely to be higher than suburban property, but the tradeoff is the community, more time off the roads, less money on commuting costs, less stress, and easy access to the incredible variety of life in the city. I’ve described Georgetown above, but same applies to numerous other communities all over D.C.
Obviously I can’t tell you that your children would be content in the District, but my guess is that if you are content here, they will be also. Children learn from their environment, and they will certainly learn things peculiar to city life, things which I believe will enrich their lives in a very special way. And, of course, yours too!
Darrell Parsons is the managing broker of the Georgetown Long and Foster office and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity regulations. Have a real estate question? E-mail him at darrell@lnf.com. He blogs at georgetownrealestatenews.blogspot.com.