Jordan Flats, West Virginia Avenue NE

Jordan Flats, West Virginia Avenue NE
Originally uploaded by rllayman

From "Senate Realty Entices Buyers With Free One Year Mini Cooper Lease With Purchase of Jordan Flats Condominium":

While home sales remain sluggish across the country, Senate Realty is working with its client Prism Development Company on a novel marketing approach to entice buyers back into the housing market. Through April 30, 2008, anyone purchasing a Jordan Flat condominium will receive a free year MINI Cooper lease from BMW of Sterling located in Sterling, Virginia.

To encourage homeownership and neighborhood development, Prism Development Company partnered with Thomas Moorehead, owner, BMW of Sterling and MINI of Sterling, to offer free leases through his foundation, the Sterling Automotive Group Foundation (SAGF). SAGF joined this effort, as part of its Economic Development for Working Families Initiative, aimed at reducing the cost of vehicle ownership for working families.

People who work in DC can now afford to live in DC. Affordably priced at $216,900, the Jordan Flats, developed by Barry Jordan and his wife Camille, were designed to encourage greater homeownership in Ward 5. To make the project a success, Jordan worked with Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas to understand the needs of the community.

Located in the Trinidad neighborhood, the Jordan Flats offer an attractive housing choice for working families, particularly policemen, firefighters, teachers and nurses who want to live in the city they serve. The Jordan Flats grand opening will be held April 12th to give prospective buyers an opportunity to tour the units.

Each unit comes with secure parking and boasts a host of amenities including: bamboo floors, granite counters, Jacuzzi bath, stainless steel appliances, spacious closets, an alarm system and more.
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Regardless, promoting driving in the city is a bad thing. These buildings aren't too far from the New York Avenue and Brentwood Metro stations. Better to put money into expanded transit in this area, which is currently served by the E2 and D buses. Not that I am against driving... but it's better to spend more money on a house that is better located to transit. That way you can spend less money overall.

Did you see this article in the Post, "Mapping Transportation Costs for Home Buyers?"

From the article:

The Center for Neighborhood Technology developed a web site that takes into account household expenditures for transportation, along with home prices, to estimate whether a home is truly affordable for households with moderate incomes.

Academics at the CNT argue that a home isn't really affordable if its location forces a household to devote an excessive amount of the family budget to transportation. How much is excessive? They say 18 percent of the area's median pretax income is typical; lowering that to 15 percent would be better. That's on top of the 30 percent of pretax income that they estimate as an affordable budget for a home's mortgage principal and interest plus property taxes and homeowners' insurance, which lenders call PITI.