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The Word Is Out About Bloomingdale
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"We came into it with our eyes open," Waldron said. "That's part of the lower prices."
They said they like the neighborhood and hope they can afford to trade up to a house in a few years.
Mike Giordano said he hopes his family will stay in Bloomingdale for the long haul, too. He and his partner moved there in 2000. Giordano, then a social worker, is now a stay-at-home dad to their daughter, 4.
"We knew more people in a week here than we did in five years in Takoma Park," he said.
That's not to say they didn't encounter friction as early gentrifiers. "Certainly I have felt tensions, and I understand them -- but we are very fond of our neighbors and have found them outgoing to us regardless of our race."
The family has applied for out-of-boundary public schools and charter schools for Kayla, but if she doesn't get a spot, they will leave.
They would be sad to go, Giordano said. The family, who paid about $185,000 for their house in 2000, wouldn't be able to afford Bloomingdale if they were buying today, even though prices have come down from the peak.
Carlos Garcia, a real estate agent with Keller Williams Capital Properties, said many rowhouses used to sell in the low $600,000s and now are listed at the mid-$500,000s. The median sales price for a rowhouse last year was $531,000. Half the houses for sale now are listed at less than $495,000.
"In the run-up, people looked to alternative neighborhoods they could afford. People who were priced out of, say, Columbia Heights, turned to Bloomingdale," Garcia said. "People who were priced out of Bloomingdale turned to Brookland."
As condo prices moderate in Columbia Heights, developers in Bloomingdale should cut prices to compete, he said. "Developers need to be very cautious right now," he said. In gentrifying neighborhoods such as Bloomingdale, he said, the price for a two-bedroom condo should be under $400,000. There are five houses in the neighborhood for sale below $400,000.
Garcia has two listings in the neighborhood, including one on Quincy Place that has been on the market for four months, with a drop from $585,000 to $574,000.
He said it had a near-miss sale that is a sign of these uncertain economic times.
"It was under contract. The contract fell through because the buyer got nervous about her job," he said.
