A brand new home has hit the market in a trendy DC area for just $599,900 and buyers are confused about the bargain price.
The home was built on a lot in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., which is known as one of the city’s hippest areas – with cool cocktail bars, beer gardens, vintage clothing boutiques and modern global restaurants.
Most houses in the area cost over $1million, while condos hover around the $600,000 on average – but can go for up to a million.
This is why buyers are shocked that a brand new house in the area hit the market for just under $600,000.
Contractor Nady Samnang first purchased the small lot at 1738 Glick Ct. NW with the intention of building a four-level, 15-foot-wide single-family home with his brother.
A brand new home has hit the market in a trendy DC area for just $599,900 and buyers are confused about the bargain price
The home was built on a lot in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., which is known as one of the city’s hippest areas – with cool cocktail bars, beer gardens, vintage clothing boutiques and modern global restaurants
The brothers who bought the plot of land to build a property were hit with the shocking news that they could only build a six-foot house
Samnang, who is the CEO of Virginia contractor Omnifics, said that the plans were originally approved by the district – but the city made changes to the zoning laws after ground-breaking had already began.
The brothers were hit with the shocking news that they could only build a six-foot house.
‘Unbeknownst to us, the city made changes to the zoning laws after we purchased the lot,’ Samnang told PEOPLE. ‘The zoning laws only allowed for a six-foot blueprint of a house.’
‘At that point, I spoke to my brother and architect and said, «Hey, is this even viable? Or possible for someone to live?»‘ Samnang says.
Over a year-and-a-half after the bombshell news – the team had designed a blueprint for ‘the skinniest house in all of D.C.’ – which was six-foot-wide and 600-square-foot.
The construction process was brutal, according to Samnang – who said that no heavy equipment could drive onto the property because it was tiny.
All of the heavy materials had to be marched straight to the property by hand and only two workers were allowed to be on the site at any time.
The large-looking but deceptively tiny bathroom has a large glass shower with a cobbled floor stunning wooden finishes
‘We have high-end cabinets, quartz countertops, wall-to-wall porcelain tiles in the bathroom. That was really important to us: If you’re going to build a very small house, it better be nice,’ the contractor said
The skinny house has lots of natural light spilling through the large windows on either side and the modern finishes make the home look sleek and spacious
It has all that a homeowners could want, in a more compact form
Through careful consideration of how to make the most of the little space they had to work with, Samnang said that the home feels bigger than it actually is.
‘We still did bay windows in every living area — so while the hallway is six-feet across, in the areas in which people would be living, there’s 100 square feet of room,’ he says.
‘We have high-end cabinets, quartz countertops, wall-to-wall porcelain tiles in the bathroom. That was really important to us: If you’re going to build a very small house, it better be nice.’
The skinny house has lots of natural light spilling through the large windows on either side and the modern finishes make the home look sleek and spacious.
It has all that a homeowners could want, in a more compact form.
There is a fully fitted kitchen with all the necessary appliances and a breakfast bar style of seating arrangement.
The bathroom has a large glass shower with a cobbled floor stunning wooden finishes.
In the bedroom, a full sized queen bed sits comfortably and a sufficient closet is fitted into the clean white walls.
Sarah Noel, a realtor at Jennifer Young Homes – which is managing the listing, says the perfect buyer would be someone who doesn’t need a huge amount of room and appreciates the convenience of a smaller space in a sought-after area.
In the bedroom, a full sized queen bed sits comfortably and a sufficient closet is fitted into the clean white walls
Even though the process of building the house was tedious and challenging – Samnang (the contractor) is proud of the final product
Sarah Noel, a realtor at Jennifer Young Homes – which is managing the listing, says the perfect buyer would be someone who doesn’t need a huge amount of room and appreciates the convenience of a smaller space in a sought-after area
Through careful consideration of how to make the most of the little space they had to work with, Samnang said that the home feels bigger than it actually is
‘Not everybody wants a lot of square footage to maintain,’ Noel says. ‘That and other factors like interest rates and lending is why you’re seeing the tiny house movement become so popular.’
‘The right buyer is going to be that city dweller – someone who doesn’t necessarily want a car, since it’s one block from a metro station. They don’t want condo fees or neighbors, and they don’t need a whole lot of space.’
Even though the process of building the house was tedious and challenging – Samnang is proud of the final product.
‘We had zero margin for error,’ he says. ‘If we had gotten one thing wrong on the design, everything would have had to be re-done. The biggest accomplishment is that we made every use of that space down to the centimeter to pass code.’
Although he’s happy with the outcome – Samnang is in no rush to build the next tiny house. ‘The build itself was not fun at all. My contractors probably cussed me out every week. It was a nightmare,’ he said.
