4709 Alton Place NW

Listed sale price: $830,000

Previous sale price (February 1999): $330,000

Square footage: 1,470

This American University Park four-bedroom Colonial promises “Easy Living!” And if its property value continues to grow by a half-million dollars every six years, that’s what you’ll have. Upgraded features contributing to the upgraded price include a new roof, new storm windows, a new hot-water heater, and a “white country kitchen.” Must-have country-living amenities include a Jenn-Air convection oven, ceramic-tile floors, granite counters, and halogen lighting. The sellers also tout the nearby businesses and Metrobus stop; they use the most powerful weapon in the seller’s agent’s arsenal, the S-bomb: a Starbucks, which is five blocks away on Massachusetts Avenue.

Art accompanying story in the printed newspaper is not available in this archive: Photograph by Charles Steck.