I would recommend Jeff Carpeneta at Solo Realty - he seems to have a true sense of the neighborhood and looks out for the best interest of his clients.

For Kensington, I'd recommend Jeff Carpineta from Solo Realty. I think his email is jeff@solorealty.com. He sold me my house in Kensington just two months ago and has sold most of the other houses in my neighborhood. Also he lives right in the neighborhood so he's really knowledgable about what's going on.

As far as homeownership programs go, DEFINITELY call NKCDC and do housing counseling. You can get closing cost grants from the city, low-interest mortgages and home improvement loans. They can tell you all about that stuff. Sometimes you have to wait many weeks to get in so feel free to call other CDCs around the city to get appointments. I just went to the Urban League in center city to apply for a city-sponsored low-interest home improvement loan because they could schedule me about three weeks sooner than NKCDC could.

And if you're interested in the inside scoop on Kensington, feel free to come to our neighborhood association meetings (East Kensington Neighbors Assoc., EKNA) which are held at Yard's Brewery the third monday of every month at 6:30pm.

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Definately call NKCDC. I am very familier with thier work, having worked there for 3 and a half years - they are some good people despite what some say on this board. There are many requirements for some of the programs this poster listed so if you go that route be patient.

Definately Jeff - he is not sleazy in the least, an artist at heart and is using real estate sales as a way of enhancing the neighborhood and not neccisarily his own pockets like most of the rest.

not to get off on a different topic or anything, but i think sometimes the reason people say negative things about NKCDC is that the people who generally answer their phones are pretty rude and not really that helpful. I've called there a bunch of times in the last couple months with various questions. Once I finally got a hold of an individual, they went out of their way to spend time talking to me and giving me all the info. But all of my attempts up until that point had met with staff that were very short and not pleasant.

in personal interactions outside of their office environment with NKCDC staff members, i've found them all to be really great people with great attitudes that really care about their neighborhood. So my advice would be not to be turned off by any short interactions you might have with staff there. Give them a chance to impress you. I think they'll come through!

Valid critisim. Perhaps it should be brought up to the folks who can do something about it.

I don't want to make excuses but the sheer call volumn they get is overwhelming and most of the calls are for people who have been given incomplete information by the utility companies or city departments and have unrealistic expectations of what they are and are not elible for. The receptionists should still be polite but I think they get a little battle weary as the day progresses.

I just want to second the comment about Feargus. He was my Realtor when I sold my house in Fairmount a year ago. He knows the market, has a level head, and works hard. Heck, he even held a Realtor lunch at my house to drum up interest - and his wife (the current cook/owner at Ida Mae's) did all the cooking!

Just stop in Ida Mae's for brunch on a weekend to talk to him. He's a very low pressure guy, so he'll give you the straight dope.