Not a question of bubbling, as much as the DC market being DC.
(a) It’s spring/early summer
(b) The good parts of DC never really dropped. The bad parts aren’t necessarily places that you want to live. If you want to “pioneer”, try looking north of H Street in Northeast (20002) — lot of redevelopment going on on H St, and the Metro is building a new tram line as well.
(c) Even if government does get cut, it’s not necessarily bad for DC, since the outlying offices tend to get cut FIRST
(d) Built in 1940 isn’t necessarily a bad thing in the Northeast. My condo in NYC was built in 1910 and I bought it essentially without inspection.
What are you looking for exactly? Am I correct that are you’re looking in DC proper, or are you looking in the ‘burbs (which I know less well).