NBC political correspondent and MSNBC weekend anchor Norah O’Donnell and her husband,celebrity chef Geoffrey Tracy, owner of Chef Geoff restaurant in Sutton Place,have purchased a three-bedroom home at 3033 Cambridge Place, N.W. in Georgetown for arumored $735,000. The successful young couple met in 1991 as freshmen at Georgetown Universityand married the year before last. They sold their previous residence, a two-bedroom Georgetowncondo at 1632 30th Street, N.W., for $426,000 to Aldus H. Chapin and Dolly Langdon.

4520 Dexter Street N.W.

Laura McIlhenny Wintersteen, the great niece of famed Philadelphia art collector and philanthropistHenry P. McIlhenny (who left much of his private collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Artwhen he died in 1986) has sold the four-bedroom Georgetown house she owned at 3014 O Street, N.W.for $830,000. The new owners are Rebecca L. Relic and James M. Wickett. Wickett is with theNational Federation of Independent Businesses in Washington and is a proponent of estatetax reductions.

Robert C. Schwartz and his wife Page Evans bought 3528 Fulton Street,N.W. in Cleveland Park for $1.35 million from Lee and Anne Ravenel. Page,who has written for Washingtonian, is the daughter of former Delaware Rep. Thomas Evans.

Crown Books’ founder and Dart Drug heir Robert Haft and his wife Mary havesold 2356 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. to Ethan Grossman for $1,474,000. Readersmay recall the infamous and long running dispute between Haft and his fatherHerbert and brother Ronald over control of the family business empire that at one timealso included Shoppers Food Warehouse, Trak Auto and Total Beverage. He is nowchairman of Vitamins.com. The Kalorama home Robert and Mary sold was formerlyhome to the Croatian Chancery and more recently, the Embassy of India’s Consular Section.

In Wesley Heights, 4520 Dexter Street, N.W. sold on December 27th for the list price of$1,280,000. This Tudor-style home has six bedrooms and four and a half baths. Chuck Holzworthof Sotheby’s International Affiliate Washington Fine Properties listedthe property for the sellers Charrisse Kaplan and David E. Johnson. Thepurchasers are Steve Farina and Anne Rakestraw. Long & Foster’s ZeldaHeller was the selling agent.

6908 Benjamin Street

Kathryn Ballentine Shepherd, an attorney whose twenty-plus years of practice in MarinCounty and San Francisco included many celebrity clients, reports that "WashingtonLife was a valuable resource," in house-hunting over the Internet from California.Kathryn and her husband Lewis, a software executive with H5 Technologies andan author on campaign politics, recently moved into 129 6th Street, N.E. on the corner ofConstitution Avenue, N.E. Their fully detached 1867 home has three bedrooms, three baths,hardwood floors, French doors, and beautiful chandeliers. They paid $685,000, or $14,000under the asking price of $699,000. Joe Himali of Randall-Hagner represented them in theirpurchase. The seller, Jerome Stefinko, used Sally Hart of Pardoe as his agent. Past residentsof the house include former Senator Wyche Fowler, who was U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabiaunder Clinton; and former Democratic Rep. Bernie Sisk of California. Prior to moving toCapitol Hill, the Shepherds lived on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill in a home they purchasedin 1999 for $820,000 and have now sold for $1.2 million.

Maryland

In Chevy Chase, apartment #108 at Somerset House (5600 Wisconsin Avenue) sold for the list price of$775,000. Alan Sherman of Long & Foster listed the property for Gerald Chasen and Clarice Smith.The beautiful unit has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and two garage parking spacesin addition to all the wonderful amenities of the Somerset Condominiums. Long & Foster’s ZeldaHeller was the selling agent assisting new owner Carol Greenwald.

In Bethesda, 6808 Hempstead Avenue went for $680,000 to Michael Sack, M.D., and his wifeKaren. Ellen Wilner,a realtor with Pardoe/ERA, served as the selling agent for the Sackswho recently moved to the U.S. from Cape Town, South Africa. Dr. Sack is now with NIH.The Sacks’ new home is a five-bedroom brick Colonial. The seller was Austin King.

The Victorian-style house at 7108 Denton Road sold for exactly$1,544,004.40. The list price was $1,495,000. Zelda Heller of Long & Foster was both the listingand selling agent for the just completed residence that boasts all the finest finishes andis within walking distance to shops, restaurants and theaters in downtownBethesda. The home has six bedrooms, four full baths on four finished levels, and a two-cargarage. The sellers were Banks Development & GTM Architects. The purchasers are Lee andSheryl Miller.

10421 New Ascot Drive

Zelda Heller was also the listing agent for the newly constructed house at 9423Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda. The three-level home with hardwood floors,four bedrooms and three full baths sold for $809,969, almost $61,000 more thanthe seller, CP Development was asking. The buyer is Dawn Chaiken, who wasrepresented in her purchase by Wendy Banner of Long & Foster.

Virginia

In McLean, the recently completed house at 818 Clinton Place in LangleyForest has been sold by Monarch Homes to Andrew Miller, vice chairman and CEOof TANDBERG, a leading teleconferencing company. In November, TANDBERG introducedthe first system to provide on screen touch controls for multimedia communications and videoconferencing in a single unit. With offices in 60 countries, TANDBERG is publicly traded on theOslo Stock Exchange. Miller is moving to Fairfax County from California. Hisnew four-bedroom home has an incredible kitchen and sits on a large lot witha stream. The price tag was $1,975,000. Weichert’s, Penny Yerks listed the housefor the builder.

Penny Yerks also listed the recently expanded and renovated 1950’s Cape Cod at 1227 RaymondAvenue in McLean for Jill and David Paul. Then, just last week she helpedthem settle on their new home at 7013 Holyrood in McLean. The Paul’s purchased thefour-bedroom home with a pool from Greg DeMarco, an ExxonMobil executive who has beentransferred to Rhode Island, and his wife Susan. David Paul is with the commercial realestate and investment firm, WP Commercial, LLC. This particular real estate investment costhim $1,161,000.

AOL’s Steve Case has apparently bought two more lots in The Reserve community in McLeanbringing his total to twelve. The seller reportedly is Miller & Smith, a company that inthe last 38 years has built some 12,000 homes in Maryland and Virginia’s most prestigious plannedcommunities. Each of Case’s lots is approximately an acre and is priced in the $600 – $700,000range. No word yet on when construction will begin on the multi-million dollar estate said tohave been titled under the name Sanctuary Ridge.

Another one of Virginia’s wealthiest individuals, former lawyer turnedentrepreneur C. Daniel Clemente, has purchased property in McLean.Clemente developed Brighton Mall in Falls Church, and is the founder of several banks,the chairman of the board of Clemente Development Company, and now CEO and chairman of DigitalCommerce Corporation, a business-to-government electronic commerce services firm.His estimated worth is $250 million. Known for his propensity toward conservative investments,he paid Winthrop Custom Builders $2,385,000 for 6908 Benjamin Street,a stone and stucco French Colonial with four bedrooms, five fireplaces anda spacious loggia. Weichert Realty’s Sue Huckaby listed the LangleyForest property.

Sue Huckaby was also the listing agent for 10421 New Ascot Drive in Great Falls.The magnificent sevenbedroom Colonial sits on f ive acres in Finger LakesEstates and had belonged to Mr. and Mrs. D. Michael Meyer (Mr. Meyer is presidentand CEO of Logica North America, the U.S. subsidiary of one of the leaders in global systemintegrators). The new owners of the Fairfax County property are Mr. and Mrs. Michael Capellas.Capellas is the former CEO of Compaq Computer Corporation and president ofHewlett Packard who last year jumped ship to become chairman and CEO ofthe now-collapsed telecommunications provider WorldCom. WorldCom filed for the largestbankruptcy in U.S.history last year after being forced to restate some $9 billion in earnings.It declared about $40 billion in liabilities. Although Capellas’ compensation package withWorldCom had to be approved by the SEC, he apparently felt secure enough to spend $3,100,000for a new home complete with a billiard room, exercise room and swimming pool, plus afantastic master bedroom suite featuring a wet bar, fireplace and skylights.

1284 Cobble Pond Way

In Vienna, 1284 Cobble Pond Way was sold by Mr. and Mrs. Jon B. Clements, president of Clements &Company. Established in 1947, Clements & Company bills itself as the leading provider of personalexpatriate insurance worldwide. The former Clements residence was built in 1997, yet has over$375,000 in upgrades. It boasts five bedrooms, six baths and two half-baths, anau pair suite and a huge family room in addition to a recreation and gameroom. It was listed by Sue Huckaby for $1,050,000 and was a bargain for thebuyers, Mrs. and Mr. Kraig R. Naasz at an even $1 million. Naasz was presidentand CEO of U.S. Apple Association prior to becoming president of the FertilizerInstitute in June of last year.