July 21, 2008
REOs in Sherman Oaks
Quietly, almost imperceptibly, the Bank-Owned shingle is cropping up along with For Sale signs in desirable neighborhoods throughout Sherman Oaks. Though I feel a bit self-conscious parking and stepping out of my car on a fine Saturday afternoon to photograph these properties, neighbors rarely appear to question my presence. 
One who does is using the drive of the foreclosed 2-bed, 2-bath house at 14842 Hartsook St. to detail and polish her gleaming black Cadillac. She says it lends the property some class; given its condition, she may be right. We have a friendly chat and she tells me the gate is unlocked and invites me to step in and look around the grounds. We commisserate about the sad invasion of McMansions in the neighborhood and hope this tasteless trend has run its course. Listed for just over two weeks on the market at $460,000, this fixer-upper will take a lot more spit and polish than the neighbor’s Caddy to shine again.
About a mile east on Hartsook, this attractive pool home at 13920 has been on the market for $694,900 only a month but is already accepting backup offers. From the street, at least, it looks cheerful, well-maintained and ready for occupancy, indistinguishable from the neighboring homes. To the buyers it must appear to be a bargain compared to the $959,000 it sold for in August 2005. We’ll see - ask them again in another three years if they still think so.
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Just a few blocks north of Notre Dame High School and across the street from Millikan Middle School is this 3+2 REO at 5146 Sunnyslope Ave. foreclosed on by the lender last January for $685,000. It apparently failed to find a buyer conventionally in the months since then and now appears to be set for public auction. The signage tells the story.
The news here is that these properties are all located in the midst of attractive, desirable Sherman Oaks communities that heretofore have seen few, if any, foreclosed homes for sale.
They won’t, however, be the last.
Richard Johnston, Sherman Oaks Real Estate said:
I’ve been recently been writing numerous offers on bank owned homes in Sherman Oaks approximately south of Magnolia in an area I like to call McMansion territory. You can purchase a 2 bedroom 2 bath home in the high 400’s - I’m not kidding. A 3 bedroom 2 bath starter home sells in the mid-$500’s. If you would have purchased 2 years ago, these same homes would have cost several hundred thousand more.
But it’s important to note that these homes are selling within days - not kidding again. Investors are snapping up these homes and renting them out at a profit. Why? Because these are great areas and investors know that they will be profitable investments and a great asset for the future
Richard Johnston, RE/MAX OTB
Bank Owned specialist - Sherman Oaks
http://www.bankowned.la
July 22, 2008 8:48 PM
l.a.guy said:
Unrelated to this post but I was perusing my Redfin “Favorites” and noticed that a Toluca Lake house you posted about (http://losangeles.redfin.com/blog/2008/04/fishing_for_a_bottom_in_toluca_lake.html), and I had seen just before it hit the market, sold in June for $1,750,000. (http://www.redfin.com/CA/Toluca-Lake/4440-Sancola-Ave-91602/home/5308191)
Your post quoted brokers who speculated the house would sale for $1.5 - 1.6M, so I thought you’d appreciate a follow-up. It has to be said, $1.75 is less than the $1.895 they were asking (I thing the original asking price may have been $1.95, but I’m not sure), but still it held up better price wise than some brokers expected. Personally the $1.75 seems about right, in fact in my post to your original story (as “Some Guy”) I suggested it would be a fair price.
July 27, 2008 12:16 AM