Archive for the ‘Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Westwood’ Category
July 22, 2008
Back in March, I wrote a blog post about 738 S. Highland Ave., pictured above. At that time, the 1,864-square-foot 3+2 had just come on the market for a whopping $1,595,000.
Anyone familiar with this Hancock-Park-adjacent neighborhood knows that this part of Highland Avenue is a heavily trafficked two-lane street – a feature that could turn off buyers with children and/or seeking quiet.
The gist of my post was that $1.6 million seemed a lot to ask for a house this size on a street like this in a market this bad. It also looked a lot like an ill-advised flip: Someone had purchased it in July 2006 for $990,000; less than a year later, in April 2007 — well after the market had peaked — someone came along and shelled out a cool $1,250,000 for it.
A few weeks later, I blogged about a price reduction on the property, to $1,350,000. And today, my daily Redfin alert let me know that the property had been reduced in price again. Actually, there have been four reductions since my last post: $1,250,000; $1,150,000; $999,000; and now $949,000.
Sure, the price was bloated to begin with, but these are some pretty rapid and deep cuts. I decided to call the listing agent, Ricardo Pardo, to find out what was going on.
He said that the 2007 buyer was indeed hoping to flip the property. She spent $200K in renovations, he said, then promptly lost her high-paying job. Although the listing doesn’t say so, it’s now a short sale.
I asked whether the lender had approved the sale; it hadn’t. Mr. Pardo said he had submitted one “ridiculously low” offer to the lender — “almost an insult,” he said, but the lender hadn’t responded.
Will this latest drop bring the house more in line with other sales in the area? Let’s see what’s been selling.
812 S. Highland Ave.
Sold for $1,175,000 on 6/27/08
4BR/3B/2,191 square feet
Notes: This should be a good comp for our seller. This house hadn’t changed hands in 14 years, so presumably the sellers had price flexibility.
716 S. Citrus Ave.
Sold for $1,017,109 on 1/24/08
3BR/2B/2,228 square feet
Notes: The oddball purchase price means it’s bank-owned. And it’s already back on the market — with an asking price of $893,000.
639 S. Citrus Ave.
Sold for $1,005,000 on 4/11/08
3BR/2B/1,651 square feet
Notes: This house is north of Wilshire and on a quieter street — attributes that help explain the healthy sales price.
July 17, 2008
If you’re not watching the new season of Bravo TV’s realty reality show “Flipping Out,” you’re missing out. It’s really, really compelling this year.
Frankly, I wasn’t all that impressed with the first season of the show, mainly because I found Jeff odd and unlikeable. I tuned in this year because Los Feliz, being part of Hollywood, is in my coverage area, and because I was curious to see how Jeff would fare in the market downturn.
It turns out Jeff has had to take on some remodeling projects to make ends meet. One, a Hancock Park home, turned into disaster when the owner turned out to be 10 times more demanding and difficult than he is. He had to give that project up because the owner was impossible (but previews show that she may try to rehire him). He’s also remodeling a home in Encino (with a nice owner).
But he’s still selling properties. He sold the Ben Lomond property that was featured on the show last year. And now, thanks to the great Real Estalker blog, we learn that the Commonwealth house, which Jeff and company were living in and working from in this week’s episode, has also sold.
Here’s the Redfin listing for the house, and the Property Shark report. (Scroll down to the large street-view photo in the Redfin listing; you can see construction materials in the driveway.) Jeff purchased it in March of 2007 for $800,000. It’s a two-bedroom, three-bath with 
1,938 square feet. It went on the market in November for $1,795,000 and finally sold in May for $1,595,000 — to actor Dominic Monaghan (right) of Lost and Lord of the Rings, according to the Real Estalker.
So presumably the gang has moved out of Commonwealth and into new digs — Valley Oak, perhaps? According to the listing, Valley Oak was just reduced in price again this week — to $2,595,000. That’s $600,000 less than when the house first appeared on the market in April. (Jeff paid $1,710,000 for the place in March 2007 — the same month he bought Commonwealth).
It’s not just Jeff’s business direction that’s different this year — it’s Jeff himself. He’s still a relentless workaholic, but he’s less weird (no more pet astrologers and psychics) and more human. His relationship with his assistant Jenni seemed strained last year, but this year he’s treating her with more respect — and compassion, since Jenni’s marriage to her husband, Chris, also employed by Jeff, is breaking up. (Jenni says Jeff’s installation of a nannycam to spy on Chris did not cause the breakup.)
Jeff talks about his personal transformation in this L.A. Times article:
“Unfortunately, I was so stubborn and self-centered and narcissistic I needed something this big, I needed this show to be played in front of millions of people for me to learn my life lessons,” he said. Unlike many reality stars, he says, Lewis believes TV has humbled him.
The Hancock Park owner was crazy to fire him. Who better to handle a huge remodel than an anal-retentive workaholic contractor with mad talent and obsessive-compulsive disorder? Glad to see she’s apparently come to her senses.
July 12, 2008
It’s Sunday—and despite the heat and the strange threat of rain, there are open houses to see. I’m zeroing in on Echo Park (90026) today, where the Lotus Festival is going on, sans the lotus part. This year has apparently been especially bad for the flowers, and they may not make a comeback. But here are some other sites to see:
- 1873 Lake Shore. Billed as a “fixer,” this 2/2 has slightly under 1,000 square feet and a price tag of $399,000. Hmm, maybe you want to keep driving and see some of the lofts downtown for that price, which comes in at $404 per square foot.
- 1318 Benton Way. This 3/1.75 bills itself as redone with all the granite-counter-style extras. It’s fresh on the market (1 day) and has just over 1,500 square feet. Yours for $869,000.
- 2226 Avon St. A 3/2 Spanish “nestled next to North Elysian Park,” it promises all the amenities. It’s been on the market 146 days, and the google earth photo shows a construction site next to it. I lived next to a house under construction once. It was rough. This one is listed at $689,000.
- 2230 N. Avon St. This Spanish is brand new, and the listing looks very similar to the one above on Avon, so maybe this is the under construction one….listed for $899,000.
- 1321 Carroll Ave. This one is worth going by just to look at—it’s an Angelino Heights Victorian from about 1885, complete with a 1/1 carriage house out back. It’s a historical monument (#176 to be exact), and is listed for $1.576 million.
- 2339 Effie. Effie is the street that never seems to end—it pops up everywhere in Silver Lake. This 3/3 is on hilly part of it with views, and bills itself as a “Caribbean hideaway” on a 14,000 square foot lot. Asking price is $925,000 and its been on the market 35 days.
So there you have it, from affordable to enviable in Echo Park. A few things to note about the area:
- There are currently 108 single family homes listed for sale in the area.
- The average listing price comes out at $535,263.
- The average price per square foot is $443.
- There are 79 sales of single family homes listed in the last 3 months.
- The average sale price was $500,000—coming in at $404 per square foot.
July 11, 2008
Here’s another high-end condo development that got caught with its pants down when the market hit the skids. It’s at 1430 and 1432 N. Vista Street on the West Hollywood border, and the units are ultra-modern multi-level townhomes.
It looks like there are four altogether, and judging from the Redfin pictures, they may still be under construction. The listing description says they include private entrances, 1,000 square feet of outdoor space, two-car garages, and 20-foot living-room ceilings.
So if you’re in the market for a new, contemporary townhome near West Hollywood and have a million bucks sitting around, one of these babies might have your name on it.
1430 N. Vista St. #1
Was: $1,135,000 Now: $990,000
2BR/3.5B/1,800 square feet
1430 N. Vista St. #2
Was: $1,135,000 Now: $990,000
2BR/3.5B/1,780 square feet
1432 N. Vista St. #1
Was: $1,185,000 Now: $1,010,000
2BR/3.5B/1,800 square feet
1432 N. Vista St. #2
Was: $1,185,000 Now: $1,010,000
2BR/3.5B/1,780 square feet
July 10, 2008
At the height of the market, buying this home at 901 N. Orange Grove Ave. might have
looked like a safe bet. After all, it was a single-family home (albeit a one-bedroom, one-bathroom single-family home) that didn’t cost much more than condos were going for at the time. That must be why, in January 2005, someone agreed to pay $579,000 for this 806-square-foot house.
In December, the home was put back on the market with a $699,000 asking price. Four price reductions later, the asking now stands at $609,000 — dangerously close to that 2005 purchase price.
What are its chances of selling? Well, if nearby comps are any indication, the answer would have to be “slim.”
One comp is half a mile away, at 7463 Waring Ave. This two-bedroom, one-bath, 804-square-foot house was also purchased in the first half of 2005, for $695,000. This owner quickly ran into trouble, and in June, the lender bought back the property for the startlingly low sum of $249,545. It hasn’t been put back on the MLS yet.
Then there’s 7531 Fountain Ave., a home I wrote about back in April. This 877-square-foot 2+1’s sordid past includes a March 2006 sale for $620,000 and a May 2006 sale for $810,000 (yes, same year), followed a little more than a year later by a sale to the lender for $694,542. (An odd sequence of events, to be sure, that federal regulators might want to examine more closely, but that’s not salient to our discussion.) The lender couldn’t wait to unload this property. After first coming on the market last November at $619,000, it was reduced four times, to $499,000, until it finally found a taker. It closed on June 6 for $452,500 — considerably less than the $595,000 it fetched in 1999.
There don’t appear to be any 1+1s that have sold in the last six months. There is, however, a 1+1 for sale at 1261 N. Curson Ave. for $499,000. This home was also purchased in that magical year of 2005 for $437,000. It’s been on the market since February and has been reduced in price twice.
July 9, 2008
ZIP code 90036, an area in L.A. roughly bounded by Fairfax, Melrose, and Highland avenues and Olympic Boulevard, is an area of classic 1920s homes that’s enjoyed a resurgence in the past two decades or so. The area’s central location, plus its low availability of single-family homes in the area, has kept housing values and sales steady during the downturn.
There are 41 single-family homes listed for sale in 90036. In the past three months, 32 homes have sold — many for a million dollars or more. The average listing price of $1,194,250 is only about $100,000 more than the average sold price, which says that folks who price their properties realistically have a good change of selling.
Even though a million bucks is a ton of money for a house, it’s all relative. If you want to own a home on the Westside but can’t afford Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, this area is a great compromise: close to everything, yet comparatively affordable. Also, the houses have tons of character, and they’re built as solidly as bomb shelters.
Here are some recent sales:
812 S. Highland Ave.
Sold for $1,175,000 on June 27
4BR/3B/2,191 square feet
Year built: 1928
History: Last sold for $245,000 in October 1994, this home is on a well-traveled portion of Highland.
631 N. Fuller Ave.
Sold for $1,260,000 on June 24
3BR/3B/1,906 square feet
Year built: 1926
History: Last sold in 2003 for $787,500.
625 N. Mansfield Ave.
Sold for $760,000 on April 16
2BR/1B/1,254 square feet
Year built: 1924
History: Last purchased in 1977 for $35,000.
On the market:
7660 Clinton St.
$799,000
3BR/1.5B/1,233 square feet
Days on market: 26
OPEN HOUSE: Sunday, July 13, 2-5 p.m.
Notes: This is one of those “condo alternatives” — a small, single-story home on an undersize lot. Looks like it’s nicely maintained.
742 S. Citrus Ave.
$999,000
3BR/2B/2,149 square feet
Days on market: 102
Notes: This home was last purchased for $400,000 in 1990, yet it’s listed as a short sale, which says that its owner must have been tapping its equity for a while. Check out the listing photo compared to the Redfin street photo; the listing photo must be old or Photoshopped, because the Redfin photo reveals serious neglect.
327 N. Vista St.
$1,070,000
3BR/2B/1,811 square feet
Days on market: 175
Notes: The listing says this house hasn’t been on the market in 40 years (read: needs renovating). Its price has been reduced four times since January.
June 23, 2008
I don’t know about you, but I’m really digging the second season of “Flipping Out,” the Bravo TV reality show about Los Angeles-based OCD home flipper Jeff Lewis. I was wondering how Jeff and his company would make ends meet with the downturn in the real estate market, and now we have our answer: Jeff is hiring himself out as a remodeler. His project is a Hancock Park mansion that has hosted several U.S. presidents and thus is referred to by some as “the Western White House.”
I can’t find an exact location of the Hancock Park property, but, with help from The Real Estalker, I found the property Jeff and Co. call “Valley Oak” on the show. 
According to Property Shark, Jeff and his partner Ryan Brown purchased the home at 5731 Valley Oak Drive in Los Feliz in March 2007 for $1,710,000. It’s a three-bedroom, three-bath with more than 3,000 square feet on about a third of an acre. After a Jeff-and-Ryan signature remodel, including the addition of another half-bath, it was put up for sale in April for $3,195,000 and reduced to its current $2,995,000 a few weeks later. Here’s the Redfin listing.
It must not bother Jeff that his homes seem to end up being among the most pricey in the area. According to the Redfin database, the most expensive home sold in the last six months was under $2 million.
Sold:
5682 Holly Oak Drive
Sold for $1,999,999 on 5/12/08
3BR/4B/3,164 square feet
Notes: This house, purchased for $880,000 in January 2003, netted the owner a profit that might make Jeff Lewis envious.
2269 Canyon Drive
Sold for $1,500,000 on /23/08
3BR/3B/2,578 square feet
Notes: A good investment for whoever purchased this house for $423,000 in 1997.
For sale:
2332 Bronson Hill Drive
$1,799,000
3BR/2B/2,655 square feet
Notes: Last sold in 1990 for $500,000, this house hit the market in March at $1,997,000 and has been reduced twice.
1944 Canyon Drive
$1,399,000
3BR/3.5B/2,800 square feet
Notes: Last changed hands in 2001, for $468,000.
June 21, 2008
That was the gist of syndicated real estate expert Lew Sichelman’s Sunday column. In a buyers’ market, people are looking for deals. 
In today’s market, if your place isn’t priced correctly, it probably isn’t going to sell. More than likely, it will languish on the list of unsold inventory until the market adjusts back up to your asking price. And that could be months — or even years in some places.
How will you know what the right price is?
“I have learned that a great strategy for sellers who are serious about getting their homes sold is to price the property ahead of the market,” said Michael Selvaggio, president of the Council of Residential Specialists and a broker in Townsend, Del.
In a seller’s market, Selvaggio said, there’s nothing wrong with setting your price a little higher than the last one because prices are steadily rising. But in a flat or declining market, your price should be a little lower than the last comparable sale.
And not just a few percentage points lower, either. “When was the last time you rushed out to the mall to take advantage of a 2% sale?” asked the 32-year real estate veteran. “You need to have a real sale, so how about 5% to 10% off, for starters?”
That’s exactly what I did when I sold my home in San Diego in 2007. The market had slowed way down, and nothing was selling. Most comparable homes were priced in the low $500s, but there was a foreclosure for $505,000 and a short sale pending for $475,000, and nothing was moving.
I cut the price to $499,000, and then quickly to $489,000, which attracted the attention of the short-sale buyer. She offered $483,000, and I accepted.
Between the real estate commission, improvements and the price reduction, we lost about $70,000 of our $200,000 down payment, which was made possible by a 2005 home sale. But today, the same home is selling for under $400,000.
I was lucky to have the price flexibility to absorb the loss. The folks who bought for little or no money down at the peak of the market are going to have to negotiate a short sale (difficult to do) or face foreclosure.
Take this home at 642 N. Curson Ave. in the Fairfax District. This person paid $1,050,000 for this 3+2 in May 2006, at the height of the market. If the mortgage is a 2/28 adjustable, it just reset, and it’s panic time. The home first came on the market on May 9 for $1,025,000 and is already down to $949,000. The listing doesn’t say “short sale,” but unless the owner is planning to write a six-figure check to escrow, that’s what it is.
Dramatic price cuts recently helped this house at 359 N. Sweetzer Ave. sell. The owner purchased in 2000, so, unless the house was used as an ATM, there was equity there — and thus price flexibility.
June 20, 2008
The guitarist for the rock band Velvet Revolver, whose name is Saul Hudson but who goes by the moniker Slash, is no stranger to lawsuits. Three years ago, he sued his former Guns N’ Roses bandmate Axl Rose over royalties to the group’s songs. That same year, his former publicist sued him for money she said he owed her.
In November, Slash and his wife, Perla, filed a lawsuit against the real estate agent who sold them a house in the Hollywood Hills back in 2005. This week, a judge in the case agreed to allow the case to proceed.
Judge Mel Red Recana denied defense motions to dismiss the portions of the suit alleging fraud, constructive fraud, negative fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, and to strike the claim for punitive damages.
He scheduled a Feb. 17 trial date and urged both sides to consider resolving the case with the help of a mediator.
Here’s what the suit contends:
The couple allege they thought they had found their dream house in December 2005 and believed it was on a private, gated street in the Hollywood Hills. Although the street is gated, it is public and has very little parking, according to their court papers.
The rocker and his wife also say the home was much smaller than 7,800 square feet, as listed, and that there were other issues with the title to the property.
“It’s hard to imagine conduct that is worse than a real estate agent intentionally misleading and/or withholding critical information from a purchaser so that a sale would close and a commission would be paid,” their court papers state.
The other side:
But the defense court papers maintain that Holcomb and Sotheby’s had no way of knowing that the Multiple Listing Service description of the home was incorrect and that it was not actually on a private street.
The fabulous Real Estalker has covered this case from the beginning.
Shortly after purchasing the property for $6,250,000, the Slashers decided they didn’t want the 5 bedroom and 6.5 bathroom mini manse after all. So they dropped it back on the market for $6,995,000. Despite several price reductions, the house languished on the market and the asking price was eventually brought down to $5,995,999, a number significantly less than the sue happy homeowners paid for the property.
Here’s the Redfin listing for the property, showing that the house (just over 5,500 square feet; quite a bit less than the 7,800 Slash says was represented) was purchased in December for $5,725,000 (by San Diego Padres pitcher Randy Wolf, incidentally, apparently unfazed by the parking and size challenges).
Given Slash’s somewhat litigious past, it might be easy to dismiss this lawsuit as yet another disgruntled buyer trying to blame his real estate agent for his own lack of due diligence. After all, wasn’t actual square footage revealed by the appraiser during the escrow process? Shouldn’t Slash have done his homework regarding the street’s status?
But the judge allowed the case to proceed and refused to dismiss allegations of fraud or strike the punitive-damages claim. Maybe that means something; maybe it doesn’t. However, the defense is admitting that the MLS listing contained inaccurate information and that they had no way of verifying it. Well, SOMEONE clearly put that info up there — perhaps the seller? Is the seller named in the suit?
Many questions and few answers at this point. One thing is certain, though: This case will be closely watched.
Recent Redfin posts:
Is California On Its Way to a Housing Recovery?
Curbed Prices in the Valley: Slow-Bursting Bubbles Back to Back?
June 18, 2008
It’s been less than a month since I wrote about the state of home sales in Westwood ZIP 90024. At that time, 11 single-family homes had sold in the last three months, compared to 23 homes for sale.
Just for kicks, I decided to check in with 90024 today to see how things were going. Answer: Not well. In the last three months, Redfin shows that three single-family home sales were recorded in Westwood, with 28 homes on the market.
Why is this happening? Credit is tight; the economy is tenuous; and many of the people buying homes are looking for deals. Homes in Westwood are pricey.
Maybe it would be instructive to take a look at the three homes that sold.
1427 Warnall Ave.
Sold for $1,599,000 on March 21
3BR/3B/2,178 square feet
Notes: This house last changed hands in 1968, for $55,000.
10743 Lindbrook Dr.
Sold for $2,075,000 on May 2
4BR/4B/2,761 square feet
Notes: This house was last sold in 2004, for $1,940,000.
615 Warner Ave.
Sold for $1,750,000 on May 14
1BR/2B/1,743 square feet
Notes: This seems a bit pricey for one bedroom, doesn’t it? But, as real estate agents are fond of saying, “it only takes one.”
Nope — no apparent rhyme or reason to what’s selling. In this market, maybe it comes down to pure luck.
