July 18, 2008

Scientologists Singing in Silver Lake

I’ve lived in Los Feliz/Silver Lake a long time, but I never knew that this building on Griffith Park Boulevard just a few doors down from the intersection of Hyperion is a recording studio owned by the Scientologists. Apparently, I am the only person in a 5-mile radius who didn’t know this. The other day as I was trying to regain a semblance of my pre-baby body by doing pilates at the new Pilates Plus Studio, I noticed a half-dozen paparazzi outside—one was even armed with a ladder. It’s apparently called Mad Hatter Studios, and according to its MySpace profile, artists from Scientologist Beck to Paul McCartney have recorded there.

This part of Silver Lake is actually pretty intersting housing-wise. Hyperion was a very industrial stretch up until about 5 years ago, when people started fixing up the scattered houses in between auto repair shops and even building new ones. The street has also seen a few new shops and restaurants open recently. The latest addition are these new condo/loft-type things that were just completed. I’m curious to see if they sell or not—it’s not a traditional residential area, and they are fairly expensive:

• 2508 N. Hyperion - There are 5 total in the complex. This one (unit #1) is a 2/2.5 with 1,406 square feet ($486 per square foot) with a roof deck. It’s listed at $710,000.

For comparison, here are some other condos and houses nearby. They aren’t as new, but they give you an idea….

• 2018 Griffith Park #111 - This 2/2 has 1,179 square feet ($466 per) and offers a pool. It’s been on the market 118 days.
• This FSBO on Rowena is a condo with 2/2.5 and 1,486 square feet. It was build in 1984, and it’s been on the market for 147 days. It just dropped its price more than $100,000 and is now listed at $685,000.
• Over on Silver Lake Boulevard, this 2/1.5 has 1,400 square feet ($456 per) and a price tag of $639,000. It’s been on the market 101 days.

July 18, 2008

Live With Young Hollywood

Cindy Allen reported earlier in the week that Bravo TV house-flipping star Jeff Lewis recently sold this Los Feliz property to Dominic Monaghan, former hobbit and current (or recently deceased?) Lost character Charlie. The house is on Commonwealth, about a half block from a back entrance to Griffith Park. Realestalker had this to say about it:

According to property records, the 1,938 square foot house featured on the current season of the terrifically entertaining television train wreck that is Flipping Out was sold to a bizness entity that MizSpillerguts swears on her mama’s dee-voon collection of vintageBalmain suits belongs to young Mister Monaghan. We can’t verify that, but children, our Miz Spillerguts is neh-vah wrong.

The street seems to be becoming a Young Hollywood Mecca—just down the road from Monaghan, star stalkers could find the Spanish abode of Entourage hottie Vinnie Chase, a.k.a. Adrian Grenier. And the end of the road, where it hits the park, it’s a big draw for film crews—at least once a week, the area is taken over by filming, the latest being a crew from Universal. So what’s all this mean for you? We’ll here’s a few places you could scoop up if you want to count the young and famous among your neighbors:

• This 4/2 Tudor is just around the corner and boasts great views over the city. It’s listed at $1,297,000 and has been on the market a little over two months.
• Up the hill on Amesbury is this 4/4 that no one is going to call shabby. It’s got 4,040 square feet of English Norman style, and even boasts a koi pond. Listed at $2,197,000.
• Also up the hill on Farmouth is this 3/2.5 for $2,195,000. It’s a “dramatic Spanish” and that ain’t no hype.

July 12, 2008

Echo Park Open Houses

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 12, 2008

Downtown Breakdown

This month’s Los Angeles magazine devotes it’s cover story to what’s happening downtown. It has a great round-up, including a map of “Downtown’s Best Drinking Holes.” Many of the top spots are in loft buildings or new hotels. Bluevelvet, for example, is in the Flat Apartments, on the edge of downtown near Good Sam hospital. The map works east from there, listing hip spots like the Golden Gopher and Seven Grand Whiskey Bar, dives like Hank’s, and business-friendly spots like Kendall’s Brasserie.

The issue also has a great article on Santee Alley by Dave Gardetta - truly a fascinating piece on the history of the counterfeit-goods shopping mecca that traces the origins of the retail district back to one enterprising shop keeper.

Later on in the magazine, two downtown bloggers (Stephen Friday from angelenic.com and Shannon Simonds of shainla.typepad.com) weigh in on favorite downtown haunts, like the new O Bar & Kitchen in the Orchid Hotel and Colori Kitchen. For anyone considering a move downtown—or questioning how anyone can live downtown in LA–it’s a must-read piece. They go through a bunch of the lofts giving their opinion on the pros and cons, and the best rooftops.

If reading the piece makes you curious about making the move to the urban core, here are a few below $400,000 places currently on the market:

• In the Toy Factory lofts, you could pick up this 831-square-foot spot that has been on the market for 104 days. The listing says it sold for $525,000 in 2005. Ouch. Now on the market for $369,000.
• This arts-district spot is also about 800 square feet, with the requisite rooftop spa (no pool!) and gym—listed for $389,000.
• In the Market Lofts, you can have Ralph’s grocery store right below you, along with a view of the courtyard pool for $399,000.

July 12, 2008

Does Style Have Value?

A reader recently asked me if the style of a house impacts its value when the market is in decline. The question came up because a friend of the reader owns a beautiful Spanish house in an area where there have been dramatic price drops over the past year—so if the friend sells, is she going to have to take a bargain basement price for her casa, or does it have more price-power than its neighbors based on its condition and vintage?

Well, there’s no perfect answer to that question — but here’s what I’ve got. Style does matter. Certain types of homes (a 1920’s Spanish, or a Craftsman, for example) are going to be desirable in any kind of market. These are the homes with emotional appeal, the ones you walk in and envision the long dinner parties you’ll throw in the enclosed courtyard, or the cosy nights by the fireplace in the mahogany-paneled library. These are the kinds of houses that are still selling fast, even in this market. They may not be selling for the price they would have a year or two ago, but you can bet they are selling for more than the 1970’s square box-house down the street. But having said that, location is always going to be the key factor. Pick up a Glassell Park Spanish and put it in Beverly Hills, and obviously you have a different price, even for the exact same home. So homes with emotional appeal in more established and desirable areas are retaining their value better than beautiful homes in lesser areas. Here’s an example:

• In the Moreno Highlands (arguably one of the best parts of Silver Lake, and on one of the best streets), here’s a Spanish colonial 5/5 with a pool, listed at $1.9 million. Other similar houses nearby aren’t as much, but they don’t have the same appeal (or the pool). Here’s a really stunning “gated chalet” in the same neighborhood with similar square footage, but it’s listed for $1.199. And here’s a completely-redone traditional with views of the reservoir and it’s in the Ivanhoe School District—for $1.395. So while this one may not get its full asking price, I will be surprised if its doesn’t sell for more than other nearby properties based on its combination of location and style. But…..
• Over in Eagle Rock, here’s an amazing Craftsman farmhouse that I’ve looked at a long while ago when it went on the market. It needs work, but the house is gracious and spacious. It’s listed at $895,00, based on its emotional appeal (and its 2,800 square feet). But here’s an example where in my opinion location is going to trump style. It’s not on a great street, and other nearby for-sale houses aren’t in the same price range. Here’s a similar-sized one up the hill (arguably a better location) listed for $785,000. And here’s one that recently sold for $777, 750 (short sale? Foreclosure?). I’m guessing this one will have to come down a lot in price before a buyer will overlook where it is for what it is.

July 5, 2008

Property Shark’s Q2 Foreclosure Report: Part 2

My last post looked at the overall outlook for LA in terms of foreclosures, courtesy of Property Shark’s 2nd Quarter report. The news does not look good. 

•  The number of newly-scheduled trustee sales in Los Angeles County surged 63% this quarter when compared to the first quarter of 2008 and 282% compared to the same quarter in 2007, setting a new record with 14,505 new trustee sales. 

But a deeper read of the report shows what we have all heard before - most of that damage is still coming from outlying areas like Palmdale and Lancaster. The top 5 zip codes in terms of foreclosures were:

1. 93550 (Palmdale) with 565 new trustee sales and $265, 262 the average owed.
2. 93535 (Lancaster) with 514 new trustee sales and $249,078 the average owed. 
3. 91342 (LA - Sylmar in the SF Valley) with 295 new trustee sales and $390, 054 the average owed. 
4. 93534 (Lancaster) with 277 new trustee sales and $239,203 the average owed. 
5. 93551 (Palmdale) with 265 new trustee sales and $360,768 the average owed.

So while I’m not saying it’s rosy days ahead for the real estate market, I’m standing by my personal opinion that the drops are almost at bottom in certain desirable areas. For brave and financially-stable buyers, the coming months are going to offer some good deals for those who are buying within their means and plan on staying put for awhile. 

July 5, 2008

Property Shark’s Q2 Foreclosure Report: Part 1

Property Shark just released its 2nd Quarter Foreclosure report, and it ain’t pretty. Although my sense has been that price drops have slowed in certain areas, this report show the damage the last year has done, and just how drastically Los Angeles has been hit: Out of the 4 metro areas the report examines (LA, Miami, NYC and Seattle), Los Angeles is far, far worse off in terms of the numbers of foreclosures and the amount of outstanding debt Angelinos are defaulting on. Here’s some of the key findings - my next post will look at specific areas. 

• LA’s foreclosure rate per household is 15 times higher than NYC’s. It’s also 7 times higher than Seattle. 
• The overall “lien amount” (the amount we collectively owe to mortgage holders) for LA has seen a “shocking increase” according to the report: “The aggregate lien amount for properties scheduled for trustee sale during the current quarter was over $5 billion.” That’s almost 4 times higher than last year at the same time. 
• LA also had an astounding 63% increase in new residential foreclosures over last year’s Q2. 
• To continue the doom and gloom, all those numbers above add to  a 282% increase in the number of new foreclosure auctions scheduled this quarter, compared to the same time last year. 

July 5, 2008

Best of Los Feliz and Silver Lake

This week’s Los Feliz Ledger has it’s 2nd annual best picks for the area. Here are a few of the highlights:

• Cap’n Cork for best beer selection - but this corner store also has great wines.
• Tomato Pie for Pizza - a new addition to the area.
• Lamill Coffee for desserts - can’t argue that one!  

 But I have to give my own opinion and mention a few great local spots that were left off this list:

1.  Michelangelos - yes, the Silver Lake branch of this terrific neighborhood spot (with the best spaghetti and meatballs in the city) was forced to close due to rent increases - but it’s in the process of reopening in the old Flor Morena spot on Rowena. 
2. Dragonfly de Lou - La La Ling may be a good kids’ store as well, but this friendly spot always has a great wooden toy or book for gifts, and offers kids’ classes in the back.
3. The Red Lion -  for an afternoon beer on an outdoor patio, this spot can’t be beat.

June 28, 2008

New on the MLS: 24 Hours on the Market

There are a lot of houses out there that have been sitting on the market for months and months. I can name a few in my own little neighborhood—in fact, there is one just two doors down. It’s actually a cute place, but was overpriced from the get-go, and despite price cuts, it’s still sitting. I actually think this is in part a factor of the bad up-front pricing. It was clearly overreaching, so no buyers came…now that it has been sitting so long, I get the sense people are waiting to see just how far it will drop before they try to swoop in for a deal. I think it’s a common problem. Despite that, I’ve also noticed that there has been an uptick in sales in the area. I think houses that are well-maintained and desirable—and are priced right—are selling. I also think there are a few brave souls out there who are putting their houses up for sale without being under duress. I’ve noticed a handful of new listings lately that look interesting. Here are a few that have just hit the MLS: 

• This 3/2 on Silver Lea Terrace is billed as a “stunning 50’s modern,” but with 1,580 square feet, it comes in at a hefty $630 a square foot. 
• Over in Los Feliz, this 4/6 has more than 4,000 square feet and has only been on the market for 24 hours. It’s in a good neighborhood and it’s listed for $1,199—which brings it in at $282 a square foot. That’s pretty low, so I’m curious to check this one out and see what the story is. 
• In a different part of Los Feliz—but a very charming little enclave—is this pretty 4/2.75. On the market for one day at $1,199. That seems to be the new magic number in Los Feliz, we’ll have to see if it holds. In March, a Spanish 3/2 sold on the same street for $1,169. 
• This cheery 4/3 just hit the market at $1,129. It’s in the Franklin Hills, but looks like it has a nice flat backyard. 
• In Echo Park, this one has technically been on the market 48 hours, but it’s interesting—it’s a classic Bunker Hill Victorian that was moved. It’s a 3/2 for $649,000 and was last sold in 2005 for $689,000. It’s got competition, though. Just down the street is this redone 2/2 that’s listed at $675,000 and has been on the market 165 days. 

June 27, 2008

Modern Pre-fab Pretty Quick

OK, I’m poaching on other territory here, since the house I’m talking about is in Venice - but it’s pretty interesting for anyone who has ever considered building their own home. This video and story from the LA Times shows a prefab house going up in 2 days. For lovers of modern design, this looks like a great option for building. Basically, while a contractor is putting the foundation on the lot, the house is being constructed in large modules in a factory - complete with electrical, plumbing, and all those other important details that seem to take contractors months and months to finish up normally. Then the whole thing is trucked to your site and set up with cranes.

For those of you not quite ready to take on a project, here are a couple of modern houses in Los Feliz/ Silver Lake I’ve been checking out. This first one is gorgeous:

• It’s a 3/3 for $1.149 on a 12,0000 square foot lot. It’s in an area of Los Feliz near the 5 - sort of the backside close to Silver Lake. It’s been on the market 93 days.
• Over at the “Auburn Hills” as the developer has named his 7 new constructions, you can check out this 3/2 with more than 1,900 square feet for $835,472. It’s been on the market 141 days, and promises it’s an “architectural delight.”
• This 2/1.75 is really a beautifully redone place North of Los Feliz Boulevard. The owner is upside down on it (I think it’s a short sale), and its been on the market a really long time - 240 days. But the price has dropped to $899,000 from $1.225. It’s really worth looking at, though not a great house for kids. The backyard has a steep set of stairs that leads to a flat pad, but it’s a little sketchy getting up there.