A Condo with a Sordid Past

It’s always interesting to read the sales histories of properties on Redfin.  For instance, take this new listing:  a one-bedroom, one-bath condo at 964 Larrabee Street, Unit 106 in West Hollywood Vicinity (a.k.a. Los Angeles).

From the sales history we learn that this property was purchased in October 1992 for a heart-stopping $66,000.  It happens that 1992 was a lot like 2005:  Home prices had been rising like crazy for several years and had peaked.  So our buyer purchased this unit at the top of the market.

This is evident in the next time the property changed hands, in 1999, at a selling price of $75,000, or 2.1 percent appreciation per year.  Prices were pretty flat from 1992 through 1998 or so, depending on where you lived.  Our seller managed to hang on through the downturn and sell just as the market was coming back.

In July 2006, our property changed hands again, this time at a price of $369,000, or an annual appreciation rate of 24% for the 1999 buyer.  You have to wonder whether the 1992 buyer regrets selling in 1999. No doubt she/he was sick of the downturn and just happy to get rid of the place he/she was stuck with for seven years.  How was anyone to predict the riches that lay ahead?

But now, just one and a half years later, our condo is back on the market with an asking price of $399,000.  If the seller is lucky enough to get asking price for this property, he/she at least will not lose money, but, after closing costs and real estate commission, she/he won’t make much either.

Here’s what’s going on nearby.  All of these properties are listed as being within West Hollywood.  I am going to go with what the listing says, but some, if not all, may not be within WeHO city limits.

976 Larrabee St., Apt. 130, West Hollywood: This is probably a good comp for our seller:  a one-bedroom, one-bath condo that closed in December for $350,000.

960 Larrabee St., Apt. 112, West Hollywood: A one-plus-one listed for $409,000. No sales history is given.

960 Larrabee St., Apt. 208, West Hollywood: This buyer purchased this one-plus one in 2003 for $235,000 and sold it in October for $429,500.

8826 Betty Way, West Hollywood:  This single-family two-bed, two-bath home was purchased in July 2005 for $950,000 and sold in October for exactly the same price.

8835 Betty Way, West Hollywood: Listed as a two-bedroom, one-bath “condo alternative,” this petite single-family residence’s price was slashed $100,000 two weeks ago, to $699,000.