Price Slashing Pays on Sweetzer
Back in January, I blogged about a massive price reduction on a single-family home at 359 N. Sweetzer Ave., Los Angeles (pictured above), a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1, 746-foot home in a highly desirable area of L.A. But the seller was overly optimistic when the house first hit the market: It was listed for a whopping $1,499,000.
In January, the seller wised up and slashed the price $200,000, to $1,299,000. A potential buyer smelled blood and swooped in with a lowball offer, and guess what: Our seller took it. The house closed in March for $1,050,000.
Clearly the house was overpriced to begin with, but that’s more than 40 percent lower than the original asking price. Did our buyer get a deal? Let’s look at comps:
Sold:
353 N. Sweetzer Ave.
Sold for $950,000 on Jan. 18
3BR/2B/1,784 square feet
Notes: This house was part of the same blog post. A sale was recorded in November for the telltale oddball price of a lender purchase: $951,446. However, someone with inside knowledge must have immediately put in an offer directly to the lender, because less than two months later, another sale was recorded, this time for $950,000. This is $100,000 less than its aforementioned neighbor down the street, for nearly identical square footage.
454 N. Flores St.
Sold for $910,000 on Feb. 27
2BR/1B/1,344 square feet
Notes: This is the comp agents will point to when trying to sell overpriced listings. This may be a lovely property, but why would anyone pay nearly a million dollars for a two-bedroom, one-bath house?
520 N. Flores St.
Sold for $890,000 on Feb. 22
2BR/2B/1,431 square feet
Notes: At least this one has two bathrooms.
For sale:
336 N. Flores St.
$1,185,000
2BR/2B/1,539 square feet
Days on market: 94
Notes: This listing touts a “$115,000 REDUCTION!!!” Looks like at least one more of similar size is in order.
321 N. Sweetzer Ave.
$1,049,000
3BR/2B/1,916 square feet
Days on market: 129
Notes: This fixer-upper came on the market in February at $1,165,000 and has been reduced three times.
