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.
