Archive for September, 2008
September 19, 2008
Eagle Rock is one of the neighborhoods that has been particularly hard-hit with price drops. Here’s a quick rundown of the places that are up for short sales or are in foreclosure in the 90041 zip:
- This bank-listed foreclosure is a 4/2 with 1,302 square feet that has an asking price of $569,900. It last sold in 2007 for $550,000, but also sold in 2006 for $640,000.
- This one is a short sale with a recent price reduction of almost $50,000, so it looks like they’re dreally like to move it. It’s in the hills off Eagle Rock Blvd. and is listed at $649,000.
- This is a fixer for $379,000, and its a tight 2/1 with 728 square feet. That seems high at $522 per square foot….
- Here’s a bank-owned property for $244,900. It’s a 3/1 with 758 square feet. That’s $323 a square foot, but it’s down near the intersection of Colorado and Fig.
- The last one is another bank-owned foreclosure, North of Colorado. It’s a 6/4 contractors special for $549,900 and it looks like it needs a lot of work…but it’s 2,520 square feet, which makes it $218 per square foot!
September 18, 2008
After featuring a new $1.95 million listing in my last post, I wondered what was on the market in that 91202 area for half the price. My Redfin search turned up 5 properties with asking prices of $929,000 to $999,000. Recent sales comps (here on Redfin) would indicate lower prices for some.
1321 Virginia Avenue, at $999,000, showed up on Redfin nine days ago. This is a 3 bed/1.5 bath home with 1,825 square feet, thus $547 per sq.ft. I’ve travelled past this home on my regular route for years; about three or four years ago I watched the front of the house and its landscaping transformed into one of the jewels on the block. It sits on a fairly large lot, and the listing photos show a large back yard, again, newly landscaped, with a sparkling new pool. A lot of money was spent on this house: the last recorded sale was for $355,000 March 2001, and at $999,000 the listing language indicates that this is a short sale requiring bank approval. As Irvine Renter pointed out this week, Renovations Are Not Riches.
522 W. Kenneth Road came on the market 13 days ago at $995,000. This home is slightly larger, at 2,314 sq.ft., with 3 beds/2 baths, and also completely renovated. For a home with major upgrades in this neighborhood and of this size, its listing price of $430 per square foot matches the average sales comps exactly.
1529 Ard Eevin Avenue was just listed at $945,000. It has 3 beds/2 baths and 2,471 square feet and also sits on a large lot. Signature Spanish Revival homes are a hallmark of this neighborhood; this one sits on a quiet street and is in good condition, although needing cosmetic updates, according to the listing. It is the least expensive property on a square footage basis ($382) in my limited search, and below the average sales price over the past three months.
Million dollar bill courtesy of Simon Davidson.
September 18, 2008
Had enough of the Great Depression comparisons this week? Here is probably your only chance to experience the bright side of the 20s era: the Alex Film Society Vaudeville Extravaganza, an annual event in Glendale and Southern California’s only regularly produced vaudeville show, this Saturday, September 20, 8 p.m. at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Six live acts, followed by three historic films, including a vintage newsreel and Charlie Chaplin’s 1917 film The Cure, make up the program.
The Alex Theatre, built in 1925, and restored and reopened in 1994, is “one of the most important surviving examples of grande Vaudeville and movie palaces of the early 20th century.” The Alex Film Society promotes and screens classic films at this classic location – I’ve seen many wonderful films on the big screen at the Alex. Its a definite asset to the city of Glendale. Upcoming films on the schedule include King Kong (October 25), and the society’s annual Three Stooges event (November 29).
Now back to the 1920s in Glendale housing: I stopped by a brokers’ open house yesterday to see a new listing. 850 Cumberland Road is landmarked as historical and a Mills Act Tax grant is in place as of September 2006. This is a notable week to be listing a property that was originally built in 1929. Many homes in the 91202 neighborhood were built during the 1920s and have sought after custom features; this one is among the larger properties in the neighborhood (4,271 square feet, on a 14,200 square foot lot). The listing price is also notable for this week (better have that down payment in a safe haven!): $1,995,000. It last sold for $1,500,000 in 2004.
There are twelve other Redfin listings in 91202 priced over $1,000,000; the Cumberland property ranks third on the list (if you exclude the $15 million Wonderview property).
Photo of the Alex Theatre courtesy of Ilpo Sojourn.
September 18, 2008
While I was browsing through the Redfin Web pages, one forum thread caught my eye – “Gangs/Crime in the West Valley“. The amount of crime in an area is something I think that a number of those shopping for a new home might be concerned about.
I personally like checking the LAPD Crime Map to assess information about how safe a neighborhood is. It gives a snapshot of everything from burglaries to homicides that may (or hopefully may not) have occurred in the area where you’re looking for a new home.
But I found another useful site that readers might be interested in checking out. The Daily News has a San Fernando Valley Crime Map. On their site, you can search for specific crimes, such as gang activity, hate crimes, or attempted carjackings. You can even narrow down the search to weapons – B B guns, crowbars, and handguns. (Gosh, this topic is really uplifting, no?)
Just for the heck of it, let’s try to find out what the crime is like around this recently sold house in Reseda. The address is 18342 Elkwood St. It’s a four-bedroom, three-bath single-family residence with 2,272 square feet of space. It sold for $605,000 in June of this year.
1. I start by inputting the city of “Reseda” and “Yes” for gang related.
2. I find out there were two gang-related shootings; one occurred on 06/27 and the other on 09/12. (See map below.)
3. I zoom in on the map and see that one of the shootings is close enough to the area I’m considering to think twice about my search in the area.
4. I try Tarzana. I see no gang-related crime in the area and I continue my search.
Click to enlarge.
September 18, 2008
LuxuryProperty.com reported this week that Brad Pitt has purchased another home in The Oaks – bringing his total to four houses in the gracious little enclave next to Griffith Park. Here’s the scoop:
This time he bought a 1,534-square-foot home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. It’s adjacent to several properties that Pitt already owns. This 1932 two bedroom, one bath home has just a small 0.15 acre lot.
In case you aren’t familiar with The Oaks, its a neighborhood of winding, hillside streets between Beachwood Canyon (really, starting east of Canyon Drive) and the Park. Many of the streets are practically in the park, but the whole area feels very private and secluded. The streets don’t really lead anywhere, so the only reason to be there is if you live there, or are stalking the Jolie-Pitts.
The blog also gives a rundown of the other houses he owns nearby, giving him close to 1.5 acres…
- A 5-bedroom, 1915 craftsman-style house with 5,338 square feet (bought in 1994)
- A 2,454-square-foot home adjoining the first (bought in 1996)
- A 1,653-square-foot home, also adjoining (bought in 1998)
Homes in The Oaks used to be out of mere-mortal price range, but oh how times have recently changed. OK, not that much. You still need to be shopping past the million-dollar range. But if you can afford that, it’s a beautiful area. Here’s a few places that would make you neighbors with Hollywood’s favorite tabloid family:
- This is a 3/3.5 that’s open this Sunday. It even has a name, as a truly fancy house must! It’s “La Serena,” and its a new Spanish compound by architects Offenhauser/Mekeel. Yours for $4.750 million.
- Over on Spring Oak (yes, most of the streets are Oak something), there’s this 3/3 with 2,612 feet for a bargain $1.399 million.
- Back on Wild Oak, this 4/5 is also a newer construction, in the “Andalusian” style. It’s listed at $3.2 million and has 3,443 square feet.
- And here’s a “major reduction” to $1.549 million on Live Oak. It’s a modern 3/2.5 with 2,000 square feet.
September 17, 2008
I saw a little snippet in the Warner Center News the other day. There was a photo of Hidden Hills way back in the 1950′s. In the photo (above), a sign along the 101 advertised a 3 to 4 bedroom home on a one acre site for $27,500 to $47,500. For a five acre parcel of land, you could have paid about $12,500. Gee, times have certainly changed, haven’t they?
For those of you who aren’t familiar, the city of Hidden Hills is located in the western part of the San Fernando Valley. It’s kind of like living in the country except that you’re a hop, skip, and jump away from the freeway (101) to the rest of LA County. It’s also a very pricey community to live in. And while I’m sure it’s a lovely place to reside, I’ll admit, one of the bylaws did scare me a bit:
However, when you buy in Hidden Hills you give up some of the freedoms those outside the gates have in exchange for the assurance that your neighbor also gives up some of those same freedoms.
All right. If you read further, they’re just talking about choices like the ability to paint your house purple – but still.
Anyhow, back to the real estate. According to Redfin, the average listed price of homes selling in this gated community is currently $3,000,000. The average listed price per square foot is $678. The average price of homes sold in the last three months is $1,987,408. The average sold price per square foot is $581. I certainly couldn’t afford to buy here, and many of our readers might not either. But still, it’s fun to take a look.
Entry Level Luxury Living: 5550 Penland Rd./4bd, 4bth/2,140 sq. ft./$1,750,000
New On The Market: 5207 Round Meadow Rd./3bd, 2bth/2,827 sq. ft./$2,499,000
Reduced: 5839 Jed Smith Rd./5bd, 6bth/8,053 sq. ft./$7,999,000 to $7,499,000
Posh Property Priced Sky High: 25067 Jim Bridger Rd./9bd, 12bth/17,129 sq. ft./$10,500,000
Do take a peek at the one on Jim Bridger Rd. It’s so not my style, but the 20-seat theater is still a nice touch.
September 17, 2008
It’s been quite a week. First, venerable giant Merrill Lynch (not so “bullish” anymore) goes down in flames, with Bank of America stepping in to pick up the pieces. Then 158-year-old Wall Street firm Lehman Bros. announced it was bankrupt. And insurance company AIG revealed that it needed billions in cash to stay afloat.
After days of insisting that it would not bail out AIG, on Tuesday night Fed officials did an about-face, saying the U.S. government would step in to save the company, the L.A. Times reported on its Web site.
In the largest single financial intervention in the nation’s history and a measure of the depths of America’s financial crisis, the Federal Reserve will loan insurance giant American International Group Inc. $85 billion to finance the company’s likely liquidation over the next two years, people familiar with the decision said tonight.
Apparently, the Fed decided that the risk of not acting was too great:
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke acted after AIG, the world’s largest insurer, told the government that without aid the company would file for bankruptcy tonight, a move that Fed officials concluded would send devastating ripples through the global financial system and jeopardize economies around the world.
A few months back, I posted about a guy in Florida who was predicting a virtual collapse of the U.S. financial system. At least one reader thought it was alarmist and over the top. Here are some excerpts:
I was going to call this “Banks March Us Into Depression,” or maybe more fitting is . . . “Complete Collapse of US Banking System.” Folks, that is what we are looking at. I don’t see any way around it.
Banks cannot afford to take 50-75% hits on mortgages, and that is exactly what is happening. The precipice is here, and we are on it. Recent reports about home sales rebounding are insignificant, because no one is accurately describing the growing inventory build-up. Banks simply don’t have the margins to deal with this crisis. And for that reason, we will see massive bank failures and this will snowball into a complete economic meltdown.
The banks will fail, just as they failed in 1929 . . . but worse because this time some of this leverage is as high as 40:1. Insurance? Where is that going to come from? There is no insurance that can cover the cost of the coming bank failure, unless we just print more money.
What’s next? Well, Washington Mutual, a big bank with national name recognition, was just downgraded to junk-bond status, thanks to its reported $240 billion in real estate loans. Its stock is trading at around $2 a share. Whoo-hoo!
I’d like to hear what some of you are thinking. Are you worried? Are you taking steps to safeguard your finances? Or do you think this whole thing is overblown?
Recent Redfin posts:
Los Feliz Knolls – Some Details
How’s the Air Quality in Your Neighborhood?
Anyone For Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate? How About Art?
September 16, 2008
Curbed LA has a posting today about a really stunning “Los Feliz Knolls” house on Ben Lomond that is for sale – so I couldn’t resist digging up the facts about it – it doesn’t have a Redfin listing yet, so I went to Property Shark.
The neighborhood itself is really small – one hill over from the far-less-swanky Franklin Hills, and just south of Los Feliz Boulevard. It’s really just a collection of 3 or 4 streets with some really big, beautiful houses tucked away on them.
Here’s some details about the place:
It’s a 3/2 with 1,834 square feet. It looks like it’s on a fairly tight lot – I think it’s about 4,000 square feet from looking at the tract map.
The current owner bought it in 2004 for $969,000. Before that, it looks like it was flipped in 2001 – it sold in August of that year for $432,000 and in December for $625,000.
The most recent comp is at 3440 Ben Lomand. It’s a 3/3 with 2,147 that sold in May for $1.151 million. 3427 Ben Lomond sold for $1.250 million in April – it’s a 2/2 with a bit more than 1,900 square feet.
There are a couple nearby houses for sale worth comparing to:
4237 Los Nietos: This is a really nice, private street, not as high up the hill as Ben Lomond. This place has been on the market 12 days and says it’s “duplex-like.” Not sure if that’s good or bad.
4801 Ambrose: This recently remodeled place looks good, but maybe a little less polished than Ben Lomond. It’s a 4/2 with 2,300 square feet, listed at $1.499 million and is boasting Batchelder tiles on the fireplace.
3437 Ben Lomand: This one is down the hill from our featured Ben Lomond house on a part of the street that is less desirable – closer to the highschool and apartments. It’s a 4/4 with more than 3,000 square feet, listed for $1.324 million. I actually looked at this house a few years ago when I was buying in the area. At the time, it had been remodeled 80′s-style, which didn’t work for me, but the listings says “all new.”
2057 N. Catalina: This one is my favorite, and gives Ben Lomand a run for it’s money. It’s in a slightly different area, but a very good one – down the hill from Ben Lomond, near the gated Laughlin Park. It’s a 3/2.5 with 2,644 square feet for $1.279 million. I think it might be a probate sale.
September 15, 2008
ABC News photo
My Friday-morning post on this blog concerned the higher down payments — 15% instead of 10% — that many mortgage lenders began requiring last week. I wrote that first-time homebuyers would have a difficult time coming up with that much cash unless they lived far, far away — in the High Desert or the Inland Empire, where homes are more reasonably priced. The tradeoff for many, I wrote, would be a nightmarish daily commute.
A reader weighed in, saying people who didn’t want to commute could simply opt for a condo. I responded that people with kids and pets often wanted a place with a yard.
“Then move to Inland Empire and take the train into L.A.,” the commenter replied. “Just how it works in New York and Chicago. What’s the problem?”
I didn’t get a chance to respond to that comment, but if I had, I would have said that L.A. is nothing like New York or Chicago. Metrolink and Amtrak trains are overpriced (a Metrolink monthly pass for the San Bernardino-Union Station line costs around $300); don’t go where most people need to go; don’t run often enough; and are unreliable.
A few hours later, after a Metrolink train crashed head-on into a freight train in Chatsworth and killed more than two dozen people, I was reminded that “dangerous” should be added to the list.
Unlike rail systems in other cities, Metrolink and Amtrak trains share tracks with freight trains. Apparently, the only thing standing between SoCal passenger trains and tragedy is a red light.
Furthermore, as evidenced by the incident in Glendale three years ago, where a man parked in the path of an oncoming train, killing 11 people, the tracks are completely unprotected in many places, making them easy targets for the suicidal and homicidal.
Yet the choice for many who work in Los Angeles but can afford only to live in places like Riverside or Moorpark is to sit in freeway traffic for hours, or take the train. Because of our state’s failure to install a reliable public transportation system years ago, commuters are forced to decide between two undesirable alternatives.
The Subway to the Sea would help immensely. As with all public transportation, it would allow people to live closer to their jobs without burdening the roads with extra vehicles. It’s how so many people can live in Manhattan without owning a car.
In the meantime, Amtrak and Metrolink should reassure passengers by investing in the 30-year-old warning-system technology that might have stopped this terrible accident from occurring.
Recent Redfin posts:
Nic Cage Moves Down (Town)
How’s The Air Quality in Your Neighborhood?
Anyone for Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate? How About Art?
September 15, 2008
The last time we looked in on condo sales in Westwood ZIP code 90024, in mid-May, things were a bit soft. At that point, there had been only 21 condos sold in the past three months, compared to 191 that were on the market. 
But how things have changed. In the last three months, 67 condos have changed hands in 90024. Inventory has gone down, with 153 condos for sale. (The majority appear to be in Wilshire Boulevard high-rises.) And sold prices have actually ticked up a bit — $639,500, compared to $635,000 in May.
Another thing that hasn’t changed is the average price of Westwood condos on the market. It’s $959,000, compared to $949,000 in May. Sellers’ and buyers’ expectations are still at odds.
The May post included some condos on the market at the time. Let’s take a look at what happened to them:
1551 Greenfield Ave., #102: This two-bedroom, three-bath, 2,016-foot unit came on the market in January for $850,000. It was reduced several times, first to $795,000 and then to $765,000, before finally selling on August 1 for $700K even.
11033 Massachusetts Ave., #14: This two-bedroom, three-bath, 1,519-square-foot condo, built in 1974, came on the market for $675,000, was reduced to $649,000, and sold in June for $620,000.
1430 S. Beverly Glen Blvd., #202: Built in 2006, this two-bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1,520-square-foot condo came on the market in January at $799,000. It sold in July for $714,000.
With the summer selling season winding down, the next few months will be key. Here are a few more listings we can track.
1735 Malcolm Ave., #D
$790,000
2BR/2.5B/1,709 square feet
Days on market: 87
History: Purchased in 2002 for $579,000.
10911 Wellworth Ave., #2B
$790,000
2BR/2.5B/square footage not listed (translation: not a lot)
Days on market: 149
History: This brand-new unit was priced at $999,000 when it came on the market in April.
10830 Lindbrook Dr., #4
$849,000
1BR/1.5B/1,124 square feet
Days on market: 358
History: Something’s got to give here. This newly built unit is overpriced for the area. It likely was built in the market’s heyday, and the developer is trying to hang on.
