RE4REAL

Curious Buyer?

re4real — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:30:15 +0000

You have to read what the listing agent wrote in the text about a property for sale: “This one is ready for your most CURIOUS buyer.” WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? As in “Curious George?” A curious buyer? ALL of my buyers are curious. I just do not understand it. They should be policed. This should not be allowed. I am embarrassed to send the listing to my “curious” buyers because they may be offended!

Oh, by the way, Happy 2012. I have been in MAJOR hibernation, and incubation mode – and now beebs number 2 is on the way, due in July! Number 1 is nearly 15 months old.

Curious Buyers Beware!

What’s a “Professional Ritter?”

re4real — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:17:45 +0000

The saga continues. I came across this language on another agent’s listing today:

“Attention !! Beautiful private back yard with city light view. for professional Ritter or musician New gate, New garage, New paint, New drive way, New fence, New bedroom New bath New kitchen ALL NEW. 1276 front unit vacant 1274 back unit occupied and moving out and of march. will be update just like front unit.”

Will all of the professional “Ritters” out there please stand up!!!!!!!!!!!!

“use GPS”

re4real — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:11:45 +0000

How lazy can realtors be? Look at what this one put for “Directions” on a new listing in the MLS (Multiple Listing System):

“Like a drug king pin could own it…”

re4real — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:26:27 +0000

This came through to my email today: “Looking for a Spanish or Med style beach or bluff house that looks like a a drug king pin could own it. Filming at the property will net the owner $10,000 a day.”

Oh, the perils of being in residential real estate in Tinsletown!

Know anyone that wants to volunteer his or her bluff digs?

How Now How House?

re4real — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:15:36 +0000

I made the trek to Silver Lake today to visit a colleague’s listing, which just happens to be R.M. Schindler’s famous Silver Ridge property, built in 1925, that has undergone a meticulous restoration. I learned that Dr. How, for whom the house was originally commissioned, loved to entertain and lecture in his living room, hence the loft area open to the room below, and oftentimes would invite “hobos” to sit in on his soirees - he found these guests meandering around the train tracks near the foot of his property (attention potential buyers, the tracks are now defunct!). This art piece can be yours for the modern price of $2.7mm. That definitely makes one want to utter the words, “how now brown cow!” p.s. for those of you who are truly into details, Richard Neutra designed the gardens.

p.p.s. I couldn’t resist pilfering this from Wikipedia: How now brown cow” is a phrase used in elocution teaching to demonstrate rounded vowel sounds. Each “ow” sound in the phrase represents an individual diphthong. The phrase does not have an explicit meaning per se but can be used as a light-hearted greeting.^[1] Although the exact origins of the phrase are unclear, it can be dated to at least 1942 in the United States.^[1] In February of that year the Maryland newspaper The Capital mentioned the phrase when discussing a famous thespian’s voice:

Laird Cregar, now contributing his booming voice to ‘Ten Gentlemen from West Point’: explains how he got it. When he first tried out for the Pasadena Community Playhouse his voice wouldn’t carry past the front rows. Coach Belle Kennedy had him declaim ‘How, Now, Brown Cow? and The Rain in Spain Still Stains’ – over and over.^[1]

p.p.p.s. And I just can’t fail to tell you that the “Rain in Spain Still Strains” reminds me of Eliza Doolittle’s character in “My Fair Lady” and her lovely “aha!” moment when she utters “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain” in perfect British diction. Okay, how did I go from real estate to speech and enunciation? It’s called Adult ADD!

re$real

re4real — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:22:16 +0000

re4real will be flying the friendly skies again, off to visit real estate in faraway lands. I was just recently in Sydney, Australia, where surprisingly the condo/housing market is on par with prices in Los Angeles. The only difference being their escrow period – it is much different than ours. They have a “cooling off” period, but don’t do the due dilligence like we do here. I’ll report from Cape Town, South Africa and London soon! Sit tight!

Watch it like a hawk? Or, let it simmer in the “crock-pot?”

re4real — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:56:23 +0000

I visited this property back at the end of May when it had just hit the market. My initial intrigue with it led me to “do the math” myself (well, at least a rough estimate of) and hypothesize as to what it would take to make the mortgage (+ taxes, + insurance, + utilities, etc., etc.) on this sweet 1906 gem in the heart of Venice beach. I estimated it would be a hair over $6,000 a month, IF you were able to buy the property for $200,000 off the sticker price. Now, two months later, I revisited the property, this time online, rather than in person, and noted that there has not been any reduction in price. The agent’s caveat in the written details state that the property can be “delivered vacant or with 1 tenant paying $3150 per month (ahem, 1 bathroom, hmmm, well your guests can pee in the ocean when it’s occupied): additional income – lease 2 parking spots!” WOWZIE! Oh, yes, this is a “duplex” per se, with 2 units, 1 lower, 1 upper, each with own washer/dryer, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath each, remodeled to reflect modern aesthetics and accomodate 21st Century living – but incorporating touches from the early 1900′s, including the original O’Keefe & Merrit stove. So, if you can cover $3500 month, stand having a tenant live within close proximity (and handle the stress that the tenant might not always be able to pay that high rent – but then again, life’s a crap-shoot and if you want to gamble in real estate, you’ve got to take the chance sooner or later!), and maybe, just maybe, rent a couple-o-parking spots out to some neighbors for some extra milk money – perhaps you can make an investment in this god-awful market! But, that is, if the seller will budge on the asking price. Seller, seller, where for art thou? And, why is your head in the sand like an ostrich? Here’s a link to the listing agent’s private site for the duplex: www.1900pacificave.com

She ain’t nuthin’ but a gold digger….

re4real — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:41:40 +0000

First of all I love this ad. How can you not? And, even though I can scour the MLS for properties in the pre-foreclosure state, this is a good way to access the lion’s share of them all at once.

Check out the link to find properties that are “short sales.” This means, in a nutshell, they are listed for sale at prices less than what the current owner owes. It’s all about market value, supply and demand. Basic economics. The only downside is that the process can be grueling and arduous, but who ever said that buying a house is fun? Oh, I did!

www.shortsense.com

You should have been in pictures!

re4real — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:54:24 +0000

This house is so damn cute. It’s like an over-sized hotel suite in Shabby Chic style replete with the original Bachelder fireplace from 1928 – but the entire house has been given a perfect face-lift. White walls and moldings, character hallways, picture window from the guest bedroom looking out to the spa-esque dipping pool + guest house for visitors, family members or to rent out and help pay the electricity bills or car payment – but maybe you just have a bike, manual and motor, because there ain’t no garage at this abode. Barreled ceilings, tasteful fixtures and finishes….doesn’t need a thing, except maybe the addition of a California Avocado tree in the luscious garden. The property has been on the market for 138 days and has been reduced to the cool cool price of $1,399,000…take away the one from the front and it would likely have 1000 bidders and maybe sell for a mil. At this price it’s going to sit. Sorry seller. Not sure what your agent’s been telling you as to why your house isn’t selling, but the days of buying the worst house on the best street are back in vogue. This is one of the best houses on a great street – BUT, it has two bedrooms in the main house and one detached guest house/room which just isn’t enough, even in Santa Monica, to substantiate the list price. I’m sure the owner doesn’t want to lose money on the investment, and some true love and care was placed into the remodel/upgrades, but if he or she really must sell they are going to have to heed this advice and reduce, reduce, reduce! At $1.2 mm this could be someones dream home. Add an extra bedroom later on down the road. Maybe a new master on a second floor addition, or push out toward the back. Until that day comes, take the design elements and buy the foreclosure on 25th Street for $800K (mentioned in an earlier entry) and do the upgrades yourself….

Click on this link to see photos & more info. about this home:

http://guests.themls.com/view_photo.cfm?mlsnum=09-345757

Cracker Jack Box

re4real — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:26:44 +0000

A few weeks back I watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the “umpteenth” time with a friend of mine who had yet to see the Capote flick. I think the scene where they ask the Tiffany’s salesman if he would be able to inscribe something on the inside of a ring they got out of a box of Cracker Jacks is extremely relevant to today’s economic times.

People still want luxury, but it’s the little luxuries that make more sense right now. Consumerism will never die, it just ebbs and flows and though it has waned, there are still needs and supply and demand is alive and kickin’.

The pent up needs in our local real estate market are reflected in the statistics of recent sales. The Eichler home in Granada Hills on Lisette (where for the last several nights there has been a light so bright I thought a spaceship had landed to save us all – but it was just a movie crew) had 25 offers thanks to the low, low list price of $479,000. It will be interesting to find out exactly what it ends up selling for. A house on Marmont Ave., just above the Chateau on the Sunset Strip, that was a probate, not a foreclosure like the Eicher house, sold exactly for the asking price of $949,000. Whoever snatched that up has views for life, or an amazing rental property/investment. I’m telling you, you’ve got to listen to me!

There is a sweet house on 21st Street just north of Ocean Park, south of Pico in the Sunset Park area of Santa Monica that has been on the market for 60 days at the list price of $824,900. This foreclosed property boasts the bone structure of a early mid-century English cottage, with charming details such as a bay window in the front living room and arched hallway entrances, built-in cabnitry in the petite dining area. The kitchen needs to be built out with a stove and oven, but I can just imagine a refurbished O’keefe & Merrit or a brand new Wolf or Viking and how the punch of the new with the old could make for the perfect chef’s dream.

I see so much potential in this house, not only because of it’s stellar location (um, walk to Zabies or Mrs. Winston’s on Ocean Park and bike to Trader Joe’s on Pico), but because I envision it being loved by the new owners, who will grow roses and herbs and take advantage of the spacious yard and ample room to grow. The house does need cosmetic work (don’t we all?), and could use a second full bath (there is only one full bath and one powder room), but I know that it’s been loved before and will be loved again. Wow, houses really are like people after all!

Here are some pics. Looks way better in person. Have a swell weekend!

Oh and p.s. Cracker Jack boxes sure are fun, only if you could live in them!