Saturday, April 14, 2007

Another flip (flop) on Marine

Must have been reading about 22nd ... A new listing at 2202 Marine, asking $1,495K, "Ready to break ground! Plans and permits in place for a 3,600 square foot house with city and ocean views". Love how the listing describes 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,500 square feet, and year built 2007. But it's not built; the current house has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.

A little history ... This sold 11/14/05 for $995K. It was listed when I began tracking in April 2006 for $1,325K, reduced to $1,250K in June and gone in August.

The market has been flat since mid-2005. This 7,000 SF lot is a half-block from busy 23rd, under the airport take-off. A half-million for plans and permits in a flat market? When 22nd is hoping to barely break even? I'm not holding my breath. Hey, for only $300K more you could buy 22nd and get a lot and a half, north of Wilshire.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

North of Montana is clearly the superior location in SM, but you talk like North of Wilshire is the same thing. Some people would rather not be near 20,000 rent controlled apartments.

Anonymous said...

Anon,

I think that a lot of areas south of Wilshire are great and have some unique features which can't be had in the north of Wilshire area (i.e. views, more house for the money, etc). However, with that being said I think that (in my opinion) the area north of Wilshire that we often talk about is superior. For starters, Franklin elementry and Lincoln middle are the schools you will get to send your kids to (after that everyone ends up at SAMO). Again, in my opinion, these schools are great and partially validate paying a premium to be near them. Also, the north of Wilshire area is further away from all the traffic/parking problems associated with the city college. And while the gang related shootings that have taken place have been few and far between, all of the ones I know of have been south of wilshire (i.e. Pico area). As far as the 20K rent controlled apts go...I grew up in this area and never even noticed the apartments really. They never had and negative effects on the quality of living. Obviously you don't want to be right next to them (parking issues, etc) but the fact that they are a few blocks away really doesn't mean anything. Most of the renters are older folks who have been there forever and are holding due to the below market rent (thanks to rent control), and the young folks renting are all middle/upper class professionals and maybe some rich students. So yes you have to pay more to live north of Wilshire and there can be an argument to be made about other areas being a better value or more ideal but from my point of view, this north of Wilshire area is superior.