Saturday, November 10, 2007

Developer under pressure in Mar Vista

Enough of graphs and predictions, let's get back to houses. How's this for an involved story....

We'll start with the new listing for 3239 Mountain View Ave. on Mar Vista Hill. It's described as a 3 bed / 2 bath for $950K, but:

"Developer opportunity: tear-down on spacious lot with panoramic views from the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific. Also available: plans & construction contract to build a 3,900 sf, 3 bed, 3.5 bath loft-style custom home by Red Barn Prefab, developers of 3675 Wasatch, 3710 Grand View & 12122 Victoria. When complete these homes sell for over $2.1 Million on average. Buy now for an extra $875,000 before construction begins, save over $300,000 and participate in selection of finishes and fixtures...."

Let's look up those three houses ... 3675 Wasatch was listed 3/19/07 for $2,295K, reduced to $2,099K, closed 5/22 for $2,125K. The other two are side-by-side at the corner of Grand View and Victoria, listed 7/30/07 for $2,395K and $2,295K. Both reduced $200K and have not sold. Don't you love the, "these homes sell for over $2.1 Million on average"?! Yes, the average price of the ONE that sold was over $2.1M.

Both also have "For Lease" signs posted; Grand View is on the for-lease MLS asking $8,500 per month. The end of last week 12122 Victoria (photo above) left the MLS. Did someone finally buy or lease it?

So the listing that began this looks like a very leveraged developer who sold one out of four, and is trying to bail now rather than build the fourth. Not a good time to be a developer; I'll catch up with some others this week.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this

if a buyer is looking at buying this piece of land, how can he think about the costs

Let's say he wants to build something nice - 3000 square foot fully finished basement and 3000 square foot above ground -

what would he pay to a design / build firm to do a nice job on this? Is it 300 , 350 , 400 , 450 a square foot all in ?

Again, you point of view might be " IT DONT MATTER BECAUSE HE SHOULD NOT BUILD HE SHOULD WAIT FOR THE CRASH FIRST" and i hear you loud and clear but if he did want to break ground asap what will he pay ??

Anonymous said...

We don't generally have basements in California. But the quotes I'm getting form design build firms right now for permits, plans and build (with "moderate" finishes- not Home Depot standard, but not custom stone either) is about $500 a sq ft in Santa Monica, probably slightly less in Mar Vista becasue the building restrictions aren't quite as strict.

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine is finishing his complete remodel in SM. He's paying slightly under 700K for 2800 Sq Ft. So between 250 and 300 per sq ft all said and done.

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad we're back to actual houses and pictures! Makes this blog very local and interesting. I'm also glad we are finally, finally done obsessing over the 90402.

Westside Bubble said...

I'm so glad we're back to actual houses and pictures! Makes this blog very local and interesting.

Thanks, and me too!

I'm also glad we are finally, finally done obsessing over the 90402.

We can hope....

Anonymous said...

Picked this up from a story on LAist via Eater LA. Ghetto Gourmet is hosting one of their events in a Red Barn Pre-Fab:

http://laist.com/2007/11/12/ghetto_gourmet.php


Here's the link to the Mar Vista event:
http://ggla111407.eventbrite.com/

Scott

3534 Butler said...

wow, you really don't have your facts straight. The "developer" doesn't own all those properties.
How can you write such drivel when you don't know the facts? Readers beware!!!!

Anonymous said...

Looks like the developer's website is out of commission. www.redbarnprefab.com

Maybe it is being updated or maybe the ship is sinking.

Time for an update?

Anonymous said...

Looks like one of the Wasatch houses by this developer just re-sold for $2.2 mil. It was originally purchased for $1.6 mil. So, the two houses on Wasatch averaged $2,150,000 over the last 6 months. This Westside Bubble is, well, full of useless information.