Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Not selling south of Montana

We haven't followed single-family houses between Wilshire and Montana (90403) as closely as other neighborhoods. But they too seem to be accumulating stuck inventory.

The poster child is the attempted flip at 2320 Idaho, listed over 13 months now, "before" photo above. We have two others from 2007 and three more from January. Here is everything on the market over 30 days (with thanks to SM Distress Monitor for two of the linked items):

1053 17th St, 2 bed/1 bath, CLP=$1,300K, OLD=1/8/08
1015 25th St, 2/1, $1,475K, 1/8/08 (sold 1/12/07 $1,200K)
1123 Berkeley St, 3/2.5, $1,798K, 4/14/08
865 Harvard St, 2/1, $1,849K (-7%), 1/16/08
2320 Idaho Ave, 3/3, $1,995K (-17%), 3/22/07 (sold 4/4/06 $1,335K)
1135 Berkeley St, 4/3, $1,995K (-16%), 7/9/07
837 22nd St, 4/3.5, $2,675K (-3%), 11/26/07

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have heard that a wealthy family from Saudi Arabia is going to buy 3 or 4 of these, primarily to be used as garages for their Rolls Royce collection.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Westside, we do need a lot more 90403 coverage as it's high end Santa Monica and not as insane as 90402. It's also an area to watch closely because prices there have been extremely sticky, there have been some cuts here and there but mostly the prices have held up on the SFRs and buyers and sellers are at a standoff right now (piling inventory, no buying or selling).

Arti

Terri said...

We are standing off. We made a fair offer on 1135 Berkeley- which is a 4/3 with only a little squinting it's a 4 bed with a bath and a powder upstairs and a 3/4 bath down.

The owners countered with 1.899- so really, I don't think they really want or need to sell.

Anonymous said...

The Idaho place is cramped. I'd be surprised if it sold at 1.995. Their improvements have probably slight more than made up for the value lost since the peak in 06. It could sell at around 1.5-1.6.

Anonymous said...

1135 Berkeley is only 3 doors down from the Albertson's parking lot. I think $1,899 is quite high.

Terri said...

Considering the number of children and animals I have, living that close to a grocery store would have distinct advantages.

Besides, pre-marriage, I lived in West Adams. Santa Monica's homeless have NOTHING on the 'hood.

Anonymous said...

Good luck Maria. Also, consider renting a house in SM for a couple of years, you could get the space you need in the neighborhood you want, for a lot less monthly.

As an added bonus, in two years you would then be able to get that same house you want for closer to $1.2 million where it should be.

Anonymous said...

As a side note, are any of you who are considering paying $1.5mm for a house accepting resumes?

I'm quite interested in any line of work that allows me to afford a $300K downpayment and $10k (12k?) in monthly P+I ... I knew I should have gone to law school (or started in the mailroom at an agency).

Anonymous said...

... or you should have had some well-off parents. That always helps.

Anonymous said...

"I knew I should have gone to law school (or started in the mailroom at an agency)."

Stick to the first option, or get an MBA. All you'll get working in the mailroom at an agency is $30,000 a year for the privilege of getting yelled at by and ordered to fetch coffee for douche bag agents who make maybe $60. In any given office of the "Industry", there's usually two or three guys making real money, and twenty or thirty others lying through their teeth about how little they really make.

Terri said...

We are a 1 lawyer, 1 MBA blended household- but this will be our 4th house purchase between the two of us, not a 1st purchase.

Anonymous said...

Sorry allsouledout, but the Westside is chock full of people/couples who can easily afford $1.5m (dual incomes of $200k-$300k or a single income of $400-$500) but they won't have enough to hire you with what's left over. You should really go after those buyers looking at $3mil + homes. I just did a search on Redfin for $3m+ and there are 366 listings. So there must hundreds and hundreds of people in LA who'd like to read your resume, earning well over a million$ a year, they could give a job -- they have plenty of $ to toss around!

Anonymous said...

yeah, the entertainment industry is very top-heavy in terms of salary. A mailroom job at an agency is a ticket to years of misery for the longshot chance at making some real money way down the line. Plus, most people who work at agencies - even the ones who start out as nice, intelligent people - almost inevitably end up as that earlier posted said, "douchebags." It's really hard to spend that much time in such a poisonous environment without it rubbing off just a bit.

Anonymous said...

You don't mind working with douchebags? Try real estate brokerages. That, or any development company. We are the worst kind of douches.

Anonymous said...

1123 Berkeley is renting for $6975.

Anonymous said...

The entertainment industry leaves most of the real money for the top guys. Guys in the middle don't make a lot

however, if you have the raw IQ and the right SAT scores you should consider hedge funds.

In hedge fund industry the top guys make billions a year but even the guys right in the middle of the pack make enough to afford SM

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/23/business/hedge.php

you can be average in the hedge fund industry and keep your head above water