Friday, June 27, 2008

Ancient on Michael x 2

Above is the street view of the 3 bed / 2 bath at 3965 Michael Ave. in Mar Vista, asking $694,900, reduced 26% since its original listing 2/7/07. Yes, that is 506 days ago!

"Bank Owned REO. Great Home in top Palms Mar Vista area, features an updated Kitchen, updated bathroom. Total privacy from the street with hedges and beautiful landscaping. Hardwood Floors throughout, Formal Dining Room, Master suite opens to the back yard, with spa, and fireplace."

Second is the 3 bed / 1 bath at 4024 Michael Ave., asking $757,500, reduced 22% since its original listing on 10/15/07. That's only 256 days ago.

"DESIGNER'S PARADISE!! Remodeled with top of the line, hardwood floors, marble, limestone, granite, crown molding, custom wood burning fireplace, amazing gourmet kitchen with stainless steel appliances, dual alarm system, ENORMOUS designer bathroom, wainscoting, French doors leading to deck & wonderful outdoor space, an entertainer's dream! The quality & attention to detail of this home is over-the-top you absolutely must see to believe!"

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

i want to continue the discussion from the previous thread

someone posted that there are only five thousand families in santa monica making more than 200 thousand bucks a year.

i think that what is relevant to the pricing in the 90402 is how many families that can easily and comfortably afford $4 million for an SFR are today shopping in the 90402. and how does this compare to the number of houses on the market in the 90402

what i am saying is this - let's say that the vast majority of people today in the 90402 don't really make much money -they are retired or have low paying jobs

that doesn't really matter in setting the price unless they are selling - if a neighborhood is filled with very low paid people and none of them are selling, the houses can sell for very very high prices.

so i would put on the table that VERY few people in the 90402 are today considering selling - so it takes a VERY small number of buyers who are happy to plunk down $4 million to keep the prices up at four million

Anonymous said...

These 2 houses are not in the best location, sandwiched between Washington Blvd and Venice High School. They're going to have to come down more before the move.

If these were on Michael across Washington between Washington and Culver we might start to be getting into the right price range.

Anonymous said...

i am the first to admit that if all four thousand of the families in the 90402 all moved to Arizona and left their houses empty and listed them with realtors that there is just not demand for the four thousand houses to support anything near the current price -

so if all four thousand were sold in the next 12 months prices would be VERY VERY low
(it would be interesting to hear speculation as to how low they would go)

however, if the scenario is that very few of them are put up for sale in next 12 months, prices can stay high

Anonymous said...

Your argument assumes that the only people buying houses are those who can afford them and who plan to live in them. Both are not true.

What percentage of houses ~2 mil are bought for speculation? 50%+?

What percentage of houses at 4mil are new? 50%+

What percentage of people who bought those houses in 05-07 can really afford them?

These are the real questions that define this micro-market.

Anonymous said...

"What percentage of people who bought those houses in 05-07 can really afford them?"

This is the only relevant question on your list. The only other question that needs to be added is:

Are there more buyers waiting in the wings then there are owners who can't afford the payments?

The clear answer is: globally, no... locally, who knows?

Anonymous said...

Ultimately, yes, it's all about demand.

But if builders make up 50% of your market, you have a problem. It's probably worse than having KB / Pulte / ETC in the neighborhood because it creates masked demand where there isn't any (or much more demand where there isn't much) Now you have finished houses not selling and VERY motivated sellers in addition to not having builders who want to overpay for the lots, which has a steep downward effect on pricing.

There's plenty of inventory that isn't selling so if there's people waiting in the wings, they're going to wait for MUCH better prices because they don't want to overpay for something they know is going down in price. Also, how many people can afford 4 mil that don't have to sell a house to do it? And they're not going to get what they think so it's a slippery spiral to mix metaphores.

Anonymous said...

i respect everyone here -

someone just said that there are builder spec homes in the 90402 right now where the developer is REALLY desperate and hungry

can you cite a few examples of new spec homes in the 90402 where you know developer is desperate since i want to throw in a few low ball bids thanks

i know there is that one on 14th near montana where the developer is desperate but any others ?

Anonymous said...

Why wait for just the builders? Throw in low-balls on everyone.

Anonymous said...

i want new construction
so i am only interested in new construction that i can low ball

Anonymous said...

I went to see this POS on Friday--I got into the house via the unlocked garage. OMG, this is a place that needs to be torn down and have the earth salted so that nothing can grow in its place. AWFUL! I would only buy it if the seller agreed to haul away this house's rotting carcass.