Suppose you were shopping houses in Mar Vista under $1 million. And you want to be north of Venice Blvd., not on a busy street with traffic noise, which rules out Walgrove, Beethoven, Palms, etc. What would your choices be right now?
Let's start with Mar Vista Hill, which offers views like above to the east. 
Look to the left from the view and you see this 2 bed / 1.75 bath house at 12113 Navy St., asking $949K, listed 8/20/07, description shouting, "...ENDLESS VIEWS FROM CENTURY CITY TO THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN...". 
Around the corner and a block north is this 3 bed / 2 bath house at 3046 Mountain View Ave, asking $925K (originally listed before 1/30/07 at $1,099K, off the market Feb.-June). "Original Family Owned Home is now available for a new owner. Home has Views of the City. ... Newer double pane windows on most windows, may be hardwood floors under carpet. ..." [They don't know?!]
Excited or depressed so far? With high-end houses on Mar Vista Hill not selling, lot-value demand must be hurting too.
This series will continue, next time west of Centinela.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Mar Vista Hill below $1M?
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10 comments:
That's a nice area, but the thought of shelling out $6k/month to live in either of those houses is pretty depressing. I guess in the days when everyone was desperate to get into the market those houses might have looking good as starters, but when you start thinking about having to live in them rather than just seeing them as an investment, it kind of changes things. At least to me it does.
Um, I'm not sure just how to react to this post. First, those are incredibly crappy looking, old, tract houses. (Hardwood floors are *maybe* under 40 year old carpeting! Laugh at the real estate lingo with me, all at once!) Second, it's an ok area now, for a starter home, as the previous comment suggests -- but it's not Brentwood or Westwood. And besides, you can't send your kids to public school all the way through, so add private school tuition onto the near-million dollar (but reduced!) price. Just six or seven years ago, those houses were worth what? $400,000 or so?
I'd say these houses are priced at twice what they're worth now. For what it's worth.
I think all participants and spectators forget that real estate is a live active market. For our client's looking to buy they cheer every price reduction for the sellers they weep at the "lost" money. "Equity" is magic money to me until you convert it to cash through a sale or refinance. I posted a piece on the jumbo market you might want to read it.
Cheers.
http://thegreatloan.blogspot.com
We've been in every single one of those homes. Until they come down in price that tearing the house down and starting over becomes economically sensible, we will just keep hunting.
Even with a 0% interest rate and paying flat over 30 years $925k is $2,570/mo principle + $770/mo property tax (assuming 1%). Taking the tax benefit off of the property tax you get after-tax $516/mo. So the flat principle + after-tax property tax would be $3,086/mo or $37,030/yr. This excludes maintenance (use 1% of purchase price / yr as a plug for basic maintenance with no upgrades) and insurance. You are easily above $40k/yr with those. Again, that's with 0% interest for the life of a 30 year loan.
Dear Anonymous @ 11:02 am:
Presenting a mortgage payment analysis that does not factor in interest is about the most retarded and useless exercise I've ever seen.
yes, if either of these homes are available with interest-free financing, then I might be interested.
No interest = no tax deduction, too, buddy. Useless AND wrong.
you either missed the point of his/her analysis, or are too dumb to grasp what they were going. the point was: assume the loan is free. This house is still crazy expensive. That means, at any interest rate greater than zero, the house is outrageously expensive. The rhetorical point was useful. Your slam was not. Find a different blog.
mar vista resident said....
You obviously have not read the recent school API scores listed in the Aurgonaut . Of the westside public schools Mar Vista Elementary comes in 3rd place behind Franklin and Roosevelt (both on Montana Ave.). Grant is #6 and Will Rogers # 16.
Mar Vista with its great views ,ocean breezes and proximity to all the westside amenities is the perfect place to live.
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