I’m super excited about our new lease at 266 S Mansfield! The offering is a spacious 2600 sq ft upstairs Duplex Unit with 3 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms in Prime Hancock Park and the asking price is 6500/mt! The space feels light, airy, spacious, architectural, and the location is prime and central. I’m also excited about our new lease at 315 N Vista! That offering is a Single Family 3 bed 1.5 bath 1700+ square foot home with a private charming grassy yard (with shady guava tree) in a prime location close to The Grove. It has original architectural details + spacious public rooms in a stand alone home for 5250/mt. We have another single family home coming up for lease with 5 bedrooms in the area soon.
We just leased, representing one of our favorite clients as a tenant, a Grand Majestic Hancock Park Home at 145 S Hudson for 20,000 a month. The house is 5992 sq ft on a 17,288 square foot lot, on arguably the best block in town. We recently leased 165 N Las Palmas, also representing one of our favorite clients as a tenant, for 17,000 a month and that house is 4768 square feet on a 13,836 square foot lot. We’re in the process of leasing 175 N McCadden at the moment.
We’re working to prepare 3 listings to bring to market and stagers are booking now for mid to late June! This market is different from any market I’ve ever seen before in my 18 years of selling real estate. One small Mom-and-Pop stager told us they have 60 homes staged active-on-the-market-for-sale at the moment, and they have on their schedules 6 houses a week to stage, all the way into late June. The Feds announced in December that they’d drop interest rates 4 times this year but in actual life, interest rates have gone up. We’re seeing buyers at open houses & private appointments who want to buy a house, AND higher interest rates + monthly payments means higher buyer scrutiny & more buyer thought + deliberation to make sure their purchase decision is right, which usually means buyers need more time to make a decision on a purchase. I spoke to 2 recent buyer clients who are thrilled they purchased houses at 5.5% and 6% interest rates recently. Neither buyer client knew of the lender or how to secure that low interest rate until we introduced them, and both keep sharing with friends who have no idea either. A business manager asked me on Friday if his seller client can not offer buyer side commission on her upcoming listing in light of the recent NAR settlement, and my advice was to absolutely pay a buyer’s agent to guide a buyer to buy in this market. Now, more than ever in my career, it is my professional opinion that a seller who wants to sell a property for top dollar is best set up to attract the best buyer for his house through a talented + compensated (!!!) buyers agent who will guide their qualified buyer client through the decision + process of closing on a home. We’re still finding lots of traffic at our open houses and prospective buyers are sharing that they believe interest rates will come down (most people believe rates will be lower as we near elections this fall but obviously no one really knows.)
As always, houses that have the best architecture + floor plan & are in the best location, are golden and almost immune to market conditions. The best houses are on a nice quiet street, are filled with sunshine from deep windows + glass doors, have character + charm, and a great backyard to bask in the Southern California Sunshine. We have 2 houses with multiple offers at the moment that will sell for top dollar because they perfectly fit the criteria of a buyer’s dream home.
The part I miss the most about the holidays is snuggling with my grandkids and reading book after book after book (always ending with “more”). Nechama, age 1, loves Hand Hand Fingers Thumb on repeat and she squeals at the 87th read as if it’s the first. Chaim, also 1, loves Put Me In the Zoo (and he knows every word by heart). Everyone in the family can recite the whole Sneezy the Snowman without even turning a page (“and then he MELTED”!!!!!). Eliyahu, age 3, pretended he was Mirette on the High Wire whenever he found a low garden wall he could balance across like a tightrope. Eliyahu intuited that Grandma is just like The Spiffiest Giant in Town who gave his shoe to a mouse for a house because the shoe gave The Giant blisters anyway (“Just Like You!”) Our most favorite is what Gavriel, age 2, calls “The Gerald Book”, Greetings from Sandy Beach, and the crack up line (every time) is “Gerald Ate Something Disgusting from the Fishing Basket!!!” I love how the kids are curious, inquisitive, high energy + upbeat, constantly making sense of the world around them, and filled with so much reciprocal love for their grandparents who love them with all their heart and soul! When Seth told Gavriel it was time to put on his shoes to go to the airport, Gavriel said very quietly almost to himself, “Wanna Stay.” Me too. I miss all those shrieky giggly explosive hugs and sloppy puckery little kisses like crazy!!!!!
Wishing everyone an awesome week ahead!
Xoxoxoxo,
Sheri
