Green Eggs And Ham🚂🏠-Real Estate Blog

We have a sleek new listing at 900 W Olympic Unit #28E.  The property is a 2 bed + office + 3 bath condo at The Ritz Carlton Residences at LA Live.  The unit faces West and it has sweeping views of mountains, sunsets, ocean, the Hollywood Sign and Observatory.  Amenities include The Ritz Rooftop Saltwater Pool + bar + cabanas, Ritz-on-Site Spa, fully equipped fitness center, valet, security, concierge, housemen + doorman, billiard room, conference room, screening room, access to room service & housekeeping.  It’s kind of neat to live on vacation all the time with world class entertainment right next door.  Our seller loved to live here!

 

We have 1053-1055 S Hudson back as a New Listing at a super attractive price of 1,800,000.  It’s a Fully Vacant Craftsman Duplex that’s 3040 sq ft on a 7124 sq ft lot.  The main building has 3 beds + 1.5 baths downstairs, and 4 beds + 1.5 baths upstairs.  Central air, abundant sunshine, original refinished hardwood floors, remodeled kitchens and baths, a wrap-around porch, a sprawling yard, and a beautiful block make this property an attractive offering.  More value-add comes in the sellers’ RTI plans to turn the garage into a 1912 sq ft 2 story ADU.  We’re excited to show today, Sunday from 1-4!

 

One of our listings went into escrow this week for 50k over the asking price.  Before it went into escrow, there was a buyer circling and returning multiple times to decide if she for sure liked the property.  I let the agent know that the property was priced to sell at or over the list price and there was sufficient activity and interest so that we were confident that we’d get at least the asking price.  The agent finally called and said her client decided to write an offer 150,000 below the asking price.  I let her know the seller wasn’t a seller under ask.  So she wrote 100,000 (instead of 150,000) under ask. I let her know the seller planned to counter at the list price.  She let me know that her client would be disappointed.  Being that it was Sunday, we held off sending out the disappointing counteroffer while we held an open house.  And by that evening, 2 new offers over the asking price came in.  The seller chose to sign the highest offer rather than counter the lower ones and we opened escrow.. It turned out, after a week in escrow, that the buyer with the accepted offer changed her mind on a whim and cancelled.  The circling buyer at 100,000 below ask, who became backup #1 at 50k over ask, went into escrow.  There’s a backup #2 and potentially a backup #3 (all over the list price).

 

We have another property in escrow for way over the asking price, where we’re representing the seller. The buyer has expert representation.  The buyer’s agent understood that her clients wanted the property and had the intuition to understand the magic number that would strike the right balance between what the buyer wants to pay AND what the seller will accept.  This agent is super thorough, making sure to inspect everything and to ask lots of follow up questions on disclosures and necessary repairs, and yet at the same time being super reasonable and fair in requests of the seller. It’s truly an honor to work with a pro on the buyer side!! The deal is contingency free and supposed to close this week.  But there’s an issue with insurance.  The house has original cloth wiring and a 30+ yr old roof and the combination is virtually making the home uninsurable.  California Fair Plan will insure for 65% of the value of the home, which isn’t enough coverage for the lender.  If it comes down to the worst case scenario, the buyer may need to rewire the house and pay for a new roof before closing so that the deal can close with a loan + insurance sufficient for the lender to fund and close.

 

We’re in counteroffers on a property, representing buyers.  The seller is forced to sell the property under Prop 19.  Prop 19 was voted into California law in 2020 and went into effect in 2021.  Under the new Prop 19, when a child inherits property from a parent, the property value is reassessed to fair market value at the date of death for California property tax purposes.  The parents lived at this property for decades, and their property tax bill was super low.  At the date of the parent’s death, the property got reassessed to FMV and the property tax bill became unaffordable to the heir who doesn’t have the means to pay it, forcing the heir to sell the property.  We’re seeing this scenario play out too often.  (It’s smart for children/heirs potentially facing a similar scenario in their future to plan well ahead and to take measures to avoid the property tax reassessment and forced sale of their inherited property.) 

 

Congratulations to Nechama on closing 1717 Crenshaw + 1721 Crenshaw and 358 S Mansfield!  Congratulations to David who closed 231 N Myers!  There’s nothing more gratifying than seeing good friends/clients whose dreams come true when they close on their new property!  We’re excited that we closed Friday on an off market duplex that was uber challenging, and also that we leased 133 N Orange and 629 N Citrus; both tenants seem great! 

 

Every day I look forward to 9:30-10:30pm when my grandchildren in Israel, Gavriel and Rika, call 7:30-8:30am their time to read breakfast stories over Facetime.  Our favorite book-of-the-week was Green Eggs and Ham.  Most of the book is about “I do not like Green Eggs and Ham.  I do not like them here or there.  I do not like them anywhere.” Sam-I-am keeps persisting, “Would you like them in a box?  Would you like them with a fox?  Would you like them in a house?  Would you like them with a mouse?” And then eventually, the main character tries Green Eggs and Ham and he LIKES them so he would eat them anywhere and it ends with THANK YOU SAM-I-AM.  

 

After reading the book so many times, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between Green Eggs and Ham and my life this week at listing appointments.  So many sellers I met this week started our interaction with, “I will not do prep to my house.  I will not hear of moving out.  I will not be open to staging.  My sale will be “as is” with no credits to the buyer for repairs.” With some education, patience, and persistence (much like Sam-I-am), the sellers came to learn that new ideas and information can be scary & unknown (and cost money) but there’s reward (selling your home for top dollar in the most lucrative and efficient way) that comes from preparing your house for sale, considering to move out for the sale, staging, and responding strategically in response to a buyer’s request for repairs.  As sellers interviewed multiple agents and heard the range of recommended list price for their house “as is” vs prepared for sale, just like the character in the book, they came around to a place of, “Sam, if you let me be, I will try them, you will see.”  We have stagers going out to see 2 houses this week to tread lightly and to further explore + educate,  and we’re positive that we too will have an ending just like the book, “I do so like Green Eggs and Ham. Thank you!  Thank you, Sam I am.” 

 

Wishing everyone an awesome LA winter week ahead!

Xoxoxo,

Sheri