Mom’s Dobos Torte🍮🍮-REAL ESTATE BLOG-

I’m super excited about our new listing at 1518 N Stanley!  The offering is a Sunset Square Spanish Hedged + Gated Retreat with lush landscaping, 4 beds + 2 baths in the main house & a 1 bed/1bath back house at the back yard. There’s a front courtyard outdoor living room that has a stacked tile waterfall flanked by majestic banana trees and surrounded by mature plants. And an outdoor patio at the back of the house with a wood deck + a soaring pitched ceiling overhead + an outdoor fireplace that offers so much space for both dining and living.  The 2 bedrooms at the front of the house share a remodeled bathroom off the hallway with a handsome double vanity that has 2 sinks + lots of storage & a bath with shower. There are 2 additional true bedrooms at the back of the house – one is an en suite bedroom and the other is currently staged as an office (with a closet). The house has central HVAC, new copper plumbing, newer water heater, hardwood floors, and a long driveway with tandem four car parking. On the back property line is a spacious & private one bedroom apartment back house that has a foyer, living room, eat-in kitchen, bedroom and full bathroom. The location is prime, near Sunset coffee shops, Trader Joe’s, Bristol Farms, open-air restaurants, and world-class nightlife. Lush landscaping throughout includes soaring swaying palm trees, fruit trees, ficus trees, and more. This property feels like a relaxing green compound oasis right in the heart of the city!  I’m excited to host the open house today from 1-4!

I’m excited for our new lease at 543 N Las Palmas!  The house is a Single Story Hancock Park Home with a garden yard and it is around 2000 sq ft. It has a living room with fireplace, dining room that opens to the kitchen, family room that looks out to and opens to the yard, kitchen with center island, 3 beds + 2 baths.  The asking rent is 11,000 a month!  The house is furnished with the owner’s furniture and the owners will rent it either furnished or unfurnished.  We take pictures tomorrow and it’s available for rent immediately!

I’m excited for Devin’s new buyer escrow on Clark.  Exactly 3 years ago, we sold the unit directly below this one.  This buyer missed our listing at that time, and he is finally able to get the same unit, albeit one floor higher, now!  When we sold the condo below, it was shoes off only, and the sweet owner gifted me a long character shoehorn from his country, which I found so charming…and effective!  Our buyer is getting such an awesome deal now, paying so much less than the unit below, and getting to be one floor higher!  We love when our clients on all the floors score!

This week we experienced buyer inspections both on the listing side and on the buyer side.  From the listing side, the inspection period is often the toughest time for the seller because their property is tied up for 10 days while a buyer scrutinizes and hyper analyzes the (reported) condition of the property.  From the buyer’s side, a buyer needs to gain awareness of the condition of the home he is considering to buy before he commits to buy it.  So often the listing agent (independently or on behalf of the seller) minimizes, discounts, or discredits the inspectors and their reports, categorically denying the truth of the reported condition.  In my experience, the condition reported is often entirely true.  We recently closed an escrow representing a buyer and after the close of escrow, our team spent considerable time gathering multiple estimates from all the different trades to price out the discovered necessary repairs.  Our ballpark estimate on the cost of repairs during escrow at the end of the buyer’s investigation period was spot on. I believe in providing access for discovery, with the goal being transparency and the honest truth in all directions.  And then of course both buyer and seller get to decide next steps, given the honest true reality of the property’s condition.  

I happened upon a favorite client buying stacks of flushable wipes in the grocery store.  I shared with her that our sewer guys repeatedly warn us that there is no such thing as dissolvable flushable wipes, and wipes clog sewer lines so they belong in a garbage can.  My client called me to report back that she went home and soaked the flushable wipes in water and they did not dissolve!!!  She experimented with different brands (because her family needs flushable wipes) and she found that Kirkland flushable wipes dissolve in water!  Costco delivers..

Twenty years ago, when my kids were young, I volunteered and ran my kids’ school PTA.  The first event I organized was a bake sale.  So many people baked, and as a group of friends, we had fun decoratively wrapping and pricing each baked item for sale.  My Mom lovingly and patiently baked a Hungarian Dobos Torte for the bake sale, which is a Hungarian cake with 15 paper thin layers of sponge cake, silky Swiss Chocolate cream thinly spread between each layer, and a golden hard shiny caramelized sugar layer on top.  Mom’s masterpiece felt priceless so we decided to auction her Hungarian Dobos Cake off during the last half hour of the school bake sale.  We started the price of the Dobos Torte low at $25 and it kept getting bid higher and higher until it went to the final bidder for $500!!!!  My mom loved to spend so many hours making intricate Hungarian cakes like her Dobos Torte.  Mom loved to cook and bake, and she’d fill her multiple freezers until they were stuffed with all kinds of food.  When Mom needed more freezer space, she would load up stacks of homemade food and drop it off with a woman who distributed it to people who needed it.  Mom used to love to come to my house Sunday and pick up all my Shabbat leftovers and drop it off with the woman who distributed food to people in need. Mom hated throwing anything away, she loved treating people to things they’d enjoy, and she herself loved happening upon unexpected treasures. Last weekend, I was spring cleaning and purging extra covers, pillows, games, puzzles, toys, serving dishes, etc. Thinking of my mom, I texted my neighbor if she knew anyone who distributes stuff to people who appreciate it, and my neighbor sent me 2 phone numbers of charitable women who kindly pick up donations.  I texted both women, not knowing their names.  The woman who happened to show up and excitedly took away all the boxes in my “give away” section was the lady who bought My Mom’s Dobos Torte for $500 at the PTA Bake Sale 20 years ago!!!!  She said she can still close her eyes and taste Mom’s Dobos Torte, which she said was the most perfectly delicious cake she ever ate.  She said 20 years later, it was worth every penny of the $500 she spent on it!!!  My Mom’s favorite daily recurring thought was “what goes around comes around” – oh how she would love that story!

Wishing everyone an awesome sunshine filled week ahead!

Xoxo,

Sheri