I’m excited about our new listing at 1016-1018 S Curson. The offering is a 1924 vacant side-by-side single story duplex zoned LAR2 on just about a quarter of an acre; the structure is 2398 square feet and the lot is 10,031 square feet! The location is just off Olympic Blvd so an easy commute to the Westside in one direction and Downtown LA in the other. The sellers have owned the property since 1999 so for 26 years now!!!! It’s easy to show and shown easily by appointment any time!
I’m excited that we closed the sale at 6421 W Olympic representing the seller, and Nechama closed the sale at 1806 S Genesee representing the buyer. We’re excited to close this week on Nechama’s sale representing the seller at 342 N Citrus for 350,000 over the asking price. Our listing at 539 N Poinsettia is contingency free and we’re excited to close next week! We rented 424 N Highland for 12,000 a month and the tenants moved in! We have applications in hand on two of our leases and moving them forward. We’re especially grateful for Juliette Hohnen and Jennifer Hawkins, cooperating agents on 2 of our escrows, who are professional, respectful, and a pleasure to work with on the buyer side! Representation in a deal matters so much; on both deals there were multiple offers and we chose these buyers because we knew their agents would close and the experience would be sweet all around (and we were right!)
It was super fun to do inspections with a buyer this past Wednesday, covering all the trades in 3.5 hours start to finish! At 9 am we welcomed general, electric, sewer, plumber, foundation/drainage, chimney, and asbestos. At 10 am we had scheduled termite and roofer. At 11 am, HVAC and moisture/mold arrived. Doing all the inspections at the same time, the different inspectors are able to collaborate and reinforce each other’s findings, and as they finish inspecting, they wait in line to present their verbal report to the buyers, and it’s interesting to keep layering more and more information on the property. Most important is that the buyers get a very clear picture of the condition of the house so they go in with their eyes wide open and entirely aware. I wrote into our offer for the buyer to put their earnest money deposit into escrow before beginning to inspect. In general in life, I love transparency and full information.
It was interesting to represent a buyer at a showing on Thursday of a property that’s listed 1.7M less than the initial list price when it first went on the market. The agent representing the seller explained that the last escrow fell out because of an issue with a neighbor; the neighbor apparently is upset that 2 large trees were removed and removing the roots made the hillside soil unstable, which made mud slide during heavy rain into the neighbor’s yard downhill from the house for sale. I noticed the neighbor outside during our showing and I asked if we could get a personal account of the grievance from the neighbor. It was interesting to hear both sides and more interesting now to figure out if there’s a deal to be made given the complicated history.
We recently got calls from 3 different buyers who spent a considerable amount of time trying to transact with the listing agent acting as a dual agent representing both buyer and seller. All 3 decided they need exclusive vs. dual representation to feel safe and protected enough to move forward. Diving into all 3 deals, on each one, the party on the opposite side of our client is staunchly firm on their position and it’s a “take it or leave it” proposition for our client to decide if
doing a deal is a yes or a no. It makes sense that our clients feel “steamrolled” and they need an outside opinion on next steps. All 3 are treading delicately and lightly, taking the time to think it all through, ponder and evaluate, and figure it out slowly. None of the 3 is afraid of losing the deal to another buyer if they don’t acquiesce and move forward entirely on the seller’s terms. Everyone is enjoying having a buffer from the steadfast seller and the seller’s representative. It’s an honor to be an exclusive personal advocate and an experience I extremely enjoy.
Holiday time makes us miss the people we love who are no longer with us, and so I find myself intensely missing My Mom. I remember how I would feel a huge surge of love and being loved when My Mom would spontaneously pop by to visit. My Mom had insanely high standards in general about everything, and she loved when all things were perfect. She loved a great hairdo, outfit, figure, shoes, accessories, scent in getting dressed. She loved starched linen, sparkling glass, polished silver, dust-free surfaces in homemaking and keeping house. She loved gourmet food, cooked and spiced to perfection, and beautiful in presentation in hosting meals. She loved charitable deeds, kind words, and warm feelings between people in social interactions. She was a class act and an inspiration. I remember as a young child the Rosh Hashana My Mom prepared a duck for the main course. In those days, ducks came from the butcher with raw liver in the cavity of the bird. The liver had to be removed before cooking or the duck wasn’t kosher. My Mom forgot to remove the liver. I vividly remember the moment My Mom carved the duck at the table, and the starkly shocking disappointment of the liver appearing on the inside. We were all so disappointed and “the Rosh Hashana meal the duck wasn’t kosher and there was no dinner” was etched in our memories forever. My Mom would be mortified for anyone to know the story, but it’s interesting to me that more than 40 years later I remember the one time My Mom did something that wasn’t perfect. I learned to live to incredibly high standards from My Mom. I admired and aspired to My Mom’s almost superhuman standards, even though I experienced the intensely hard work and dedication it took to achieve her aspired level of perfection. As I stand in my kitchen at 3:13 am before the holiday, making yet one more garnish, sauce, and element of a creative dish, I think of My Mom and the indefatigable influence she had on me, and I fiercely miss her and all the million things she did just right.
Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, joy and serenity filled, peaceful, successful new year!
Xoxoxo,
Sheri