I’m having so much fun showing an off market property in a prime location in Miracle Mile HPOZ! The house is 4,648 square feet on a 7,649 square foot lot with 5 bedrooms + 5.5 bathrooms + an office that can be a 6th bedroom instead. There’s a center hall plan with a living room on one side and dining room on the other. The dining room opens to the kitchen, which opens to the family room. All the 4 bedrooms upstairs are generous in size and en-suite. The primary bedroom has a walk-in closet and a porch. There’s a garage for covered parking. The house was built in the 90’s; only one living room wall remained from the original 1938 house and the rest was built new, making it non-contributing to the Miracle Mile HPOZ.
What’s great about this house is its size + location, and that the systems are around 30 years old compared to so many houses that are around 100 years old all over the area. With anti mansionization laws restricting building size, HPOZ laws restricting adding a second story to a historical single story house, setback requirements, and historical laws prohibiting changing the way houses look from the street, one wouldn’t be able to build a house with this mass + scale on this lot today. In the Miracle Mile HPOZ pocket, it’s rare to find a house that’s non contributing to the HPOZ, and there are also a limited number of houses in this pocket that are over 4500 sq ft with 5 bedrooms or more. Which makes this house a unique opportunity for those needing space and wanting to live specifically in this ultra prime location.
I’m excited for Nechama and her lucky buyers to be purchasing a new construction house in Sherman Oaks that’s 7169 sq ft on ⅔ of an acre (a 28,919 sq ft lot)! It’s a really cool buy. I’m excited for Nechama’s buyers who bought 20456 Tiara in Woodland Hills, also a down-to-the-studs remodel and in beautiful new condition. I’m excited for Devin that his listing at 1140 N Formosa #9 closes today!!! Devin found amazing tenants for 720 N Ogden, who paid the first 6 months in cash, and it’s awesome that both sides are over the moon excited!
Citibank Retail has a program now with 10,01% down, max sales price 2,222,000, max loan amount 2,000,000 and a 30 year fixed loan at 6.25%. Citi’s 5 year ARM is 5.625%. We have a broker lender with a credit union relationship who is offering 10% down up to a 3.3M purchase price, 30 year fixed for 6.25% also. The same loan broker is lending 80% up to 10M with an interest rate of 5% on a 5/6 ARM.
Observing buyer behavior is interesting. I had a buyer this week who had the opportunity to win a multiple offer situation and he chose to offer 80k less than the highest offer…and he lost the house. One of our agent’s buyers chose to walk away from a purchase for 50k. Another buyer chose to wait one more week to submit their offer, and lost the house because the seller accepted an offer already in hand. Another buyer chose to include a loan and appraisal contingency and he lost the house to an all cash buyer. On a listing that’s in escrow where we represent the seller, the backup buyer regrets not being in the first position, and the backup buyer couple matched the accepted offer price in retrospect as backup. On 2 houses we recently sold representing the sellers, the backup buyers called us after the deal closed and the house sold to other buyers, with regrets that they didn’t act more boldly and decisively and buy the house; both asked us to keep them in mind for a future similar opportunity. A buyer of ours who is considering writing an offer this week speaks of the houses she regrets not buying in the past. What appears to be universal is the fear of committing to buy a house in the moment, in a world of high interest rates + economic uncertainty + inflation. It’s interesting that so many are wishing to be backup and regret letting the house slip away. In every market and climate, we see that the buyers who push themselves to buy, even when they’re afraid, are ultimately predominantly happy that they bought the house. The buyers who hold out for another 50k or 80k, at the cost of losing the house altogether, often regret their shortsighted push for a discount at the cost of an acquisition. Today’s market is presenting deals. Buying real estate in this market apparently is for the bold, the brave, the savvy, the forward thinking, the courageous, and ultimately the grateful and uber fortunate.
Our daughter in law’s sister got married last week in NJ, and it was an honor for Seth and I to fly to the East Coast for the warm + spirited wedding celebration! Not long ago, our son-in-law’s sister got married in NY and it felt like we were part of the family at that beautiful wedding too. It’s cool that My Mom’s family is so large that wherever we go, there are bound to be some Gestetner cousins who happen to be there! My kids, observing the happenstance cousin interactions, marvel each time that the Gestetner cousins seem to be genetically high energy, often full of giggles and laughter, curious and enthusiastic, and drawn like magnets to fellow cousins! My Mom LOVED to go to weddings! As a young girl, I used to love watching My Mom get ready for weddings by patiently and stylishly assembling her outfit – from the chic clothes to refined accessories to bespoke high heeled shoes to sophisticated hairdo to sparkly jewelry to whimsical bag. Her finished look was artistic, layered, and a fashionable work of art! Mom was a true Gestetner – fun and funny, interesting and interested, and loving her Gestener family the most! It feels like post Covid the whole world got to a place where every one of us especially treasures + appreciates more than ever connection, love, and the warm-and-fuzzies. Family, both new and old, hits the spot and is absolutely everything!
Wishing all an awesome week ahead of rain with random bursts of sunshine!
Xoxoxo,
Sheri
