Westside Story

The beauty of this market is that we CAN be picky, picky, picky. Yes, we are currently in a too small space with a set of lousy schools, but we own this house (no, it doesn't own us) and we like having our own yard for the kids. We have set a price limit and expectations and are now waiting for a seller to meet those expectations. The house we want for the price we want is somewhere out here. It took me nearly 7 months to sell my house (over a year if you count my listing, then de-listing) so I know that there will always be more options.

Here's a home another annoyed Realtor thinks I should see. It has 4 bedrooms, three baths and shares the 90077 Bel-Air zip code. Asking$1,019,999 3,820 sq ft steep incline lot with 1,975 sq ft of house. "Plenty of room for a garden"In a pot? I think the green hedge is the only open area. The door on the lower level is a "small studio easily converted to additional parking" so an illegal conversion.

Goodnight little house, goodnight mouse Goodnight stars, goodnight air Goodnight noises everywhere. That was a great party house. Hopefully the new owners won't do anything too evil like painting it pastel pink and adding lace curtains.

Maybe we are overthinking the process, but we try to get inside the seller's heads before we make an offer on a place. Both of us have experienced home ownership, I've now sold two homes that I loved. Just like buying a house is a deeply emotional financial decision, selling a home is just shy of parting with child or pet. There's always the pull of every significant event that happened in the backyard, the fireplace where you lovingly restored each precious Batchelder tile and the spot in the kitchen where you were standing during earthquake in 1994. Those memories have a value. I know they have a value because the house I just sold would have sold for nearly $125,000 more if I had been able to take what was offered in 2005. I held out for $25,000 more and took the house off the market. It is now 2007 and the house sold for $125,000 LESS than the last offer in 2005. Now I'm the buyer. There is this crazy Ed Fickett home with a decent enough addition that is the perfect