Purely delusional in Santa Monica

Yesterday's adventure was visiting homes south of Montana, north of Wilshire (Franklin School). Great lot sizes- 7800-8000 sq. ft. The traffic is a little off-putting though. The hiss of the deflating market has not yet reached the ears of the sellers. We visited two homes that are listed at $1,995,000 and $2,075,000 respectively. Apparently they are priced for people who are incapable of reading the news.

1135 Berkeley is calling itself 5 bed, 3 bath with new upgrades and asking $1,995,000 at 41 days on the market. One thing, it's been on and off the market since 2005- starting near $3 million and drifting downward ever so slightly. The owner recently went all ugly and put in some cheap marble tile, granite counters and fancy stainless steel in the kitchen. The actual bath count is not 3, but is 1 + powder room in a closet upstairs and a 3/4 down. The title indicates 5 bed, 1 bath. From satellite photos, the flat roof has some water pooling issues. No A/C. ancient floor and wall furnaces and some really bad re-muddling of what should be a nice 1926 Mediterranean home. Zillow says $1,557,000. My $/sq ft calculation indicates $ a touch lower.

The other house is only a short block & a half away and features a newer, more tasteful remodel (2003), a nicer yard and comparable living space. It's still too small for us, but it's useful to know that the market doesn't think that it is a $2 million house either.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Welcome back Maria. Hopefully the posts will be more frequent now.
March 17, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pointing and laughing

For the people who have screamed out about "catching a falling knife", I hear ya, really I do. But the uncertainty of living in a rental or buying at a (what we consider a reasonable price) greatly reduced (think early 2004) price in a superior school district at 6.5% interest on our loan really influenced our decision. We will be in a neighborhood that we love (even at night) with parks, superior schools and a grocery store within walking distance. The backyard has room for the swingset of doom. The guest room is sufficiently removed from the rest of the house so my mother in law doesn't have to listen to my children at odd hours of the day and night.
Read more

Getting the FBI Background Check

Start now. No really. Even with the expediter ($79.99) and using Livescan to deliver the fingerprints ($39.99) turnaround time to get the FBI letter into my hands was 9 business days. Then Federal Express to Washington DC expediter to get the Apostille (otherwise 6-8 weeks). Arrives at expediter on Monday. Enters system on Tuesday AM, returned to expediter on Friday PM. Federal Express to Cyprus because the documents will not be in my hands before we fly there.  Even with the expeditors on both ends of the transaction, an FBI Background check can take 4 weeks. You cannot "save time" by having your background check sent directly to the expediter in Washington DC to be carried to the counter for the Apostille. They can't accept it. You need it sent to your attorney, who will forward it to you (or directly to the expediter), then to Washington, DC to the Department of State counter, then 3 -5 days later, back to the expediter and on to courier service. So TL;DR Start pro
Read more

Is that the Expo line in your backyard?

Hello 10631 BRADBURY RD , LOS ANGELES 90064 Your newly reduced price of $1,599,000 is truly impressive considering that your lot size is the minimal Cheviot Hills/Rancho Park 6,600 sq ft. Your close cousin on Dunleer Place (with a bigger lot) is now listed at $995,000 and still not moving, so perhaps the value is a touch inflated. Really, how much is it worth to you to have commuter train hurling through your back yard on its way to Santa Monica and back?
Read more