Westside Story

Great neighborhood, good elementary and middle schools. Odd existing house that faces backwards. Living area, backyard and kitchen are downstairs. Bedrooms, entryway and garage are upstairs. Subterranean water damage and some visible termite damage indicate that the house has some pretty severe deferred maintenance issues. So now we are divided between offering on two houses- 10,000 lot and teardown house in lower Bel-Air or 6,600 lot in Cheviot Hills. I prefer the commute from Cheviot, the breadwinner prefers the quiet of Roscomare Rd.

Great house on Greenfield Ave- Westwood Charter, Emerson Middle. Good floorplan, 4 bed 3 bath, good sized kitchen- problem? 6,000 sq ft lot with 3000 sq ft house and just about 1000 sq ft dedicated to driveway and front yard. Asking price is $1.8 million, but I think the market has made room for negotiation. BUT- the swingset of doom will take the entire green space.

There's a big difference between 5000 sq ft and 7500 sq ft. There's a big difference between 4 bed, 2 bath and 2 bed 2 bath. It's a million dollar shed with stainless appliances, marble tile baths and a 100 year old oak going through a portion of roofline. Pass.

Rosebud says- There was a comment about rich people all sending their kids to private schools, ergo the quality of schools didn’t factor into this discussion… think the same poster said that the schools were good, but not great. The best school in the district is in Northern SM, which is in the top 1.5% of all elem schools in the state. Top 1.5% is great not good. I’ve said it before, this is a huge factor when deciding where to buy for those that have kids or are thinking about it. With the top private schools costing 3k per month, per child, a family with 2 kids can afford nearly $1MM more on a mortgage by sending kids to the great public schools. Even if you feel you need to send them to a private high school, you rack up significant savings beforehand. The rich pay for their kids’ education out of the same account that they pay their mortgage. For those counting, this is OUR deciding factor. We currently have a house that meets our needs for shelter, but is too small and is in a LO...

Instead of the sudden exit of aerospace contractors in a softening market, we have the sudden cessation of all movie and tv production and allied trades. What is this going to do? No writers= no shows, and the news writers are scheduled for November 15, the actors for this summer. No shows or movies = no best boys, gaffers, studio runners, producers, etc. No marketing, no advertising, and most importantly, no lunches at Craft or Mozza. No Starbucks, no dry cleaning, no dog-walkers or daycare for those affected by the production stop. I just sold my house in September to a lovely couple who toil in special effects for television. Unless they have considerable assets banked that are not currently in the house, I fear the bank may end up with that house within a year or so.

It seems that Cheviot Hills is in some sort of time warp. Ok, there was a house on Dunleer Drive (not to be confused with Dunleer Place). I say WAS because Broker's Open was Tuesday and the house was already in multiple offers over asking by Friday. It was close to perfect. Great public schools, 10,000 sq foot lot, big house (although the bedroom situation would have required some work.) Sigh. Onward...

OK, the fates have narrowed the field for our house hunting. 520 Thrift and its neighbors on Birdella- we loved those houses. Big, big yards, lots of house, great schools. While the neighborhood is currently OK, the narrow switchbacks and roads greatly hamper fire personnel. Also, there's no ingress or egress untill all the road closures are lifted. If you live in one of these areas, it is certainly tempting to invest in the services of a gel company to come and spray your property if the fires get close. It costs about $50,000 to buy a truck rig and about $2000 per property to spray. It's a bit like slime. There are home kits for the do-it-yourselfer, but if a fire is that darned close, it may be the very last thing you do. So fire clearance is now on the list of mandatory requirements for our home. No narrow streets, no neighbors with overgrown brush, no shake roofs, no overhanging trees that happen to be oaks (since oaks require permits to be cut down). It's a good th...