Westside Story

4 bed, 3 bath currently in multiple offers and we actually made the cut this time. It is the ugliest and most charmless house on the block and the yard is smaller than we are used to, but the schools are excellent up to high school. The park, library and school are all within walking distance. The commutes are acceptable. There are enough bedrooms, even a guest room if we convert the ridiculous double-deep his & hers walk-in closets back to a bedroom.

Why hello 11150 Sunset Blvd, 90049! You know, we thought you were worth no more than $1.3 million on July 4, 2007. Look at you now- a new coat of paint and some carpet and you are suddenly worth $1,795,000. Your kitchen is still the hall of doom and your drainage issues look uncorrected. I think your current owner paid $1,650,000 cash in July. We are considering making an offer. Do you think $1.1 million is fair?

In sum, we have cash and loans adding up to $1.1 million. You have a house we want, on a piece of land we want, in a neigborhood we want. You seem to feel your house is worth $1.5 million Zillow seems to feel your house is worth $1.3 We feel that your house is worth $1.1 to us. It's been 100 days. We will make this offer again in 30 days- but the amount will go down again.

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...