Real Estate
Beverly Hills Real Estate Update
February 26th, 2008 Categories: Beverly Hills - BHPO, Real Estate, Real Estate News
Your weekly fill of Beverly Hills real estate news… eat up!
606 N. Alt
a was held open for the first time today. It’s a gorgeous Spanish, redone to every last detail with over 6,000 sq ft, 6 bedrooms, 2-story guest house, pool and wine tasting room. A hefty price at $9,695,000 but it really is a spectacular home. Definitely a Wow! house.
1705 Angelo Dr.came on the market a couple of days ago and is one cool pad. The swankiest mid-century around, the rooms have enormous volume (feels very Trousdale-esque), walls of glass, terrazzo floors, private yard with pool. Will need some freshening up but definitely a fun project. Oh-so-nice (and rare!) that no one has messed up the home with misguided remodeling work in the past. Asking $3,450,000.
261 El Camino just came on the market today and is a fantastic buy for southwest Beverly Hills. Redone courtyard Spanish with a guest house for $2,640,000. A good one.
At this moment, there are 18 homes in escrow in Beverly Hills ranging in asking price between $1,395,000 (Spanish fixer south of Olympic) to $15,990,000 (English manor behind the Beverly Hills Hotel).
509 N. Palm just closed over asking for $5,326,000. As the for-sale sign was being nailed into the ground, the buyer drove up to the home and bought it on the spot.
Monterey Colonial on Angelo has not been posted to the MLS and it sold for around $7,000,000. The owner bought it last year for $3,950,000. It’s a 4 bedroom home with a pool and guest house on a 13,700 sq ft lot. An example of how “done” homes are selling like hotcakes.
Call us with any questions about these homes or others. We’d be happy to show you the latest and greatest in the area if you’re looking and make sure you don’t miss the best deals!
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Taking the Pulse on the Westside Market
February 26th, 2008 Categories: Bel Air - Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills - BHPO, Brentwood, Cheviot Hills - Rancho Park, Culver City, Hollywood Hills, Malibu, Marina Del Rey - Venice, Pacific Palisades, Real Estate, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Westwood - Century City
Here’s a little inside scoop on what’s happening in our market. I won’t bore you with tons of detail but it’ll keep you posted on the latest happenings. It’s your chance to be a fly on the wall in the most powerful real estate office near and far…
The market is moving. In the last 2 weeks, our office has had more escrows opening than in the previous 30 days combined. REOs are making up about 10% of that volume- which means a solid 90% of the deals are NOT REOs, just regular sales. Last week our office has 16 closings, ranging in price from $300,000 to over $14,000,000. People are buying and writing offers for well-priced homes. We are seeing multiple offer situations every week.
The reason why it matters what our office is doing is because we have a very strong group of agents that work in every area of the Westside. It’s a good place to look to gauge overall market activity.
General concensus is that we don’t have enough good, “done” homes for sale. We aren’t seeing a build-up of inventory of homes in most areas. Homes are selling off the market, before the first open house. Homes are even selling when the for-sale sign is being nailed into the front yard (as happened with one home in the Beverly Hills Flats recently).
During Caravan today, I saw people crawling all over a home under $700,000 in West LA. It was an adorable place but wedged between 2 apartment buildings- and had apartment buildings across the street. It didn’t matter to all the buyers there ready to jump on a nice well-priced home. The house will have multiple offers and the owner is going to review all offers next Monday.
Another popular home today was a lovely Spanish in the Beverly Hills Flats over $9,600,000 on a 12,000 sq ft lot. Not an ounce of wasted space- it had a gorgeous outdoor entertainment area in the front, koi pond, pool area and 2-story guest house with an office, bedroom with bath, exercise room with bath. A hefty price for a lot of that size but the home is incredible.
Summary: People are buying but the home has to have value and must be priced aggressively.
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New Listing: Great Buy at Azzurra
February 23rd, 2008 Categories: Marina Del Rey - Venice, Real Estate
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(Potential) Great News for Brentwood Glen!
February 22nd, 2008 Categories: Brentwood, Real Estate, Real Estate News
Ahhh… the residents of Brentwood Glen can cautiously breathe a long-awaited sigh of relief.
For months, they’ve been kept on pins and needles as CalTrans looked poised and ready to take out homes, apartment buildings and staples of the community. Now CalTrans is recommending Alternative 2 for final determination and adding in modifications that will be released in the weeks ahead.
Alternative 2 would mean that a northbound HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane would be added from probably National (I-10) to Greenleaf (just south of the 101). There wouldn’t be any construction on the west side of the freeway in Brentwood Glen or the Getty areas.
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Holding the Land Around LA Landmark for Ransom
February 22nd, 2008 Categories: Hollywood Hills, Real Estate, Real Estate News
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Walk of Fame… people from all over the world come to Los Angeles looking for the glamour of the movies. One of those landmarks may be changing- 138 Acres are up for sale right by the Hollywood Sign.
It can be your’s for a cool $22M.
The land on Cahuenga Peak, just above and west of the Hollywood Sign, was once owned by Howard Hughes as he planned to build a love nest there for his then flame Ginger Rogers. Things didn’t work out for them or the property- it stayed in his trust for decades.
The owners now are a group of Chicago investors, Fox River Financial Resources, who bought it in 2002 for $1,675,000. That’s quite an appreciation there, guys. The city says it was appraised for $6M and they would raise that much to buy it from the developers to preserve the site. The developers aren’t budging from their $22M pricetag. Maybe they can get it- but is it right?
On the listing realtor’s website, they say that the land has 5 contiguous parcels with the potential for building a single family residence and a guest house on each. Yes, our job, for those of us in real estate, is to sell properties but talk about selling your soul. They have convinced themselves that asking $22,000,000 is fair market value.
I’m sure the investors are banking on the emotion that surrounds the Hollywood Sign and hoping the city and conservationists miraculously raise enough money to buy the land from them. If that happens, how do you feel about our tax dollars going into these developers’ pockets?
Update: This story made the NBC Nightly News, on Monday 2/25/08.
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Top 5 Reasons Why Our Blog Makes Us a Better Agent for You
February 21st, 2008 Categories: Real Estate
For the love of blogging. We at LAHomesInsider love sharing things we know and learn every single day from inside the real estate business with our clients and empowering them with the knowledge they need to make important decisions about their finances and real estate investments. Seems that a recent LA Times article agrees that agents with great real estate blogs are invaluable.
Top 5 Reasons Why Our Blog Makes Us a Better Agent for You:
5. Agent blogs are the consumer’s #1 resource for local real estate information. We are plugged in, dialed in and give you INSIDE information to the local Westside Los Angeles real estate market.
4. The commitment required to keep a blog going requires time, energy and a level of passion and enthusiasm for the business. Agents who blog like what they’re doing.
3. You can get to know your Agent’s business and personal profile before meeting them in person. It’s always good to be prepared.
2. With the skill and savvy of any other Gen X/Y professional, agents who blog keep up with you and your information gathering skills, if not exceed it.
#1 Reason Why our Blog makes us a better Agent for you:
“Technology will never replace agents, but agents with technology will.”
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Congress Sends President Stimulus Package-What This Means to Home Buyers
February 12th, 2008 Categories: Money & Mortgages, Real Estate, Real Estate News
Thanks in part to lobbying by C.A.R. and N.A.R. members, the Senate passed their version of an economic stimulus package Thursday, February 07, 2008. The Senate version expands rebate checks for seniors and disabled veterans and includes the same increases to the conforming loan limits for both GSE and FHA found in the House stimulus package. The House just passed the Senate version of the bill and it will now be sent to the White House. The President is expected to sign the legislation by the end of next week, ahead of the Congressional self-appointed deadline of February 15th. The increase in the conforming loan limits will last through 2008, but C.A.R. and N.A.R. continue to lobby for FHA and GSE reform, making these increases permanent.Keep reading for what this all means to you: Read the rest of this entry »
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Hello LA!
October 18th, 2007 Categories: Bel Air - Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills - BHPO, Brentwood, Cheviot Hills - Rancho Park, Culver City, Hollywood Hills, Malibu, Marina Del Rey - Venice, Pacific Palisades, Real Estate, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks - Studio City, West Hollywood, Westwood - Century City
Welcome!!
Please come back soon for the launch of a very exciting blog about the Greater Los Angeles area Real Estate & Lifestyle!
Merrie & Noelle, the LA HOMES INSIDER girls, will keep you up to speed on the latest happenings and trends in our ever changing market. Looking for those fabulous deals and (sshhh…quiet) listings you know are out there, but not maybe in yet in the MLS? Are you looking for professional representation to market and sell your property quickly, profitably and as painless as possible? (don’t wait for the blog, just CALL!)
Stay tuned…you’ll WANT to know what the LA HOMES INSIDER knows about the real estate market where YOU live.
Merrie Kung & Noelle Hettlinger
Coldwell Banker Beverly Hills North
301 North Canon Drive E
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310.736.5599 mkung@coldwellbanker.com
310.621.9800 nchettlinger@gmail.com
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