Westside Story: It's about a yard

We miss diarist Kate in the Valley -- she's been crazy busy and we hope she'll be back soon. In the meantime, Westside Story is picking up the slack, and explains this week how she narrowed her house-hunting search to the Westside:

"Why the Westside? Because the person with the highest paying job and the most erratic hours wants to spend the maximum number of non-work hours with his children.

"After a long and painful conversation with our friendly banker (Hi Hector!) and a decision to sell my much beloved house in a lousy school district (a place with a Great Schools score of 2/10 that was NEXT TO MY JOB) we started the process of narrowing the search area.  We used the search tool at http://www.greatschools.net/ to find schools of the type we wanted within 5 miles of each of our jobs, then we used the intersection of the two sets (think Venn Diagram for those with kids) to narrow us down to a subset of neighborhoods. Then we tossed in the price filter, number of beds and baths and size of yard. There are tradeoffs- if the price and the lot size are right, we can go with a smaller house and add on. If the house is perfect and there's a park close by, then we could trade off lot size. School quality and commute time are non-negotiable.

"My dream yard has room for at least one large avocado tree, some citrus, and the ridiculously large swingset/sandbox/clubhouse given to the kids by their doting grandparents. Now attach a 4 bed 3 bath home in a superior school district, in our price range and geographic desirability and you will have a deal!"

Thanks, Westside.
Thoughts? Comments? Be polite.

Westside Story: $1.9 million in Mar Vista?

Blogger's note: LA Land diarist "Westside Story" is back -- still searching for a 4-bedroom home in an area with decent public schools, and within reasonable commuting distance of two jobs:

This from an agent trying to sell me a $1.9m top of hill in Mar Vista...

"From where I stand the Real Estate market is humming along and although the pace may have slowed there are plenty of willing buyers and willing sellers. Many people in the Los Angeles area are buying upwardly and using the equity in their existing homes as their deposit or have saved over the years. I think this speaks to what most people hope and strive for and that is their own home. Because to most people a home is a commodity like no other and is more than just an investment it is an investment in the future as well as a place where people build and make their lives and memories.

"Also, in relation to the house on Inglewood and what a good opportunity this could be, a developer built the beautiful Craftsman in the 3700 block of Inglewood earlier this year. It sold within two weeks for just about $2 million. Can you see the potential and possible opportunity?"

Am I really missing something? From where I sit, the reason that we are even considering purchasing a new home is the breathtaking tuition bill for three children in private schools. The LAUSD elementary serving Mar Vista is better than the 98% English Learners/ 90% transiency of the school currently associated with our home, but not at the cost of a $7,000 monthly mortgage payment.

We've been to this house. Love the neighborhood and its proximity to good Japanese groceries, a bowling alley and to our respective jobs. I have serious misgivings about the lack of a park within walking distance combined with the postage stamp of a backyard (no room for the enormous swingset) and living on a street used as a shortcut to Santa Monica.  If the house were one street over and about $989,000 less, it would recieve consideration.

There's actually a house 2 streets over on Grand View of the faux Tuscan-villa type that would be more suitable, but the play area would be in the front yard because the developer put the house all the way to the back lot line.

Thanks, Westside Story.
Read Westside Story's blog here.
Comments? Insights? Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.

LA Land Diary: Westside Story

Blogger's Note: Thanks for all of your ideas and pitches for new LA Land Diaries. We're introducing one today: Westside Story, in which a family of six humans and four cats tries to find a house within reasonable commuting distance of two secure jobs. Enjoy:

"Someone wanted to know what kind of buyers pay $1 million for a lousy post-war box on a postage stamp... well that would be us. While we both understand that we could live in Olathe, Kansas or somewhere off of U.S. 1 for less than a quarter of what we pay here, our jobs, families and friends are located in Los Angeles and here is where we are staying until our jobs move elsewhere. We both purchased homes we loved in our single years and now that we are married with kids, those homes in lousy school districts and "transitional" neighborhoods with no parking and endless parties are not exactly the place for us.

"So my house (pictured) is currently in escrow for what feels like the 170th day for $50,000 less than asking price and the ten of us -- myself, my husband, three children, one exchange student and four cats -- are crammed into one of those 3 bedroom 1 bath post-war boxes in Culver City that everyone seems to love.

"We are seeking a home within a 30 minute commute of Santa Monica and Larchmont Village with decent schools, close proximity to a park, at least 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths and most importantly a grassy backyard with room for the enormous swingset/playhouse that was a gift from the kids grandparents. Price must be less than $1.5 million. Far less.

"We have looked at houses in and around Larchmont, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Culver City, Brentwood, Bel Air, Westwood and a few dozen other places. We use a discount agency and research the bejeebus out of houses before we even visit. We've made an offer on exactly ONE. We were outbid by nearly $600,000 by a flipper who currently has "our" house listed for nearly double what we offered. It's been listed nearly 45 days now, so at some point we will find out which of us had a better idea of the value."

Thanks, Westside.
Your thoughts? Comments? Be polite. Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com. We're still interested in Diary ideas, particularly from people who work in the real estate industry.