You can't make this stuff up. A Burbank house once fixed up for the home makeover show "Designed to Sell" has been sitting on the market for 322 days, with nine price reductions, and it still hasn't sold. If it does sell, it will be a short sale, or a foreclosure.
I'm talking about 2304 North Sparks St. in Burbank. Here's the listing, from Redfin:
"APPROVED Short Sale!! The lender will pay 3% of Buyer's closing costs! RUN to check this out!! 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home north of Glenoaks... HGTV's 'Designed to Sell' team completely remodeled the kitchen in this lovely home! .... Make an offer NOW!"
If this sounds familiar, it should -- I blogged this house in February, when it was priced at $575,000. Here's the listing history:
July '07: $699,000
Aug '07: $689,000
Aug '07: $670,000
Sep '07: $659,000
Oct '07: $649,000
Nov '07: $624,000
Dec '07: $599,000
Jan '08: $575,000
May '08: $550,000
June '08: $500,000
Two more data points: According to Redfin, the house sold for $435,000 in October 2004, and $685,000 in October 2005.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Hat tip: JD via e-mail.
AK writes, via e-mail, that this one is baffling. Here's the Redfin listing, here's the short history of 1248 E. Elmwood Ave. in Burbank, now in foreclosure:
Date sold Price
May 1989: $350,000
Dec. 1997: $250,000
Mar. 1999: $364,000
June 2000: $445,000
June 2002: $444,443
Mar. 2003: $640,000
Aug 2003: $675,000
Mar. 2004: $775,000
Dec. 2004: $648,703
Feb. 2006: $812,500
Oct. 2006: $1,150,000
Feb. 2008: $969,000
Now listed for $659,900
Decline in value from peak sales price: 43%
Notes: The $300,000-plus run-up in eight months in 2006 is intriguing. A remodel? Of course, there was a bigger run-up in percentage terms, of almost $200,000, in nine months in 2002-2003.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
 I hitched a ride this morning on the Brokers' Caravan in Burbank with Judy Graff, who comments here as sfvrealestate, which is also the name of her blog. I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. She does not drive a Mercedes. She drives a Toyota Prius.
Here's what we saw, most of it new on the market:
1100 and 1100 1/2 N. Buena Vista Street 91505 (pictured): $658,000 for two legal residences totalling 1,600 square feet -- a 2 plus 1 main house plus a one-bedroom guest house/carriage house, plus a small standalone office. Nice, old-school Spanish revival with lots of original detailing. If you are into trees, the property has a massive eucalyptus tree in the back yard.
3022 N. Lamer Street 91504: On the market since last summer, reduced from $1.2 million to $999,999. An airy, 2,300-square-foot, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home with a heated, kidney-shaped pool and sweeping Valley views from the Burbank Hills. A handsome house with large public rooms, but no yard to speak of.
2223 N. Lamer 91504: $699,000 for a 2,122 square foot, 4-bedroom, 2-bath house that will have to find a very specific buyer. As in, a buyer who doesn't want much grass to maintain, because this house has a paved front yard and a pool in back. The marble floors are not for everyone, either.
2304 N. Sparks 91504: Reduced, from $699,000 to $575,000, this is a short sale, and a house with a sad story to tell. The previous occupants clearly left in a hurry -- children's toys are strewn about, and his-and-hers college diplomas are still framed and mounted on one wall. Judy blogs about it here. UPDATE: The listing agent informs the owners are still in the process of moving out. So scratch the sad story and the leaving in a hurry -- it's the opposite. They're leaving slowly.
824 N. Parish Place 91056: $774,999 for a 2,012 square-foot, 4-bedroom, 2 3/4 bath home, half a block from the Chandler Bikeway. Unremarkable.
1430 W. Valleyheart 91506: $1.65 million for an unusual house -- a horse-lover's paradise, zoned for five horses, and beautifully redone -- so unusual that I gave it a separate post.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo credit: Nick Tatone
A confession: Writing this blog, with the constant drumbeat of doom and gloom, sometimes makes me forget why real estate in Los Angeles is such a local obsession in the first place. Then I visit a house like Stan Smith's in Burbank, and I understand again.
I'll give you the details, but won't do justice to it: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,400 square feet, exquisitely redone (think Ralph Lauren if he was a real horseman), zoned for five horses (yes, horses in Burbank). It has 10 stalls, two tack rooms and a large pool on a huge lot (16,000-plus square feet). Four fireplaces, a three-car garage. Yes, it is very close to the 134. No, I couldn't hear freeway noise in the house. The owner, real estate agent Stan Smith, is embarking on a new chapter of life: he's buying an inn in southern Vermont. 1430 W. Valleyheart Drive, 91506. Listed for $1.65 million. More pictures below.
Photo credits: Stan Smith
 Good morning, again. Burbank Realtor Judy Graff -- a reader and sometimes commenter here -- emails that she sees a sliver of a glimmer of a sign of life in the Burbank market:
From her blog: ""This house (pictured) on Groton was listed earlier this week for $679,000. It has
3 beds, 2 baths, a pool and is about 1400 square feet. It's in great
shape, although it has not been remodeled lately. It sold for full
price in three days. So, I guess the real estate sky is NOT falling, at
least for well-priced homes in nice neighborhoods that are in good shape."
That's a lot to ask, though: well-priced, nice neighborhood, and in good shape. Still, it's a sign of life.
Thanks, Judy.
Your thoughts? Comments? Insights? Be nice. As Ann pointed out this morning, it's getting rough in here.
Photo Credit: http://www.sfvrealestate.blogspot.com.
 We don't get out much, but Curbed L.A. sure does. In between hanging out at every Pinkberry in town, they've found this quirky listing:
"Part Tiki fantasy, part sleek mid-century" with "lava sculptures" and view, the "Lava House" is 1,947 SF, four bedrooms, two baths, two-car garage on massive 13,000 SF lot. Only $1.045 million.
Curbed L.A. points out that a house with a theme, a name, a pool and a view would be a lot pricier if not for two words: Bur Bank.
(Don't get us wrong. We love Burbank. And this is one reason: It's only super-expensive, not wildly, ridiculously, super-expensive).
Photo Credit: Curbed L.A.
|
|
