 How much can you save in taxes if you buy a home in a historic overlay zone? Quite a bit, judging by the marketing of this restored midcentury home designed by architect Gregory Ain.
The Mar Vista house is listed at $1.1 million, but, according to marketing materials, "The house is protected under the Mills Act, which provides property tax
assessed value of $189,000."
Details, for those curious about the house: Three bedrooms, one bath, single-story at 3500 Beethoven St., one of 52 houses in a historic overlay zone. The overlay zone consists of tract homes Ain designed in 1948 on Beethoven, Moore and Meier streets between Palms and Marco in Mar Vista (see map).
Personally, I've always liked this neighborhood -- the single-story homes sit back nicely from Beethoven Street, and it's a quiet, tree-shaded block. But $1.1 million is a lot for homes in the 1,100-square foot range that were originally designed "to promote home ownership among modest-income families," according to the city's Office of Historic Resources.
*Yes, "Historic Mar Vista" is a joke.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo: 3500 Beethoven Street.Credit: L.A. Land
 Look carefully at the photo, there is a quiz below.
One of the most popular topics on this blog is the debate over what will happen to prices in higher-cost neighborhoods. To date, they have generally held their value better than greater Los Angeles, and have not suffered large numbers of foreclosures. That said, reader e-mail from "Someday the Ants Will Eat Grasshoppers":
"Your readers keep asking why the
prices are holding up on the high end Westside properties. I’m not sure what
they’re looking at, but I have been tracking prices in Westwood, lower
Brentwood, Santa Monica (north of the 10), and Pacific Palisades every day for
past 3 months. I look at every house for sale under $2M with 3 bedrooms or more,
and I look every day. Really.
"Here are the relevant numbers
(calculated from my daily Redfin downloads for those neighborhoods and that
price range):
"The average number of listed homes
dropping their asking price per
day: 1.15
"The average size of any one price
drop when it occurs: $53,090.90
"The average drop across all 50-60
properties meeting the search criteria per
day: $1,017.58
"Ratio of new homes being listed to
homes being sold: 3.48.
"So…Westside sellers are constantly
dropping asking prices, and often in large amounts (the largest I saw since Feb
was $400K). New properties are being listed for sale over three times more often
than listed properties are selling. With asking prices for these sub $2M
properties dropping about $1K per day, only the very rich would want to buy now.
I mean, if you are in that market, that’s like putting $30K per month in your
pocket just for waiting.
"People have observed that comps are
not lowering. However, the average selling price is about $200K less than the
average asking price in these neighborhoods right now. The comps are slow to
decline simply because there are very few sales right now. No one (with good
reason) seems to be buying. Eventually the transactions will happen, and the
comps will adjust. Everyone needs to be patient, although frankly, I wish
someone would buy now and then to help accelerate the lowering
comps.
"I hope you run this story
(or at least selected parts of it), because many of the high earners in your fan
club get less attention, and certainly less sympathy, about the difficulty of
getting into the market. They deserve to know that their lot will change, too,
and their hard work and patience will pay off. Life is
fair."
Thanks, Someday.
Now, as promised, the quiz. The house pictured is a 993-square foot, 3-bedroom, 1-bath in the 90405 ZIP code of Santa Monica.The current Zillow Zestimate is:
a) $599,000
b) $714,000
c) $805,000
d) $917,000
e) $1.06 million
Your thoughts? Guesses? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: L.A. Times
 A quickie: This listing for a 3-bedroom on Rose Avenue in Mar Vista caught our eye because the price -- $799,000 -- is on the low side for that street. We found the description interesting, because it's evidence that someone still thinks there's money to be made in quick flips on the Westside:
"Unspoiled original with a great floor plan and a large lot. 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths & a separate laundry room. Bring your owner that wants to remodel and live in it or bring your contractor looking to flip."
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Photo Credit: MLS via Trulia
 Good morning. Westside Bubble reports there are a now a few listings on Mar Vista Hill for under $1 million.
We can imagine your response: Do you mean to tell us that houses on Mar Vista Hill were selling for more than $1 million? Yes, they were; some still are. The point of the Westside Bubble post is that prices are slipping a bit.
Example: 3 bed, 2 bath house at 3046 Mountain View Ave., asking $925K, was originally listed before 1/30/07 at $1,099K.
We've written before that we find these neighborhood price milestones worth monitoring. When prices ran past these milestones during the bubble ("You can't find anything on Mar Vista Hill for under $1 million anymore!"), these hyper-local rules of thumb became part of the bubble mentality.
Your thoughts? Any barriers being broken in your neighborhood? E-mail story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Photo Credit: Westside Bubble
 No, this is not about the Little House ON the Freeway, this is about a little house aboutthisclose to the freeway.
Westside Bubble has been watching this 3-bedroom listing in Mar Vista for a while -- back in February, it was listed at $725,000 and the listing noted, "freeway close." Roger that.
It's almost October, the freeway is still close, the price has been cut to $679,000, and the listing now reads, in part: ""This light and bright home sits high on a knoll affording privacy. ... The 405 expansion/sound wall is almost complete. ... VERY motivated Seller!!..."
Comments? Email story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Photo Credit: Westside Bubble
 Good morning. In a softening market, you see some weird listings, like this one that Westside Bubble spotted:
"This 3 bed/2 bath house at 4250 Beethoven St., asking $839K, tells quite a story in its description: "Soon to be in Foreclosure! This price is based on short sale approval. The house was built new from the foundation up in 2005. Travertine flooring throughout living room and kitchen. Mahogany hardwood floors in the bedrooms. Excellent opportunity. Hostile tenant, DO NOT DISTURB. SHOWINGS WITH ACCEPTED OFFER ONLY."
There's a lot going on here. A flip that flopped? Anybody want to help fill in the blanks?
Photo Credit: Westside Bubble
We've written often about how the LA market is mixed, with real strength in pockets, notably the Westside. But this report from Santa Monica Realtor Chris Clark really caught our eye: "How's the Westside market?," he asks. "Would you believe that 59 offers were submitted on a house with a list price of $1,195,000? It sold on 4/27/07 for $1,552,000! A listing of mine opened escrow Monday, 5/14/07 after 13 offers were written on it. I've had buying clients face multiple offers and steep competition since March."
Chris, a bit of a numbers-cruncher, says he has counted 685 homes sold on the West Side this year, and 257 of them sold in 21 days on the market or less. "After working with both buyers and sellers this year where multiple offers have once again seemed to be the norm as opposed to the exception, this data is overlooked by the nay-sayers." I would say he is correct on that count.
He also sees many cases where houses were priced on the low side in order to invite multiple bids. He counts 49 houses that sold in 21 days or less, and for above the listing price. The average listing price of those: $1.62 million; average sales price: $1.74 million.
These are the areas Chris included in his data crunching: Westwood, Brentwood, West Los Angeles, Venice, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista/Palms, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades, Culver City, and Westchester.
Comments? Don't Hesitate. Send story tips to lalandblog@yahoo.com.
Photo Credit: Postcard by www.legendsofamerica.com
 MAR VISTA -- LA real estate brokers get the first look at new listings on Tuesdays in what's known as "brokers' caravan" -- a series of broker-only open houses that let brokers and agents shop in advance on behalf of buyers, and sniff out pricing trends on behalf of sellers. Hoping to take the pulse of the market in various ways, LA Land tagged along with Judy Sheller and Jeff Pantanella of Bizzy Blondes. For fun, I added Zillow.com's estimated values of the homes. 1) 12326 Stanwood Drive: $849,000 for a plain-Jane 4-bedroom, 2-bath house that "just fell out" (translation: was in escrow, deal fell through, is now available again). Note: This is a Bizzy Blonde listing. Judy's comments: one of the lowest prices on Mar Vista Hill; problem: close to Centinella Avenue and noisy traffic. House has been on and off the market for four months. Judy: "That's a loooooong time." Zillow.com "Zestimate": $1.113 million. 2) 13224 Lake Street: $1.445 million for a 2700-square foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bath total remodel. Kidney-shaped pool. Judy, looking at a large walk-in closet: "Oooh. It's got a closet I could like!" Zillow.com "Zestimate": $836,000 (likely prior to remodel). 3) 13049 Appleton Way: $939,000 for a totally remodeled, 1,490-square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bath; Bizzy Blondes has the listing. LA Land notices very cool, private, outdoor shower. Judy: "We think we've priced it for multiple bids." Zillow.com "Zestimate": $1.067 million. 4) 3425 Greenwood Avenue: $2.395 million for 3,200-square foot, 4-bedroom, 4 1/2 bath "stunning new modern." No shoes in the house, please, not on the "rift white oak" floors. Beautiful house, but $2.4 million is a lot of money for Mar Vista. Judy: "Wow, this is cool!" Later, though, remarks that the 6,000-square foot lot is on the small size for that price. Zillow.com "Zestimate": $1.049 million (likely the estimated value of house that was torn down). 5) 3665 Stewart Avenue (pictured above): $1.077 million for a 1,920-square foot, 4-bedroom, 3 1/2 bath on a 3,478-square foot lot. Judy: "Small lot. That's the biggest complaint. For that kind of money, people want a yard." Zillow.com "Zestimate": $1.029 million. Comments, thoughts? On Mar Vista, on the homes above, on Zillow.com? On the neighborhood you'd like to see profiled next Tuesday? Use the comment button.
 MAR VISTA -- Warning to bargain hunters, bubble-poppers and doom-and-gloomers: I didn't see much evidence of market weakness today in Mar Vista, where modest-sized single-family homes are selling in the mid-$900,000s. "Mar Vista is holding up fabulously," Judy Sheller of the Bizzy Blondes told me before we jetted off to see eight houses in an hour (I'll post more on Brokers' Caravan in Mar Vista later this afternoon). True, she sells houses in Mar Vista, so has reason to chat it up. But you don't see any evidence here of sub-prime meltdown contagion. The biggest trend: very little inventory, contrary to regional and national trends. "The market right now is not where we expected it to be," Sheller says. "We expected to have more listings. Sellers just don't know what they want to do." Late last year, she said, there were 120 to 125 homes listed in the area of Mar Vista the Blondes serve. This week it's 66 listings, and 46 pending sales -- which means there is less than 1 1/2 months' worth of inventory on the market. "One-and-a-half months? That's a seller's market," Sheller says. One trend in evidence: tearing down ranch-style homes and building "Architectural Moderns" -- the one pictured above, 3425 Greenwood Avenue, came on the market today listed at $2.395 million. Other insights from Sheller: --"If a house is in a great neighborhood, is really cool, and is priced competitively, it will sell for more than the asking price." -- "If a house has been on the market here for more than three weeks, there's a problem."
|
|
How much can you save in taxes if you buy a home in a historic overlay zone? Quite a bit, judging by the marketing of this restored midcentury home designed by architect Gregory Ain.
