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Did ‘open mansion’ policy lead to sale?

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Back in early November, I tried to find the most expensive home in the Los Angeles area holding public open houses and came upon a 9,691-square-foot Tuscan-style villa in the Hollywood Hills listed with Florence Mattar of Caldwell Banker’s Beverly Hills North office for $21.9 million.

Whether spurred by the down housing market, the opportunity to promote themselves or a determination to make a sale, a select group of area real estate agents has raised the bar on public open houses above $10 million -- to $12.9 million in Beverly Hills, Malibu and Brentwood Park, $18.9 million in Pacific Palisades and even higher in the ‘bird streets’ area of the Hollywood Hills, where Mattar’s reclaimed stone, brick and wood listing sits serenely at the end of a cypress-lined driveway.

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Mattar sold this house recently for $19.5 million. Did the public open houses make a difference? They didn’t hurt. The sales price set the high mark for the bird streets area so far this year.

‘I had several people tell me that they know someone that would love this house and that they would send them the info,’ she said. ‘So I cannot tell if the buyer came from the result of an open house.’

Nevertheless, she’s sold on them. Perhaps the upscale public showing is here to stay?

-- Lauren Beale

Thoughts? Comments?

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