3 closings this week and how they went

The first property that closed this week was 1585 Knollwood Terrace in Pasadena (pictured above).  It had been listed at $1,049,000 and closed for $1,010,000 -- all cash (what recession?).  I loved this house and absolutely love the Linda Vista neighborhood that it's in -- old growth trees, nice architecture, open spaces, etc.  The house originally went into escrow right after being listed, but those buyers backed out -- it felt too remote to them.  The new buyer had seen it the first week it was listed and made the offer about a month ago. Cash? Sure!!!  Everything went well, although Pasadena requires a pain-in-the-ass city inspection and the interior chimney was shot. [An aside about chimneys: they are more trouble -- and way more expensive -- than they're worth for the 10 fires per year that we all build in them.]

The next house is 2112 Hilton in Burbank and I represented the buyers here.  The house is a "baby" Ben-Mar and closed at $549,000.  It was a flip, and the buyers had an FHA loan.  That means that the appraiser, in addition to the property inspector, goes over the property with a fine-tooth comb.  This house turned out to look good, but to have several structural issues, including asbestos, that the seller needed to correct before the loan funded.  It turned out to be a tooth-pull, but my clients were patient and the listing agent was a trooper.  The house backs up to a hill and has about a bajillion fruit trees.  This is great for Mr. Buyer as he studies horticulture.  Thanks to stalwart Dana Dukelow, our lender on this, for getting this done.

The final closing was at 10417 Chandler in North Hollywood/Toluca Woods.  You can spit to Burbank from this house.  It's a 2+1 that sold for $376k to my buyers and yes, it is that cute.  Everything when fine except the lender and the listing agent had several fights (I am always so glad when it's not me doing the fighting).  And, at the last minute, Mr. Buyer was called out of town on business.  Anybody who has purchased a home knows that the loan documents are voluminous and it's always good to be present with the lender or escrow officer so you know what you're signing.  But to make the closing deadline -- this was part of a three-property-chain deal -- all the documents had to be overnighted to Georgia and a notary had to be found there.  Mr. Buyer was a real trooper about this as was Mrs. Buyer.

The other great thing about these closings? I loved working with all three client sets.  Yes, that's unusual and yes, I'm really lucky, although I'm also really exhausted.