It was all about the schools -- 2023 Karen in Burbank just closed

Do people move for good schools? Yup. Does moving to a particular school district guarantee admission in that school?  Nope.  My clients, the Guptas, bought a house nine years ago in Burbank.  That home is in a good school area, but they wanted an even better school area for their growing family. So they looked in the Jefferson School area within Burbank and found 2023 Karen St.  They had made offers on other properties before that hadn't been accepted, so we were thrilled when we were told the sellers had picked our offer.  It was the right size -- five bedrooms -- and was just up the street from the school.

However, we were saddened to learn that Jefferson School was full and not taking any other new students.  Yes, that can happen in public schools as well as charters and private schools.  The Gupta children were wait-listed with no promises given of ever getting into Jefferson.  The family decided to roll the dice and purchase the house anyway.  But by some sort of magic (that's the only thing we can figure), they received a call last week telling them that there was room for the kids in the school! Whew! I am sure the family will be really happy in the new home and at the new school.

10962 Kittridge - amazing activity in North Hollywood

This is 10962 Kittridge, in North Hollywood.  It looks like a townhouse, but it is really a single family home and was built under L.A.'s small lot subdivision ordinance.  It closed yesterday for $575,000.

This home is newly built (2014) and has three bedrooms and three baths in over 1600 sf.  It has a double garage but no yard.  Since it isn't in the "nice" redeveloped part of North Hollywood (some people call this area No-No Hollywood) we weren't sure what the activity would be, and we priced it along with the comps -- at $530,000.

Within four days after listing, we already had seven offers, and the price started to climb.  In some cases, agents and their buyers were not even waiting for counter offers, they were just throwing new, higher offers at us instead.  The seller and I finally cut off all the bidding at $575,000 and accepted one of the offers.  Would their be an appraisal problem? Probably, but all of the high bidders had removed the appraisal contingency.  This means that even if they couldn't get a loan for the whole amount, they'd bring in the extra funds to bridge the gap between the loan and the sales price.  For what it's worth, we did not select a cash offer and picked one with a loan instead.  The buyers had written a very sincere letter to the seller -- yes! that helps -- and the lender was a known entity, so we did not believe there was a risk.  Who knew that No-Noho was so hot? I'm sure the buyers will be really happy in their new home, and needless to say, my seller was delighted with the results.