Think it's easy to buy L.A. real estate with $1+ million in cash? Think again.

Not to give you home buyers out there even more reasons to be disappointed, but.  Some former clients of mine returned to town after moving to the San Francisco Bay area some years ago.  They had made cash offers on properties in Berkeley and the Oakland hills but were aced out on price each time.  It's not that they were submitting low-ball offers -- most of their offers were over asking -- but they were repeatedly beaten out by offers over $100,000+ more than asking.  The Bay Area real estate market is too crazy, they said.

It's not that bad here, I said.  I was wrong.

In the course of one week, we made three offers on properties in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, and Glendale.  All of the offers were all cash.  All were over the purchase price -- some significantly -- and all were $1.4 million or thereabouts.  Yes, million.  You'd think sellers would be crawling over themselves to take these wonderful, beaucoup-bucks cash offers, but you'd be as wrong as I was.

The first property went for significantly over the asking price for all cash.  We offered $50k over asking on the second property but seller terms were a little grab-y and it went into multiples anyway.  My buyers offered significantly over the list price, all cash, on the third property.  Plus gave the sellers a free 60-day rent back (unheard of in a normal market).  The sellers dithered.  And dithered.  And finally accepted on a Saturday afternoon.  We buttoned up the deal.  And the sellers changed their minds Sunday morning. Ugh.

My poor clients were very philosophical about all of this, and went on vacation to lick their wounds.  And in the meantime, they've decided the Bay Area is not so bad after all.

As for me, sure; these are not great experiences for a Realtor.  Yes, there's the income issue.  But also, it takes just as much work to not get an accepted offer as it does to get an accepted one. Sigh. Onward!

Decorating trends from the past

Everything comes back around, right? I have great news for all of you nostalgists out there -- you can find three different trends from the past all in one house on the Burbank/Toluca Lake border!  It's pictured above and also has lots of square footage and a pretty decent price.  It's a foreclosure.  Usually, the foreclosing bank sends somebody in to spiff up their REOs, but I'm sure they didn't in this case because they know somebody with cutting-edge design sensibilities and a love of mid-80's style will snap this baby up.

Remember glass block as a decorating element? Kinda high-tech, but perhaps not quite as useful as other materials? Well, perhaps this look will come back around soon, because this house has plenty of it.  The bathroom above is just one room, there's glass block in several others, too.

And remember colored commodes and other fixtures? Both whimsical and matchy-matchy? This home has both a pink bathroom and a blue bathroom.  I guess that's one for the boys and one for the girls.

Each room in the house is painted a different color, and the kitchen tiles are white and red.  There are rooms off of rooms and closets off of closets.  It's almost like the house has attention deficit disorder. Million-Dollar Listing it's not.  It will take vision, but I'm sure one of you mid-80's enthusiasts will love it, yes?