Open Sunday, 1 to 4 pm - 10862 Bloomfield, Toluca Lake

Looking for a luxury unit in a beautiful Toluca Lake building? This stylish condo has it all in 1300 sf. High ceilings, open floor plan, big kitchen with lots of storage and counter space, high-end finishes, huge windows, two large bathrooms, patio, in-unit w/d, fireplace, two parking spaces, and security building too! Expertly maintained unit and building with proactive management company.  All appliances (some brand-new) are included too. Check out the website at 10862Bloomfield103.com.  It's in a great neighborhood close to all that Toluca Lake/Studio City/North Hollywood/Universal have to offer.  And...it's listed for $585,000.  It will be open on Sunday, July 28, 1 to 4 pm, or you can call me for a private showing at 818-370-4837.

4362 Clybourn, Burbank/Toluca Lake -- there's a lot to this story

This is yet another short sale tale. I promise to stop telling these. The property above is 4362 Clybourn, in the Burbank portion of Toluca Lake.  The house and guest house combined are over 5,000 square feet.  The lot is over half an acre.  And it is spitting distance from the Toluca Lake Country Club.  It's a real trophy property.  It's also a short sale, and listed for $1,349,000. If you've seen this property, or made an offer on it, there's a lot to this story.

I represented some buyers who made an offer on this in December, when it was listed for $1,350,000. The seller accepted our offer. It went back and forth between my clients and Bank of America for four months, the bank wouldn't budge on it's counter of $1,820,000, and they wanted a cash contribution from the seller. My clients weren't willing to pay that amount, nor were any of the other folks who had submitted offers around the same time.

The file was closed in April when it looked like the foreclosure sale was imminent, and my exhausted clients indicated that they were not going to pursue the property further. Somehow, the seller managed to have the foreclosure sale postponed then -- for the fourth time. That must be a record. It subsequently listed with another Realtor (it was a different listing agent the first time around) for $1,349,000. The mls says the house has several offers on it now and the prevailing offer is in to the bank. Will the bank still want $1.8+ mil? Did it get offers in that range? How many appraisals have been done so far? What's the story with the seller?  Why did Countrywide, BofA's lending predecessor on the property, fund a loan of $3.2 million on it in 2009? Ah, sweet mysteries of short sales! Perhaps we'll have answers some day.

Universal City expansion: necessary for growth or traffic nightmare?

Update 11/10/10: the terrific Burbank, CA blog has a great post about this. As you may know, Universal City plans to expand by adding more buildings to its lot.  This includes almost 3,000 housing units.  Here's the article about the environmental impact report from today's L.A. Times.  Some of the more interesting items in the article with my comments in color:

"The 39,000-page report identified noise and solid waste removal during the construction process as the primary negative effects of the development. " Hmm, since construction is slated to go on for twenty years...

"Our principal concern continues to be traffic," said Daniel Savage, president of the local residents group Hollywood Knolls Community Club. "Especially traffic driven by the apartments on the back lot." I'm with you, Daniel.  Traffic comes to a standstill on Barham on a regular basis.

"About half the $100 million would be spent on improving traffic flow on nearby streets and intersections, which would have to handle an additional 2,750 car trips each afternoon.  That's similar to the traffic generated by a regional shopping center (italics mine), said Patrick Gibson, a traffic consultant for NBC Universal. Mitigation measures such as street widening would ease the flow at most intersections, though Lankershim would remain a bottleneck where it is flanked by the subway on one side and an office tower on the other." Yes, that's similar to a regional shopping center -- especially on those days when all 2,750 cars try to get into the Costco lot between 6:05 pm and 6:15 pm.

I just don't see that traffic won't be a nightmare.  I also don't see that the area needs another 3,000 housing units.

Good News - Cheap Ice Cream!

How much better can it get?! 31 cent scoop night is back at the Burbank, Toluca Lake and Studio City stores (and all stores nationwide) Baskin-Robbins stores on April 30 from 5:00 to 10:00 pm. Is this promotion a sign of a recession? Isn't ice cream a steady seller during both good and bad economic times? Who knows! Who cares! At this price, get two scoops and worry later about the calories.

Toluca Woods is Hot!

Update April 8, 2008: well, maybe not so much. This home is back on the market. The listing says that's due to first time buyer jitters. The Toluca Lake neighborhood of Toluca Woods continues to defy sales expectations. The area bordered on the north by Magnolia, south by Camarillo, with west/east boundaries of Cahuenga and Denny has seen the homes that have come on the market there lately go pending very quickly. Pictured to the left is 10637 Otsego, a 4+2 for $789,000. It went pending in 13 days. You can visit my February post for the house on Willowcrest that went pending in 7 days. This isn't surprising as the neighborhood has good housing stock at decent prices. But, wow, such fast sales really are rare these days.

Finally, a real price reduction

You may recall that I blogged about the pictured home at 601 Priscilla recently. It had a price reduction of -- hang on -- $100! Wowwee! This home has now had a more meaningful price reduction, down to $674,000 from $705,900. Much better. It's a 3+2 with a pool, redone kitchen that needs appliances, and is in one of the nicer areas of Burbank/Toluca Lake.