1034 N. Evergreen in Burbank has closed and I'm sorry to see it go.

1034 N. Evergreen in Burbank has closed at $650,000.  It was listed at $630,000 and we received eleven offers (see Allegra the potty-trained cat below).  The seller did NOT take the highest offer or the all cash offer because she wanted a real family in the place.

I will really miss this house.  The seller and I are friendly and I've been to many parties and gatherings there over the past ten years.  I watched the seller's daughter grow up, got sunburned in the pool, and had lots of nice meals there.  I'll miss hanging out there with the seller.  Sigh.  We Realtors get sentimental about homes, too.

Novo Cafe in Toluca Lake

Are you doing carbs this week? Tried out Novo Cafe in Toluca Lake with friend and former client Kerri last night and it was terrific.  It looks like an unassuming coffee place and yes, they have coffee, snacks and pastries that are ordered at the counter.  But they also make their own pasta, and offer many pasta dishes at lunch and dinner.  Although I had the beef ragu with papardelle (delicious) there are many entrees for vegans and vegetarians, too.   And, essential for my dining experience, they have wine and beer.  The entrees are ordered at the counter and brought by the enthusiastic wait staff.  Dishes are bare bones -- no salad or bread unless you order those on the side -- but with the low prices nobody should mind not eating even more carbs.  The address is 3900 W. Riverside.

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?

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.