Amazing house and deal in Valley Glen for $639,000

13506 Hartland Street in Valley Glen is now on the market!  This 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1832 sf. home will capture your heart. Remodeled from top to bottom just five years ago, it features a huge, open kitchen with lots of cabinet space and a center island, open floorplan, beautiful hardwood floors, French doors to exterior in two rooms, redone fireplace and a huge, green backyard (the lot is 9258 sf). The master bedroom has door to backyard, too!  It also has a direct access garage, plenty of closets and a lovely covered patio with its own fireplace. This neighborhood is becoming hugely desirable – this is a great opportunity to get in now.  Please call for more details or visit the website at 13506Hartland.com.  

Coming soon in Valley Glen

13506 Hartland in Valley Glen is going to be on the market in mid-late-September.  This is an amazing house and will be an amazing deal at $639,000 -- it has 4 beds, 2 baths, was completely redone in 2011 and has a huge backyard.  Contact me after the 18th for more pics and information.

Just sold this huge home/lot in...Valley Glen, of all places

Here's a pic of the house that I just sold to a wonderful couple who wish to remain anonymous.  It's in an area called Hillview Park Estates in Valley Glen, close to Valley College.  All the homes in this small area are on huge, 14000+ sf lots and the streets are gorgeous, tree-lined and quiet.  Especially quiet because there's no parking between 8:00 a.m. and midnight.  Ugh...yes, I got a parking ticket.

The escrow had its challenges, mostly because of the home's condition.  I know more about sewers now than I ever thought there was to learn.  The wiring was a safety hazard, the huge pool needs everything, and generations of rat families have raised their young in the attic.  Still, the house has so much potential that it's easy to see why my clients were attracted to it, and stuck with it.

My buyers have already started the rehabbing and make-over.  They are still debating what to do with my favorite room, the "rumpus room." It's pictured here and was probably last redone in the early 1970's.  Note the wood paneling and turquoise and orange accents.  There are workable beer taps and plenty of room for a full bar.  The owners thought of everything: to prevent a dangerous injury to home drinkers, bar stools are permanently bolted down.  And in true relic style, there's orange shag carpet under the turquoise carpet! The room had a built in sound system, a juke box, neon beer signs, pool table, gaming tables, and an electric panel hidden behind a wall-mounted snack machine.  They really knew how to party in the 1970's!

The rooms are all spacious and the backyard seems to go on for ever.  Good luck with the place, buyers, and I can't wait to see what it looks like in a few months or so.

Red alert! Buyer clients got an offer accepted!

Buyers, it can happen to you, too! My buyer clients just got a purchase offer (in the low $500's) accepted for a home in Valley Glen. Thanks to wizard agent and heavy lifter Amber Dolle.  The buyers have written about ten or eleven offers before this, and obviously all were rejected.  Moral of story: if you're a buyer, hang in there.  Be prepared.  Your home is out there.

Saw 20 homes for sale last weekend...

Last week was pretty crazy for showing property for sale in Studio City, Burbank and Toluca Woods.  And the week has been busy too, but I wanted to share what I saw.  Of course, I won't talk about some of the properties my clients are still interested in...

First, there are a lot of nice flips out there.  Seriously, they're nice.  The one pictured above is on Laurelgrove in Valley Glen.  One trend spotted: lots and lots of beigy/brown/cream-colored subway tile.  Tons of travertine.  And no doors on showers.  Also, granite is "last year," and white quartz or caesarstone is this year.

Another tip: if you want a big yard, think Van Nuys.  There are pockets where the houses are smallish, but the yards are HUGE.  Same with Valley Glen.

I showed a pocket listing in Toluca Woods.  Folks, if your Realtor offers to show you a pocket listing (one that's for sale but not officially listed), jump at the chance.  Houses like this won't go into the crazy multiple offer situations that we're seeing today because nobody else but you (and a few other potential buyers) will know about them.

What to say about the Burbank houses? Well, most Burbank homes began their lives as small houses.  Over the decades, successive families built on...and on.  Not all of the build-outs make any kind of sense, but they did to somebody at some time in the past.  If you're considering Burbank homes for sale, think about working with weird floor plans and making them not quite so weird, or weird in your own way, or tearing the back off a house and starting over.  You'll see the same kind of "architecture" all over the San Fernando Valley.

I saw several nice condos and townhouses for sale, too.  However, some of the newer townhomes and condos in Studio City and Toluca Lake look like apartment buildings.  You can tell the developer was attempting to squeeze every possible last dime out of every square foot they built.  Prices are soaring on nice units though, right along with single family houses.

Finally, of course, I spotted the grotto-shrine in a front yard in the valley.  Let's call her Our Lady of Valley Glen, and hope that she intercedes for us in our real estate searches.

No offer acceptances, but as Scarlett says...

This will not come as a surprise, but my buyers' two purchase offers on property in Valley Glen and Burbank were not accepted this week.  In one case, the amount offered was equal to another buyer, but that buyer had a bigger downpayment.  Bigger downpayments equal less risk for the seller.  And that buyer indicated his willingness to bring more money to the transaction if the appraisal came in low.  That's risky.

The second purchase offer was for a gorgeous flipped house in Burbank.  Alas, we were outbid on this one.

But my buyers and I feel lucky that there has been so many nice homes out there to bid on.  And these buyers are wonderfully resilient.

Coming this weekend: my resilient buyers may look at another home in Valley Village.  Another group of buyers will be viewing a property in Burbank if the agent ever calls me back to confirm the appointment.  And my income property buyer and I will be looking for duplexes in Hollywood and Silverlake.  As Scarlett O'Hara said in Gone With The Wind, "Tomorrow is another day."

#purchaseofferfail or who do I have to ____ to get an offer accepted around here?

Ugh.  Of the two purchase offers written this weekend, the one for the house in Valley Glen is a definite no-go.  Although we came in over the list price and no other offer was higher than ours or better on terms, the sellers chose one with a higher downpayment that was also willing to pony up more money if the property didn't appraise for the price.  The sellers loved my buyers, but bla bla bla.  I totally understand, but this is so disappointing, especially when we'd really stretched to get this.  So what trick can I come up with next time to make sure my buyers get their desired properties? Is it too late for topless real estate?