Another short sale fail. This time, it wasn't the bank's fault. And there's a moral to the story, of course

This is 1200 Flores in West Hollywood.  It is up the street from Marix, the fun and famous Mexican restaurant.  My buyer client lives in one of the units and learned early in the year that it would be short-saled.  We submitted an offer as soon as we could -- in April -- and went through the normal short sale waiting (and waiting) period.  The sale was approved in August.  Yay!

However, because the sale hadn't been approved, the listing agent didn't order the documents that the lender needed from the home owners' association until the approval was received.

Fun real estate fact: in addition to buyers, lenders need to review home owners association documents.  They don't want to fund loans on units in buildings with lots of "distressed" (short sale, foreclosure) units, they want to make sure the reserves are adequate, etc.  And they don't want to make loans on buildings with litigation because, obviously, a negative outcome can affect the financial health of the HOA.  

Okay, the documents are ordered and it turns out there IS litigation on the property.  The buyer/tenant had no idea.  Getting info about the lawsuit was like pulling teeth.  The HOA management company wasn't too interested in talking to the lender or me, the listing agent wasn't interested in assisting us, and the HOA president didn't understand the seriousness of the problem.  The lending machinery came to a standstill.  We tried lots of stuff, but couldn't get the litigation to settle.  The listing agent pulled the plug on us last week as he has cash offers and doesn't want the bank to foreclose (in fairness, he had given us extra time to get this sorted out).  After six months of agony, my buyer is content to let this set sail.  He still lives there and will be living there for the time being.  So, no loss, except for many hours and our tolerance for this process.

Moral of story: if there's litigation on a condo complex, even if it's up the street from delicious Mexican food and margaritas, run the other way!

Tentative short sale approval in West Hollywood -- yippee!

My West Hollywood buyer client and I learned that his short sale has been tentatively approved yesterday for a September closing.  Whee!  For those of you who aren't yet familiar with short sale timetables, here goes:

- My buyer wanted to submit the offer in February when he heard the home might be coming up as a short sale.  However, the seller didn't get his paperwork into the listing agent in a timely manner, so the property didn't list until late April.  The seller is ill and living out of the area, so he has a true hardship.
- Buyer conducted an inspection right after the property listed, so he would be able to write an offer without an inspection contingency.  Side note: the buyer lives close to Marix in Weho (pictured above) and we were all excited about going there for margaritas after the inspection.  But it was Tuesday Taco night and we couldn't get in.  Bummer.
- Buyer submitted his offer in early May and it was accepted by the seller soon after.  It was then uploaded to our favorite bank, BofA, aka the evil empire.
- No word for a long time.  Then, the bank-ordered appraisal was done in June.  Apparently, it was done by a Realtor "assistant" who took pictures for ten minutes and that was all.  No Realtor or appraiser ever actually entered the property.
- Here it is at the end of July and we've just heard that the sale has been tentatively approved. 
- We're supposed to close in September.  So, that's seven months since the seller determined to short sale the property, and four+ months from acceptance to close.  That is, if there are no further hiccups along the way.

West Hollywood condos -- what I saw

I had the opportunity to view several West Hollywood condos for a client over the weekend.  All of the units were under $350,000 (yes!), had an HOA fee of under $500, and had just one bedroom.  All were in high-rise buildings.

You expect me to bash, right? No!  All of the units were lovely and clean, although small by current standards (700 to 800 square feet).  All of the buildings were stunningly well-kept up (as the former president of an HOA, this is not as easy as you'd think) and the common entries were as clean as operating rooms.  The pools were sparkling, the patio furniture new, the plants were groomed and green...

Here's what you don't get, however.  Most units were too small for a washer/dryer, although all of the buildings had common laundry rooms.  Oh, and you can't have any friends visit you, ever, unless they walk to your house, bike to you (dangerous) or parachute in, because parking is so extremely limited everywhere in West Hollywood.  I did manage to turn my car off close to my destination four times, which I understand is some kind of record. But still, if you can manage to get around, there's no better area for cool restaurants and other destinations.

Glendale is on track for another honorarium: local community with most a-hole drivers!

Curbed L.A. occasionally runs posts asking its readers to identify communities with the worst drivers. And today, you can Curbed's piece about awful West Hollywood drivers. But wait! Check out the comments! It appears that Glendale is, uh, coming up fast on West Hollywood and may even over-take it! Major props, Glendale! I can hear the chants from speeding beemers on Glenoaks now: "We're number 1! We're number 1!"

West Hollywood wants to ban open house signs

Just when you thought local city governments couldn't get any sillier: West Hollywood wants to ban Realtor open house signs on its city corners on Sundays. Read the L.A. Times article here.

Good luck, Weho. The City of Burbank went through the same process a few years ago. The reason given for the city's ban was that "somebody could fall on one of the signs and get hurt." A year and lots of hearings later, Burbank relented -- as long as Realtors observed many restrictions AND paid a permit fee.

Currently, local Realtors are working to be able to put flags up in the front yards of Sunday open houses. Again, this "issue" has been kicked around the City of Burbank for close to a year. Mind you, this has to do with flags on private property. There is no limit on how many campaign signs one can have in their front yard, but I guess that's different.