Pounced on by Realtors at an SFV open house?

I applaud my buyer clients who go to open houses by themselves and most home buyers do that nowadays. They've viewed the home on line and only have Saturday or Sunday to see it.  But here's what often happens:  a buyer innocently walks in to an open house and is immediately assaulted by the Realtor there and peppered with questions -- what are you looking for? Are you preapproved? How much are you preapproved for? What do you want your monthly payments to be? Are you working with an agent?  What do you have for a down payment? The poor buyer, who was compelled to sign in, finds themselves called, emailed, texted, sexted, you name it.  I used to do this kind of hard sell when I was a new agent too -- until I realized that people hated it.

Do you think that they are doing this because they are working hard for the seller? Nah. They are trying to pick up business -- your business -- any way they can.  (Again, disclaimer: I used to do this too back when I was a new agent and the earth was still warm.) There are lots of hungry Realtors out there.

Here's my client's experience from yesterday, and it's all too common: What I failed to tell you about my experience at ... open house yesterday is what a hard sell I ran into. I was met by 2 agents AND a mortgage broker. I felt like I was at a Mercedes CPO lot and everyone was trying to meet their month-end quota. I was "required" to fill out their guest sheet and now I'm getting calls and emails. 

AND, one of the agents was trying to steal my business, "I know you have an agent, but I might be able to find you some things."  

Sure, buyers, there are lots of great Realtors out there who are doing open houses.  They'll greet you, and give you the information about the property that you seek.  And then get out of your way. Sellers, please keep agreeing to open houses.  They work.  But you might want to reign in your agent's obnoxious hard sell enthusiasm. Buyers, please keep attending open houses.  They're a wonderful way for you to see a property when your agent can't be with you.  But be firm with pouncing Realtors.  Or take your pepper spray with you.

2014 is one-half month old now. What's the real estate market like?

Many people say that "calling" the real estate market this early in a new year isn't a good gauge of what's really happening. Personally, I usually see an uptick in activity by the end of the second week. Not this year. Not so far. I'm still seeing very short inventory in all price categories. I'm also not seeing lots and lots of new buyers, not yet anyway. And I'm also seeing buyers getting discouraged and dropping out. I think the perception of higher interest rates is to blame plus the no-inventory situation. However, interest rates haven't gone up that much. And yes, there is low inventory, but inventory has been low for the past several years. Because of last year's price rebounds, more people can afford to sell their homes this year. So stay tuned -- in real estate, the only thing constant is change.

In v. Out – Judy’s annual totally subjective L.A. real estate list

Okay, this list is totally subjective and these are entirely my own observations.  And it runs the sort-of-real-estate gamut from decorating to Los Angeles neighborhoods to area attractions. Please feel free to contact me with your own in v. out observations. And if you know how to make columns line up in Blogger, please contact me about that too.

In                                                      Out

quartz                                                granite

charter public schools                        private schools

white cabinets                                   dark cabinets

credit union home loans                     large bank home loans

nickel finish                                       bronze finish

Terrazzo tile                                     Travertine tile

white tile                                          subway tile

linoleum flooring                               laminate flooring

Zillow.com                                       Redfin.com

Laist.com                                         Curbedla.com

East Valley                                      West Valley

Hollywood Walk of Fame                Universal City Walk

Backyard chickens                           swimming pools

Ranch style homes                           Spanish style homes

North Hollywood                            Valley Glen

Wine bars                                        Starbucks

News of the week: 5227 Denny #101 is still available! And more...

Do you know anybody looking to buy in Noho? Or anybody that simply wants a gorgeous three-bedroom condo? Consider 5227 Denny #101, pictured above.  Yes, it's 3 beds, 2 baths, fireplace, big newer kitchen, bamboo floors, 2 extra storage spaces, 2 patios, and much more in one of L.A.'s coolest neighborhoods.  It is listed for $420,000 and the HOA fees are $261/month.  I can usually arrange a showing with just a bit of advance notice.

In other news, prices are still going up and inventory is still down.  It looks like small (under 1,000 sf) homes across the east San Fernando Valley are hitting the $500,000+ mark now.

And Realtors are continuing to list properties low and then entertain multiple offers and bidding wars.  One client set has been waiting a week now to hear about their offer, which they increased from the original price.

Stansbury is in escrow.

In more upbeat news, I will likely have a small house listed in Burbank soon, along with a 3+2 in Noho that's currently being fixed up.  These may be on the market later this month; just not sure yet.  There may be one coming in Valley Glen, too.

I met a friend and former client at the lounge at Amarano last night and it was swinging! With a chic, younger (than me) set, of course.  Amarano is a boutique hotel right on the border of Burbank and Toluca Lake.  It's a really classy place and we had lots of fun.  My only criticism is that they could improve their house Cabernet.

1429 N. Rose in Burbank has closed...and for a pretty high price

Little Rae and Gus's house is no longer on the market. It has sold to a wonderful young couple, Jesse and Julie.  Rae and Gus (short for Agnes) are on their way to the Midwest with their parents to start a new life there and all four of them will be really missed -- yes, sometimes I can get really attached to my clients. Happy trails, guys!

The transaction went well, thanks to everybody on both sides and buyer's agent Justin Bunch.  The house did take longer than "usual" to get into escrow as we had it listed pretty high at first, but then we lowered the price.  It closed at $486k after having originally been listed at $495k and getting lowered to $479k.  Sigh. I love these kinds of successful outcomes in real estate.

Unpermitted square footage and your lender

If you've been searching for real estate in Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley, you already know that many homes have been added on to since they were originally built.  Some of the additions are really nice and make a lot of sense; others are really funky.  Some are permitted; some are not (back in the day, a lot of do-it-yourselfers didn't bother to pull permits.  It would have increased their property taxes to do so.)  And this usually becomes a freak-out issue for most buyers.  Here are some things to know.

Here's what your lender is concerned about vis-a-vis unpermitted square footage.  Caveat: this has nothing to do with what the city or your insurance company thinks about unpermitted square footage.  That's another thing entirely. Your lender, through the property appraisal, will be concerned with:

• The addition must be done in a workman-like manner with decent construction standards. Nothing with cinderblock bricks instead of a foundation, for example.
• It can't have a kitchen.  This is a big no-no for most municipalities, too.
• The addition's square footage will not be counted towards the square footage of the house.  You can't say your house is 400 sf bigger because somebody drywalled the garage.
• There must be comparable or similar additions, permitted or not, in the neighborhood.  For example, if the homes on your street were built with carports instead of garages, but subsequently everyone enclosed their carport, it's probably okay with your lender.

How do you tell if the square footage is permitted? Two ways.  You can either visit the city building and safety department and pull the permits on the house.  Or contact Permitreport.com.  Or you can look at the County Assessor's tax records (easy to find online).  Sometimes, though, for whatever reason, all square footage hasn't been recorded by the tax assessor; if there's a dispute, definitely go to the municipality.  In another post, I'll go into what unpermitted additions are probably NOT okay.

How important are home photos to the selling process, anyway? OMG, they're everything!

Agent Genius had an article about home staging a couple of days ago. One of the comments was so true: the four things most responsible for a successful home sale are (in order): the home, the price, the photos and the staging. We’ll talk about staging another time, but to me, good interior pictures are key. 

There’s nothing like well-lit, professional quality pics to motivate a buyer to drive across town to see a home for sale.  Everybody has been watching HGtv for years now, and everybody has access to all sorts of real estate porn gorgeous home photos. Buyers have high expectations and many properties to choose from. Good property photos increase interest, which equals more showings sooner which equals quicker sales.   Even if the property isn’t glamorous, professional photographers can light otherwise dark corners, great angles can be used, and a house for sale can really look its best, online at least, for potential buyers.

So I’m puzzled as to why more Realtors aren’t having pro photos taken? (Unless the house is a truly scary tear-down.) Yes, there’s the cost, but we’re supposed to be spending money on our marketing, yes? (Or did I not get the memo?)  Buyers, would you go running to see the house above? Sellers, I can’t think of a single reason that your Realtor can’t hire a professional photographer – the cost is minimal for the return you’ll get.  And sellers, when the photographer is coming to shoot the house, it’s a good idea to tidy up – or at least put the butter away unless it's included in the sale.

New Year's resolutions

Happy new year, everybody! What are your resolutions regarding real estate? Here are mine:

• Have more fun with real estate,
• Help my clients have more fun and success with their r.e. deals,
• Visit more food trucks when they come to Studio City, Burbank and the San Fernando Valley.

Slim pickings on the real estate front

Just as we've been saying...here's an article from the Burbank Leader about the local real estate market. IMO, this covers all local real estate, too, not just Burbank. Here's the opening paragraph: "Frustration is mounting among home shoppers trying to take advantage of historic drops in prices as the suply of real estate for sale in Glendale andBurbank dwindles, experts and agents say."