Milla Goldenberg is a rock star Realtor.

Milla Goldenberg (that's her smiling face, above) joined Judy Graff Properties several months ago, and just closed a really challenging sale at 4211 Redwood, #202 (pictured above) in Marina Del Rey.  It takes a very talented Realtor to have done this, and not everybody could have pleased the other transaction parties as she did.  First of all, even though the unit was aggressively priced, Milla hung in for months and finally convinced the seller to take the market price.  Next, the building's HOA is in litigation.  It is almost impossible to get a conventional loan on a condo unit in this case.  But Milla drilled down, called a million lenders, and found one who would make the loan at a reasonable cost to the buyers.  Next, there was a bad appraisal, which Milla smoothed over with both buyer and seller.  There were other issues, too -- a robbery during an open house (yes, it happens), divots in the floor during an open house, and on and on.  Yet, she persevered, and performed the amazing feat of getting this property closed to everybody's satisfaction.  Major kudos, Milla -- I am honored to have you as part of the company! If you would like service like this, please contact Milla at Millagoldenberg@gmail.com.

#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?

Botched appraisals -- this just happened to me on the Norwich condo

Here's an article on botched appraisals from today's L.A. Times.  If you scan posts below, you'll see that this just happened to me on the Norwich condo.  We got the appraisal reversed.  Yes, it is possible.

2845 N. Lincoln has closed over asking; maybe 30 times is the charm

My listing at 2845 N. Lincoln in Burbank closed yesterday. This modest 3+1 was marketed as a light fixer and is in the excellent Jefferson elementary school district. Yes, it closed over full price -- it listed at $489,000 and sold for $520,000!

We listed it at $489,000 not because we wanted a bidding war but because that is what the comparable sales indicated the home would likely sell for. The sellers and I were very surprised to receive six offers immediately, with all but 2 offering over full price. Three of the four offers were for conventional loans with 20% down, too.

Were we worried about the appraisal? Oh yes -- but the appraisal came in at $520,000. Was I worried because Bank of America was doing the loan? Yes, but they actually managed to fund it more or less on time without too many screw ups.

And it was an incredibly smooth escrow, thanks to the sellers, buyers, buyers' agent, and our escrow officer. The buyers had made offers on 30 other houses before they got this accepted! I bet they have something to teach us about patience.

Nice in North Hollywood

My clients are in escrow on this cutie in North Hollywood. We had to beat out 11 other offers to get this. It's even cuter inside than outside, and the neighborhood is nice, too. Yes, we had to go over the list price. Will it appraise? Stay tuned...

Appraisals. Yes, they are still very tight.

Some buyer clients of mine opened escrow on a Burbank house two weeks ago. I received a call from the assigned appraiser this week. She suggested saving my clients the cost of the appraisal by cancelling it, because her preliminary work indicated the house would not appraise for the sales price.

The appraiser told me that the comparable sales indicated the house should sell for $25,000 to $30,000 less than the agreed-upon purchase price. She also informed me that all comparable sales have to be less than 90 days old, and no farther away than one mile from the subject property. This applies to both FHA and conventional loans. And, if the loan amount is over $417,000, there will be a second appraisal, from a different appraiser, prior to closing. She also had obtained a copy of the physical inspection report, and knew that the upgrades to the property would not make up for its physical issues.

Okay, the buyers and I knew the appraisal might be an issue. And we hoped that if that was the case, the sellers would come to their senses and negotiate a lower price with us. They didn't. And our escrow has cancelled.

Happy Mothers Day! And Sunday Morning Reading

Happy Moms' Day to all you mothers out there. There are some interesting real estate-related articles in today's papers. First and foremost, from the L.A. Times, is an article titled Appraisal Shake-Up Sparks Ire. My take on this: a computer in, say, Des Moines, can't appraise your house. It can't determine your upgrades or ambience (which, yes, do make a difference to prospective buyers). The other articles are from the New York Times. Gretchen Morgenson's first several paragraphs are interesting. You can skip past that. I've also included "When Should the Fed Crash the Party" and an article on storage space "foreclosures." Yikes.

News about appraisals

And there's another great article from today's L.A. Times real estate section about the appraisal side of the real estate equation. It's by Dian Hymer and is in the House Hunting column. Excerpt: "Because property values are under pressure in some areas, lenders may ask to see information about comparable listings that sold within the last three months (prior to the current market, appraisals up to six months' old could be used)." And "for some lenders...want information about comparable properties that are currently for sale. Current list prices that are lower than recent sale prices could be a red flag..." And "...borrowers may be required to increase their cash down payment by 5%...," "It has become more common recently for lenders to require two appraisals..." Finally, some good advice: "Check with your loan agent to find out how long it will take to process and fund your mortgage." In other words, staff cutbacks have increased processing times.