Schools Sell

Located in the coveted stopyourthinking school district. More and more, agents herald the promise, or the prestige, the status, of a lauded school district.

Meanwhile the academics disagree on how to evaluate schools and academic performance. Depending on the API scores? Please! College placement? How much is prep, how much is prop? How much is language homogeneity?

Mostly the herd goes on reputation. Repeat after me, in modulated tones: South Pas = good schools, Glendale = good schools, Culver City = good schools. LAUSD = bad schools. Your kid has personalized needs?! The cure all school district is the answer! Gotta move to Manhattan Beach!

Elsewhere the magnet and charter revolution is turning traditional buyer criteria on its ear. Districts what districts? My kid can go anywhere, provided he gets in. This flexibility and opportunity may be the most potent instrument of change in transitional neighborhoods, formerly indentured to iconoclasts and social-lib types.

But for many the price of relocation, despite often exaggerated academic claims, is preferable to the cost of private schools and the toil of negotiating a labyrinthian system. Really it makes you wonder why every small municipality (adjacent to a thriving population center) doesn't pursue the model. Fund your schools like crazy, raise scores, attract dedicated families, intensify real estate demand, prices will follow, raise the socio-economic profile of residents (which often acts to further boost scores), reap the collateral revenue from increased services, transfer taxes, etc.

In the end, most are looking for the proverbial service relationship: can I write a check, to ease my pain?

The Price is......Right?!? (Part 1)

I took these photos last night, in the dense fog that blanketed West Adams. They have no relation to the editorial.

In West Adams, Pico-Union, Westlake, and the like, pricing is all over the map. Some properties are shedding dollars like a ballooners' ballast, while others of dubious merit seek uncharted highs. Actually I like a little more spread in pricing, always have.

The hitch, I often contend, isn't too high highs, but rather too high lows. Which is still the case. The spread amongst similar product, one state of condition and another, superior and lesser features, isn't great enough.



The value of unpainted woodwork in a Craftsman for example might account for a 1% difference in asking price, whereas it should correspond to a 5 - 10% difference (given the cost to perform the work). A well-painted exterior might add only 10 grand, but merit closer to thirty.

Overpricing was less a problem in the past, values rose so quickly. The market might catch an inflated listing, even surpass it, given a long enough marketing period.

When determining an asking price based on comparable sales, I often use a method similar to Olympic judging, discarding the highest and lowest marks. Too often, sellers and the agents latch desperately to a "lightning strike" comp, some unaccountably high, one-time sales figure.

Last year in Harvard Heights an area business owner purchased an adjacent residential property, fusing the two into a quasi compound. The incentivised business owner paid an astronomical sum, perhaps in order to sway a reluctant seller. That fluke sales total continues to permeate sales discussions in the neighborhood a year later.

End Part 1

Urban Jaunts (Part One)

My greatest source of recreation is walking, as detailed in the Is It Safe? series. When I first moved to Los Angeles I became familiar with some of its neighborhoods, El Sereno in particular, through Adah Bakalinsky's compelling guide, Stairway Walks in Los Angeles. I've always regarded staircases or footpaths (the flatlanders staircase), as joyously transportational, more than mere shortcut.

While my own walks are ever altering, deliberately and unapologetically urban, my greatest enjoyment is including pedestrian only features, paseos, parks, or other semi-public green spaces in my nightly constitutionals.

Here is the first of several jaunts. (The short version to follow.)

Starting at Adams and Arlington, travel East (on the Southside of Adams) to Cimarron. Turn South on Cimarron, plunging down the short hill and the corner empty lot.

At 30th St. head West past Arlington one half block to Prescott Court, a paved footpath which leads South past 31st St to Jefferson where it divides a park and branch library.

Sadly the wooden pickets which used to line Prescott Court, painted with the ubiquitous creeping vine, have been replaced almost in total by metal fencing.

Continue South crossing Jefferson (use the broad, striped crosswalk), onto 3rd Avenue. Head South on 3rd (two blocks) to Exposition, cross, and then walk East along the railroad track right-of-way slated for reuse by the Expoline.


Short version: At 7th Avenue, start North past the Streamline Moderne firestation (#34). A neighboring property sports a '37 Olds and another thirties chasis.

Seventh runs past the 6th Street elementary school, at Jefferson, up to Adams. (Other North/South streets are interrupted at Mont Clair.)

At Adams, turn East towards Arlington, along Church row, past the Guasti Villa (by architects Hudson and Munsell), now the Peace Realization Fellowship and best known as a residence for Busby Berkeley; and, architect Charles Whittlesey's amazing Vienna Secessionist Mansion built for Western Arts Tile Works owner Lycurgus Lindsay, now serving as and obscured by the Our Lady of Bright Mountain Polish Parish .


Part Two: the long version.

Additions, Not Just in the Rear Anymore

Porch enclosures are a common architectural alteration. Most Historic Preservation Overlay Zones prohibit such alterations, but in neighborhoods without watchdogs or policing powers, enclosures, porch build-outs, and front additions are widespread; and, where the set-backs allow, legal. (Above: an early porch addition, pleasantly outfitted with matching casements and sidelights)


Left: a recent modification. An open vestibule remains, with three doors, presumably for tenant use, to access either side of the enclosed porch and the main house. Nothing says cheap remodel any louder than square vinyl windows.

Despite the recent window installation, I'm guessing this project intends to do more than just re-build an open air space. Here's an idea expansion-lusting homeowners: consult an architect.

What's the opposite of a face lift, a face drop? Note the slightly different roof pitch on the front end, also the klutzy pink stucco to white clapboard transition.

"What's so good about a porch," one homeowner challenged, "I don't sit there with my kids. I'd rather have a place for tv."

Agent Turn-ons

I've seen a lot of houses, seen most of the best over this-a-way. Noted the secret compartments, wall safes, and octagonal rooms. All of it, a major real estate agent turn-on, as is this.

That's right, a hot water heater.

Not just any hot water heater, a Hoyt copper tank heater, possibly from the early 1960's. In normal water these tanks, of copper, bronze, or monel (a copper-nickel mix) can last a lifetime--anode need not apply. I once observed a Whitehead Monel tank from the late 1940's, still in use. (From time to time, I also encounter early steel galvanized tanks, usually disconnected in attics, frequently with date stamps.)

Oftentimes the copper-monel tanks had external flues, as opposed to today's center flues, whereby gases flowed between the wall of the tank and the exterior shell, a greater surface area for heat exchange. Some featured a drain valve, to remove sediment, and extend the tank's life.

Sadly, predictably, frustratingly, tanks like this are no longer made. Plumbing obsolescence....don't get me started!

This property also possessed some drains of copper, quite unusual.

The Least Trusted (Part Two)

Agents are still highly valued by industry brethren, mortgage and escrow officers, retrofitters, pest control, and other support personnel, if only as ringleaders of the referral circus. Now more than ever.

I've begun receiving cold calls from young, husky voiced, incentive offering, female escrow agents. Little do they know that I already have a young, husky voiced escrow agent. (Before I had an older, husky voiced escrow agent. But she retired.)

At a recent open, marauding packs of mortgage toughs, cased my hand outs, looking for a space to infiltrate rate sheets and cross promotional materials. "Fewer buyers", I explained, cornered and forced to confess my recommendation loyalties, "are coming unattached. Even first-timers, have done more leg work, and are pre-qualified, with a lender of choice. It's not my place, unless I perceive gross abuse, to undermine that relationship." Dissatisfied, they mounted their Bradley fighting vehicle, prepared for another Caravan coldcock, and lunch at Taylors.

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Clarifying my inventory

I've a modest Adobe Revival coming, in Kinney Heights. Massive systems work: roof, total re-pipe, re-wire, new HVAC, exterior and interior paint, new wood windows, re-finished oak and fir floors. Here's a sneak peek of the living room. The property is two bedrooms, one bath. Price? Low to mid $500's.

I'm currently marketing 2361 W. 20th St., a Craftsman bungalow of superb proportions. Previously we accepted a full price offer, only the deal stalled, and we've returned to market. I will be showing it tomorrow (Sunday, November 11th) from noon - 4 pm. If you haven't seen it, you ought to. All compliment its' size (nearly 2000 square feet on a single level) and flow (long sight lines). The property, featured on a recent house tour, resides in one of West Adams' most prized Historic Preservation Overlay Zones, neatly defined Western Heights (East of Arlington at Washington, North of the 10 freeway). It too can claim electrical, heating and cooling, and plumbing upgrades--and knockout features (see photos left and at top).

The Least Trusted (Part One)

I've a running debate with a contractor, one my closest friends, over who's the least trusted, real estate agents or contractors? "Shoot", my buddy would lament, "you guys are up there with pediatricians and firehouse dalmatians. Whereas contractors are lumped with used car salesmen and big tobacco."

"Probably so," I'd allow, "but we're making up ground."

Sticker shock backlash and the sub-prime pratfall, have acidulated public opinion, as agents enjoy less influence and standing than before.

The (Very Little) Help You Sell-ers, are disappearing, replaced by full service agents with marketing experience and sales tested acumen. The industry is undergoing yet another grand personnel reorganization, last seen when Sotheby's acquired DBL and the Keller Williams recruitment blitz began. Osman Realty goes under, a new brokerage,Telis, is poaching some of Coldwell Banker's top performers, while Prudential evacuates the Larchmont strip.

I'm staying put incidentally, even if my brokerage is an unknown West of LaCienega. I haven't any designs on the Beverly Hills market after all, and I'd probably get lost driving to the Palisades.

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I received more than one comment on Palm Avenue.
Most wanted to know the price. I hadn't set one.
Another wanted to know in which MLS it was listed--it isn't.
It's all in the past tense because an offer was made and accepted, same day.

Another quick-hitter was our would-be showcase on Virginia in Lafayette Square. A preemptive offer took it out, slicing our prospective inventory yet more. I'll update our inventory in my next post.

I appreciate all the inquiries and interest.

New Listing

A few rough pics of my latest listing: 915 Palm Avenue in South Pasadena.

A Craftsman-style bungalow built in 1907. A legal duplex, with an attached studio apartment.

The green sofa blocks a colossal clinker brick fireplace, still functioning despite a coat of garish red paint. Those are french doors behind the television.

First time on the market in over half a century. Sounds more dramatic than, first time on the market in over 50 years.

It's a fixer folks, I ain't pretending otherwise, and I want an AS-IS purchase deal.

The offering is for two assessor parcel numbers, or two lots. Together they total 8,995 square feet. I've never seen this many fruit trees on a single property: lemon, fig, avocado, pomegranate, some kind of loquat, a walnut tree as well.


Nifty second fireplace in one of the three bedrooms.

The total square footage: 1,693.

One and one-half baths, not including a full bath in the studio.
No garage. Permitted roof work occurred in 2001.
No other system upgrades noted. The floors appear to be a mix of oak and fir, but are carpeted throughout.

The property is a stone's throw from Mission St. and a Trader Joe's market. An easy walk to the Gold Line.

Real Estate Agents and Slogans

Everybody's got a slogan. That's advertising after all, or marketing, or branding, whatever. Or strategic branding, which I guess is like branding only it's strategic.

Thumbing through a recent trade publication, I noted at least seven agent slogans:

1. Got so-and-so? (The agent's first name)
2. So-and-so knows the Westside!
3. Honest. Energetic. Proven.
4. Where do you want to live next?
5. Call so-and-so, and start packing.
6. So-and-so--an LA woman who knows LA real estate.

And my least favorite, the oft-occurring: Your Realtor for Life. I've happened upon a half-dozen industry professionals with materials bearing this motto. I suppose it beats, Your Agent Till the Check Clears, or Your Agent Whilst the High Rollers Summer in the Caymans, or....Drop Dead.

Isn't that every providers goal, duh? Sustained relationships? Simply, I hope you'll like me enough to use me again. Your Agent for Life has about as much separation as Your Agent With Gross Motor Skills.

I'm on my second go-around with some clientele. It's nice--flattering even, but catchphrase(s) aside, if I want there to be a third time, I'd better perform.

Three Abandoned Entries

Some of my entries are pretty banal admittedly, these failed to even rise to that level.

1. Kindles Donuts on Manchester. This was going to read, 'you don't need to go to Randy's in Westchester for programmatic architecture or chocolate sprinkles....'

2. There's a woman who drives around Expo Park West/University Park/North University Park gathering plastic bottles in her car. No point.


3. Something about Sock It To Me Cake (possibly named for a Laugh-In skit), or maybe Muslim bakeries, or maybe both.

Is RecenteringElPueblo becoming RecenteringElPetco?

Finally, I nabbed one. For months I've wanted to write about the stray bunnies I encounter (with irrepressible astonishment) on neighborhood walks, and mostly at night. But never had I a camera, and the proof is really in the picture, no?

There's a front yard rabbit on 30th. One night I saw two hares on 11th Avenue--two!. I spotted a jack rabbit near St. James Park, another in the empty lots on Scarff. A cottontail was bagged on 27th St. This fellow was grazing in an alley near 4th Avenue and Jefferson.

With all the semi-feral dogs cruising about, their survival seems impossible, yet I keep seeing them. Or is this my version of Jimmy Carter's rowboat?

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Today's Open: 2361 W. 20th St. (near Arlington & Washington) from 2 - 5.

Halloween Night

After a short walkabout, my son and I hung with some Hobart homebodies, astonished anew by the zero conduct: costume-less teenagers (and young adults) ferried by (not-so) mini-vans and sport utilities, collecting candy as if part of some black market resale venture.

The city is plastered with obesity warnings, and yet we collect and distribute enough saccharine offal to bloat a nation of ballerinas.

"Nada de disfraz, nada de dulce", sometimes we chide the plainclothes opportunists, too lazy even to don a goofy sportcoat, or pair a jersey with cleats, bat, or hat.


The treemonster on Hollywood Boulevard has the right spirit, and he ain't in it for a polysorbate 60 sucker.



Of course, West Adamsers did Halloween in their own inimitable style: cardboard tombstones that advertised smoking related deaths, candy givers in vintage lace, eerie sound loops from '30's radio shows.

Trick or treating which appeared to fall off after 9/11 is all the rage again. Were parents concerned about terrorist tampering? Or did we just collectively become less intrepid? Into Iraq and into milkduds?

Partially inspired by neighbors who handout skeleton key chains, I'm going candyless next year, maybe gifting raisins or peanuts. I'll probably get egged.

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Sunday's Open: 2361 W. 20th St. 2 - 5 pm. One half block East of Arlington. One block South of Washington.

Current Events Part 1

My Century Heights listing/escrow has officially closed. The hardship wasn't finding a taker (a buyer was attached instantaneously, ergo the low blog profile), but rather traversing escrow, financing shortfalls, and the cockamamie rest. The escrow lasted nearly four months. Few escrows exceed three months because most appraisals, integral to the loan process, have a 90 day shelf life.

This transaction was only the second I've done, wherein I never clapped eyes on the reciprocal agent. We communicated by phone and e-mail, and fax. The buyer's agent never met the seller either. Personally I prefer meeting everyone, and a little civilizing face time for all.

I assume when one is buying new homes, buyer and builder seldom meet. I've never been involved in a "new-home" sale, only "existing-home" sales. As an aside, the media typically portrays a drop in new home starts as a real estate industry negative, partially as a barometer of consumer confidence. I think it's real estate homeostasis, at times bad for the homebuyer, governing or limiting inventory.

Amongst the quick-moving, our Hillcrest listing is unsurprisingly already in escrow, accepting an early pitch.
Whilst some inventories are growing, the number of quality offerings--like the number of top-notch backstops in baseball--seems fixed, regardless of expansion, er market conditions. As I've opined before, the number of quality offerings seems even to be dipping as some enfranchised, potential sellers (those most likely to own good product), abort (such is the case for my Craftsman duplex on 40th Pl.) or postpone listings.

To Be Continued.....
Reminder, I've an open tomorrow at 2361 W. 20th St. from 2 - 5 pm.