Details: 2 bed/1 bath 1,296 sq ft house on a 8,350 sq ft lot
Description: Charming California Spanish cottage in the best location in Santa Monica. Walk to Montana shopping area. Could be redone beautifully. Large yard with mature fruit trees.
Previous Purchase: 2/27/04 - $1,485,000
Listing History: 2/5/12 - $1,295,000
Before we go into anything, it is probably worth knowing that this house is the middle house of three consecutive properties which were all owned by one family. The house to the north of this one was rebuilt and is still owned by the family. This middle one has been rented out over the years. The one just south of this one is 933 25th which is the ugly spec house that has been in some stage of foreclosure for some time. The owners of these three properties sold the lot at 933 25th for $1.52mm back in March 2006. So as of right now, the sellers of this house own this one and the one to the north.
All that is important because we can look at this family's original purchase of 933 25th as a good comp. They bought 933 25th in December 2003 for $1,385,000. I am not sure, but you might be able to argue that since it was the same buyer for all three of these houses, they may have been willing to pay more than market price to secure three consecutive lots.
Any way you slice it, the current asking price of $1.3mm would represent a rollback well into 2003. That is much deeper than almost any rollback I have seen in this area. And this property is in a prime location on a nice big lot, just begging for someone to develop it or come do a major remodel. Remember, the actual house here is basically worthless, its the land that matters.
Compare this bargain asking price of $1.3mm to the property at 2919 Washington which I just featured. 2919 Washington is on just a 6,000 sq ft lot and was asking $1.325mm and went into escrow quickly. I would argue this location here is at least as good and this lot is materially larger, which is really important because it boosts the square footage you can build.
I will be very surprised if this sells for asking or below. I think the sellers are being smart and listing at a very attractive price and I'm sure they will have a number of bidders who will have to pay well above list price to get this property. Let the multiple offers fly!
"Boosts the square footage you can build"...ugh!
ReplyDeleteSo nice to see you doing anonymous postings again. Why the change of heart?
DeleteYou may not like that but its the reality. With land worth so much it seems almost anyone building is looking to generally maximize square footage.
ReplyDeleteUgh is right!! we have an overbuilt monster house right next door to us on the market now for $4,495,000 again on 25th. Street...UGH!!!
ReplyDeletehey warchest,
ReplyDeletethe highly educated and respected high school science teacher is calling you a realtor. You cannot let that stand. Of course if you call him a permabear, or idiot, or any other fitting name, you will be banned. He also severely moderates comments, so if you blast him (even without name-calling) he probably won't post it. Maybe you should post a reply on your blog.
That guy is showing his lack of knowledge about not only the market but those who like to opine on it (me). I have stated many times that I am not a real estate agent and that I don't work in any real estate related field. Nor have I ever worked in real estate. I added this info to my profile so that anyone who checks will know as well.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest irony is that he himself is a former real estate agent. So somehow by taking a more positive view on the market I MUST somehow be selling something and I MUST be an agent.
The fact that I'm getting called a realtor for being more upbeat is bullish in my opinion. And the fact that calling someone a realtor is supposed to be some type of insult is also bullish. The more hatred for real estate I see the more enthusiastic I am.
Oh and I was totally laughing at some of his great bullet points about how the evidence shows I am a realtor. Check this one out:
ReplyDelete"3) MLS photos are a dead giveaway that you are an agent. Who else might have MLS photos, besides a real estate agent."
Uh, anyone can access guests.themls.com
Or how about this beauty:
"4) There are no ads on your website. Most bloggers have some type of ads that compensate them minimally for the work they do. And believe me, when I say minimal it is minimal."
Yeah I have Google adsense on the side of my blog and have had it for years. Is this guy even looking at anything?
You don't have much credibility when you can't tell whether a blog has ads on them or not and when you don't know about the public MLS website...copy/paste for photos isn't hard.
he is a perfect example of a broken clock being right once in a while. Just like the economists who have called 9 of the last 5 recessions.
ReplyDeleteI especially liked his opinion that your name was strategically chosen to lure deep pocket buyers, who apparently do google searches for "realtors to help them spend their war chests".
ReplyDeleteWarchest,
ReplyDeleteThanks for re-energizing your blog.
I will be visiting quite frequently. I know you will provide a forum for reasonable people to discuss the real estate market in Santa Monica.
Please be careful to remove posts from trolls quickly.
If you attract too many trolls please consider going to a format that allows anon posts but that requires them to be approved by you before they appear on the site
"Please be careful"
ReplyDeleteIn the words of Walter White -- I AM THE ONE WHO KNOCKS!
Bring it.
This pricing is interesting--are they trying for multiple offers, as did 838 25th--up a block towards Montana (discount for being too close to the school) in March 2010? That sold for almost 200k over asking: listed at 1,195k, it sold for 1,385k. OR has the market softened?
ReplyDeleteWarChestSM - Let's see how "dead right" your prediction is about it being a good time to buy this particular house. After closing costs, maintenance and taxes, this house will be worth less and digging itself a hole, compared to renting it for say $5500 per month through September 1st, 2013. After the election, the other shoe drops and by the end of next summer (2013), it will be evident this is just another headfake.
ReplyDeleteBusy Cloverfield in SM 90405 appears to have its ardent admirers. Dark-floored, flipped 2509 Cloverfield, subject of your 12/11/11 post, has sold for $1,020K -- only two months after being listed for $1,039K (and previously bought in 7/11 for $755K). I'd say monied people who want SM are certainly buying and the deals are going through rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteWarchest,
ReplyDeletethis is your blog, and I trust you to set topics of discussion that are interesting to all of us.
One thing that I find very interesting is the narrowing in the price differential between land north of montana and land south of montana.
By this I mean if you look at at typical South of Montana single family house street and compare it to a normal north of montana single family house location (perhaps 16th street, which is not busy and has 7500 sq feet lots) there used to be a huge price difference in the land
Today it seems the price difference between a 7500 sq foot lot North of Montana and south of montana in a single family home area is not that great
What do you attribute this narrowing to ?
Warchest, another topic I find very interesting that I would ask you to consider for future threads is, for those of us that absolutely love the Santa Monica primary schools but that are not 100% sold on Santa Monica High, and want public schools for our children, where do we move?
ReplyDeleteSome people will move right before middle school starts, others start right before high school starts
I know Santa Monica expatriates that moved to Calabasas for the public schools. Others that moved to Manhattan Beach for the public schools
Again, Warchest this is a blog about Santa Monica and like almost everyone here I want to live in Santa Monica as long as I can since for primary school age kids I am certain Santa Monica is best. But if there is interest in the topic let's discuss the next step after Santa Monica
(by the way I plan to return to Santa Monica after my kids are done with high school and all in college)
If you are in a position to concern yourself with small relative changes in lot value between north and south of Montana then you should be able to suck it up and afford private school without any problem if you don't want to send your kid to the public high school. We talked about schools before and it gets ugly and I think it is a distraction from the real estate market. The subject may be better suited for a blog which is run by a teacher.
ReplyDeleteTell us more about yourself WarChestSM. I don't see your profile anywhere on this blog. Only an email address. What exactly makes you so wise about the Santa Monica real estate market?
ReplyDeleteYou can click on my name and see my profile. I'm not too concerned with giving a bunch of info. I don't work in any real estate related business, nor have I ever. I grew up here in Santa Monica and still live here. Following real estate is a hobby of mine. I make no claims about being wise, qualified, etc. I try to follow the market closely and I at times give my opinion on specific properties and the market.
ReplyDeleteWarchest
ReplyDeleteI like and respect your blog. I also like and respect latesummer's blog. I am very interested in both blogs. Latesummer has banned you from his blog. Latesummer has also said some not so polite things about you on his blog.
I am looking for two separate unique discussions to go on - one on your blog and one on his blog
I respectfully request that since you are forbidden to post on Latesummer's blog that you and he consider an arrangement where he does not post here.
I would hate to see the level of emotion rise on this blog. the more emotional people get the less rational they are
Don't be a drama queen. Nobody has banned anyone from anything. Someone took their link to this blog down from theirs. BFD. Move on.
ReplyDelete"What exactly makes you so wise about the Santa Monica real estate market?"
ReplyDeleteYou should answer the same question latesummer. You should also give some details about your involvement in real estate, aside from being a "former realtor" (oh the irony). Have you ever owned real estate? or did you watch the train leave the station in the mid 90s and slowly realize your chances of ever owning real estate were gone, and now you're simply a permabear?