New listing-Eagle Rock turn key six units

2200-2212 Las Colinas Ave. Los Angeles CA 90041- Asking $1,175,000

My newest listing is one I would love to buy myself. This is a six unit apartment building well located in my beloved home town of Eagle Rock, CA 90041. Eagle Rock is the 2nd hottest neighborhood in the USA for 2014 according to Redfin and the buzz here is palpable. Buyers have been overbidding each other to snap up residential houses for years now and new restaurants and bars are opening seemingly every month. Eagle Rock and NELA in general are very hot real estate markets and prices are reflecting that.

 This property is near the intersections of Eagle Rock, Colorado and York. It is 4 blocks from Occidental College and within a mile of at least two dozen restaurants in Eagle Rock and Highland Park. All of NELA is very convenient to Downtown LA, Silver Lake, Pasadena and Glendale. With the reemergence of Downtown LA as a regional employment center NELA becomes an ideal city commuter neighborhood that still has rolling lush hills and quirky interesting houses. 

The property has had only had one owner. The family that built it has been living in it and managing it since 1947. They built it to last and lovingly cared for it. The kids who grew up here now have their own kids and have moved out of the area. The units were always well maintained and exceptionally clean. There are new windows on the rear side of the building, new flooring and dishwasher in the owners unit and a new sprinkler system. This is truly a turnkey property with no deferred maintenance. The tenants are friendly and many are long term on month to month leases. There are four one bedroom units at 2200-2208 Las Colinas and another studio unit and one large two bedroom unit at 2210-2212 Las Colinas totaling 4706 square feet of living area. Existing rental income is $5534 monthly. Asking price is $1,175,000 for more information contact Sky Minor.

Funny scam email.

Occasionally I still get an email scammer sniffing about my real estate site. Most of the time they are the typical Nigerian Prince scam or some variation thereof and I delete without a thought. Sometimes the messages are hilarious here's one I got today:

"Dear Agent of SkyMinor, Greetings, I would like to purchase (Address Omitted in Blog) 

for my husband Mr. Zac Efron, or, Prince Zac. Freeman Interiors of Philadelphia will refurbish and luxuriously decorate the entire home. Urban Plantscapes will do the landscape and gardening. Usedcars.com will send 2 fully loaded and fully insured vehicles with license plates and registration to the home. MY AGENTS WILL TRANSFER PAYMENT."

NELA market update

The first quarter of 2014 is done and prices in Eagle Rock, NELA and Los Angeles in General continue to climb as inventory decreases. This is economics 101, supply and demand. Right now there are many buyers competing over limited inventory so almost everything is getting multiple offers and selling over the asking price. The median single family home prices are over $600,000 in most areas of NELA, this is nearly back to the peak price level seen in 2007. Year over year NELA is up 34%. 

Many people ask me if this is another Real Estate Bubble. The major difference between that market and this one is that now about 1/3 of the properties are bought with all cash and lenders are very tight with underwriting guidelines demanding buyers show proof of income and have down payments. The previous bubble was largely influenced by easy credit-nearly anyone could get a no money down loan without having to prove their income. This time around the buyers can actually afford the houses they are overbidding on. The increasing prices are supported by strong demand from fundamentally stronger buyers.

The numbers for all of Los Angeles County confirm the boom:

In my neighborhood of Eagle Rock, the Median sales price is now back over $627,000.

The market is hot and appears to only get more competitive. Right now I have half a dozen buyers who cannot get an offer accepted because they keep getting beat by other desperate buyers. It's a jungle out there, dress accordingly. 

Real Estate Porn - Sowden House

Being a Realtor in Los Angeles is a great job if you are an architecture aficionado. LA has a rare combination of wealth and eccentricity and there are more strikingly original homes and structures here than any other place I've seen. There is no shortage of characters in this town with unconventional dreams and the financing to bring them to reality. The Sowden house in Los Feliz is a prime example of this phenomena. It was built in 1926 for John Sowden a Hollywood Lensman by Lloyd Wright. Sowden wanted a Mayan influenced theme and Wright delivered. 

The home has thousands of hand cast earth tone concrete blocks emblazoned with images water, clouds, the harvest, the heavens and the sun stacked on each other in homage to the ancient Mayan civilization.

 The courtyard is a overt reference to Mayan architecture, reminiscent of the temple at Sayil on the Yucutan. 

Complete with torches, elaborate gates and foliage the home looks like something Indiana Jones would adventure into. 

Over the years the house has been famous and infamous. It has been in dozens of Movies and TV shows including The Aviator and Americas Next Top Model. There have been some notable residents  Dr. George Hodel, LA playboy and believed to be the Black Dahlia Murderer once lived there. An excellent detailed history of the house is here. 

The house is currently on the market for $4.8m If you'd like to schedule a showing contact Sky Minor

Sky Minor Client Testimonials 2014 Edition

It's been a few years since I rounded up my customer reviews and put them in one place. I am so grateful to my former clients who take the time to write me reviews-thanks! I feel lucky to have a job that I really like, they say if you find a job you love you'll never work a day in your life. That is how I feel about being a Realtor. Thank you for your continued support!

"Thanks everybody!"

 In the past with my blog pages of combined reviews I've had difficulty with the coding. Sometimes the code does not correctly transfer from one place to another. So for this time I utilized the decidedly unsavvy technique of capturing screenshots and just pasting them here. It was a bit clumsy but ultimately effective so I'm happy. 

These are my reviews from Yelp. Yelp has an interesting policy whereby they don't publish the bulk of my positive reviews, 26 of them at the moment. They refer to these reviews as "not currently recommended". There are 26 that are not recommended, nine that are on display and four more from Zillow. Grand total 39 positive reviews. 

And here are the reviews that are displayed on my page on Yelp.

These reviews are from my profile on Zillow.

Classic Craftsman redux in Eagle Rock

1406 Hepner Ave. Los Angeles CA 90041 is my new listing in the 2nd hottest neighborhood in the USA,  Eagle Rock. I've lived in Eagle Rock myself since 2008 and perhaps my opinion is biased, but I would have to say it is one of my favorite places in LA. It has a lush hillside setting, dozens of great restaurants, amazing craftsman homes on every block and excellent schools. Eagle Rock is like a small quiet Americana town nestled amidst the foothills of bustling Los Angeles. This location is prime for the East Side. Five minutes to Pasadena or Glendale, 10 minutes to Downtown LA, Silver Lake or Burbank and 20 minutes to  Hollywood. 

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The house is a gorgeous craftsman specimen of a better time.  Originally built in 1911 everything has been completely remodeled with permits to bring out the original craftsman vibe mixed with 21st century amenities. Play in the expansive backyard or build a second house there-the lot is zoned for two. Garage has an attached workshop/man cave space. Three Bedrooms, two bathrooms. Asking Price is $689,000. Contact Sky Minor at 310-709-8283 for more information.