Sky's Sexy East Side Listing: Glassell Park Immaculate Remodeled 3+2.

Here is my beautiful new listing in up and coming Glassell Park. This neighborhood is right across the river from Silver Lake and very centrally located on the East side of LA. Glassell Park is less than 10 minutes to Downtown LA, Eagle Rock, Glendale, Pasadena and Echo Park. Many folks who want Silver Lake but don't want to spend $750k for a 2 bedroom are moving in. Glassell Park has a great recreation center up the street with a heated saltwater pool that costs $2 with a library card. This property is also walking distance to the Verdugo Bar, a hip place that serves craft beers and goes gangbusters with their outdoor beer garden during Oktoberfest.

This is a totally rehabbed 1243 square foot three bedroom two full bathroom tradtional home with a big deck. The house was completely gutted, ripped down to the studs and immaculately remodeled. Listing price is $379,187. The kitchen is among the best I've seen all year. Now I'll let the pictures do some talking.

From the street the property looks large and imposing. It's more of a compound than a house.

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 2

Bathroom 1

Epic Kitchen!

Dining Room

Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Living Room

Deck and French Doors into Dining Room

Three outdoor parking spaces in addition to garage

To see inside contact Sky Minor at 310-709-8283. Stay classy, LA.

Lower Price! Hip Highland Park Bungalow. Remodeled 2+2 for 297k

New Listing: Hip Highland Park Bungalow. Remodeled 2+2 in the hills of HLP for 297k

I love this job. Sometimes I get to sell houses that I really like and would buy myself.

6162 Strickland Ave. Highland Park CA 90042

It makes it so much fun to move properties that you enjoy. This new listing I have in myNELA home turf is one such property. It is a house in my neighborhood that is rehabbed well and is a bargain to boot. This is a great deal for a first time buyer. Freshly remodeled bungalow in the hills of Highland Park done right: Two Bedrooms, Two bathrooms. Big deck with amazing south facing views. Huge back yard that is both terraced and flat. Low water eco-minded landscaping, indoor laundry, Garage you can actually park a car in. On a quiet street with mostly rehabbed houses in super trendy Highland Park (HLP),this bungalow is well priced at $319,ooo. It is a compact house, but it is intelligently designed and super efficient. If Ikea can do a 400 square foot house, this one has room to spare. The property is centrally located: Five minutes from Pasadena, 10 minutes from Downtown LA and a 15 minute walk to the Gold Line. If you don't know about what's going on up in Highland Park yet, call me and I'll show you around.

When you stop to do the math on this house, it becomes apparent that buying it is actually cheap than renting it. With a 20% down payment the monthly payment on this house including everything (property tax, insurance) is $1505. You can't rent a 2 bedroom house in the hills of Highland Park for that, and if you find a place it probably wont be as sexy as this one. Even with a minimal FHA down payment of 3.5% (only $10400) the monthly payments are just a bit over $1900. That's not a lot to pay own your own house in an up and coming area like HLP. Smart money.

For a showing, contact Sky Minor your favorite East side broker.

Real Estate Porn in the Hollywood Hills

I was out previewing properties with my protege in training Brandon in the Hollywood Hills yesterday and we came across the most beautiful modern home I think I have ever been inside. It is at 5699 Holly Oak Dr. in the 90068. Listed at $1.99m this 3+2 house is every bit the stunning modern architectural triumph. LA has quite a few breathtaking mid century modern homes and this is perhaps one of the finest specimens around. I'll quit yapping and let the pictures do the talking. For more information about this property contact Sky Minor at 310-709-8283

Want to know about how much mortgage you'd qualify for? Divide your gross salary by 0.2. That's it!

Now that interest rates are below 4% for a 30 year fixed mortgage, my phone seems to be ringing off the hook with people who want to see how much mortgage they can qualify for and how much house they can buy. (I know it's a recession, but in Los Angeles alot of people still have work). Always being a fan of brevity, I came up with this ultra simple mortgage qualification tool. It is only two steps:

1. Determine your household gross income if salaried or adjusted gross income if self-employed/business owner. (Line 37 on tax returns)

2. Divide this number by 0.2

The result is about how much mortgage you could qualify for at 4% interest. Now this is different (lower) than how much house you can afford because you will need to combine this mortgage money with a down payment-either 20% for conventional loans or as little as 3.5% for FHA.

Let's do an example: Joe and Jane Homelookers want to buy a house in Eagle Rock. Joe earns $95,000 salary at the widget factory and Jane has a cookie baking company with net income of $35,000 per year. Their combined household income is $130,000. Can they afford that gorgeous craftsman bungalow for $600,000?

130000\0.2 = $650,000. They can afford it. Let's write the offer up.

A review that made me blush.

My lovely clients occasionally Yelp me good reviews. For some reason Yelp does not post most of these reviews (possibly because I do not pay them), so no one sees them including me. Occasionally, I'll go through the two step security process to look at the filtered reviews and check if there is anything new. Today I did and I found this gem from a recent buyer in Atwater:

Filtered Reviews for Preferred Realty and Loan

Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.

• 0friends
• 25reviews

• Tyler P.

Los Angeles, CA

7/21/2011

No one likes long Yelp reviews right?
I'll make it simple: if you're even THINKING about buying a house (especially on the East Side), give Sky a call. Just do it... thank me later.
If you have more time to read specifics, however...

Pros (in order of importance):

-Sky likes a good bargain (being active in real estate himself)... and that translates very well with investment savvy clients like myself. This is incredibly important. A lot of agents (95% of them) won't go the extra mile and take the risk and submit an offer for a dangerously low price because it means less commission for them, and it could cost them the deal. They'd rather just make excuses as to why the house is "worth" the ask price and not make an effort. Not so with Sky... he'll go to bat for you and has a talent for throwing around ball park numbers with the seller's agent to find out where the absolute floor is, ie where you're almost spitting in the seller's face. Sounds crude, but that's all potentially future money you'll be paying out of YOUR paycheck, right? We ended up taking 15% off the ask price after several negotiations, which is pretty good.

-Seems like the guy genuinely enjoys his job, and that he's done pretty well in real estate himself (owns multiple units), so there is a readily apparent feeling of "doing it for fun" that goes a long way towards not making you feel pressured to do anything you don't feel like doing because he's likely not THAT dependent on the commission. He's also genuinely fun to be around and has a redeeming sense of humor, not like other stuffy agents.

-A "knock your door down" professional across all levels. Half the time, my wife and I were done for the day, but he always had more suggestions to go look at. Even though we ultimately bought one of the first houses we saw, there were a few that we saw in the later stages that that very well could have been veritable backups had our primary fallen through. That means a lot to a buyer, to have options.

-Supremely more tech savvy than any other agent (which is important... up to the minute automatic updates on market moves and new listings in your exact desired market, and lightning fast with emails).

-Knows the market unbelievably well (I mean, laughably well... ie pointing out new trends in housing, and several houses that were done by same developer that look 100% alike, even though 10+ miles apart)

-Last but not least, free lunch 8)

Cons:

-None. Absolutely none.

I would advise you call him soon, though, because his weekends are starting to fill up.

-----

Many thanks to my buyers Ty + Pia for the Morel Orel Tshirt and for

being good sports while I drug them around to so many houses.

See you guys at Hugos Tacos!

Thanks!!

Mt. Washington-Mid Century home amidst the urban forest. 3581 Division St. 90065

9% Price drop! Now listed at $399,000!!

Mount Washington is a unique place. The hilly area in Los Angeles North of Silver Lake and South of Eagle Rock is a mecca for Yogis, Midwives, Outdoors Types, Old Hippies and generally progressive and intelligent people. Mount Washington has a zen like quality that draws people to it who never leave. There is a stillness, a universal calm in the air around Mount Washington that is indescribable here on a blog, one needs to experience it for themselves. Few places in this urban jungle of Los Angeles exist where people can be alone in a silent natural setting above and away from the noisy city life. This area reminds me of the forest moon Endor from Return Of The Jedi. Large trees, lush green hillsides and quiet serenity-and it's only a 15

minute drive to downtown Los Angeles or Pasadena and 10 minutes to Silver Lake or Glendale.

3581 Division st. is my new listing in this neighborhood. It is a well cared for mid century modern that is a standard sale. No waiting for short sales or dealing with the "REO mafia" bank foreclosures. This home is ready to move in.

The property was recently remodeled and features a new kitchen with gorgeous dark wood

cabinets and granite countertops+backsplashes.

There is a luxurious formal dining room which is rare for the area. The dining room has French Doors that lead to an outdoor living/dining area. The celebrity restaurateur selling this property had to make sure that his dinner guests would be well taken care of and the dining room is a focal point of the home.

The home has two bedrooms and one full bath above and a seperate in-law quarters below with a 3/4 bath and another bedroom area with storage. Additionally the house has a two car garage and street parking is never a problem in this quiet neighborhood.

Behind the house the terraced yard is a tranquil zen garden, ideal for an urban gardening project or a hiking enthusiast.

The house is beautiful throughout and shows very well. For an appointment to see inside 3581 Division st., contact Sky Minor at 310-709-8283. Listing Price $399,000.