Sunday, January 31, 2010

East to West, New Construction is the Best? (Pt. 2)

Our prior post focused on some "ripening" new construction in WeHo West, which is seeing modest price cuts after several months on the market. Today we head east to look at a similar situation, with a building listing units around the same time (May 2009) as the prior example.

Really, there are similar situations throughout Weho, these are just some of the most glaring examples.

925 N. Genesee Ave.

Listed: May 2009
# Units in Building: 4
# Units Sold: 0
Unit Types: 2BR / 2.5BA condos
Unit Sizes: 1900 - 2300 sq ft
Original List Prices: $1,269,000 - $1,299,000
Price Reductions?: Yes, $150-250k/unit


They've gone all-out with the descriptions on these. Each unit has its own name:

#1 - "The Splendid Architectural." A vision of open spaces & hi ceilings w/ intimate levels of purist design, comfort & warmth. The residence features floor-ceiling windows, a front porch w/ street access, glass encased balconies, a wd burning fp, grand closets, wine cooler & remote monitoring for ultimate safety. This exciting architectural is a blank canvas for the passionate at heart. Wired for surround snd, HD TV & satellite. Custom Bauformat Kuchen kitchen & Bosch SS Appl's. Open Sa/Su 1-4pm.

#2 - "The Ultimate Home." Space, space & more space. This magnificent residence provides the ultimate comfort in modern architecture. Formal dining/den, a lrg mezzanine & a lrg priv back yard w/ 40'yard for pet lovers & outdoor enthusiasts. This residence features a large master bedroom with breakfast area and walk-in closets. Safety, large spaces and great outdoors make this residence a great home. Custom German designed Bauformat Kuchen kitchens, Bosch appliances and much more! Open Sa/Su 1-4pm.

#3 - "The Holly Views." The entertainer's dream. A master design in luxury & comfort. Featuring an outdoor gazebo/deck w/ wd flring & breath taking vw of LA - the Hwood sign & downtown to the west side. This dream residence has a 40' balcony facing the Hwood sign above lush green Maple trees. Wired for sound, HD television & satellite is the entertainer~s paradise. Walk from your mstr bdr to the gazebo, be inspired by the magnificent vws. Bosch SS appl's, custom German design kitchen. Open Sa/Su 1-4pm.

#4 - "The Light House." Atop all buildings, this lrg residence is the perfect window to the great CA Sunset. Facing west, this elegant residence feats a lrg wd deck w/ a 270 degree vw of the city. Formal DR, glass stairs & a state of the art German Bauformat Kuchen kitchen complement this spacious residence w/ warm sunlight & amazing vws. A lrg master w/ bfast area overlooking the Hollywood Hills is one of the many features that makes this residence a place for relaxation & inspiration. Open Sa/Su 1-4.

Similar analysis as to the last property we reviewed. The price per square foot is "reasonable" at first glance (high $400s to low $600s), but these are outsized spaces.

That said, the finishings do appear to be very nice, and each unit seems to be designed to be light & bright, which can be a huge attraction vs. many of the tightly laid out, dark condos out there.

However, even with the price reductions off original list (by the way, two of the units' most recent reductions were this weekend, in the amounts of $50-100k; the other two haven't reduced since September), it probably won't be enough to find buyers. Sellers are going to have to realize that the "magic" price point of $1mm equating to "affordable" for a small SFR or large condo (aka glorified apartment) is a thing of the past. Even with rates low, the monthly nut here is huge.

On a related topic, I just had a conversation with a friend about some of our acquaintances who "make a lot of money" but are essentially living paycheck to paycheck.

I'll keep sounding like a broken record here: yes, there are people in LA (as with any city) making a lot of money. Many of them even save some of it, although I think you'll find that most (broad-generalization-with-many-grains-of-truth alert) don't. In times where 0-5% down got you into a place, having no savings mattered little. Now? Properties like this require some real scratch - $200k+ - at the outset. No doubt that severely limits the number of buyers.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

The East side of West Hollywood is an odd duck. It's as safe as the West side from a crime standpoint--if not a bit safer thanks to the lesser amount of nightclub business--but it's not as walkable and, as the picture on this post demonstrates, it's frumpy. Look at the buildings on each side. One of them is a dingbat and the other is just a vin ordinaire old building probably with small spaces and relatively cheap rents occupied by the never-moving rent control crowd. There's nothing objectively wrong with this environment but it's not going to fit in with the lifestyle pretensions of somebody who is spending a cool million for a large-ish urban residence. The large spaces are great, but to induce someone with means to move onto this block you've got to make it seem like a "deal." I think they'll need to be pulled down to $850K or so.

flaminia.

desi said...

so true what anonymous says about the area....people are dumb but they're not that dumb to but down 1.2 million for the frumpy local.

who comes up with these idea?

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Bubblewatcher said...

My curiosity at this point has to do with the impact all of this overdevelopment has had on the sale-ability of condos generally around WeHo, and whether or not we'll have some serious political fallout -- at the very least maybe some actual turnout for city council elections? I would love to see that, but I won't hold my breath!

FYI -- I've got an update on 1345 N. Hayworth #204, mentioned in a previous post -- it sold a month or so ago for $416,000, or $6,000 more than it was purchased for in 2005. And that was after very extensive renovations. On balance, the owner lost money. The 2 bedroom in the same building that was the original subject of that post has been withdrawn from the market, apparently.

Desi said...

has anyone seen the monolithic libray structure going up on san vicente?....indeed maybe all the overdevelopement in this small town will finally catch our lazy voters attention and make some changes on the City Council.

Full Disclosure said...

Current MLS shows 194 condos for sale in West Hollywood "Vicinity" (which includes some just outside city's actual borders). Of these, 49 are either looking for backup or pending. That seems OK...until you realize the 31 loft units at 901 Hancock & Santa Monica Blvd. (finished last summer) do NOT appear in the MLS. And did all 12 "Habitat on the Park" units at 1351 N. Havenhurst already sell? Don't see many lights there at night.

Shadow inventory, anyone?

Full Disclosure said...

Also noticed that for the 49 current offers on condos, 30 were on those asking <$500K (the 40 other units in this price range don't have an offer yet) while 19 offers were on those asking >$500K -- with 105 in this higher range still without an offer. Not a good situation for those higher-priced properties.

Bubblewatcher said...

Also noticed that for the 49 current offers on condos, 30 were on those asking <$500K
I'd venture to guess that's because it's considerably easier to get a conforming loan these days (rather than the other kind). And because the phrase "I just blew a half a million bucks on a condo in West Hollywood" is beginning to sound kind of silly.

Desi said...

3/4 of the "looking for backup" are bogus....you'll see them come back on the market in 30 days.

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Anonymous said...

IS THIS BLOG DEAD? I HOPE NOT......

Anonymous said...

There is nothing happening on this blog since January. This blog is dead. Many of these blogs are dying because what we were waiting to happen happened: Prices came down. But the time to buy was last year. Today prices are higher than they were a year ago. Wait until next year, and they will be higher still. The country is easing out of the Great Recession.

So long all.

Anonymous said...

Dream on, little realtor troll. Prices are up so much that they're down a solid $100K per property in my 90046 West Hollywood neighborhood. But I'm more interested in Silverlake and Los Feliz nowadays and, yep, they're down there too. It's too bad this blog is dead but delusional realtors and speculators aren't yet.

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