Sold on 10/23/2009 - $885,000 ($4,900 below an asking price that had been in place for five months)
Seller, I owe you an apology. After reducing the price a few hundred thousand dollars, you decided to stick to your guns. Apparently you were spot on with that final asking price, and your patience and bullheaded determination that a greater fool would come along paid off. Well done.
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Yo, is that rooftop dish from the Millennium Falcon?
1041 E Amelia Dr
Long Beach, CA 90807
Price: $899,900
Beds: 4
Baths: 3.5
Sq. Ft.: 3,019
$/Sq. Ft.: $298
Lot Size: 10,880 Sq. Ft.
Year Built: 1951
MLS#: P681979
On Redfin: 384 days
Down Payment: $180,000
Income Requirement: $257,000
Monthly Nut: $5,400
Description: Price reduced another $100,000! Extensively remodeled in 2000, the 4bd, 3.5bath, pool home is an entertainer's dream. Large formal living room with bay window. Formal dining room. Large gourmet kitchen with granite counters, stainless steel appliances, cherrywood cabinets, walk-in pantry with travertine marble floors. Large Great Room with fireplace overlooking salt water pool and spa with pebblecoating and 3 relaxing waterfalls. Master suite as two large walk-in closets and French doors that open to pool area. Master bath has seperate soaking tub and shower with marble double sink vanity. 2 large gallery hallways to exhibit art collection. Home and backyard wired for sound system. Backyard landscaped in Southwest style with drought tolerant plants. Private meditation area with soothing fountain. 4th bedroom is currently used as workout room. 3 car attached garage with seperate work room. Copper plumbing and updated electrical. This home is light,bright, yet very private.
"seperate"? Twice?
The growing trend of realtors misspelling that word is getting out of hand. Oh well, it's only been on the market for 384 days--cut the guy some slack.
And have you noticed that the longer and more flowery the listing description, the more likely the seller is to be languishing on the market?
I mean, this guy seems exceedingly impressed with his house. If you're so goddamn enthralled with the thing, then why are you selling it? Seems to me this "entertainer's dream" (or at least your idea of one) is something you'd want to keep.
I think this place is pretty nice, if a bit overdone.
And in some instances, quite average for a million dollar house.
And speaking of a million bucks, guess what you don't get for that kind of loot?
"Listing Price Excludes: Cat and mouse sculpture in backyard, washer and dryer"
Damn it, if I'm throwing down nearly seven figures I want that fucking cat and mouse sculpture! How dare you.
Photos of the garage always give me a chuckle. It's like including a shot of the toilet or laundry hookups--dude, we believe you! We don't need picture proof.
But the garage shot makes way more sense than a photo of your groceries:
WTF?
However, regardless of what faults we can find with this spot, you have to admit the pool is flat out AMAZING:
Yes, please.
But is it enough to justify asking $900,000--Oh, sorry...$899,900?
Well, the market has spoken. And the answer thus far has been a resounding, "HELL TO THE NO."
Seems to me this seller, rotting on the market for over a year, needs to visit his "private meditation area" and meditate on maybe, possibly, dropping the price another $100,000. And then another. And another until it sells.
This place was purchased for $290,000 in 1994, and there is no way in holy hell that $550,000 has been put into renovating it. And when you factor in the 15 years of equity, this seller should be in a position to cash in on some substantial bubble profits. So why the heck hasn't he dropped the price to compete with nearby listings and driven off into the sunset with his truckbed full of cash?
Say it with me:
D-E-L-U-S-I-O-N.
This guy seems to be too impressed with his own taste and preferences, and wholly unable to step back and think objectively about how much pure, unadulterated bubble equity he is losing every week he rots on the market. This is also known as getting high on your own supply.
Believe me, kitty, I know how you feel.
At this price you, that weird sculpture on the counter, and potetial buyers will be forced to look at the awkward way the crown molding meets the cabinet for YEARS. Poor things.
However, readers of the Long Beach Housing Blog (and those perusing the MLS, for that matter), can just write this seller off as yet another delusual Long Beach greedhead, and never have to think about this place again.
That was just somebody thinking that an $8000 tax break was worth putting $400000 of grandma's money on a house that would suck up half of their after tax income. That dude is going to be REALLY unhappy in about 3 years when they are pressured to sell and it's worth a lot less than they bought it for.
ReplyDeleteEl Bee and faithfil LBHB readers, What are your thoughts on Lake Elsinore? I realize it is not our beloved LBC, but the prices for some very nice homes are now in the $75-$100 per sf range and in the better areas of LE! I know that it can get hotter than Hades there at times, but if I only spend 200K on a nice home, there is plenty of money left over to buy solar panels that keep AC costs way down. I do not see this propped up joke of a real estate market in coastal so cal changing anytime soon and a $1,000/ mo mortgage for a nice home in a not so bad area with a view sounds more and more appealing. I would not really have a commute as I have a home office and we(me and the little woman) could always do the LBC whenever as we so desire. It almost sounds too good to be true, but I know that the IE is certainly not the coast. Having copius amounts of cash in the bank account sure does sound more appealing than an albatross like mortgage in a 50 year old bungalow or tract home at this point. I'd like to still eat steak and drink red wine when old age and retirement(if ever) finally rolls around. Interested in your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, places like Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Corona, Winchester, Riverside, Hemet, Perris, etc. have always been lower-cost alternatives to denser, coastal communities in SoCal. The trade-offs haven't changed in several decades. You get cheaper housing, but brutal commutes, more smog and hotter summers. Depending on where you are in the coastal plain, the schools can be better or worse (Inland schools are better than LAUSD, but worse than East Long Beach, Los Alamitos or HB, IMO).
ReplyDeleteIf raising kids and commuting aren't a concern, I'd suggest looking even further inland, where the dependent population is less of a tax burden. In Las Vegas, many homes are now selling for less than they cost to build, even if the land were free.