1351 Columbia Drive, Glendale—$899,000

June 29, 2008

Price Update:
$999,000 (3/21/08)
$949,000 (4/15/08)
$899,000 (6/5/08)

MLS#: 08-264923 This 3/4 house in the Adams Hill area of Glendale was a great way to end our day of open housing. We were actually pleasantly surprised, which is very hard to do. The house was originally built in 1924 as a teeny tiny 700 sq. ft. house. It was purchased 10 years ago and blossomed into a three floor comfortable home that any growing family would be lucky to own.

As we entered, after 25 or so steps (NOT good with groceries, & a baby stroller...AND a baby), there was a family/TV room, bathroom, and office.

Next floor up was a nice kitchen, another bathroom, and another living space.

Next floor up again were the bedrooms and a lovely master suite with a master bath, again with lovely views of the valley.

There were some changes I would make if we owned the house... it lacked character, mostly. But compared to the many over-priced duds I've seen in LA, this house was pretty much a "turn-key," "move-in ready" home.

419 Mesa Lila Road, Glendale—$929,000

5/1/09 UPDATE: Sold for $750,000 on Dec 10th, 2008

June 29, 2008

Price Update:
$929,000 (5/31/08)
$872,000 (6/30/08)

MLS#: 08-284417 This 3/2 house had a 1/1 guest house, and was located near Montrose in an area called Whiting Woods (we had never heard of it). It was the home of an artist, who unfortunately had passed away. Some of the artwork was displayed in the home. The home felt old and smelled old. Almost everything was in dire need of updating—kitchens, bathrooms, floors, etc... We LOVED the outdoor deck area. It reminded me of where I grew up in the midwest.

11694 Picturesque Dr, Studio City—$999,000

June 29, 2008

Price Update:
Price was increaed to $1.1M, that's $101,000 (or 10%) (on 7/20/08)

MLS#: 08-280807 There weren't any photos I could find online of the front of this 3/3, 2173 sq. ft. house, but it doesn't matter. The front of this charmless house wasn't anything great. It was at the end of a cul de sac on a thin road in the hills of Studio City.
Let's just be kind and say this house wasn't in our taste. Was it the roman columns in the formal dining room? (strangely no photo was available for this either). Was it the dark, shiny wood... everything? There were a few balconies, I think, which had lovely views of the empty concrete LA "River".

My favorite part was the back "yard", which was a vast multi-terraced exhibition space. My hubby and I joked we would buy it just to hold weddings here. The ceremony would be in the flat, paved large area, room for 200 chairs, which could later be moved for dining and dancing, and the cocktail hour could be held in the first photo, which is a loungey-looking area. However, grandma and grandpa probably couldn't make it up the steep 25 steps or so up there. And probably not a good idea to try to climb down after drinking four cosmos in 4" stiletto heels.

11740 Sunshine Terrace, Studio City—$869,000

June 29, 2008

Price Update:
$849,000 (7/23/08)

MLS#: 08-288761 Even though this is only a 2/1, 1169 sq. ft. home, we thought we'd take a look at it anyway. Years ago we saw a house on this street that we loved. At the time it was out of our price range (it still is). But this definitely felt like a 2 bedroom home. Actually, we figure it's about the same size as our 2/2 rental apartment right now (not a good thing).

The living room was fairly average. It had a fireplace that looked like it hadn't been used in years.







The focal point of this house was the kitchen. The lady of the open house said it had top of the line everything, including a wine fridge. As great as this kitchen was, was as deplorable as the bathroom was. Dis.gus.ting. It looked like it hadn't been updated since the 1930s, which is fine, except the shower looked like it hadn't been cleaned since WWII.



The backyard was okay. It had two layers/landings—one upper and one lower. A next door neighbor had a nice water fountain you could hear. But it wasn't loud enough to drown out the air conditioner from the other neighbor. The old terracotta paving stones need to be replaced.

10435 CORFU LANE., BEL AIR—$989,000

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Price history:
$1,195,000
$1,145,000
$989,000
$949,000

MLS#: 08-287257 We were intrigued with this 3/2, 1443 sq.ft. house with the outdoor area and plethora of trees. It was built in the 1930s as a 2-bedroom, and somewhere along the way, someone stuck a bed into the den and it was "converted" into a 3-bedroom.


This third bedroom is now the master. However, there is no master bath or any closets! But, there is a fireplace, which makes me believe this used to be the sitting room/den back when it was a 2-bedroom weekend wooden shack.




The kitchen is straight out of Main Street Disneyland. To do laundry, you're going to step outdoors to the left of the eating table, under a dirty awning.


The living room was nice and filled with light.








The side/back outdoor area would be absolutely stunning with the right landscaping.







The two bathrooms...ugh...they both can only be entered from bedrooms. One is BRIGHT RED! with a teeny tiny sink and an impractical bathtub. The other has only a shower (no tub) and no shower curtain.





Overall, we liked the house, but think it's terribly overpriced. We're look forward to seeing where the price goes from here. Curiously, there is a 3/2 house across the street, with more sq. footage, for $144,000 LESS than this house (listed at $845,000).

Intro

Sunday, June 29, 2008

This blog/database, is something I've been meaning to do for a long time. My hubby and I have been looking for our first home to buy in LA for what seems like decades (we're in our mid-30s). We've gone to probably over 100 open houses and I've only now thought to keep a log of them all. Let's get up to speed.

Years ago we started our search in Altadena. Since then, our searches have brought us to Sherman Oaks, Studio City, mid-Wilshire, Glendale, Encino, old lovely homes off Venice Blvd., Laurel Canyon, a bad moment in No. Hollywood, "Beverly Hills" (which we can't afford), and "Bel Air" (which we also can't afford).

We're looking for a minimum 3-bedroom house, trees, outdoor space, and NO POOL. Why are there so many pools?!