New Listing - Two Story, 2 bedrooms in Prime Silver Lake

Terrific Silver Lake starter home. This classic two-story, 2 bedroom 2 bath home awaits your decorator’s touch. Formal living room and dining room, with original 1921 built-in, a floral-covered pergola and patio, and lovely landscaped yard highlight this home. Elevated above the street on a street-to-street lot. Located in the heart of Silver Lake, close to all that this exciting neighborhood has to offer. Property is commercially zoned (buyer to investigate). For more photos and a downloadable flyer Visit: www.1108westerlyterrace.com
Listed for $499,000

How to convert a garage…

In today’s lending environment a great large number of loans are denied because of garage conversions that don’t past appraiser's muster. It used to be that no one cared whether or not a garage had been converted. It was seen as value added. But now, as banks become more conservative, underwriters are reticent to approve loans for homes where a garages may be used for other purposes. Mainly the red flag goes up when things like plumbing and kitchens are installed in garages. It makes appraisers and underwriters squeamish when additional “living space” is bootlegged into a property.

But let’s face it, here in Southern California many, many people’s cars never see the inside of their garages, and garages often become the family storage locker. Some homeowners, in an effort to create extra space, succeed in adding the much needed office, sauna, or bathroom. However, when it comes time to sell they find that the investment in their property pays no dividends. In fact, they may end up paying more by having to undo their project and restore the garage to its former state.

By contrast, some homeowners get it right. My clients Jeff and Frank who I helped purchase this gorgeous 1930 Spanish, recently completed a brilliant conversion on their detached 2-car garage. 

Frank is a Pilates instructor and massage therapist. It has been his dream to have an in home studio where he can teach, workout with Jeff, and treat clients. They called me a few months after moving in and asked my opinion on how they could convert the space while not jeopardizing a possible future sale.

What I basically told them was: to make sure that whatever you do never takes away from the functionality of the space as a garage. Don’t get too ambitious and add a bathroom or anything that will make it look like living space. Leave the garage opening available. Even if you remove the garage door, do yourself a favor and make it easy to pop a garage door back on when it comes time to sell.

Granted, I don’t think they will be moving from this great home anytime soon, but they have certainly avoided any future headaches.

Here is the how the garage looked when they purchased the house:

Inside, they installed drywall and enclosed an area that still serves as storage for yard and garden tools,

and hid it behind a mirrored wall.

And in what I think is a great choice, they hung the ceiling leaving a portion of the support beams exposed instead of covering the entire ceiling with sheetrock.

They added handsome sconces on the walls by Troy Lighting. On the floors they laid a rubber gym surface that comes in four foot rolls, made by RB Rubber from Linoleum City. It’s a great surface for their Pilates equipment.

Frank and Jeff removed the old solid wood door and replaced it with Marvin glass sliders from Benchmark in Culver City. The wood accents around the doorway are Oak with Mexican-style “clavos” for effect. They “hatchet-distressed” the fir lintel beam to give it some age. The lantern above the door is made by Artistic Lighting and Designs. All lighting was purchased through Capital Lighting and Wholesale Supply in Culver City.


They now have a terrific Pilates/massage studio/home gym. It is still essentially their garage, but as you can see it’s a hell of a lot more.

Just how low are interest rates?

Pretty Damn low. Check out this graph:



Via www.mortgage-x.com

If we just compare rates in June of this year to the present we find a drop off of .37% on a 30-year fixed mortgage, while 15-year fixed loans are .38% lower.

On a $500,000 loan, that amounts to a savings of about $1,900 per year.

Great New Condo Listing - 938 Palm Avenue #10, West Hollywood

Terrific price, spectacular location for this stunning West Hollywood condo. Two bedroom, 2 bath second floor unit in small pool building in the heart of prime WeHo, north of Santa Monica Blvd. Features include: open floor plan with newer Australian Merbau hardwood floors, designer kitchen with stainless steel appliances, 4 skylights, enormous master bedroom suite with Jacuzzi tub, and spacious closet, in-unit laundry, large dining room, recessed lighting, 2 side by side parking spaces and additional storage locker, building boasts a lovely, private pool area. No need to drive anywhere, this great home is walking distance to great shops, restaurants, bars, and grocery stores.

Listed For $485,000

Click here to see the video tour

Click Here for the virtual tour

90 Day Flip Rule Waived - Good News For Homebuyers and Investors

In an effort to stimulate more sales and stabilize the real estate market the Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD, has waived the "90-day flip rule."

The rule was put in place to protect buyers from predatory speculators who would purchase properties on the cheap, make low cost cosmetic repairs, and place the houses back on the market in an effort to pull a large profit. Many innocent buyers were left with substandard homes, and little recourse to the mitigating of damages. HUD, which oversees the FHA government insured mortgage program has not allowed FHA financing for homes that seller have owned for less than 90 days.

That rule will now be waived for the next year. Effective February 1, 2010 any buyer acquiring financing with an FHA mortgage can purchase any property regardless of how long it has been owned by the seller. This change will allow many buyers, a lot of them first-timers, to choose from the entire inventory of available homes. It will also allow many investors to quickly turn around rehabbed properties, and get them sold. The safeguard from the scumbags out there, of course will be your licensed REALTOR! Choose wisely.

The effect this will have may help stabilize pricing and create more activity in the housing market. Another potential result will be to revitalize blighted neighborhoods in areas where vacant properties are rampant.

See the press release from HUD here