Kendyl's Open House

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Northwest Glendale Real Estate Hot Sheet

Click here for chart explanation and disclaimer

A little Disney fun for our Moving Day. Enjoy!

Last week, Thursday, Coldwell Banker announced that they are closing my office in La Canada. They made the same announcement in Old Pasadena and Encino. I am quite sure they will close more offices in the coming weeks, though not in this region.

Why? TImes are tough and corporate mentality in America is shockingly short sighted. While I vehemently disagree with the closing of my office, these closings will help to maintain the overall health of the organization. I can only hope, if I stay with Coldwell Banker, that their cuts have been bold enough to preserve services and quality for the offices and agents who remain.

Yes, I said, “If”. My history with Coldwell Banker goes to the previous generation and spans my entire adult life. To say I am company loyal is a bit of an understatement. Company loyal, but not blind. My business plan is to list homes in Glendale and help these sellers to buy in La Canada. Should I stay in La Canada to continue this plan? Is this still a valid business model?

The Coldwell Banker office in Glendale is the obvious choice for me. I love everything about that office, (ok, the parking? not so much, but nothing is perfect!) and the people are awesome. Should I stop my endless thinking and just go there?

If you have any thoughts for me on this subject, please comment. I would love to know what’s on your mind. If you are an office manager/agent trying to pontificate the merits of your office/company, please respect my blog and contact me directly.

Northwest Glendale Real Estate Hot Sheet

Click here for chart explanation and disclaimer

All is eerily, strangely, quiet.  844 Grant is a short sale property that finally (finally!) went into escrow.  Now they wait and hope that the bank will actualy close escrow with them.  Good luck!

The LA Times is gleefully reporting that everything is just terrible.  Prices down to 2004 levels, buyers are making aggressively low offers (yep, had one of those yesterday) and foreclosures are up, up, up!

All true.  (surprised you, didn’t I!)  However, it is not true for each individual home, buyer or micro area.  Northwest Glendale has certainly fallen in value, as a whole, but how far depends on how you look at the numbers.

The LA Times and the buyer’s agent who presented the really really low offer yesterday want to look at one month sales in ‘07 compared to the same month in ‘08.  If you read this blog, you know that we have had as few as 3 sales in a given month.  Just one of those sales can be really high or really low and completely whack the average.  If you look at it this way, our home values have fallen by 19% comparing May ‘07 to May ‘08.

It is no wonder that the buyer who tried to buy my seller’s home is completely paralyzed!  They want to buy a home, but they don’t need to buy a home and their agent and the mass media is telling them the sky has absolutely fallen and will continue to fall.  Similarly, the home they want to buy has a seller who wants to sell, but doesn’t need to sell.  This is like oil and water.  They don’t mix - they don’t do business together.

However, business is getting done - there are homes selling across the Southland!  The sweet spot, and I admit it is pretty small, is the place where a committed buyer meets a great house of a committed seller.  These people are aware of the stats and factor them into the decision, but they do not let the bad news completely stop them from doing business.  It happens every day.

**sigh** So what am I saying?  Should these buyers roll over and pay more than they are comfortable paying?  Absolutely not.  I am saying this may not be the right time for them to buy at all.  If you want to buy, ask yourself this question.  “Am I committed to a great deal or a great house?”   If you answer that you must have both, in equal measure - you may not be a good candidate to buy.

Northwest Glendale Real Estate Hot Sheet

Click here for chart explanation and disclaimer

Since the chart has nothing really interesting, I thought I would bring you a smile instead.  From my friend, Judy Graff…

Northwest Glendale Real Estate Hotsheet

Click here for chart explanation and disclaimer

Last week I had a 2 day conference in La Quinta.  My internet connection was sporadic, at best - did you miss me?  It was a lovely conference, thank you for asking

2 lovely new listings in the neighborhood!  1552 Hillcrest is a truly outstanding home on an outstanding street.  The price is outstanding too, but not in a good way.  I’m not saying it isn’t worth $1.685 million, I’m just saying the price stands out as a really high one in the area, right now.  Well, if any house can bring in that kind of coin, I’d say this one is it.  Has anyone asked Joel and Nicole if they want to move up the street?

839 Mountain is a “landmark” home.  This lovely black and white house is always a standout and I can’t wait to see the inside.  The seller is selling this contingent on getting their next home - always a bit of a risky strategy in  a buyers market.  However, this home is lovely and unique.  If a buyer wants what they have, they will just have to deal with the uncertainty of whether or not they can, in fact, get it.

On the sold side of the chart there are 2 notable homes.  The first is 1362 Ruberta.  This lovely, remodeled home is one of the very few short sales that were approved and closed escrow, and it took them nearly 4 months to do it.  Many homes are being advertised as short sale - very few are actually sold.

The other notable isn’t on the chart, but I wanted to tell you about it anyway.  910 Cumberland closed escrow at $1,310,000 - it was listed at $1,350,000.  This was one of the most outstanding homes on the market in recent months, the buyer is a very smart buyer.  $1.3 million might seem like a lot of money now, but I predict that everyone will marvel at the low purchase price of today the next time this home comes on the market.