Archive for October, 2008
Money is available!!!
October 27th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate Tools
There’s still plenty of mortgage funds available. Kenneth Harney provides all the details in this Los Angeles Times article.
If you have further questions after reading this article, feel free to contact me at 310-285-7515 or email me.
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Must be Seen to be Believed
October 21st, 2008 Categories: Real Estate Tools
One of our new favorite blogs is LovelyListing — an incredibly entertaining compendium of some of the strangest and most unappealing real estate listing photography you’ll ever see. While you, as a seller, might briefly agonize over whether to include photos of the walk-in closet or the recently-remodeled powder room, others apparently have no misgivings whatsoever about including photos featuring mold spots, mounds of clutter, weird collections, the owners themselves, their kids, or their pets.
From the tacky to the bizarre to the completely inexplicable, from bad Photoshop jobs to subject matter so hideous that no amount of retouching could help, the homes featured here will provide enough entertainment (both comedy and horror) to keep you occupied for hours.
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The Ugliest House in America
October 20th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools
Think your house needs remodeling? Vote for the “Ugliest House in America”
We all have improvements we’d like to make to our homes — replace the countertops, refinish the floors, put in new landscaping — but few of our lists include “remove twenty-years’ worth of piled-up junk” or “repair the roof so that it actually covers the entire building.” HomeVestors, a company that specializes in buying and selling “problem homes” and properties with serious structural issues, is currently running its second annual “Ugliest Home in America” contest.
The finalists are eight homes from around the country that go far beyond just “ugly” — these properties are in need of a little more than cosmetic improvements. They boast such delightful features as collapsing floors, gaping holes, and decades of detritus. The property located in Atlanta, Georgia, for example, displays the following notable features:
Though not on the county’s register of Historic Places or listed as a local Natural Wonder, this house boasts two incredible features: The first is the MASSIVE sinkhole (5-6 feet in depth) right in the living room where the floor joists collapsed. We called it “A Natu ral Sunken Living Room” and thought it brought a lot of charm and depth to the living space. The second feature was the “Natural Skylight” in Bedroom #2 where the roof rotted away, thus enabling the room to bask in natural sunlight and accumulate dead leaves on the floor. It really brings the “outside into the house.”
Go to http://www.homevestors.com/ugliest_house/ to pick your…uhh…favorite. Afterwards, you can even enter a sweepstakes to win $10,000 — perhaps you could use your winnings to spiff up your own home! We just hope that doesn’t involve pulling a tree down through the living room wall and boarding up the windows…
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Not just service, this is magic!
October 15th, 2008 Categories: Tips & Tools
Need a project done at home and don’t know who to call? Try ServiceMagic.com! This incredibly useful site lets you put in your contact info, your location, and details about your desired project — anything from minor jobs like installing a light fixture or fixing a sidewalk, to major undertakings like building a brick fence, re-working a fireplace, installing new flooring, adding onto your home and more. After you submit your project info, ServiceMagic will have three local service providers — licensed, experienced, and highly-regarded — contact you with bids or estimates for your project. One of our staff tried out the service herself for a very small project one evening, and was contacted by two top local vendors the next day (one of whom, Boston Brick & Stone, is a company we frequently hire or refer clients to). The site also includes an enormous library of articles, tips and hints on thousands of home projects.
This is a great service for those who don’t have their own extensive list of builders, electricians, handyman services, and so forth. If you’ve got a project in mind for your own house, give it a try! And feel free to call us at the office if you get bids from companies you’re not familiar with — after 20 years in the local real estate industry, there’s a very good chance that we’ve worked with them before – 310-285-7515.
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Restoring a legend – The Hollywood Palladium
October 6th, 2008 Categories: events in los angeles
After a $20-million overhaul, the Hollywood Palladium shines again.
“We ripped the roof off the joint, literally,” said Rick Mueller, president of California operations for Live Nation, the concert promotion company that signed a 20-year lease and is handling the lion’s share of renovation costs. “Our entire goal is to bring the building back to what it was like that first night but also to make it modern.”
For anyone who’s been paying attention during the past few years, Hollywood is happenin’ again. You’ve got state-of-the-art theaters and concert venues, world class shopping, fabulous restaurants, and hip places to live.
I recently posted about a fun event at The Hollywood that involved a graffiti covered parking garage and wedding gowns….only in Hollywood.
I urge you to consider being a tourist in your own town, and see how different and exciting Hollywood has become. The development of Hollywood and Vine was the kick-off about 6-years ago and things have been booming ever since.
If you have interest in any of our Hollywood listings, in particular the hip and cool The Hollywood, call me at 310-285-7515 or email me.
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Los Angeles Magazine Tell All…
October 3rd, 2008 Categories: Real Estate Tools, Tips & Tools
The good folks at Los Angeles Magazine break out their Rolodex to help you keep your house in order. From green exterminators to home theater installers, find it all here!
If you need any help finding your dream house (or considering the market…investment property!), give me at call at 310- 285-7515 or email me.
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