Over four months on the market but still no taker, you might ask why they are refusing to budge on the price when they paid a mere 14K for the place. I immediately thought, “ATM.”

One day during walk I peeked in the yard and a woman yelled from her truck, “You can go around the house and look. No one’s there.” I was curious – it was the first house in the neighborhood to drop below the half million mark.

The place is tiny – no yard, driveway, or garage

The woman proceeded to confirm my suspicions, but with a twist. The elderly woman who had recently died had had the ownership wrested from her by a son, she told me. He’d taken out the “equity” at the top of the bubble – half a million dollars.

Now that he had officially “inherited” the house, he still owed the loan, but the house was worth far less.
Frankly, he’ll be lucky to get 350 for it.

Hope he enjoyed it while it lasted.

Three years ago they paid over 700K.

Here’s an example of how the price drops tend to hit certain parts of a neighborhood first.  While the Carlson Park area seems to be showing some resilience still, those areas not within walking distance of downtown Culver City are really feeling the changes in the market.

Note that they are asking below the 2005 price.

Finally we are seeing houses moving down in price, although they are still out of whack with rents.

Recently I’ve been hearing that rents are dropping too.

Maybe rents and mortgages will start to be more in alignment in another year?

Here’s a short sale – I’d like to think some financial mishap occurred that caused them to need to take out a second and third mortgage or HELOC themselves to death – like maybe they had big medical bills. Maybe.

Most people just used their houses like ATMs. This short sale is in one of the nicest parts of Culver City. The tax bill indicates they’ve owned it a long time – otherwise it would be mighty high at this price.

Two years later, maybe break even after broker fees. Unlikely after almost 3 months on the market.
Culver City is cracking.

And this guy – dude, the year is going to wrap up with house unsold. Maybe it’s time to lower the price? Especially when you look at the last sale (Anyone else thinking HELOC from HELL?)

I went to an open house of this residence a few months ago when they had dropped the price to 599K from an original asking price of 629K. They sold it for 580K.

If you figure 6% in closing costs, this would mean a lost of 21K on a 3-year investment.

2931 Sentney Ave sold for asking – 609K (small house far east side of Culver City)

3617 Shaeffer – a real fixer upper (visited during an open house and it was a MESS), was asking 749K in Sept, got 662K in November.

A few other listings sold below asking, but one surprising thing has been the drop in asking price for the brand new condos on Lincoln Ave. These are not even completed and they have been advertised for 850K for almost a year. This week they are asking 779K, a 31K drop (4%). Maybe the pre-construction pricing was based on the idea that real estate never goes down and they aren’t building any more land (even though this development belies the second myth).

This house on Higuera, a narrow, busy road that is often used as a cut-through from Washington Blvd to get into the back areas of the South of Culver neighborhoods (SoCul), is for sale now for $760K.

It is advertised as two units. It has a total of 4 br, 2 baths at 1948 square feet. Birds-eye views show only one structure, so maybe it was subdivided (sure as hell would need someone renting half the house to be able to pay that mortgage).

This same house sold in April of 2005 for $775K according to Zillow and Redfin.

Figuring in a 6% commission for the R$**tors, this would mean a 60K loss after about two and a half years of ownership.

With over 97% of Culver City houses priced below this one, this definitely looks like a “Wishing Price” – and I’m going to track it for the next few months. It’s already been on the market a breathtaking 191 days, and it’s priced beyond even the Zillow “guesstimate” of 950K by 300K! Zillow says it sold way back in 1994 for 812K – that has to be a mistake because they only paid $4790 in property taxes last year.

UPDATE: Looks like the house was taken off the market

The highest asking price was 947K as far as I can tell. It finally sold recently for 774K. Still insanely overpriced, but certainly more in line with 2004 prices on this street. I know this because I lived in a house on this street back in 2004 that sold for 805K – and it was smaller. Granted, it had more curb appeal, but it was definitely smaller in terms of square footage.

Ugly houses (and old condos) tend to show the weakness first in a market. By ugly – I mean a house that pales next to its neighbors. Why would you pay the same price for a house with nice curb appeal as you could for some hideous box? During hot markets, even the crap will sell. But during a market heading down, they will feel the impact sooner rather than later.

Another sign of weakness in Culver City is in the condo market. 5105 Summertime Lane has been on the market 129 days. They are asking 379K for this 730 sq ft “charmer” – a mere 9K more than they paid in 2005. In 2 years, if they can sell it (doubtful), they won’t even make enough to pay the agent. They are still asking significantly more per square foot than comparable properties (523 v. 486). If they drop to that level, the price will be around 355K, an equity-crushing 24K less than they paid.

And yet another sign of some weakness. I started tracking in February 4163 Jasmine in Culver City. It was listed for 869K and sold for an astonishing 875K in March. However, if you look more closely at this property, the seller must have had a loss. It was purchased in 2006 for 845K. If you figure 6% commission on the 875K sale that would mean they actually got about 825K, 20K below what they paid a year earlier.

UPDATE: Huron house sold for 774K in June 2007.

This 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1280 square foot house sold for 703,500 in mid 2005. Now it is listed as a short sale for 675K.

Two condos on Green Valley Circle are also currently advertising as short sales.

4910 Sawtelle is also listed as a short sale. However, it sold back in 2005 for 645K and they are asking 839K – maybe they HELOC’d their equity, hence the need for the sort sale.

I would expect 90230 to lead 90232 in these types of sales, as 90230 borders some sketchier areas of LA.