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bearishgurl
ParticipantHere’s a street-view pic of the three Caltrans’ owned properties on West 74th St (LA 90045) all abutting the concrete burm built up along the side of the 405 fwy (vacant lot on the left):
To me, the streaks in the sky over the house on the right resemble very recently-dumped jet fuel :=0
Participant[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, I’m really curious where you finally end up retiring. You’re casting your net very wide.
Can you just find that one idyllic place and move there? What about friend and relatives?[/quote]
brian, there are several “idyllic places” that I’m considering for retirement. However, I have been “priced out” of 2-3 of them since I’ve started seriously looking.
LA County isn’t/wasn’t one of them. But I had originally looked into buying a house for my youngest kid to live in who is attending college there and let them take care of my dog. Then collect enough rent from 2-3 other student-roommates to pay the taxes and utilities on it (so it doesn’t cost me anything to keep it). Then, if I end up selling my own home, I myself could just go rent a small place in a snowy locale to see how I like it year round before committing to it with a home purchase. If I don’t like my new area, I would at least own a house of my choosing in SoCal to return to beginning Fall ’18 or Jan ’19 (after my kid graduated and took their first job elsewhere).
I didn’t buy anything in recent months because my youngest kid (currently a college soph) is still too immature (and too busy with their fellow “greeks” and a PT job) to take care of a SFR AND DOG every day (ie, make sure the property is watered, report needed repairs immediately, mow the lawn, set the trash on the curb regularly, walk the dog and collect roommates’ portion of rents and utilities and forward those monies to me).
My kid currently has a one-year lease on 1/4 of a large remodeled 4 br condo (w/3 roommates and their parent(s)) with all amenities and a right of renewal. It’s in a nice area just 4.5 miles from campus and right behind a LA metro station. My kid’s portion (1/4) of all expenses is a pretty good deal for me so I can’t complain.
My other kid(s) only want to live in SF proper and I can’t afford that … and, for a variety of reasons, I don’t want to take title with any of my kid(s) … just by myself.
I have many other relatives out of state but I have decided that I don’t want to leave Cali.
ParticipantHere’s a 8558 sf vacant lot on the same street as two of Caltrans’ other auction listings in my most recent post. It also abuts the 405 (a little above it) and, without the house in the way, you can see Caltrans’ concrete “sound” burm rising a few feet above the level of the backyard.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924m/Brochure.pdf
Opening bid is $300K. Maybe a prospective bidder can get away with planting a folding chaise lounge in the middle of this lot and pour themselves a stiff drink from their styrofoam ice chest while trying to fall asleep with the echoing reverberations of the constant tire whir of the 405 beneath them.
A slightly stray overhead jet dropping its wheels and simultaneously dumping a little fuel while attempting to land at LAX will add to the ambiance … :-0
ParticipantYikes!! On the 24th, Caltrans is also trying to auction off 3 smallish, older single-family homes either abutting the 405 fwy or just a few feet from it! From the photos they supplied, a couple of them appear to be currently rented, lol.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924c/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924d/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924n/
The opening bids are from $590K to $615K. They are all situated in the “Westchester” (Century City?) area of LA on bigger than standard-sized lots.
I can’t completely tell from the map but it appears these homes may be just barely out of a commercial jet landing path but I still feel their opening bids are wa-a-a-a-ay too high, due to the very obvious economic obsolescence surrounding them!
If these opening bids are supposed to be “bargain-priced” for the west side, then I am astounded! I haven’t looked around at all on the west side, only the east side (east of Pasadena and almost to the San Bern County line). If you’re shopping for a home in LA County, you can get a much better deal out there and they are all in mostly very nice, quiet neighborhoods with better than avg-sized lots.
Good L@ord, I wouldn’t pay even $50K for a home abutting an interstate hwy … or even its service road (esp a hwy which is 8-12 lanes wide). The lots these state-owned homes sit on are virtually worthless to me.
It will also be very interesting to see how much these homes end up selling for :=0
ParticipantThe only area in SD County I can think of that would be directly comparable (in architecture/lot size) to that area of Pasadena (where Caltrans will begin to auction vacant lots they own) is the Presidio (MH 92103).
There may be others but that area most comes to mind, here:
The above link is a photo of Bellevue Dr (the 5th link/lot in my previous post).
The Havendale Dr lots might be able to be built with a lesser ranch-style home. The street is somewhat dilapidated and pretty narrow and its homes aren’t a valuable as those on the other streets (links 3 & 4 of my previous post). Nice view lots, though.
Participant[quote=no_such_reality]. . . BTW, the largest slumlord in California is about to sell off a bunch of properties. CalTrans is going to sell the homes they own in the path of the never built 710 extension in Pasadena.[/quote]
Caltrans apparently took the Pasadena homes under eminent domain (for the proposed I-710 extension) sometime in the late ’60’s. As such, the neighbors very likely squawked loudly about their lack of upkeep and so most (all?) of the homes were later demolished and their lots razed by Caltrans. A two-lane “parkway-type extension road” (southbound only from the SR-134) currently exists down in a fairly steep, grassy valley just east of the section of about two parcel maps in which Caltrans is auctioning off five unimproved parcels on 9/24/15.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/
The option deposits and opening bids for the lots all seem reasonable to me and 4 out of the 5 lots they are auctioning off appear to be almost or entirely flat. They range in size from ~7500 sf to 20,000+ sf.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924a/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924b/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924j/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924k/
http://www.dot.ca.gov/property/docs/20150924l/
The end of the option period is 12/14/15 (for the 9/24 auction date). The “winning bidder” would need to perform by then or risk losing their option deposit. The “Director’s Deed” the agency will issue to each winning bidder is likely similar to a quitclaim deed. The auction rules state that buyer is free to take out a title policy if they wish. At the very least, I think it is a good idea to purchase a preliminary title report prior to the auction for the properties you are intending on bidding on … even for just public easement knowledge. Any liens in the late ’60’s against any former owners (who sold to the state) were likely extinguished in escrow from the eminent domain proceeds they recieved. In any case, the statute of limitations has long expired for any prior judgment or collections liens which were on these properties at the time of condemnation, methinks.
Okay, I knew there had to be a catch. From the satellite view on Mapquest, the first five (residential) lots the state is auctioning off are situated in a very beautiful, even “stately” SFR neighborhood. Those (likely mostly longtime) neighbors aren’t going to approve any new owners building garden-variety medium-sized ranch homes (for $250-$300K). And it will likely cost a new owner a minimum of $100K just in repeated architectural renderings (to satisfy the neighbors) and city permit fees (not including the actual cost of the plans) before even breaking ground.
It’s going to interesting to see what these five lots end up selling for (we won’t be able to find out until after the option period is over). There seems to be a never-ending supply of local, deep-pocketed Chinese business people in that area, many of whom will likely show up to bid. If anyone gets these lots for anywhere near the opening bid amount, they will likely do very well, IMO.
If there was even a couple of studs left with an old utility meter dangling between them on any of these lots (qualifying any new construction a “remodel” with the city instead of completely new construction) and these lots weren’t located in such a pretentious area (likely loaded w/deep-pocketed NIMBYs), I may have considered bidding.
We’ll see if any lots trickle out in future auction announcements which actually still have an “improvement” still standing on it (tiny old garage or doghouse?) but somehow, in this town, I doubt that. The longtime residents around there have enough clout (and the wherewithal to fund that clout into oblivion) to keep anything even remotely undesirable out …. and I can’t blame them.
Thanks for sharing, NSR. It was interesting to me to see a state gubment foible of this magnitude with my own eyes. It is astounding to me that it has taken this long for Caltrans to finally decide to go thru the process of unloading this valuable inventory! I hope they learned their (very lengthy and expensive) lesson NOT to plan freeways through well-established residential areas where pride of ownership and property values are high. There are plenty of areas they could have successfully gotten this fwy extension through but unfortunately, for them, Pasadena was not one of them.
Participant[quote=mixxalot]I found a lot of places even for under 400K in Santee area:
mixxalot, I’m sure you noticed that this listing is a townhome (twinhome) and is part of an HOA which will cost the owner of this home $347 mo in dues.
The lot is minuscule (substandard) and doesn’t even have a driveway to leave any vehicles parked in front of the garage. There is absolutely NO WAY you would be able to trailer even a 25′ sailboat up to it to load it up for a weekend trip, much less store it overnight for an early-morning departure (I didn’t notice if there was RV/boat storage on the premises).
You can do much, much better than this (land-wise) in SD East County in the $350-$500K range.
Participant[quote=mixxalot]I found a lot of places even for under 400K in Santee area:
Now if you can get a sailboat under 30′ then slip fees are doable at 500/month:
http://www.harborislandwest.com/slip-rates.html
I plan on a 25′ Catalina sailboat with two heads and two cabins with galley. That puts me at under $400 for slip fee. So factor a $3K mortgage plus $500 slip fee not too bad for best of both worlds.
Actually since I am also a pilot, I’ve looked at buying a home outside of California in place like Nevada, Arizona or Oregon where prices are even cheaper!
So a plane at 80K plus sailboat at 10K plus home in OR/NV/AZ at $200-300K that makes a monthly nut of 3-4K to have all toys accounted for and tax breaks for business. Or live in cheaper part of California like Chico or Oregon coast.[/quote]
mixxalot, I’m sure you realize that there is a nice private airport (Gillespie Field) situated between Santee and Bostonia (EC 92021) where you can store your plane. 92021 also has a beautiful community on its NE edge, “Blossom Valley” which has ample lots to park toys (and horses) on. However, the HOA’s in there may have restrictions as to height and where an owner can park their big toy. It’s a very nice community which holds its value well (in comparison to surrounding communities) but may likely be too expensive for you.
I’m only mentioning Blossom Valley here because you posted that you are expecting to pay a $3K mo mortgage. A $200-$300K house in AZ will only have a +/- $1500 mo mortgage (PITI) at today’s 30 yr fixed rates. If you are intending on paying $3K month for PITI, I figured you may as well have a property which will save you your monthly slip fees :=)
ParticipantUhh, flu, if this is your Miata, those cars are pretty low to the ground. After you fix this problem, why don’t you try to find some skid plates (for a 4×4) to modify for that car and mount them.
You’re pretty handy, right??
ParticipantOh, and btw, Prop 13 and its progeny do not affect “California’s largest slumlord” as they are “tax exempt” :-]
I’m sure that fact hasn’t helped the City coffers too much over the last few years.
Participant[quote=no_such_reality] . . . BTW, the largest slumlord in California is about to sell off a bunch of properties. CalTrans is going to sell the homes they own in the path of the never built 710 extension in Pasadena.[/quote]
Thanks for the tip, NSR. Although these properties are likely in pretty rough shape by now (termites/squatter damage), I’m going to look into this. Looks like NIMBYism was/is alive and well in Pasadena and there were enough deep pockets in that town to keep the State’s attorney general in court for YEARS . . .
It’s as it should be . . . lol
August 31, 2015 at 8:55 AM in reply to: Why I FIRED my listing agent: My Listing was a Lemon! #789051ParticipantPerhaps (for the parent demographic of tenant) but why don’t you list the exact public schools here which serve your rental house, paramount? As we all know, school quality varies wildly among schools in the same district.
What is the percentage of prospective tenants out there who are parents of school-age children?
And how much extra in monthly rent is a particular public school actually “worth” to a prospective tenant and will tenants actually overpay for a particular rental (all physical attributes about the property being equal to its competition) if its corresponding public school(s) are good.
It doesn’t sound like $1750 mo is actually a great deal of rent to collect for a 1500 sf SFR (putting you in the hole by at least $200 mo, not counting repairs, replacements and vacancies). That’s on the low end and just might get you a 2/1/1 1000-1100 sf SFR in Chula Vista, where the schools are very good, btw, and the avg teacher tenure likely far exceeds the avg tenure of teachers in a school district of a newer area (such as Temecula) by a landslide. Tenants seeking this level of rent in a SFR likely aren’t members the “educated professional set” themselves.
Teacher experience and competency means everything. These two attributes go hand in hand, no matter where the school district is or its supposed “reputation” (among the ignorant masses).
scaredy, as you may be aware, experience and tenure eliminates the “`dumbness’ factor” in public school teaching staff :=]
August 30, 2015 at 4:36 PM in reply to: Why I FIRED my listing agent: My Listing was a Lemon! #789038Participant[quote=paramount] . . . millenial buyers IMO have very unrealistic expectations.[/quote]
So true. This is mainly due to exposure to too much “reality TV,” IMO. After regularly watching the Kartrashians and all these young (mostly unemployed) roomies living very comfortably together in $2.5M++ homes in Encino, I could see how the average college-aged young adult believes that it is so easy to have/obtain a life like that and that they “deserve” a home like this (no matter what the kind of home they grew up in).
In the past 15 years or so, reality TV has played a big part in “managing up” millenials’ housing expectations through the stratosphere. It’s going to be interesting to see what this group typically buys once they start buying homes en masse, which (at least in CA coastal counties) hasn’t happened yet.
August 30, 2015 at 3:54 PM in reply to: Why I FIRED my listing agent: My Listing was a Lemon! #789037ParticipantA first-time buyer (“FTB”) or “former homedebtor in recovery” could possibly get an accepted offer on a single family home in SD County for $350K to $400K. It may be smallish (1000-1400 sf) and may need a little work for habitability, but nonetheless, it is located in SD County vs. RIV County. There is a HUGE difference between the two counties (in the absence of considering age and condition of a SFR listing).
Just sayin ….
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