Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2016 · 30 posts · 15 votes
When searching for inexpensive property in Los Angeles, (laughable, I know), I came across a neighborhood called Mount Washington. It has a great school district, low crime rate, close proximity to down town and other trendy neighborhoods. It's a little underdeveloped with lot's of open lots ready for new construction. The prices for these lots range from around 18k-80k. Does anyone know why it's so inexpensive and underdeveloped? From some preliminary research it looks like an up and coming neighborhood: http://la.curbed.com/2016/1/28/10872040/hottest-neighborhood-los-angeles-2016-mt-washington-housing-prices
Great location. Area is booming. Great school district.
Those lots are extremely difficult to get permits and/or to built. I don't need addresses because I've looked at them all. I know it's a developers nightmare.
I bought 3 lots recently nearby for $308k each. That's a more reasonable price. The $18k-$80k is a huge red flag since Mt Washington is a good area. So you are on the right track to ask why.
Great location. Area is booming. Great school district.
Those lots are extremely difficult to get permits and/or to built. I don't need addresses because I've looked at them all. I know it's a developers nightmare.
I bought 3 lots recently nearby for $308k each. That's a more reasonable price. The $18k-$80k is a huge red flag since Mt Washington is a good area. So you are on the right track to ask why.
Ditto to the above! Some of those lots are on extremely steep hillsides making building very difficult and the city would make you jump through a crazy amount of hoops if it is even feasible...but maybe all that hassle is an opportunity! You never know...
Yep, I've also looked at these. It's hard to build on steep slopes and new development in LA carries a ton of soft costs before you even break ground. Hook ups for water meters and sewer lines are very expensive.
Thanks for the info everyone! I figured the city would have very stringent regulations and expensive permits, hookups, etc. Also, it makes sense that building on such a steep grade would pose it's own set of unique and expensive problems. It will be interesting to keep an eye on those properties though, especially as the neighborhood becomes more popular. At some point the hassle and cost of building is going to be worth it.
I certainly agree with what everyone has said already, as I've worked that area as an agent, I do know a lot of the homes are on septic as opposed to sewer. Also, there were a number of new building restrictions put in place by that neighborhood association (not sure that's the right term to use, but I know most new builds have to be "approved").
Thanks for the info everyone! I figured the city would have very stringent regulations and expensive permits, hookups, etc. Also, it makes sense that building on such a steep grade would pose it's own set of unique and expensive problems. It will be interesting to keep an eye on those properties though, especially as the neighborhood becomes more popular. At some point the hassle and cost of building is going to be worth it.
It is not about construction costs; the city strongly opposes all new land developments, especially in the mountains all around LA. South california is a massive urbanistic failure because of the urban sprawl and they now rightfully try to stop that and keep undevelopped areas clear. They finally realized that cars are not the future, and they now want high density around public transportation to reduce wasteful transit/productivity loss, fire hazard and ruinous public infrastructure costs.
Urban sprawl has also destroyed most natural habitat in Socal and pushed agricultural land into the desert where cultivation is massively wasteful in resources
You can trust my experience, they will make everything in their power to make your life miserable if you try to entitle undelevelopped land in the mountains. The entitlement process is purposedly made extremely complex, expensive and long (up to 5 years) to keeps speculative construction at bay;