All Forum Posts by: Frank Jiang

A good question is where do I put my money. I will probably not invest in real estate at the moment. It should still have a couple of years to appreciate. In longer term, real estate tend to go along with economical cycle. But I am leaning towards taking more risk for higher return. I will probably put it into a few private equity funds in China. With annualized return of 30-50%. 

We decided to take the offer. But we will still prepare the house for listing. There will be 17 days for inspection. If for some reason the buyer does not remove the contingency, we won't loose any time and can still list it. I guess I am happy with the price. 

As I expected, my agent is trying to convince me taking the offer. 

I am selling my house and in two weeks the house will be put on market. We plan to list for 1.3 million and will most likely get over 1.4 in the current over heated market. Literally there is little inventory at this price level. (check 91011 zip code)

I received a call from a buyers agent offering $1.4 million in cash, then increased to 1.435 when I rejected the first time. There is obvious value that the investor/buyer sees. The lot is 0.7 acre and can support over 10,000 sqft size new building. The location and good school of the city can support $700-800/sqft unit price. The construction cost is $150-200/sqft, they will still make ton of money... 

The only issue here is the lot is on a hill side and there is a storm drain below the ground level running across the land. I guess if the city allows pile foundation over the storm drain, the new project will be a no-brainer. 

I guess my question is should I take the offer, or should I push for more? 

I get what you are saying. But it is hard to tell. The buyers are maybe more motivated to offer higher price? Think about the extreme case, that people flip house, they spend money in upgrading in exchange for higher selling price. I am some what in the middle? 

I probably did a wrong thing from beginning. I negotiated the fee with the agent and cut the point to 4.5%. But I think it's fair because other agents I interviewed offered this price right from beginning.

The house has been empty for two weeks now and we are still trying to find a painter. Nothings is done. The agent is busy and he sold 7 houses (as a buyers agent) in 3 weeks and more houses coming soon. I am sure my house gets less attention. 

I may have wrong impression ... I guess what I am trying to ask is what should I expect from a listing agent? Should I rely him to arrange the repair, landscape, painting and staging? He does need to get my opinion/approval to make decisions, or should I take over some items myself? The communication is a little bit lagging and the whole thing is not moving fast enough. 

We lived there for two years and turned it into rental. Now I am going to sell it.

I believe there are many people asked about the same question before, but I am still trying to debate whether I should fix up a few things.

1. redo the lawn. the back yard is abandoned when the renters were living there. costs about $2500 including labor.

2. sprinkler system is broken, a pipe under the concrete patio was leaking and cut a year ago. Have to find another way to lay the pipe. 

3. the third and small bathroom. it's tiny with a shower. It's in its original look, though still very clean. Two other larger bathrooms and kitchen of the house have been updated. It costs about min $4000

The house still have room to upgrade, windows, floors etc. It's a very expensive area on a hill side and the house will attract flippers as well. I am trying to target the owner buyer to get the best price I can.

Another concern is it is mid April and the house is empty. I want to sell it soon.

Any suggestion will be welcome. 

Thank you all for the response. The neighbour is trying to be really nice and offer to pay all the fees and handle the process. The extra backyard should add at least 50K - 100K value to their property. Well, he might think differently.

Now the question is how should I find out the value of the land. Would a experience local realtor know how to appraise it? I am thinking of hire two or three realtors give me a detailed appraisal and average them to get a fair value. I am not an realtor, don't know if they have some killing weapon to come up with the value of a land in my situation.

Or it's more of the perceived value of the neighbour. And it's a selected piece of land that can add most value to their property.

Good that they didn't play the card of adverse possession. Hopefully it will not come up.

Basically it is an encroachment. My neighbour's fence/short wall was built on our lot and it formed their backyard. The area is about 500 sqft. They have a really small backyard after expanding the house last year. The new house probably worth $2.5M. They offer to buy additional 1000-1500 sqft land from us. We have 30K sqft lot on hillside and the encroachment is at the rare part of the lot and not really usable for us. But it is all flat and critical to the value of their new house.

How should I price the land? Does anyone have suggestion on things to watch out for when doing the adjustment of the boundary? I am in Los Angeles County, CA.

We interviewed this tenant family and like them, but they have two large dogs, I believe they are St. Bernard. I noticed that many landlords do not allow pets. I guess for apartment building, it is a good practice to avoid liability issue. My property is a single family house. I guess the liability is not an issue. But my concern is more of the damage of the property. The floor is all hardwood floor. Do you know if dogs pee inside house? Is it a common practice to add more rent and/or security deposit for dogs?

I am in the same boat here. I only got three showings so far and no applications yet.
It just take some time to find the right tenant. Be patient. You have listed for a week?
Just curious, did you use RE agent?