I miss open houses so much!!!!!!!!! I love talking about real estate and meeting all the people who come to browse houses for sale just for fun! I love meeting people and discussing their house, and their plans and their dreams and their life. Inevitably, people who come to open houses have some sort of real estate need at some point, and when our paths cross down the line, we go back and reminisce about our chance meeting at an open house, and we often end up working together. So many of our houses that are for sale right now are people I met at open houses or when they were in escrow buying a listing that was mine so I was there facilitating for the seller. I love making those connections and then revisiting them later in time.
This weekend we have 16 individual showings scheduled so far. All of them are people who send in a PEAD form and show proof of funds so we make sure they’re not browsing for fun but they’re serious buyers looking to buy. It’s so much more fun if everyone can come for whatever reason, and they all arrive at the same time, and random strangers can share thoughts and feelings and observations and kind of figure it all out together. It’s fun when open houses are a party. It’s fun when life is a party.
I’m so excited for our new condo that just came on the market at 1050 Edinburgh unit 305. The West Hollywood location is amazing. The condo feels like a home with two stories and a massive designer kitchen. There are two porches for private outdoor space, laundry upstairs, a spacious remodeled en-suite master bathroom and walk-in-closet, two side-by-side (not tandem!) parking spaces in the subterranean garage, and super nice neighbors. It’s kind of cool that the HOA has a rule that you have to live in the condo for a year first before you can rent it out and when you rent it out, you can only rent to long term tenants who will stay a year or longer. The current owners are awesome and they’re selling because they’re ready to upgrade! The place has awesome energy and good karma – I bet the next owners are also uber successful and they upgrade in a few years too!
Our listing at 426 N Citrus that was for lease is new-on-the-market for sale for just under 2,000,000. It’s a sweet deal for a completely remodeled house on a quiet block on the best street in town. It has a beautiful living room and dining room, a brand new never-used kitchen with all new appliances, 3 remodeled bathrooms, and a nice size yard. There’s a bonus room off the kitchen that can be a good home office and a second bonus room off the master that is currently staged as a gym. The yard is decent sized and it can easily fit a pool. It’s such a great central quiet location in walking distance to so many great spots!
Real estate is most fun with open houses and hanging and networking and relating people-to-people. Over ten years ago I was hosting an open house at a little house on Curson near Melrose and I met a single gentleman and we talked real estate. He called a few weeks later if I could represent him buying his house in Los Feliz. And I represented him buying that house. More than ten years later, he called again to represent his wife selling her house from when she was single. It’s so fun to represent that house! Next up is his wife’s sister who decided to sell her house too. I love the human connection and contact that began so many years ago at an open house. I also love to keep doing good business with great people over a span of so many years.
I wish we get to go back to a world where open houses are allowed, where all people are welcome to see any house for any reason at all even if they don’t plan to buy the house, where people are allowed to congregate and to share opinions and ideas with each other, and of course where we don’t need to wear masks any more so we can smile freely and not just with our eyes. I also wish we live in a world where all people have a kind respectful attitude toward one another and we interact with each other with a view toward meeting up and doing business again ten years down the line. My wish is always to keep working toward a future of happily ever after and I’m committed to doing my part to make it happen one day at a time!