Funny comment from a client today
 

I sell real estate in a market where the average home sells for ~180-200k. I had a few strong deals in the 300-400k range last year, but my average deal was still $174k... actually a good spot to focus on for day-to-day paycheck work.

Through some good luck, persistence and hard work, I've started working with a couple buyers in the 800-1.5M range, looking for waterfront. It's helped open a few doors for me (literally), just by exposing me to listings of this caliber, and by giving me an opportunity to prospect for listings in this range.

Anyway, by cold calling, mailouts and networking, I've managed to line up a few places for them to see that aren't actively on the market. One of the places I lined up is asking 2M.

So I called my buyer and gave him the rundown of the place, and told him the price. His response:

"Two million dollars... what kind of a##hole has that kind of money to spend on a house?!?"

I just about passed out from laughing.

Funny! I guess that same sort of azzhole that would drop a mill and a half cept a tad bit smaller!

I get it. Spending 33% more than my budget would seem really high to me, but doesn't seem like much of a difference to someone spending 1/10th of my budget.

3500 miles away from you, and $2 mill is just edging into "nice house" territory. You won't get everything you want for less than $3.5 mill (view, privacy, 3000+ square feet, etc.). Here, the WWII to Korean War-era basic houses are $600K. :-/

Flipping through the westside Real Estate section of the weekend LA Times, seems the average house sells for low- to mid- 6 figures. It's pretty slim pickings for anything less than $1M.

I live in one of those post-war neighborhoods. Nondesript Valley suburbia. Everything looks the Mellenthin-same. I walked through 80-100 homes before I bought. Probably 80%-90% of them were built within 5 years of 1951. Pre-WWII my "neighborhood" was all orange groves. 20 years later it was all developed.

Surprisingly little difference in prices between the Valley and the West side now.

I lived in a 3 bd house in Van Nuys that was worth $575K or so and now am in a similar house in West LA with a value of $650K. Still waiting for prices to drop... in about a year... that would be good timing for me.

FYI, one of the nicer neighborhoods in LA -- though by no means the most expensive...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1295109513.jpg

Yes, that one center right is $19 million... it's a 28-acre horse ranch with a small house on it.

True. But the equivalent West Side house still would have been $100-200K more than what I paid. That was money I didn't/don't have. School districts would have been more spotty, as well. Some good West Side school districts, but plenty of not-so-good ones. A bit more homogenous in the Valley, as long as you stay closer to Ventura Blvd.