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Rarity: Under $2M in the Tree Section

By Dave Fratello | February 13th, 2018

One recent listing to command a lot of buyer attention is 2512 Pine (4br/4ba, 3150 sqft.).

It's a Tree Section custom home built in the 1980s and recently refreshed for market, though not, strictly speaking, "remodeled."

Of this home, we said on the blog over the weekend, "Most of the home is original and could benefit from updates, but it makes a very good first impression thanks to all new wide-plank, lightly stained wood flooring (except kitchen) and fresh white paint just about everywhere."

So the home's reasonably attractive, but here's the grabber: A start price of $1.899M.

That's $602/PSF west of Sepulveda, and that just doesn't happen much.

Last year, there was 2204 Oak (3br/3ba, 3235 sqft.), a very dated home on the "wrong" (commercial) side of Oak backing up to new construction (medical building) and alongside a parking lot. It sold for $1.715M and $530/PSF. Meantime, 3600 Pacific (4br/3ba, 3300 sqft.) traded for $2.000M and $607/PSF.

After those sales, you're pretty much into the $700/PSF range then up to the $900s and above.

There were only 42 sales of single-family homes in the Tree Section last year under $2M, out of 118 sales total, meaning 64% of the sales in the Trees went for more than $2M.

Now, from those 42 sales, remove the homes on Oak, Rosecrans, Marine, Valley, Ardmore, Blanche and Pacific (the busiest and/or most challenging streets), and take out one more with a half lot, and there were just 20 sales under $2M in the Trees without obvious location issues impacting values. (That location consideration took out more than half the sales.)

Out of those remaining sales, the "largest" homes were just 2440 and 2350 sqft. inside, dated, and sold for $1.850M each. (3208 Pine and 2618 Laurel.)

This all helps to give you some picture of how rare a home like 2512 Pine really is - an interior location with a bunch of square footage.

So, have buyers noticed? Sure.

Whether it's instinctive or a result of by-the-numbers calculations like we're offering here, people see the opportunity for what it is.

Now the questions become: Who wants it most, and what will they pay?

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For your own research/evaluation purposes, below is a list of all 2017 sales in the Tree Section under $2M, sorted by latest sale first. (Email subscribers will need to view the post online to see all of the listings.)