According to our tipsters, 2002 California sold for $1,552,000 two weeks ago. And although we continue to believe that the property has great potential, we have to admit that we were a bit surprised by the price ($203,000 over asking) considering its condition (a gut job).
But what really surprised us is that 2002 California is back on the market and now listed at $1,495,000 ($146,000 over its previous list, but $57,000 below its reported last sale). And then we got the inside scoop…
It looks like an owner of the adjoining property purchased 2002 California in order to remove an ingress and egress easement on the adjoining property, and to add a new height and construction easement on 2002 California to prevent increasing the current building’s height. In essence, protecting, and most likely increasing, the value of the adjoining property, while limiting the options (and potential) for 2002 California.
In addition, the purchaser (and now seller) of 2002 California is a licensed real estate broker which means that if he collected the 3% buyer’s agent commission, then the effective selling price was closer to $1,500,000. It’s all starting to make a little more sense.
Update: Looks like we hit home on the facts (easements), but might have missed on the conjecture (commission). From a scathing informative reader comment, “This is what I love about Blogs – no need to be correct about anything. Do some fact checking – Buyer Agent commission was 2.5% on the first listing, not 3%. And the Broker that collected that was TRI Coldwell Banker, and now the listing agent is Sampson Associates.” Check.
∙ Party Like It’s 2002 (California) [SocketSite]
∙ Listing: 2002 California – $1,495,000 [MLS]
Impressive scoop. With a neighbor like that, you better believe he/she will make it incredibly difficult to do anything with that property, even at the same height.
The neighbor might as well have bulldozed the lot for added garden space because the property is unlikely to sell with a bunch of development restrictions at that price. In this market there are plenty of places in the city a willing buyer can drop $1.5 million for a good address and still have the right to expand.