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Going down Memory Lane: The Connoisseur’s Guide Los Angeles
Going down Memory Lane: The Connoisseur’s Guide, Los Angeles, 1996 I was just browsing through The Connoisseur’s Guide (the published date was 1996). This book was in most upscale hotels in Los Angeles and vicinity. The hotels had them in their rooms for the convenience of their guests. So I decided to go down memory lane. I opened up the Cuisine Section, what a surprise some of you might say, Endre Barath checking out Restaurants NOT? Some of the famous and iconic names like “Maple Drive” in Beverly Hills that had some terrific food, CLOSED! “The Four Oaks Restaurant” a French country inn style menu in Bel Air on Beverly Glen Blvd, CLOSED! “Jimmy’s” in Beverly Hills, where you could find the Michael Ovitz and Frank Sinatra dining on Dover sole or a New York steak with fried red onions, CLOSED! “Schatzi on Main” in Santa Monica an Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Austrian –American fare like Wienerschnitzel with garlic mashed potatoes, CLOSED! Anyway I could go on and on, you get the idea there are many more iconic Restaurants that were in this book that catered to the rich and famous, the locals and the tourist who were willing to pay to for the once in a life time experience of fantastic food were closed as well. For the tourist, I found the attraction was more so to get a glimpse of the famous residents of Beverly Hills and vicinity aka the Hollywood A -list. So reflecting it is hard to believe that in eighteen years so many iconic Restaurants are gone. Now in all fairness this is clearly an indication of how competitive the Los Angeles Restaurant scene is. So next time I will write about some of the iconic Restaurants that are still here. A true testament to their resilience, customer service, good food and loyal client base. If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu, feel free to contact me at 310.486.1002 or homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com. I am a pet friendly realtor and I contribute a portion of my commissions to local animal rescue organizations ...
read moreUltra Luxury Real Estate in Los Angeles: our fascinations with it & my observations about it!
Ultra Luxury Real Estate in Los Angeles: our fascination with it and my observations about it! When it comes to selling a home around the globe, generally there are a few critical points the sellers and the listing agents must achieve. If they accomplish these certain points, then it will guarantee them that they will have a successful sale. Most of you have read, seen or know that is generally the proper positioning of the property via good marketing, good pricing and making it desirable for a potential buyer. There is also a critical aspect that has to be there: “motivation” i.e.: the seller needs to or wants to sell. Then of course the ultimate selling tool “fear of loss” i.e.: the buyer is afraid someone else will “steal it” before they get a chance to buy it. Now with that said, when it comes to “Ultra Luxury Real Estate Sale” you need to throw the above out the window. (Well sort of) We have about seven or eight properties on the Market in the Greater Los Angeles i.e.: Beverly Hills, Bel Air and vicinity that I consider in this category, i.e.: they range from $70,000,000 to $195,000,000. Ironically these home owners do not need to sell, hence it adds a few additional dimensions into the sales process. Clearly time is on top of the list, followed by desirability and these can take many form. What I mean is, often it might take a few years to sell one of these Ultra Luxury Homes. A perfect example was Candy Spelling’s home (the widow of Aaron Spelling). Her home was listed for sale in 2009 for $150 million and there were no “price reductions”, the reduction came during the negotiation process. Ironically after being on and off the market for about three years it ended up selling for $85 million. Keep in mind it was still an impressive sale. How is that possible you might ask? That is what I call the desirability factor and motivation. It was obvious that Petra Ecclestone wanted what Los Angeles had to offer i.e.: a great life style consisting of fantastic climate, palm trees, getting access to Hollywood’s most recognized names and hanging out with them are just part of the many benefits Los Angeles has to offer as far as amenities are concerned. The best part is that the Greater Los Angeles does allow a great deal of freedom in remodeling, rebuilding and or tearing down, unlike other parts of the US and the world, where these acts are more restrictive. So how is the price derived at? Well that is the funny part it is “Ego Driven” i.e.; I own the trophy property and I will consider selling, if you give me an offer that will make me sell it to you. Now just to be clear, there is clearly land value which generally comprises anywhere from 40-50% of the actual value of the property. Then add to that, the usual factors of number of bathrooms, number of bedrooms, size of the living square feet and I could go on and on. Then there is the scarcity having the largest land, home in Beverly Hills, anyway you get the idea. Perfect example was a home that sold in April of this year...
read moreBobby Keys RIP a great loss! Rolling Stones and Fans mourn Bobby Keys!
Bobby Keys RIP a great loss for the Rolling Stones and their fans! Diane and I saw him last year and he was awesome, one of the best Sax players and if you ever heard Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones he makes that song PERIOD! Our condolences to his family and friends. There are many more in his illustrious career. I picked this so you could hear it in case you never heard it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5e3zQn6Dr8 So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreDo you want “Old Tired Information” in Real Estate?
Do you want “old tired information” in Real Estate? I just do not comprehend why buyers and sellers are satisfied with “old tired information”. Everyone is so in love with Zillow, Case-Shiller, RISMedia information. Well partially I get it, they have established themselves and are on the forefront of everyone’s Internet Reads… Today December 1st, I received a breaking news time email from RISMEdia: Broad-based Slowdown for Home Prices: Case-Shiller As I read the article further I just get more and more annoyed “S& P Dow Jones indices released Tuesday the September 2014 home information dated for the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price indices, a leading measure of U.S. home prices…” Seriously if you would like information that is up-to-date why fall into the trap of “Headline motivated NEWS” Feel free to reach out to me, I just did what I considered a late Market Analysis for “OCTOBER 2014” honestly it is December 1st, 2014 if you want fresh information why not ask me about what your local market was like in November??? Forget September 2014 that is OLD NEWS the market is totally different NOW! So if you are not in my market: The Greater Los Angeles Area reach out to your local knowledgeable Realtor and he or she will be able to give you “FRESH NEWS” not 60 to 90 day old news. So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreWhen there are mixed messages in the Beverly Hills Real Estate Data it is time to reach out to…
When there are mixed messages in the Beverly Hills Real Estate Data, it is time to reach out to a knowledgeable Realtor. How about Contacting Endre Barath, Jr. As most of you who have been reading my last couple posts realize that the data and information is sending mixed messages in the Beverly Hills Single Family Market. Clearly that could be a challenge for a buyer or a seller to determine how to price their home as well as to offer a fair price to the seller if you are a concerned and caring buyer. Many buyers in the luxury market in Beverly Hills do not want to insult the sellers by offering what they consider a “fair price” when the asking price is very ambitious. They rather skip that property and move on. I have been advising these buyers feel free to offer what you know is a “fair price” based on the comparable statistics. Some of the buyers, listen others just move on, in spite of my advice. Now that we have looked at the two critical statistics of how the Beverly Hills Real Estate Market is doing, we are still unclear: is it a buyer’s market, is it a seller’s market or are we in a Transitional Market? Lastly is it just a temporary slowdown due to the Holidays? Needless to say one key ingredient we did not look at: the Expired Listings. This statistic puts things in perspective. Some of this information is not provided by the Zillows and Trulias of this world, never the less they are a key ingredient to determining the trends as well as the true values of the properties. Hence it should be evident that there is a Real Value to a Realtor who has local knowledge of the various pockets that the internet is incapable to identify. Now if you look at the expired and see that there is an 83% change in the expired compared to a year ago? Then to boot you see that September this number has been increasing to. So it is clearly a Transitioning Market, we are going from a Seller’s Market to a Buyers’ market. So if you are trying to sell it is time to get realistic and price your home properly. If you need advice please reach out to me directly for a Free Market Evaluation of your home! So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreThe Supply & Demand figures of SFR in Beverly Hills tell us …
The Supply and Demand figures of Single Family Homes in Beverly Hills tell us an interesting phenomenon. The Supply is down by 22%, clearly that is an indication that buyers have fewer choices hence more competition for the few well priced properties. The Sales are up 8%, this is also an indication what potential buyers can expect. Clearly if sales are up in Beverly Hills and Inventory is down, that is a recipe for potential multiple offers as well as price increases. I find it interesting that in my previous blog post I was showing that Days on Market are increasing for this same time period, hence I suspect that this is a combination of the overpriced listings lingering on longer as well as the fact that the Holidays have started. Hence buyers might be in a great position not facing Multiple Offers and they can make reasoned and researcher offers. There is no other reason why these numbers would be sending conflicting messages. If you would like a Free Market Analysis let me know even if your home is not in Beverly Hills but in the Greater Los Angeles area. So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreThe Average Days on Market for Single Family Homes in Beverly Hills, CA are u by 15%!
The Average Days on Market for Single Family Homes in Beverly Hills, CA are up by 15% ! To some people the Average Days on Market do not mean much. The reality is, this is quite an important statistics to monitor. It does not matter if it is Beverly Hills or other parts of Los Angeles or for that matter anywhere in the country you are looking at. What is extremely important is to monitor these figures if you are considering buying or selling a home. This is the indicator of how fast or how slow the market is, i.e.: this is the velocity. Based on these numbers you can watch the trends, is the market getting hotter or is it cooling? Hence based on this trend you can predict if you should be pricing your home ambitiously or conservatively. Conversely buyers can determine if the property is priced correctly or the seller is being ambitious. As the days on market increase it will determine that the market is either cooling or is in transition. Clearly we need to also look at the seasonal effects and not to confuse it with a transitional market. So with that said please look at these figures. Should you have any questions please reach out to me directly. If you would like a Free Market Analysis let me know. So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read morePet Friendly Realtor in Los Angeles, CA: Endre Barath, Jr.
Pet Friendly Realtor in Los Angeles, CA: Endre Barath,Jr. As most of you know Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles translates to: Endre Barath,Jr. What justifies the Title? The answer is simple: when you dedicate most of your time and money towards Animal Rescue Organizations and incorporate animals into your home and you happen to be a Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area and go out of your way to help animals and people who have animals, well then, there you have it. Our home is becoming an Animal Sanctuary, the word is out on the street go see Diane & Endre and you will be well off. Those of you who read my posts consistently know, that Dougy was virtually unadoptable for health reasons….well nothing that love, money and a fantastic Vet and support group cannot fix. Ten plus years later we have King Douglas. He rules the group. Then there was Jack, well he knocked on our door and insisted on letting him in. Turned out sadly he was declawed and where we lived there were Possums and Raccoons….need I say more Jack is a lucky cat. Then there is Jill, everyone loves her, but no one wants her, she needs a diaper around her Litter Box, need I say more? Anyway Diane has to change the Wee-Wee Pads around the Litter Box daily or sometimes twice daily. Then there is Chiachi the lovable dog that is temperamental, he snapped at me ten years ago but finally now he has learned to accept me, that it is a package deal: if he wants to be with Diane he has to love me as well and we are finally at that point. Now we have to get it across to him that he needs to love the Kitties too, all four of them. So with that said if you are looking for a Pet Friendly Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area, you found him! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreWhat is stronger Hunger or Love?
What is stronger Love or Hunger? Most people would agree with me that the basic needs, hunger, thirst, survival instincts superseed love….. As most of you who read my blog posts know that Diane’s dog is so in love with her that words could not describe it so I am sharing a few photos here for you to see and be your own judge. On a side note I must mention that we are in the process of getting Chiacchi incorporated into a household with three indoor cats and one stray in the back yard. Not an easy task if I might add. Just to give you an idea we have set up a place for him to be with me in my home/office. So I was trying to feed him while Diane was about 500 feet away doing something else….as most of you know Hunger is often stronger than Love…he did not want to eat until he was with Diane. Need I say more?:) If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreThanksgiving is in the books fo 2014: The memories linger on
Thanksgiving is in the books for 2014, the memories linger on. I have been reflecting on many things, which is expected at a Holiday like Thanksgiving. First and foremost I am so grateful for what we have and the friendships and relationships we developed over the years are hard to describe in words. One of our friends sent us a card and I could not help but share with all of you: If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
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