Vienna, GA – Single Family
Assigning for $23k (flexible)
• ARV: $90k–$100k
• Needs full renovation (~$35k)
• Foundation is solid
• Vacant and easy access
Heavy rehab play with good upside.
Is this good or bad, I don’t want to waste the sellers time and I’m thinking of canceling it.
Now sure If this is the right place to post, but I'm looking to move to the Los Angeles area. The main things that I value are
School district
Cooler weather
Views
Safe area
Pretty open ended. Budget would be under 2.5 million and working remotely
As north as Santa clarita
As far south as mission viejo
Which do you recommend and why?
Hi I'm looking for someone to help me buy some land, I have a couple plots in mind already.
I've never bought property before, will a realtor be able to tell me these things about the land?
- cost to run water, electric and sewer
-cost to build access road
- outstanding fines on the land that need to be settled like brush abatements fees
I have a question about the escrow company company’s obligations.
I sold my house and it closed last Thursday. I asked the escrow company for the final documents in their files, since neither the escrow company nor the buyer provided all the countersigned documents along the way. Obviously, I wouldn’t be entitled to the buyer’s loan information or other buyer private information. They sent a few poorly scanned docs, but they refuse to give me all the other documents in their files (again, less the private buyer docs). What documents am I entitled to receive as a seller to keep for my own files?
I've been seeing a lot of conflicting opinions about the Los Angeles housing market lately.
Some people are saying buyers finally have leverage. Others are saying good homes are still getting multiple offers and sellers are doing just fine.
I think the answer is: it depends where in LA you're looking.
And honestly, that's probably the most important thing to understand about the market right now.
One of the numbers economists and real estate people use is months of supply.
Basically, it estimates how long it would take to sell the homes currently on the market if no additional homes were listed.
As a general rule:
Nationally, we're now around the balanced range.
But that doesn't necessarily tell you what's happening in Los Angeles.
LA is too fragmented for one number to tell the whole story.
A house in Glendale can behave very differently from a condo on the Westside. A well-priced, move-in-ready house in a desirable neighborhood can still attract strong interest while an overpriced or dated property can sit for weeks or months.
And that's where I think some of the online arguments about the LA market get confusing.
We're seeing more inventory and more properties taking longer to sell in parts of the LA market.
That can give buyers something they haven't had much of in recent years:
time.
Time to compare properties.
Time to investigate a house that's been sitting.
Time to ask for repairs or credits.
And sometimes, time to negotiate on price.
But that doesn't mean every seller is desperate.
If a property is priced correctly, in a desirable location, and shows well, the seller can still have plenty of leverage.
Recent LA-area Reddit discussions are actually showing this exact split: people are noticing more price reductions and longer market times, while well-priced homes can still move quickly.
It may be better to ask:
Who has the upper hand on the specific house you're looking at?
That's a much more useful question.
If you're buying, I'd pay attention to:
If you're selling, I'd be looking at the opposite side of that equation:
I don't think LA is accurately described as simply a buyer's market or seller's market right now.
It's much more neighborhood- and property-specific than that.
And that's probably a good thing.
Buyers have more opportunities to negotiate than they did during the frenzy.
Sellers can still do very well when they price and position a property correctly.
If you're buying or selling in LA right now, what are you actually seeing?
Are sellers negotiating more?
Are buyers getting concessions?
Are well-priced homes still getting multiple offers?
Or does it depend entirely on the neighborhood?
I'm curious what people are seeing on the ground.
Inspector paid a visit and hung a door tag. Wants to schedule inspection for suspected unpermitted work. How long can one delay that kind of an inspection?
I just bought my home recently and after fixing another thing they came back for a diff item now related to garage conversion. It's frustating that you own your house, pay prop tax and still at the mercy of what you can/can't do like there's a hoa.
Hey LA,
Like many of you, I've spent way too much time sifting through spam, duplicate posts, and sketchy listings on Craigslist just to find decent local rentals, used gear, or side gigs.
To fix this, I created a brand-new classified ads platform built exclusively for the Greater Los Angeles area.
What makes it different:
Whether you're looking for a new apartment, trying to sell furniture before a move, or searching for local services, give it a try!
Check it out here: Los Angeles Ads
I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any features you'd like to see added. Hope it helps make local buying, selling, and renting a bit easier for everyone here!
I am noticing a ton home just sitting it obvious they are overpriced and when they do sell they sell for way less then a correctly priced home.
Another issue is a lot these homes think pricing on properties selling is correct. But it a home with no major updating since 2005 and has original windows and a things like ac on it last legs with no solar that people do not price this into there offers.
With rising interest rates it sure looks like a around a 20-30% drop in near future. Not sure what other people are seeing. To me it not that homes are not selling because the one priced correctly are in a few weeks it that a huge chunk thinks there house is worth the same as house where money was spend on it.
This is Shane and I'm bringing you the 20th installment of "How much is it?"
In this example I'm using a 9-year old, 3 bed, 2 bath home in the canyon that's 1,789 sq. ft on almost an acre. I chose it because it's been listed on and off since mid-2025, with almost a $200k price reduction over that time, and homeowner's insurance costs might be a reason why. Not too far away from this property a client of mine was paying over $9k/year on an older but similar sized home. I'll use $750/mo for homeowner's insurance in this example, but understand the actual amount will likely vary. California FAIR Plan may be needed.
If you want to know more about me, this series, data assumptions or why I am posting here you can view the initial post I made which contains those details.
This example uses 2447 Stonyvale Rd, Tujunga, CA 91042 which is currently listed for sale at $899,000 and was found on u/TannerBeyer's most recent weekly list here as it was de-listed and re-listed this past week.
I explain more about how to calculate property taxes when purchasing a home here, but to get to the point on this home the annual property taxes would end up being $11,213.57/year or $934.47/mo if purchased at the list price.
Conventional financing at a 6.250% 30-year fixed rate (6.434% APR) with 10% down would have total funds due of $112,402.62 with a monthly payment broken down as:
Conventional financing at a 6.250% 30-year fixed rate (6.337% APR) with 20% down would have total funds due of $200,435.28 with a monthly payment broken down as:
FHA financing at 5.875% 30-year fixed rate (6.700% APR) with 3.5% down would have total funds due of $54,022.73 with a monthly payment broken down as:
VA financing at 5.875% 30-year fixed rate (6.153% APR) with 0% down would have total funds due of $22,843.13 with a monthly payment broken down as:
Over the past eight months, mortgage rates have been on a rollercoaster that refused to head downhill. After starting the year near 6.0%, 30-year fixed rates steadily drifted higher, spending most of the spring and summer hovering in the mid-to-upper 6% range. The main culprit has been sticky inflation. Every time rates showed signs of finding relief, global oil price spikes and a cautious Federal Reserve pushed borrowing costs right back up, dashing early hopes for the fast, steady rate cuts many had predicted for 2026.
Behind the scenes, however, the economy is finally flashing the cooling signals that mortgage bonds need to see. Hiring has slowed significantly, wage growth has cooled to multi-year lows, and consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending. While this kind of economic softening is fundamentally good news for interest rates, the turnaround has been a slow grind rather than an overnight drop. That is largely because core living expenses, especially housing and rent measurements, take time to fully cool off in official government data.
For the Los Angeles market, this "higher-for-longer" rate environment keeps local affordability under pressure. When median home prices top $850,000, even a fractional move in interest rates can swing a monthly mortgage payment by hundreds of dollars. At the same time, many existing homeowners who locked in 3% or 4% mortgages years ago are staying put, keeping inventory tight and preventing home prices from dropping.
Hope this breakdown was helpful!
Drop your questions in the comments, and let me know if there’s anything you'd like to see in future posts.
Good luck out there.
"How much is it?" Master Index with links to previous breakdowns.
I also run r/CaliforniaMortgages, a community dedicated specifically to navigating the unique real estate and lending landscape of our state. For a deeper technical look, check out r/MortgageRates, where I post daily updates during the week breaking down the charts, economic data, and market movements that shape mortgage rates.
I have a 3 bedrooms, 2 spa like bathrooms, top of the line laundry room in Sunland, CA how profitable will be to rent it to traveling professionals? Or it is better to just do a regular 1 year lease. The initial investment will be around $16k. The house has a nice front and back yard with a separated entrance to the ADU. 1,400 sq f. Quiet neighborhood.
I'm signing a lease for an apartment built in 2015... I'd assume this is just blanket coverage, but it's sort of concerning as a mom to a 5 year old.
Thanks for any insight!
One thing I think most buyers feel in LA right now is inventory pressure. I've been wondering: are there any hidden gems out there? Like listings that have sat a while, taken a few cuts, and might be a real opportunity for a motivated, well-informed buyer who's weighed the pros and cons?
So we pulled active LA County MLS listings with a real price cut, 30 to 180 days on market, single-family and condo - checked against actual closed comps in the same neighborhood and property type. Here are some takeaways:
A handful of new builds in Mar Vista and Eagle Rock initially looked like real single-family discounts, 10 to 14% under neighborhood SFH comps. 11702 Charnock Rd and 3601 McLaughlin Ave (Mar Vista, $1,595,000 each, built 2025) and 5271 Eagle Dale (Eagle Rock, $998,000, built 2025) and they present really well in photos.
But they're all detached structures with essentially zero usable lot, single-family in zoning only. Compared against actual townhouse comps instead, all three flip to running 11.5% to 20.2% above. They look like houses in photos. They price and sit like condos under a different name, worth knowing if you're buying "single-family" expecting an actual yard.
Consider 4743 Purdue Ave, Culver City ($1,199,000, built 2026, 111 days on market) passes every check the data can run. Real lot, correct comp category, genuinely 8.6% under Del Rey's SFH comps on a solid sample. But it's literally right next to the 405 on an awkward lot. Photos are great but the location is rough.
Most of the rest of the scan was the same story: inflated asks correcting back to reality. Two held up as genuine, if unremarkable: 5211 Calatrana Dr, Woodland Hills ($910,000, built 1962, real lot, about 11% under comps) and 24643 Via Valmonte, Torrance ($1,748,000, built 1990, real lot, modest gap under comps).
LA County's median condo closed the last six months at $655,000 with a $538/mo median HOA. At today's rate (30-yr averaging 6.74-6.77%) with 20% down, that runs about $4,650/mo all-in (P&I, tax, insurance, HOA), versus $2,400-3,400/mo for a comparable 2-bedroom rental. That's 1.5x to 2x rent at the median, narrower on cheaper units but never fully closed. It's a real trade, more now for equity and a hedge against rent increases, worth it if you're planning to hold. It can be a real value play for the right buyer, and there's no shortage of options right now.
One thing worth knowing before you write an offer: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are phasing in real changes to condo lending. The streamlined "Limited Review" path disappears for buildings over 10 units starting August 3, 2026, and minimum reserve funding jumps from 10% to 15% of the HOA's budget starting January 4, 2027. Thin-reserve buildings may need to raise dues to comply. This isn't a reason to walk away, it's a reason to actually read the HOA disclosure packet your agent gets during escrow (California law requires the budget, reserve study, 12 months of board minutes, and any pending special assessment) instead of assuming today's HOA number holds.
A few options worth a look:
| Address | Price | HOA/mo | vs. comps | DOM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10660 Wilshire Blvd #410, Westwood | $999,000 | $2,050.73 | -20.1% | 103d |
| 801 S Grand Ave #1611, DTLA | $749,000 | $1,298 | -25.8% | 168d |
| 4454 Ventura Canyon Ave #105, Sherman Oaks | $549,999 | $790 | -17.0% | 30d |
| 267 S San Pedro St #315, Little Tokyo | $399,000 | $1,178 | -25.8% | 124d |
Westwood and Little Tokyo carry HOAs high enough relative to price that they're worth a lender check before assuming the math above holds. Sherman Oaks is moving fastest of the four.
What looks like a discount is usually an inflated ask correcting itself, or there is a genuine quality of life reason for it. Condos are a real path to equity for the right buyer, but at today's rates the monthly cost runs meaningfully above rent, HOA size matters as much as the discount, and new lending rules through 2027 add one more thing to check, not one more thing to fear, before you sign. Run your own numbers, and don't expect condo appreciation to match single-family over time. One real upside: Buyers are skeptical of condos (potentially for good reason) fewer people competing for condo inventory means you actually have time to look into a listing instead of bidding blind against ten other offers by tomorrow. You CAN find those hidden gems but you have to know how to look and what you’re looking for.
The right agent can help you do your due diligence but expect a lot of getting intimately familiar with HOA reserve studies and disclosures.
This came up in another thread and it’s worth its own post since a lot of people assume conversion is a simple swap. It isn’t, and the gap between what’s now legal and what actually gets built is the whole story.
What changed? LA adopted a Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance effective February 1 of this year. The old 1999 ordinance was basically a downtown program. This one goes citywide, adds zoning incentives and streamlined procedures, and buildings 15 years or older can qualify if they’re in designated zones, including commercial and multifamily. On top of that you’ve got the state layer. AB 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act, plus SB 6, both from 2022. AB 2011 was later amended by AB 2243. Together they created a ministerial, no CEQA approval pathway for qualifying residential projects on commercially zoned land and along commercial corridors. Two routes under AB 2011, one for 100% affordable projects on commercial land, one for mixed-income along corridors. So between the city ordinance and the state laws, the legal path is genuinely open now.
The market conditions are there too:LA office vacancy was around 25% at the end of last year. Gensler named adaptive reuse a defining trend in their 2026 forecast. There’s a lot of building sitting empty and a lot of demand for housing. On paper it writes itself.
So why the trickle instead of a wave? A few real reasons:
Labor requirements. AB 2011 comes with prevailing wage and healthcare requirements, that’s the High Road Jobs part of the name. Land use attorneys working on these have been pretty direct that the labor stipulations are a big reason the law has produced limited results so far. It adds cost that a lot of deals can’t absorb.
Physics. This is the one people never think about. Office floor plates are deep because nobody needs a window at a desk in the middle of a floor. Apartments need light and air in every unit, so a deep floor plate means a big chunk of the building can’t become livable space. Plumbing is worse. An office has bathrooms in a central core. An apartment building needs risers running to every unit. You’re not renovating, you’re gutting to the frame and rebuilding the guts. Which is why older, narrower buildings are actually the better candidates than newer glass boxes. The 60s and 70s stock along our commercial corridors is often a better fit than a 2005 office park. Then add seismic upgrade triggers, elevator counts, and parking, and a lot of buildings that look like obvious candidates just don’t pencil.
Valley specifics: We’ve got plenty of the right raw material. The older office stock along Ventura, the Sepulveda and Van Nuys corridors, Warner Center, various aging retail. A councilmember involved in this work described the new ordinance as really permissive but said the city still needs to do more to spur conversions where they’re actually viable. That’s an honest read.
If you live near a commercial corridor with a half empty office building or a dying strip center, that parcel is now a much more likely residential site than it was a year ago. Not guaranteed, but the path exists where it didn’t before. And if you’re a small commercial owner sitting on an underperforming building, this is worth actually pricing out rather than assuming it’s a fantasy. The answer will often be no, but the analysis is different than it was two years ago. This is the pattern with all the recent housing law. SB 79 changed what can be built, SB 35 changed whether there’s a hearing, AB 2011 and adaptive reuse changed what commercial land can become. Each one removes a legal barrier. None of them fix construction cost, interest rates, or the physical realities of a building. Legal permission and financial feasibility are two different things, and right now the permission is running well ahead of the feasibility.
Anyone tracking a conversion project in the Valley? Curious whether anything’s actually moving or if it’s still mostly talk.
Los Angeles has more than 20,000 privately owned vacant lots that are already zoned for housing, and UCLA cityLAB is trying to show how some of them could be turned into smaller-scale ownership housing instead of sitting empty. The idea behind the “Small Lots, Big Impacts” initiative is to use these lots for gentle density projects like duplexes, fourplexes, townhomes, small condo communities, and other missing-middle formats that can be sold individually at lower entry prices than a traditional single-family home.
The first pilot round selected three designer-developer teams, each expected to build at least five for-sale units on a small vacant lot in L.A. The projects will get some financial and regulatory support, including low-interest financing from Genesis L.A., and a portion of the homes must be reserved below market rate for low- or middle-income buyers. The broader goal is to prove that L.A.’s many small vacant parcels can support a new version of the starter home without requiring high-rise development or dramatically changing neighborhood character.
L.A. has thousands of vacant residential lots, but turning them into attainable ownership housing still means dealing with land costs, financing, permitting, neighborhood pushback, construction costs, and HOA or condo structure issues. Do you think small-lot ownership projects like this can scale in Los Angeles?
This went into effect August 3 and I’ve already had two conversations about it this week, so putting it here. If you own a condo, are thinking about buying one, or sit on a board, this one actually matters. Fannie Mae issued Lender Letter LL-2026-03 back in March, Freddie issued a matching bulletin the same day. The headline change kicked in for loan applications dated August 3 or later.
Limited Review is gone. For anyone who hasn’t dealt with it, Limited Review was the shortcut. If a buyer put down 10% or more on an established condo, the lender could skip the deep dive into the HOA’s finances and just verify basic property and insurance info. Fast, simple, and it let a lot of loans close in buildings nobody was really examining.
Established projects now go through Full Review, where the underwriter looks at the association’s budget, reserves, deferred maintenance, litigation, and insurance. And critically, a bigger down payment no longer gets you around it. Your loan approval now depends on the building’s health, not just yours. You can have an 800 score and 40% down and still get declined because of somebody else’s roof.
The good news that’s getting buried. Almost every article on this treats it as pure bad news. It isn’t:
The Waiver of Project Review expanded from 4 units to 10 units. So a small building, 2 to 10 units, can skip the review matrix entirely as long as it isn’t part of a master association or larger development, isn’t flagged unavailable in Fannie’s system, and meets basic master insurance requirements. That’s a real win, and it covers a meaningful chunk of the smaller Valley condo stock.
They also retired the 50% investment property concentration limit for established projects under Full Review. Buildings that were effectively cut off from conventional financing because too many units were rentals may now be financeable again. For certain urban buildings that’s a significant unlock. So the picture is: 10 units or fewer got easier, 11 or more got harder.
Timing detail people are getting wrong:The reserve allocation increase from 10% to 15% is real, but it does NOT apply yet. That one hits applications dated on or after January 4, 2027. What started August 3 is the Limited Review retirement and the reserve study funding requirement. I’ve seen several posts conflate those dates. Why this hits value, not just paperwork. This is the part boards don’t connect. If a project can’t clear Full Review, it’s non-warrantable. No Fannie or Freddie backing. Buyers then need cash or a portfolio loan at a higher rate with a bigger down payment. Your buyer pool shrinks hard. Comps in the building start reflecting distressed pricing, appraisals follow, and owners who need to refinance can’t. Owners who need to sell take less. So a board’s decision to hold dues flat and defer the reserve funding, which felt like saving everyone money, converts directly into reduced equity for every owner in the building. Same thing I was saying in that other thread, just with a specific mechanism now.
Local angle: A lot of our condo stock is 60s through 80s construction, which is exactly the profile where SB 326 balcony and walkway inspections turn up deferred maintenance. An engineer documenting needed repairs creates a paper trail that Full Review will now look at. If the association can’t fund identified critical repairs, that’s a warrantability problem. Also worth noting this applies to condo projects. Single family HOAs are not subject to Full Review. If you’re in an attached or mixed-use situation, confirm classification with your lender rather than assuming.
Practical stuff:
If you’re buying, have your lender check the project’s status in Fannie’s Condo Project Manager before you write the offer, not after inspections. Owners can’t look it up themselves, it’s lender access only. And build extra time into your escrow, because Full Review takes longer than what everybody’s used to. If you’re selling in a building with 11+ units, find out now whether the project clears. Discovering it mid-escrow when your buyer’s loan dies is a much worse way to learn. If you’re on a board, this is now a fiduciary issue with a measurable benchmark. Reserve study current, funding adequate, repairs documented and funded. Your owners’ ability to sell depends on it. I deal with both sides of this and it’s going to catch a lot of people over the next few months.
Anyone had a condo deal hit a snag on project review since the 3rd? Curious whether lenders are actually applying it strictly yet or if there’s a grace period in practice.
This L.A. Times piece follows a Northeast L.A. couple who set out to build a modest ADU next to their midcentury home and ended up with a much more expensive project than expected. Joshua Leibner and Katherine Henninger originally thought the ADU might cost around $300,000, but the final cost came closer to $600,000. Their property sits on a ridgeline between Eagle Rock and Highland Park, which limited where they could build, so they replaced a detached two-car garage with a 400-square-foot studio designed by FreelandBuck.
The finished ADU is small but highly designed, with vaulted ceilings, clerestory windows, a sleeping loft, kitchenette, bathroom, flexible living space and decks connecting it to the main house. The architects designed it to complement the semicircular midcentury home without simply copying it, creating a structure that appears to “float” between the house and outdoor areas. The project also reused personal and salvaged materials, including old tiles, artwork, a pendant light the couple had carried for years, and pieces of the demolished garage that were given away through Craigslist and Buy Nothing groups.
The project shows how quickly ADU costs can get away from homeowners, especially in Los Angeles. COVID-era supply chain problems, high material prices, difficult site access, garage demolition, custom architecture and owner-managed finish work all shaped the final result. The couple now rents out the home and ADU while caring for family on the East Coast, and they say one benefit is that the ADU creates rental income to help pay for the project. It’s a good reminder that ADUs can add flexibility and long-term value, but the actual cost can be very different from the simple “backyard unit” idea people often start with.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and honestly can’t decide.
On one hand you’ve got rental properties. On the other, starting some kind of business. Both seem like the classic “build wealth / create cash flow” moves people talk about, but I’m curious what the actual experience is like in the beginning.
Do either of them actually put money in your pocket early on, or do they both just eat cash for a while?
Would love to hear from people who’ve done one (or both):
• How long did it take before you saw real cash flow?
• What surprised you the most?
• If you had to pick which would you choose and why?
Just looking for real experiences and opinions. What’s your take?
Wealthy developer bought my neighbors <1500 sqft house for $1.7M. Developer knocked down the house and is building a new home, lot line to lot line, and will be <2500 sqft according to permits filed with the city. This developer will likely have to sell this house for $3M+ for this to make sense. No one is going to be able to afford to live here.
Edit: I don’t own my home. I rent. This increases the property value for my landlord and means I’ll never be able to buy in this neighborhood despite having a great career and seemingly “doing everything right”.
If any Boomer with property needs to adopt an adult as a child, I’m taking applications.
Lurker / Prospective buyer
What is the SFV Condo market looking like from a real estate agents perspective? (Woodland Hills, Encino, Tarzana, Sherman Oaks specifically)
I'll admit I fall into the category of a buyer that was waiting for a correction. I feel like that correction has started in the above markets. However, the West LA market doesn't feel like its had much movement.
Is the real estate agent community feeling like sellers outweigh buyers or vice versus and are you seeing shifts in buyer / seller behavior in these areas?
I ask some of these questions because in SFV, Im starting to see double digit price reductions on reddfin (2BR, 2BA) and I want to understand if those are thought to be driven by the market trending downward or simply internal situiations of those specific sellers needing quick sales.
I understand rates & hoa fees are a negative impact on the buyer side. I understand neither of these have an outlook to change soon. How are your sellers approaching the end of summer downturn?
Prior year, the alot of sellers & buyers thought to wait until 26' for a rate drops (Obviously that didnt happen)
I've been talking with my wife a lot about moving her parents to LA with us and we're thinking of the best way to do this. We can't afford the property of our dreams at the moment but building an ADU out of our detached garage is a real option.
Pros and Cons please.
