2 posts from April 2007

I know I am going to need a new roof as the old one is shot and shoddy!  First estimate came in at around $8,000.  Yikes, let's see if Steve can do better.  Hoping to negotiate a credit with the seller.  This could get ugly.  But not as ugly as the roof.  ;)

Actually found an interesting new idea called a Green Roof while researching costs. 

Maybe this is the wave of the future. 

GREEN ROOF

ChandlerHouse 021

I viewed this little property on Chandler Blvd in Burbank a few days after it was listed in March.  The original asking price was $459,000.  For those of you outside of Los Angeles, this may sound like an exorborant amount of money for a 950 square foot, fixer upper on a tiny lot.  But this is LA, Burbank to be exact.  The house was the cheapest price in Burbank for a single family residence.

This particular neighborhood is up and coming.  I grew up in Burbank and Chandler Blvd used to be home to abandoned rail road tracks, with weeds, dirt and more weeds growing out of the tracks.  It had been years since a train ever came close.

In 2002 or so, the city of Burbank designated the tracks as a beautification project and tore out the old and built a new bike path, with shrubs, grass, trees, sculptures, park benches and trash bins for doggie doo.  It's a walkers paradise now with people, blading, biking, running, strolling. 

After the Bike Path was built the houses on Chandler slowly started creeping up in price along with the rest of Burbank.  Burbank is an industry town, home to NBC Studios, Warner Bros, and Disney, among others.  A lot of artist, creative types have slowly moved into the neighborhoods and happily co-exist with the crusty old Burbankians who worked at Lockheed or for the city.  It's very diverse, with Hispanic, Phillipino, Korean and Indian mix of families.

I decided to make an offer on the house when the seller lowered it to $439,000.  Our first offer was low balled at $399,000.  The seller came back at $419,000 and we took it.  We plan on putting about 25K into rennovations and then we will rent it for $2200-2300 per month, depending.

I have added some pics for before viewing.

At this point we are 5 days into the escrow.  We had our inspection on Thursday.  The house is is sound but needs some repair.  We will ask the seller to repair the roof or credit us and to remove a rotted patio cover.  That's about it as we're going to repair much ourselves.