For decades, the single-family home has been Southern California’s ultimate temptation—the chance to live a life full of sun and sand from the comfort of your own property.
Most buyers’ ticket to that life is the beginning. Something modest but not lean. Two bedrooms, maybe three. A picket fence in the front and a yard in the back for children and dog play.
But the novice home has changed. With rising home prices, and rising mortgage interest rates making everything less expensive, wish lists became more and more, and buyers were forced to find something smaller and less practical.
Do you want two bedrooms? How about one, plus a desk that might fit a double bed. Want a backyard? How about a common space with the rest of the apartment complex. Want to paint the outside of your house? The Homeowners Association will not allow this, but feel free to beautify the interior.
Compromising has always been part of the search for a home, but in a market where some two-bedroom homes sell for a million dollars or more—often for hundreds of thousands of asking price—middle-class buyers are forced to take whatever they can get.
“It was hard to find anything under a million dollars,” said Zach Ziskowski. “There was nothing that was cute and unique, and I wanted something that wasn’t a cookie cutter.”
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“Beggars can’t be chosen,” said Zach Ziskowski, a television producer who bought his first home last summer.
He began his research with two-bedroom homes in West Hollywood and Mid City, but soon realized that everything was out of his price range.
“It was hard to find anything under a million dollars,” he said. “There was nothing that was cute and unique, and I wanted something that wasn’t a cookie cutter.”
Zyskowski decided to switch strategies. Stop looking for homes on the market and get creative, asking friends if anyone is planning to sell in their own compounds. He ended up buying a one-bedroom apartment directly from a seller in an off-market deal.
In the end, he sacrificed space for the character. His new home is located in El Cabrillo, a Spanish-style patio complex built by film magnate Cecil B. Demel in the 1920s.
It’s a bit small at 800 square feet, and a pull-out sofa is used in the living room to host guests. But the elegant building, which has been featured in shows like “Hollywood” and “Chuck” and has a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, more than makes up for it.
TV producer Zack Zyskowski, at 800 square feet, said his new home is a bit small, but there’s a pull-out sofa for guests.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“Would I have loved something more? Yes, there is always more that you want.” “But I would rather have something smaller and nicer than something bigger and boring. I was just amazed that I could ever buy a place.”
For Elena Amador-French, the smallest was not an option. A planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is tired of working on the Mars rover from her dining room table during the pandemic. The newborn did not help.
She and her husband began looking for a home last year and set their sights on Altadena, a community tucked away in the San Gabriel Mountains filled with charming Craftsman houses, English Tudors, and colonial-style homes.
With a budget of $800,000, they wanted a home with character — as long as it had two bedrooms. But their search was like many others: making an offer, watching dozens of other buyers raise asking price, and seeing the home sell for hundreds of thousands more than they can afford.
“You just have to laugh at some point. We can’t be bothered because we couldn’t even compete,” she said.
They switched strategies and targeted a duplex apartment, which didn’t have the allure of a single-family lifestyle, but also didn’t have the dozens of buyers swarming every open house.
In the end, they paid $970,000 to purchase an 1,800-square-foot duplex with three bedrooms and three bathrooms in the East Pasadena complex.
“There’s still a part of me that wants a single family home that I can really make.”
– Elena Amador – French
He didn’t have the charm of a single family home, and he didn’t check all the boxes; They couldn’t fit a hammock set for their daughter in the outdoor space, nor could they add any personal touches to the outside due to HOA regulations requiring all homes to be painted the same color.
But it was an easier process that ended up with more space for less money.
“There is still a part of me that wants a single family home that I can really make,” she said. “But this was a much less battle.”
In today’s market, it makes sense to compromise. Homes that tick all the boxes—the chic neighborhood, ample space, and interesting architecture—still attract plenty of offers and often sell for overpriced. But for buyers willing to let go of the single-family housing dream and redefine what an entry-level home could be, there are plenty of options.
Apartments are regularly in Los Angeles in the $300,000 range, which is a fraction of what some single-family homes require. Other buyers choose shared rental units, which are arrangements in which residents share ownership of the building.
Zach Zyskowski sacrificed space for character, which he found in a 1920s apartment purchased directly from the seller in an off-market deal.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
As more buyers choose alternatives, increases in apartment prices outweigh increases in prices for single-family homes.
For many Southern Californians, single-family homes are simply out of reach. The Times has published a “What Money Buys” series over the past five years highlighting homes on the market at certain price points in different neighborhoods. Now, those stories read like a time capsule.
For example, the 2019 piece put homes on the market for $800,000 in a few Los Angeles neighborhoods including Jefferson Park and Cypress Park. Both areas had a five-bedroom home listed for about $800,000.
The Jefferson Park home ended up selling for $850,000 in 2019. Now, Redvin estimates the home is worth $1.28 million. The Cypress Park home has grown in value even higher, selling for $800,000 in 2019 and is now estimated at $1.45 million.
These prices are now standard. In Jefferson Park, there are no five-bedroom single-family homes on the market for less than $1.2 million. Price point $800,000 now buys a two-bedroom home — or a three-bedroom loft.
The change becomes more evident at lower price points. A 2017 entry in the series explored what $500,000 would buy in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Van Nuys, Lemer Park and Boyle Heights. Each home on the list contained at least 1,000 square feet, and most had three bedrooms. One has four.
Five years later, Redfin values all of the properties on that list at $750,000 or more, with a few north of $850,000.
When you look at the options currently available in these three communities, you don’t find three-bedroom homes for $500,000 or less. The closest thing is a three-bedroom townhouse in Van Nuys asking for $550,000 – cash only offers.
For comparison, the 2022 story of $500,000 home exploration highlighted much smaller options including a 648-square-foot bungalow in East Los Angeles listed for $485,000 and a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Los Angeles asking for $509,000 (plus $813 in monthly dues on around the clock).
Spoiler alert: Both homes sold shortly after the article was published, and the East L.A. bungalow sold for $10,000 more than asking price.
More buyers are settling on two-bedroom homes for a start, which is driving up prices.
In Los Angeles, the average two-bedroom home — the typical size for entry-level homes — sold for $765,700 in August, a 10.1% year-over-year increase, according to Rocket Homes. This is outperforming one-bedroom homes, which increased 8.8% year-over-year, and three-bedroom homes, which increased 9.1% year-over-year.
Earlier this year, Compass agent Allie Altschuler sold a two-bedroom home in the Eagle Rock Hills for $1.442 million — or $293,000 more than asking price. What it lacks in the number of bedrooms, it makes up for with unique features such as a breakfast nook with built-in kiosk and a separate structure in the backyard that can be used as an office or studio.
“Younger buyers don’t agree to buy smaller homes because they know they won’t be in them forever,” she said. “Buying a house and living in it for 30 or 40 years isn’t the case anymore.”
from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/how-to-shrink-a-beginners-home-in-southern-california/
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