Downtown Selling

After a brief vacation and a few busy weeks, I'm back at things here at TerraFirmaLA!

Today, I would like to discuss downtown Los Angeles. Everyone has an opinion about downtown LA: It's great, it's terrible, it's on the verge, it'll never be any good, and on and on. But undeniably downtown LA offers a living experience unlike anywhere else in southern California.

Today's LA Times offers a look at the current popularity of penthouse condos in downtown: With penthouses, downtown Los Angeles might be moving on up.

I wanted to add to this, my own recent personal experience. I've always been a fan of downtown, and while I don't live there, I live close enough that I've done transactions there and frequently go there for fun. (The Edison is the best club in the city, IMO).

This month, I've been working with a client looking for a condo downtown. And I must say I've been encouraged by what I'm seeing. Yes, prices have come down considerably. But even more encouraging: things are selling.

Just this week while attempting to set up appointments on seven different places, I found two already in escrow and two more with offers on them. I think the point to draw from this is that the demand for downtown condos remains strong. But like everywhere, buyers want deals. These were among the best-priced two-bedroom condos downtown.

Additionally, in the process of researching sales history on some of the condos my client is interested, I have found relatively consistent sales numbers for this year for some of the newer buildings. Prices in these buildings, however, have come down -- even from January or February of this year. But they are still selling. And there's some amazing stuff and amazing prices downtown.