A rotting Echo Park home that may be sitting on toxic materials is in the process of being sold after asking for $770,000, highlighting the high price of living in one of Los Angeles' trendiest neighborhoods.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property listed on real estate website Redfin comes with sweeping hillside views from its narrow 1,784-square-foot plot of land on Ewing Street.
Inside the home, the view isn't so rosy. The listing says the property comes with interior floors that are "weak and rotted," "illegal electrical and plumbing" and a "roof and structure (that) is rotted and sagging." Adding to its woes, the city has levied "many violations and fines" against it and the fence could be on the neighbor's land.
What may be most alarming are the toxic materials mentioned twice - with no explanation as to what those materials could be.
"Possible toxic material stored in the yard," the listing says, followed by, "Maybe toxic material under part of the units also."
Calls to the company that listed the property were not immediately returned.
Not surprisingly, real estate agents working in Echo Park say the value of the home is in the land itself, likely making its fate a teardown. The property owner may have arrived at the whopping price tag based on the location, square footage and comparable price for other homes in the immediate neighborhood.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
"Nothing surprises me in Echo Park right now," said real estate agent and Echo Park resident Anselm Clinard. "I'm guessing that the interest here is the development."
The evidence for the demand for homes in Echo Park, a centrally located enclave once gripped by street gangs and redefined by gentrification, is in the soaring sale prices. In January, a Redfin housing report for Los Angeles showed Echo Park's median housing price at $813,000 - up 25.3 percent year over year, making it one of the city's priciest neighborhoods.
The mayor of Los Angeles recently sold his Echo Park digs for more than $1.7 million, and celebrity sightings are not uncommon in the neighborhood's bustling streets lined with hip bars and coffee shops.
On Friday, the home on Ewing Street was marked as sale pending, just nine days after it was listed on the real estate site. Though it's unclear if the property sold above or below the asking price, real estate agent Natalie Stern Trabin said the sale reflects the trends for a housing market short on inventory.
Just east of Echo Park, a home in Boyle Heights was bumped off its foundation when a speeding car slammed into it and killed two people. In February, it was listed for sale for $399,000, with photos showing the front of the home covered by a tarp masking the unfixed damage. Because of its location, Redfin forecast the home had a 70 percent chance to sell within the week.
"The LA real estate market is crazy," Stern Trabin said. "I think people are willing to pay more for the value. It doesn't mean it's a bad move or a bad investment. I think (the investment) is for the long term."
