Quite a few people have asked me if it was true that we opened escrow on a Friday afternoon and closed it Monday.

Well, it is true but not as far-fetched as some might imagine. 

The $9,250,000 sale was anticipated a few weeks earlier so my team and I had been working together with Lawyers Title and Chartwell Escrow to have all the pieces in place to make the closing possible.

Santa Monica’s “mansion tax”, Measure GS, implementation date of 3/1/2023 was looming. The GS tax would add a whopping 1,000% increase in transfer taxes- which would mean no sale at all.

The odds were against us. The property was listed with me only 18 days before the tax deadline and the average number of days on the market for homes such as this is well over 60 days. In addition, the cold wet weather we were experiencing made for less-than-ideal conditions to show people half acre properties. In spite of this, it seemed like we were showing the home every day, sometimes more than once. We generated several offers, but most people were not able to perform due to the time constraints related to closing so quickly.

In the end it was a Pence Hathorn Silver past client who submitted an 11th hour offer that seemed “makeable”. Within 1 day of the offer, I met with the Sellers, the Buyer’s inspectors, architect, and contractor, and my co-listing agent at the property. We spent most of the day in the Seller’s dining room negotiating with the Buyer. Did I mention that the Buyer was out of town, skiing in Mammoth? They signed the counteroffer in between runs down the slopes. The Buyer smartly suggested that the funds get wired from the New York branch of his financial institution so as to take advantage of their 3-hour time difference which meant that in theory, the funds would be available in our escrow by 6:00AM Monday morning. Because of the potential for bottle necks at the county recorder’s office we were trying to record the closing 2 days ahead of the looming tax deadline. 

Anita Brewster-Boyd from Chartwell Escrow and Matt Grainger from Lawyers Title worked tirelessly over the weekend to ensure that the Buyers and Sellers received, signed and notarized all the necessary escrow documents. Sunday night, after all signatures were in place, I drove from my home in Malibu to Chartwell in Brentwood to ferry the documents to a secure Lawyers Title document box in Burbank.

Once the docs were in the title company box, we were literally coming down to the wire – the wire transfer of funds. If the wire did not show up, there could be no closing on time. 

At 6:30 Monday morning, the wire was received! Anita authorized the recordation of the deed at 8:00 AM and Lawyers Title scanned the documents for submission to the county recorder’s office.

By midday Monday we had confirmation from the County Recorder that the sale had closed, a truly incredible team effort! I took calls from the title company, then the escrow company, then Compass President Robert Reffkin. I confirmed that yes, indeed, it was a 1 day deal. Mr. Reffkin asked how it all came together so quickly and asked me to thank the Buyers and Sellers for supporting us and our affiliated escrow company. 

The successful completion of this sale was the result of an extraordinary team effort and years of expertise in real estate. All members of the team leveraged their strong relationships, knowledge, and experience to ensure that the process ran smoothly and quickly. This unmatched experience reinforces the Pence Hathorn Silver motto that “Not all real estate agents are the same. Who you work with matters”!

In more 90402 Real Estate News

There are 16 Active listings currently, the most recent are:

226 Palisades Avenue – Listed for $22,500,000. This property is impressive, and so is the price tag. The lot is over half an acre and in addition to the large 1917 home there is a pool, guest house and pickleball court (anyone else perplexed by this craze?).

310 22nd Street– Listed for $7,895,000. I had this listing back in 2018 when the current owner purchased it for $6,625,000. There is a lot of square footage here in a really unique floorplan.

There are 8 listings in escrow

347 25th Street– Listed for $5,995,000.

328 21st Place – Listed for $3,700,000.

369 22nd Street – Listed for $5,995,000.

734 25th Street – Listed for $6,800,000.

439 18th Street – Listed for $4,413,650.

443 Euclid Street – Listed for $4,495,000.

333 16th Street – Listed for $4,200,000.

364 18th Street – Listed for $5,350,000.

There are 6 sold listings

As discussed in this blog, 420 Georgina Avenue sold for $9,250,000.

409 20th Street – Sold for $5,710,000, this one was listed by Pence Hathorn Silver for $5,888,000 originally. As soon as we adjusted the price to $5,750,000 we received multiple offers and quickly went into escrow.

210 Marguerita Avenue– Sold for $15,434,000. Originally listed for $19,995,000.

537 Euclid Street – Sold for $8,900,000. Originally listed for $8,995,000.

342 10th Street – Sold for $9,257,000. Originally listed for $8,999,000.

205 Georgina Avenue – Sold for $8,610,000. Originally listed for $11,995,000.