Kendyl Young

A friend/client recently encountered the strangest scam with her rental property in La Crescenta. I thought you should all be alerted.

My friend received an e-mail about her Craig's list ad.

The gentleman said he was being relocated from England to Los Angeles and that he would arrive on a specific date, 3 weeks in the future. He said he really liked the home based on the Craig's List ad, and had instructed his employer to send her a check for the first month plus security deposit. The language was very odd, very formal and slightly archaic. In fact, it sounded a lot like the Nigerian 411 scam e-mails - the ones where the writer pleads for help from a US citizen to help them move a twenty million dollar inheritance.

My friend was instantly suspicious. However, she couldn't see the risk - yet.

She asked the gentleman to provide a rental application and to sign a lease agreement, and he responded by saying he would have the local company forward that along with the check. He affirmed his intent to move in on the specified date. My friend decided the whole situation was weird and that nothing would come of it. She proceeded to rent the home to another couple. Before this "real" couple made their decision to sign a lease, a check arrived in a plain envelope with no return address. The postmark was from Jacksonville, Florida. It appeared to be a company check from a company in Los Angeles and it was drawn against a Washington Mutual Bank. The amount was for a few thousand more than the required rent and deposit.

Here is where my friend was incredibly smart - and lucky.

She took the check to Washington Mutual and asked the teller to look at it and verify the funds were available. The teller said, "Ma'am, this is not a legitimate check!". Shocked, my friend quickly explained the circumstances around the situation and the teller said,

"There is an interesting scam going around that sounds just like this."

Apparently the scam is to convince a landlord the tenant is real by producing the check. When the check arrives, the scammers are counting on the surprise of the large amount and the official looking check to cover up the fact that there is no rental agreement or paperwork. On the move in date, the con artist will show up and tell the landlord that their company made a mistake. The overage was supposed to be for the tenant to use for furniture and household supplies. They will ask the landlord to give the overage back to the tenant, on the spot, so that they can start setting up house. Obviously, the con artist will leave and no one will ever hear from them again. The original check will never clear. This is so scary!! An unsophisticated or an elderly landlord could easily be taken in this scam. If they had just deposited the check, it is likely they would not know it was bad until after the scam was over. More to the point... the unsuspecting landlord would come face to face with a bad person in a vacant property!!!!! My friend was so fortunate. She rented the home to the very nice real couple and e-mailed the con-artist, saying the check had never arrived and the home was already leased. She never heard a peep out of them again. Please tell everyone you know. This is not an urban myth or e-mail hoax. That "friend" ... was me.

Glendale Buyers often ask me, "How long has this house been on the market?", and I always ask back, "What will that information tell you?"

The truth is, the buyer often has no idea beyond the concept that the longer it's on the market, the more motivated the seller must be.

While that is often true, there is so much more you can learn!

There are two "Days on Market" numbers in the MLS. The first is the number of days the listing has been with this particular listing contract. There is no real explanation needed, here. 9 times out of ten, if you ask your Realtor how long the home has been on the market, they will give you this number.

The real juice, however, is in the second number, the "Cumulative Days on Market"(CDOM) and the "Listing History". The CDOM is the number of days the home has been on the market in the last 365 days. Sometimes this will tell you the home has spent a whole wack of time moving through the distressed sale process. Sometimes this number will reveal an unrealistic seller. 287 days at the same price? Move on, this sucker ain't gonna sell. (Or it is about to go short or foreclose)

At a minimum, the CDOM will tell you if you should look at the historical listing data - the record of a homes marketing journey going many years back. This information can often tell you if the property has had a history of problem selling or it might reveal when the seller is likely to drop their price again.

If your agent isn't sharing the historical data with you, shame on them! Ask about it and demand to see the data from them. If your agent isn't in the same MLS as I am, they are still able to get their hands on the data. Don't let them fool you. A good, professional agent, will give you this data without you asking, especially when you're getting ready to write that offer. If they don't, shame on them! Demand to see it.

There is some seriously good hiking in the hills behind Brand Park. Regular hikers know that there are two trail heads in Brand Park: the fire road that starts at the Doctor's House and the "Ridge" that starts at the Miss American Green Cross. Today I want to talk about the "Ridge". The statue at the trail head is one of the most unusual I've seen. Here is what the Glendale City Website has to say about this statue:

The statue of Miss American Green Cross was created in 1928 as a tribute to an early 20th Century tree society and a symbol of the deforestation that was taking place across the country at that time. After a car crashed into the statue, it was dumped behind Brand's Castle, and laid abandoned for 30 years. Hikers discovered it in an overgrown canyon in the mid-50's reporting that the arm of Miss American Green Cross was missing. It was assumed that vandals had carried it off. In 1981 the monument was taken to the city maintenance yard where she remained for 10 more years ~ until Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services, along with the organization Glendale Beautiful, raised money to have her restored.

The statue was created to commemorate preservation of our forests and to remind everyone that trees are a renewable resource - if you manage them properly. Even in 1928 there were forward thinking environmentalists... Anyway, the "Ridge" is always my favorite route. It is steeper, more rugged and challenging and, frankly, shorter, than the fire road. In a couple of places you need to scramble up a short stretch with hands and feet. The Ridge dumps you out close to the abandoned reservoir and, from there, you can continue up to the towers. Take the road less traveled. Visit Miss American Green Cross and contemplate our forests. You'll be glad you did.

Today's video answer addresses the question, " The Glendale home I want to buy has an unpermitted addition. What should I do?" Now, I apologize in advance. This answer got a bit windy - nearly 5 minutes of wind. You might not want to sit through the whole darn thing. After the video I have a short summary of points written out. No, the owner is not going to get you permits. They are perfectly fine with the home as it is. Every buyer asks the same questions:

1. will I have problems while I own it and
2. will I have problems when I sell?

In order to assess this you need to look at the following:

1. How important is the space?
   1. How big? Any plumbing? Is the added space a key area like a bathroom or bedroom suite?
2. How does it look?
   1. Does it look like it is quality workmanship or just slapped together?
3. Is it too close to the lot lines?
   1. If the addition pushed the exterior of the home too close to the neighbor, there could be trouble down the line
4. What does your home inspector think?

If everything looks good to you, it is probable that you will be fine in the future. Just make sure that you do not offend a Glendale city inspector in your home to inspect other stuff or your present/future neighbors. When you sell the home, make sure you disclose the unpermitted space as soon as possible. As a professional, I have to say there are no guarantees and you always take a risk with unpermitted space. Only you can assess if the risk is worth the house. If it is, make an offer that is less than a home with similar, permitted space, and more than a home with no extra space at all.

There are 17 homes on the sold list for last week! This is more than double the homes reported sold in last few weeks, so the trend continues in a positive direction. Below are the ones that caught my eye.

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Address	City	Bd	Bth	SqFt	LotSz	List Price	Sale Price
1125 Shirlyjean St	Sparr Hts	3	3	1,817	7732sf	629,000	607,000
2050 Rangeview Dr	Northwest	3	2	1,404	8251sf	617,000	622,000
4555 Indiana Ave	La Canada	2	1	1,034	10754sf	725,000	695,000
3129 Buckingham Rd	Chevy Chase	4	3	2,733	10486sf	844,000	780,000
1551 Cleveland Rd	Northwest	4	3	2,344	17940sf	870,000	900,000
2055 W Mountain St	Northwest	3	3	2,670	15224sf	1,049,000	1,030,000

1125 Shirleyjean is not really Sparr Hts, but it seams silly to start a catagory for this small enclave of homes off La Crescenta Ave. This home was on the market for about a million years as a trust sale. We are glad to see someone move in at long last!

2050 Rangeview was a hot ticket when it came on the market, attracting multiple offers in a week or so. This is one of 2 on my list that sold over asking.

4555 Indiana is a quirky street in La Canada that lies under the massive electical towers near Armstrong's. Even in this uneven market you can't buy under a million in La Canada proper without some kind of major ding.

3129 Buckingham is an exceedingly cool hideaway house tucked pretty far into the canyon. I thought this home would fly off the shelf, but I was wrong. Congratulations to the lucky buyer!

1551 Cleveland - congratulations to the buyer! I know you made an excellent choice - nearly 18,000 sf lot for $900,000. I can't wait to see what you will do with this home lot.

2055 Mountain is that lovely LOL home with the sopisticated look. I believe I called it the home of the arrive-ed. This is an excellent forever house and I hope the buyers are so happy they stay - a whole long time.

Click here for a report on all the solds for the week.