Tasteful Friends - Little LA House With A Big View

Here's a link to the slideshow...

I love it.

Clever use of the section of land, but I dont like the style at all

Made for a mudslide goodbye.

What is it anchored on? is there bedrock under that mud? Seems like rock would be necessary. Who would but several tons of concrete on a mud hill?

Beyond pretentious and it looks like it would be uncomfortable. Not one room looks like a living space you could actually use.

I'm surprised the article doesn't mention that this house was used in a scene in the 1965 cult film "The Loved One." The female lead character lives in it, and with every step she takes in it, the house moves and teeters like it's about to fall off the hill.

He had a dream; he worked hard and made it come true. Bravo!

R6, what exactly is beyond pretentious about this?

It’s a small home & very simple, at that.

His pride in it is touching but did it really have to be that severe? It’s brutalist where it could be cozy. But that’s me; he likes it and he’s the one who built it.

Wouldn’t need to buy a lawnmower.

It's not a "mud hill".

The piece made it clear that the house has piers that are anchored down deep. It's there that they are driven into the solid bedrock which is a part of the "geology" of the LA area that was mentioned early on.

I actually like the house a lot! And I say that even though I do not care for the most extreme versions of the brutalist school. But this doesn't approach that feel for me at all.

Hats off to this guy for his vision, perseverance and the remarkable connection made with an architect who was able to come up with a working plan that met his specifications while all done on a terribly steep lot in close-in the charming Mount Washington neighborhood!

The interior designer made some great selections too!

I love LA and wish that I lived in this house!

He did well for himself.

He worked hard, he saved, & he teamed up with others, in order to make his vision turn into a reality.

This right here, is the embodiment of the American dream. A working class hero built his home on his little piece of paradise.

Nothing wrong with that.

And he’s cute!

[quote]I'm surprised the article doesn't mention that this house was used in a scene in the 1965 cult film "The Loved One."

Are you paying attention at all?

I usually don't care for homes like this at all, but I really love it.

I would put a more comfortable couch in and hang a lot more art on the walls.

Then it would be perfect.

I absolutely LOVE IT but the acreage is tragic. It looks post-apocalyptic. LA people, please explain.

I think I need to wait for one of those horrible 30-minute home tour videos people keep posting to understand this house, lot and screens.

Not a fan of the brutalist kitchen (save the pool window - that’s cool!), but for one or even two people, it seems very liveable and like a little oasis. I love the shower with a view. Good for him for seeing this through.

I would have just bought the normal house next door on TOP of the hill

Pretty bloody fabulous. Minimalist homes are my thing.

[quote] Who knew that Times readers were such salty trolls. Well, anyone that ever waded into the comments, I guess. God forbid you could read a real estate article without stopping to complain about the design, the location, the expense. Let me be clear: we all know that houses in Iowa are cheaper. And larger. And *you* would have done things differently. There's no need to (tediously) let everyone know.

Someone from DL is posting comments on NYT.

I like it a lot plus the pool is really cool. However, I would constantly sit there and worry that it would slide off into the valley.

The pool will eventually leak into the house. Until then, it's fabulous!

There are houses like that in LA that were built in the 50s and still standing.

Higher insurance, but otherwise no problem.

I’d kill for that house— no neighbors, great view, privacy, quiet—and a pool! I’d live happily there.

I loathe the brutalist aspects but otherwise it is clever, handsome and has some nice touches, such as the pool. Needs some kind of panelling in that kitchen - teak cabinets - anything would be better than that "communist gulag" look.

The homeowner is a Hot Daddy.

Yes he's hot! I like his house very much but would have liked living in it 15 years ago when i was more into City living.

R14 Yes, and the article doesn't mention it.

A Room with a View.

[quote]I would have just bought the normal house next door on TOP of the hill

Well that would cost more like 3 million dipshit. The guy is not a millionaire. The average home in that area of LA is around 1.4 million, on a tiny lot without a view thrown up as cheaply as possible after WW2. This guy did good.

I only wish when I worked more I could make over time or double time. In my industry, all I get is tired. Nurses in California are averaging 100,000 a year before the pandemic. He probably pulled in double that during covid. And while they do work 12 hour shifts, it's typically only 3 days a week or 36 hours total. So plenty of time for over time.

I love it (except for the kitchen), but I would worry about its stability during a significant earthquake.

If he's happy with it, I'm happy for him. But personally I find most of it a horror. Especially that kitchen. And exposed pipes give me the heebee jeebees.

Just because you can build something there, doesn't mean you should.

is he gay?

R36 He's a nurse. He's lived in Palm Springs. He has a taste for design.

What do *you* think?

He liked the clinical look so much at work he bought it home.

I was thinking "clinical". THEN I read the owner is a nurse.

Reminds me of an Army bunker. Lots of concrete, no charm.

I can see a medium-size earthquake shake, rattle and rolling that house right down the hill into the valley/his neighbors below.

But what a view!!

That's not what hospitals look like R38. Try beige walls, florescent lighting and vinyl tile flooring. You know, that "homey look".

any other pics of the ho moaner?

[quote]I can see a medium-size earthquake shake, rattle and rolling that house right down the hill into the valley/his neighbors below.

Well all you Marys saying stupid things that are clueless about architecture. How old are you like 5? We can tell by your comments. That house and houses like that don't sit on the ground, they are basically sitting on steel and concrete pilings drilled deep into the bedrock, which is the safest place to be during an earthquake. The rubes below sitting on flat land will basically experience liquefaction.

Not my thing, but good for him for making this happen! Mire people should commit to realizing their dreams through hard work and diligence.

A nurse shouldn't have enough $ to built a house, even a shit house like this. Know your place, bitch.

"downhill from there" will have very vivid meaning for mr pufter very soon.

He's obviously single. No partner in the mention of "WE" thought this or we wanted that.

Very bad Feng shui.

What a DUMP.

You can keep the house. I want him.

R42 Ever been in the Bank of America building on California Street in San Francisco when an earthquake hit? I have. The entire fucking building gently sways from side to side. And that building is built on teflon pads.

Seen what happened to the Bay Bridge after the 1989 earthquake? Or the houses in the Marina, some of which were "earthquake proof"?

Having lived through so many of them, I've learned one thing about earthquakes. There is no such thing as "safe", "safest" or "earthquake proof".

congratulations, Nurse Arnold. You have NO online presence.

No one said earthquake proof MARY! Sheesh. I live in California, I know what it's like and comparing a skyscraper to a single story house are apple and orange. And by the way, when was the last time any high-rise tower in CA collapsed form an earthquake? Like never. They are made to sway on purpose. Not saying it cant happen, but so far it hasn't even with some pretty big ones over the last few decades.

R52 Fuck you! A hillside house almost fell on me during an earthquake!

Surprisingly affordable. I’ve heard people with regular jobs like school teacher and nurse have been priced out of the LA housing market but this shows if you work your ass off it’s still possible.

R53 fuck YOU Genevieve. Your career fell down the shitter after that earthquake, and you know why. You, miss frenchie, are "difficult to work with". you are "difficult to work with". difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with difficult to work with

r44, He obviously dealt pharm-grade on the side and then paid his friend the architect in cash, the Mexican builders in cash, and then the decorator in cash, all at a discount. He was stupid to do this spread. Nurses in California don't make enough money to build their own houses ANYWHERE . The most expensive way of getting a house.

I know we all love the bootstrap story, but it's obviously a lie.

well said R56

Maybe he inherited enough money. He built it late in his working life. Had to wait for those old folks to die, already.

At first glance, the untasteful neighbors seem have very basic, even sad, 1960s ranch houses, so it's definitely the best house on the street.

R56 Yeah. He's owned other properties in LA and Palm Springs, too. You don't get those from working extra shifts as a nurse.

But you do get the first house from working extra shifts, and then you work your way up the property ladder.

Also, a house that costs, all in, about $1.2 million SHOULD be affordable to someone who is 62.

I dunno. My nurse aunt was best friends with a lesbian nurse from the 60s to death. That nurse made good money even back then by moving up the career ladder. And she played the real estate game, starting modestly. When she retired she was already quite wealthy and had three nice properties - a lake house in the mountains, a beach house, and a handsome Queen Anne in the city.

I mean, yes, it looks nice, but I don't feel like it's that creative. It's basically a concrete box with wraparound, floor-to-ceiling cabinets.

R62 yes but she was a lez, so she probably "helped" a few wealthy patients to go and secured her place in the will . Lez nurses are cunning like that

I like the floor plan. Don’t like all the grim concrete; I wonder if that was to keep costs down. The glass shower is luxurious.

All of it is riding on a competent structural engineer and a contractor who didn’t cut corners. I don’t have that much faith.

The problem in the Marina area of SF in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, which destroyed numerous residences there that one member here has said were described as being thought of as "earthquake proof", was not with the structures themselves but rather with the fact that the soil in that specific area liquified. Elsewhere in SF and the Bay Area, there was also a liquefaction issue to be found but one not quite as concentrated as what happened in the Marina. As it happens, some of the specifically worst hit Marina areas were where landfill into the Bay had occurred in the 1800's. Earthquake scientists have cautioned as to the danger of liquefaction being particularly severe in areas of landfill.

The bottom line is that if the land supporting a structure liquifies, the structure above it is in great danger no matter whether it is described as being of "earthquake proof" construction methods. Liquefaction became better known in recent decades as a major problem as scientists studied the aftermath of the massive Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 which laid waste to much of Anchorage but in which areas with liquefaction problems, such as the Turnagin Heights residential neighborhood, the destruction was among some of the worst experienced in that city..

The type of construction used in the Bay Bridge and a waterfront freeway in Oakland, both of which had collapsing issues, was one in which lanes were stacked in 2 layers. During the quake, the top later of roadway gave way and collapsed unto the ground level of roadway. That stacking of road layers is now seen as problematic. In the '89 quake aftermath, the Bay Bridge was repaired and retrofitted but I don't know enough about the underlying nature of that work to be assured that a similar road collapse couldn't happen again in a similar quake.

FWIW, Mt. Washington is a funny area (and I live there). Depending, a street can feel isolated like Joshua Tree, suburban like the SF Valley, Laurel Canyon-eque, or ghetto-adjacent. McMansions next to mid-century next to glorious craftsman homes. All 10 min from DTLA, plus mass transit adjacent.

Can one horseback ride in those trails barren areas of Mt. Washington? Seems like a cool neighborhood. But where is the mass transit? If you are up high on the hill it might be quite a hike up and down to the transit stop.

R66 You left out the Embarcadero Freeway, the waterfront freeway in San Francisco, which also collapsed in the 1989 earthquake.

Right after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, I was down in LA. A friend drove me through parts of the valley. Block and block and block of collapsed/destroyed apartment buildings. It looked like Beirut on a bad day.

My point was that in the end, Nature will fuck humanity every single time. And all of humanity's knowledge, cleverness and good intensions will not change that.

It's just a money laundering scheme, r68. Some teenage Chinese Communist Princeling will buy it with no intention of ever spending more than a few nights there (and only in a pinch), the nurse's ill-got gains will be washed, and then the Princeling will sell it on to another CCP Princeling/Princess child of someone who owes the father of the original Princeling a favor, for a ridiculously inflated price, and on and on it goes.

That's why it's impossible to buy real estate in Coastal American cities now, even if you have money. You can only buy if you have enough money to rise above this corrupted market.

^^^ And do you wonder how they got into the NYT? To give the place "provenance". Helps the money laundering for such a no-mark property. The NYT is intensely corrupt, as we all know, their RE pages MOST of all.

Speaking of a "corrupted market", I saw a piece the other day that spoke to how "Wall Street" was going on a buying spree in the American West with an eye on thus obtaining the water rights that land ownership gives.

The piece reminded me of the massive amount of residential property purchases of foreclosed homes that occurred whereby wealthy individuals and investment groups bought huge amounts of foreclosed homes in the middle of and aftermath of the Great Recession and thereby eventually made huge profits for themselves out of the distress of the home owning American public.

tRUMP's Treasury Secretary, steven mnuchin, aka "Lizard Lips", made a killing for himself in the LA housing market. As such he was and is reviled by folks in that region who know of this shameful episode.

who owns trump, the russian or the chinese

I love the shower, perfect for when you fuck tricks out on the balcony--the shower is adjacent so they can wash up and be on their way. No muss, no fuss!

Gorgeous views. A bit too tiny for me -- and I am not a size queen.

I looks like a parking garage.

@r31, I wouldn't give you $5 for any hell hole in LA. So, if this guy wants to live on the side of a hill like a mountain goat they already saw him coming. So, stick it, asshole

I do NOT understand how he was able to afford this.

[quote] He's obviously single. No partner in the mention of "WE" thought this or we wanted that.

He said he wanted to build a house for "one person."

[quote] Also, a house that costs, all in, about $1.2 million SHOULD be affordable to someone who is 62.

What? Even if you had $1.2 to spend, you wouldn't want to necessarily sink it all into a house.

I can see my house in that photo! It's the three story White House next to the large blue house near the back.

[quote] I do NOT understand how he was able to afford this.

The land was under $100,000. He's 62. It's possible that he has been buying real estate since he was in his 20s and then trading up. Also very possible that both his parents died and he inherited a good chunk of change. He also makes decent pay as an RN and can work overtime, like he says.

He probably is frugal, as well.

#aginggoals.

Guy looks fantastic for 62. Woof.

The house is okay on the inside, but not great. I think it's fairly unappealing on the outside, and that steep hill is worrisome, even though the article said it shouldn't be.

Not loving the concrete walls inside, but it's pretty cool overall.

It would be great if there was an earthquake soon so we could find out how the place holds up!

I’m happy for him. He’s in for a lot of direct sunlight though.

R79 The first sentence in the article says he already owned homes in Palm Springs and Los Angeles. Over the last two decades, the Southern California market has been like an home equity piggy bank. The land only cost him $45,000. He's gainfully employed, so probably quite easy to get a construction loan using other property as collateral; then sell the other places and pay the loan off when moving into the new home.

STOP MAKING SENSE

It's not to my taste but it's livable, I guess. The windows certainly help, it's just too much concrete for me.

For 62, he's in amazing shape.

Would bang.

Wow a house OMG. When is this country going to pull its head out of its house-ass?

[quote] I’ve heard people with regular jobs like school teacher and nurse have been priced out of the LA housing market

[quote] That's why it's impossible to buy real estate in Coastal American cities now, even if you have money. You can only buy if you have enough money to rise above this corrupted market

Washington state is trying to address this problem much to many people’s horror. The government is close to passing a bill which will allow duplexes and quadplexes to be built in single family, residential neighborhoods. Somehow these are to be affordable options for young families who want home ownership. That’s the goal.

I live on a quite street with privacy and nice neighbors. I chose this house carefully years ago. The thought of possibly having anywhere from 4-25 people living next to me and all that entails is very upsetting. Think of Leave to Beaver neighborhood and then putting apartments in there. If I had wanted an urban setting with traffic, no parking, noise, apartments looking into my backyard, I’d have moved to downtown Seattle. Of course the richer areas where Bill Gates, et al live won’t be affected—just my 1950’s neighborhood of single-story ramblers.

What they should be doing is cracking down on the corporate giants buying up the older homes and building awful McMansions for the Chinese. It’s everywhere.

I don’t trust the developers. It will be a nightmare

R90 “would bang”

Me: would be banged

Maybe this is me just thinking like an old person, but part of me wonders how smart it is for a 62-year-old to be building a house that requires so many stairs to get to the actual house. (I know he started building years ago.) He appears to be in great shape, and hopefully he remains that way, but an elevator could have guaranteed he'd enjoy the house longer, even though it would have added to the expense.

If you take the stairs now, you can take the stairs then.

He's 62, most likely can enjoy for 20 years then sell (at a huge profit) and move back to Palm Springs. My mom is 86 in a 2 story, and no issues for her. She likes the exercise.

Great fuck pad.

I bet twinks from the Midwest who have just hit town are quite impressed.

The cost of new construction can be at least twice what existing houses are. So if that’s a $1.2 million house - he spent $2 million+ on it. I understand wanting to build a dream house - but it’s not an economical or investment-focused decision. Even in easier/lower cost of living areas. That’s why pretty much all new construction is huge McMansions or high-end condos.

[quote][R52] Fuck you! A hillside house almost fell on me during an earthquake!

I think you mean a house fell on your wicked sister of the east. 🧹

[quote]she was a lez, so she probably "helped" a few wealthy patients to go and secured her place in the will . Lez nurses are cunning like that

What! OMG, I am witnessing that same behavior right now with this older recently divorced straight woman I work for and her lesbian life coach / mother figure who has already carved out a spot for her in her will.

[quote]The problem in the Marina area of SF in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, which destroyed numerous residences there that one member here has said were described as being thought of as "earthquake proof", was not with the structures themselves but rather with the fact that the soil in that specific area liquified.

Well yes duh, because it was all old land fill. After the 1906 SF earth quake, and proceeding fires, they filled in the bay with all that rubble and then built on top of it. That is NOT the same as building on bedrock or drilling deep into it to anchor a small home. Which is what this guy did.

[quote]ight after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, I was down in LA. A friend drove me through parts of the valley. Block and block and block of collapsed/destroyed apartment buildings. It looked like Beirut on a bad day.

Because once again, built on a dry sand bed known for liquefaction. "The Valley" is probably the worst place to build a home. Stick to the hills and you be much safer.

R98 Did you read the article? He budgeted $700,000 to build the home, and construction came in at $1.1 million. Even though the actual living space is small, I'd say new construction with that view, the pool & deck, and a garage, he'd still make a profit.

White people...sigh...

It's all about the view and that view is *incredible*.

Atrocious. Hate it!

White trolls like R103 ... sigh...

R98, you're crazy. He could have sold that house at a profit the day it was done. California living.

View and a pool? The inside could be warmed up a bit if someone wanted.

Serious question; that is a good view?

108 posts and nary a mention of Ava Gardner or Charlton Heston? You bitches are falling down on the job!

Yes R108. It's not a downtown to the ocean view, but it's nice. Great a night. If it was drop dead, the lot wouldn't have been $45k.

Too much concrete and boxy. It looks cold and uncomfortable to me. I agree about a mudslide taking this home. However nice homes look at the edge of a hill, overlooking the view....I always think of the movie, Don't Make Waves... the scene at the end, with the house tumbling down.

I've lived in soCal all my life, and other than my first house which was a dump with potential, they've all had views.

Not hanging off a cliff, but that wouldn't have bothered me. As I posted previously, there are cliff-hangers from the 50s, like Pierre Koenig's case study Stahl House.

When I was growing up ion Los Angeles, my dad's old military school friend lived in one of those houses on stilts built on the edge of a hillside.

When we visited, his daughters and I would jump up and down in the downstairs "rumpus" room and the entire house would shake like an earthquake.

We thought it was so fun.

Our parents, not so much.

And I bet that house is still there.

Those old 50's houses on very thin stilts are kind of sketching but that's not at all what this guy did to secure his house into the bedrock. We have learned a lot over the last 70 years. Heck, the average house back then wasn't even bolted down to the foundation.

R115, you know shit. Links to 50s stilt houses collapsing?

Are the local schools any good? That’s really what matters in California real estate.

R117 Haven’t followed it lately, but through the 2000s (and way before), one of the top LA elementary schools.

R68 What’s cool is that there are 2 L Line stations in easy walking distance (depending), or a 5-10 min drive. Two other stations also a 10 min drive away, with parking lots at 3 of them.

He didn't build that house on a nurse's salary, trust me. He clearly had wealth from some other source. Most likely from inheritance.

Nepo baby vibes

[quote] [R115], you know shit. Links to 50s stilt houses collapsing?

Any house on thin or thick stilts is at the risk of collapse under the right conditions of shaking or flooding runoff if the stilts are not adequately joined into the underlying bedrock.

He's 62. Sure, he could have inherited something from his parents, but he said he's owned other places in L.A. and Palm Springs, meaning he's been on the local property ladder. I have a sister who's basically his age. She bought a home on the Westside 23-years ago when she was in her 40s for $325K. She could easily sell it right now, no upgrades, for $1.5 million. I'd guess that he entered the real estate market far earlier in his life, and unlike her, actually tried to build equity by buying-selling.

Plus, there's always the option to get a construction loan, that one then converts to a mortgage loan after the house is built.

[quote] Construction loans are structured like a low-interest, short-term line of credit with draws to pay off construction costs during the building phase. Throughout the construction process, you make interest-only payments on your draws. Once construction is complete, the loan will transition from a construction loan to a permanent mortgage loan generally with a longer term. There are two closing options typically available to borrowers: one closing or two. one-closing option and two-closings.

[quote] Well yes duh, because it was all old land fill. After the 1906 SF earth quake, and proceeding fires, they filled in the bay with all that rubble and then built on top of it. That is NOT the same as building on bedrock or drilling deep into it to anchor a small home. Which is what this guy did.

Don't go "duh" on me, Myrna! Your comment said nothing that I didn't already know and all of which I had already written here!

For the purposes of contextual meaning, it may have helped you to keep your smart ass remark to yourself if you had read my entire post thoroughly enough to have seen & then comprehended my own mention of the process done there of deep drilling into bedrock and then also for you to have remembered the comment to which I was responding in the first place, Myrna!

His house was obviously built right.

And just for the record, there are homes on his same side of the street (downward slope) that have been there for over 30/40 years, so weren't built with the advantage of modern hillside construction principles, and they've survived.

The corrugated ceiling looks like a shipping container or a storage unit.

Not only would one have to pay for the construction, design, etc. but the property taxes, insurance, etc. And property taxes in LA are really high, so I'm in the crowd that says he didn't get this cash on just a nurse's salary. He probably inherited and invested well, nothing wrong with that.

His taste appears to run industrial loft (note the exposed plumbing and electrical as well).

So, are there two sets of stairs from the garage (both going down)? One set of stairs leads to the pool area, which is in back of the kitchen. A second set of stairs going down to the patio. Then, you'd walk from the patio into the house?

I realize his options were limited, but I don't see why he didn't have the stairs leading directly into the house.

I’d have done something more like a Swiss chalet.

R126, I don't know where you live, but property taxes in LA aren't "really high". About 1.25 % a year.

He was only paying around $500 a year in property taxes for 7 years.

R103 is correct.

For the haters (Repugs) that always like to blab on and on about how CA taxes are the highest in the nation, there is a BIG fact they conveniently leave out. When you buy a house in most states, you pay what the house is worth based on it's current value. In a sate like New Jersey, if you buy a house for 100,000 you pay 2.25% of that amount each year. If you hold onto that house for say 20 years and now it's worth 1 million dollars, you pay 2.25 of 1 million dollars. That's about 22,500 a year!

The big secret that most people in CA know is that not only is the base rate a LOT lower at only 0.71%, it set at the day you buy that house and it never gets reassessed at market value until the day you sell it. So that same house in CA would only cost $710 dollars a year!

If you dont flip houses or move around a lot, that's a lot of extra cash each year that can go to offset the cost of other things.

Also, in CA when you sell and move within the state you also get a property tax break.

I was making the assumption that LA had high property taxes, without facts. Thanks for setting me straight R130 and R132, I guess all of those GOP talking points and California bashing worked.

Plus, his property tax will remain relatively low compared to any of his neighbors who have just bought in the area, because his base year for the land portion of his property tax bill will remain 2013/14. It's the land assessment in L.A which often drives property tax bills through the roof.

Right now records indicate that his 2022-23 property tax was only $5,200. This is based on the land being assessed at $82,500 with the house itself (the "improvements") being assessed at $354500. And I would guess that the only reason why the land went up even that much (from $45,000) is because he had to extend the city sewer line to the parcel (mentioned in the article), which added value to the land. (There was a big $30,000 increase one year for the land. so something like a sewer line can do that.)

Meanwhile, his neighbors across the street - with similar size lot and house - purchased their property in 2018 for just over $1,00,000. This sale, of course, triggered a reassessment. The house is now assessed at $268,000, but the land got reassessed to $784,000, which means their property tax bill is over $12,000 - or more than double his.

He must have enough income coming in or other resources available, because property records also indicate a bank gave him an $865,000 30-year adjustable rate mortgage for it.

Good for him. And well done. He achieved a dramatic house designed to his taste by an architect, and saw it through down to the details. Not, I don't imagine, an easy challenge for $1.1M in L.A.

The kitchen is the big let down, an ugly element that does not look designed. The only interesting element of it is the pool window, which must have been expensive or a technical challenge because it is so small (a stack of three or more such windows would have been dramatic, where this is just a nice idea realized on the too small.)

The other thing is the landscape, such as it is. Would it have killed somebody to break up that raw brown gash of dirt with an olive tree or three?

That’s an exposed raw earth finish on the yard, R137, it’s a minimalist design element.

R132. A quick clarification: it’s not accurate to say the amount due never rises in your scenario—there’s still the permitted increase up to 2%, and there is any potential increase to fund voter-approved debt.

The CA system based on P13 is not unique—it functions similar to several other states.

[quote]$865,000 30-year adjustable rate mortgage

The guy is 60 something? Who gives someone like that a 30 year loan? He has like maybe 5 more years until his retirement. Although, he will probably get around 3,000 social security and maybe double that as nurses still get pensions. I read about some nurse getting about 10,000 once they retire and everything kicks in.

Didn't realize critical care nurses made that much.

Why are threads about houses called "Tasteful Friends"? Just curious.

R140, you can get a loan at any age, as long as you have the income and credit. Their are federal laws against age discrimination.

My mom refinanced a rental when interest rates dropped several years ago, and she was 80.

R94 If he has the resources, I could see him living there well into his elderly years. He'd occupy the main bedroom area, while his hot, live-in caretaker could conveniently stay in the adjoining den/bedroom area right next door. Just use the sliding panel mentioned in the NYT article for privacy, when required. .. And the main bathroom, which is on the same level,, appears to have a large, flat shower, making it easy to sit on a bench while bathing or even roll a wheelchair into, if necessary. .. Similarly, the entire house plan is very open concept, so there should be very little problem navigating doorways, and corners. .. And if for some reason the stairs from the garage level prove difficult, just add a stair lift. Given that it's a straight rail stairway, that wouldn't cost very much and could actually be fashioned to go along with the owner's industrial aesthetic. .. About the only thing missing might be a home gym area, so that the caretaker has a place to workout. The easy solution would be for the owner to put some equipment out on the deck so that he can enjoy the view.while spooning his custard cup.

"The guy is 60 something? Who gives someone like that a 30 year loan?"

Nearly every bank that issues mortgages. It's a mortgage secured by the property. If he dies and his estate doesn't continue paying or settle it, then the bank can take the house.

[quote]The piece made it clear that the house has piers that are anchored down deep. It's there that they are driven into the solid bedrock which is a part of the "geology" of the LA area that was mentioned early on.

My first thought when I saw it was that the frequency with which soil engineers have been wrong on very expensive, high profile hillside properties makes me very nervous, so it's good that it's anchored well.

Two weeks ago, the rains in southern California caused several properties on cliffs near the beach to slide away and put many others in jeopardy, forcing mass evacuations of homes.

That's been happening for years in soCal, but those houses aren't built into bedrock with the same support structure.

Um, hello? Banks are handing out loans like candy if you have any sort of assets at all.

As I've said before and was also repeated here 2 hours ago, the key word is "bedrock", folks.

The ocean side cliffs that we see collapsing generally are largely composed of a different type of material that varies from place to place but which is often composed of material of a crumbly consistency and not bedrock. Deposited silt or clay are typically the content when you see material crumbling away.

In contrast, a prime example of the concept of bedrock in coastal cliffs is found in San Pedro in the park at Point Fermin. Occasionally a rock or a few boulders will break off and fall down to the beach or surf there but it's not anything like crumbling silt or clay by any means.

The Mt. Washington area this house is in is not subject to liquefaction either.

Speaking of LA cliff houses, the Garcia House just sold last week by Ariana Grande's hubby and his gay partner Aaron Kirman(who also happens to be the most successful realtor in CA) and was renovated by gay power couple Bill Damaschke and John McIlwee. The iconic house was seen in Lethal Weapon, and I think it was the house Brian DePalma used in Body Double?

Good for her for making this happen. But she needs a new mattress.

If you people don't shut up about this, you're gonna miss the next one!

R151, that is one fabulous house by Lautner. Marmol Radziner did the renovation and it is breathtaking. Quite a price reduction, but it sold fairly quickly.

No parking for entertaining is the one drawback. .

The Loved One house:

Before

And after

R149 um, what then was Portuguese Bend?

R149. Ignore that one—his comment on distinguishing the PVP coastal landforms from the OP’s reference is completely wrong, per easily verified info.

Unstable—that’s Pr. Fermin

What does Barbara Sharma have to do with any of this?

As seen below at the map link, which can be toggled in and out for different ranges of map viewing, the street layout by Point Fermin Park in San Pedro and north from it, is COMPLETELY different from that of the area on its immediately adjacent west side which makeups what is generally considered to be more in line with the concept of The Palos Verde Peninsula when people speak of it. Absolutely nobody living in Rolling Hills Estates for example on that peninsula would deign to include the San Pedro area of LA as a part of their largely "exclusive" region known as The Palos Verde Peninsula.

As opposed to the swirl of largely unnconnected strets and cul-de-sacs foudn to it's west, he grid fopudn in hte street layout of San pedro easily demarcae how the land form is very different there.

Last week I read that LA Times story of the slow slide that's been going on in one specific small area of the PVP since the 1920's. The article caught my eye because we drove through that exact area last spring. As is noted in the piece, the slide was prompted by a foolish effort by developers that has brought about unintended results in the intervening decades. What has resulted, is a long gash as the top soil slowly gives way and slides toward the ocean due the pressure of gravity as the former natural land form barriers there have given way.

Enlarge the small photo seen first at the link below.

It's an aerial view of the PVP. In the foreground is the portion of it that thrusts up the most due to the seismic pressure that is pushing up the bedrock that is barely below the surface there. That rugged area (easily seen in the photo) contains the swirling streetscape of roads that follows the very irregular contours of the land form there. As such, the street layout there provides relatively few through streets. That super rugged and irregular area is what is deigned to be the exclusive area of the PVP. The mindset that notes the exclusivity of the PVP and it's labeling does not in any sense include the LA district of San Pedro.

In a sharp contrast that is easily seen in the photo, the areas near to the most rugged portion of the PVP, are generally far less irregular and often contain grid street patterns as can be seen there as is specifically found in San Pedro and also in the upper left of the photo.

Boring as fuck.

TL DR: who gives a rat’s ass about street layouts? My posts challenged the earlier erroneous statement that Pt. Fermin was different in that it was bedrock and not prone to slides. The entire peninsular coastline there is very susceptible to slides! —including both Fermin and PB area of the PVP.

The literature reviewed for this study is presented in the reference section at the end of this report. The geology of the Palos Verdes Peninsula has been studied for about 80 years due to its urban location, the potential for oil-bearing sediments, marine terraces for tectonic uplift rates, and the propensity for large slope failures. Based on this geologic history of the area, the 2011 Landslide is not an unusual occurrence. Other large active landslides include the nearby Point Fermin landslide, the Portuguese Bend landslide, the Flying Triangle landslide, the Klondike Canyon landslide, the South Shores landslide, the Abalone Cove landslide, and the recent Trump National Golf Club landslide. The 2011 Landslide lies approximately 1.3 miles west and approximately 3.5 miles east of the Point Fermin and Portuguese Bend Landslide complexes, respectively. These landslides have occurred in the Monterey Formation, which is the same formation that underlies the White Point area

Dear God, who gives a shit?

Does the nurse have “an” OnlyFans?

Building on a hill anchored to bedrock is a LOT different than a sandstone beach cliff.

R151 the Body Double house is called the Chemosphere aka the inspiration for Troy McClure's house in the simpsons.

It's the size of a grave, will he be buried there?

Can anyone tell me why these threads are called "Tasteful Friends"? Just curious. Thank you.

By the way, though I like Los Angeles I'm sometimes surprised by what is considered a great view there. Or maybe I'm just used to seeing views like that in Los Angeles, but it's just ok. Granted it's better than no view, but you're just looking at a lot of housetops and treetops, and some hills,

Are you implying that LA is an overpriced hype fest?? NO!

[quote]By the way, though I like Los Angeles I'm sometimes surprised by what is considered a great view there.

Couldn't agree more!

[quote]Can anyone tell me why these threads are called "Tasteful Friends"? Just curious. Thank you.

Someone did it once, other people evidently thought it was cute (lord knows why) and it stuck.

[quote]Can anyone tell me why these threads are called "Tasteful Friends"? Just curious. Thank you.

It's because we're tasteful (well, kind of), and we're your friends.

R175 R176 Thanks, to one of you.

It's an oxymoron, since people who have good taste are generally bitches who will stab each other in the back !!

Why, I wonder, didn't he put two bedrooms on the "terrace" floor? It would have added very little to construction cost and made his home both more pleasant as well as valuable.

Those poor neighbors down below. Not only will they get an eyeful, they'll be picking up tons of cigarette butts!

R179 I would guess that having a large terrace area is more valuable to him. Maybe he entertains frequently and hosting al fresco dinners and outdoor parties are important to him; plus, his mindset seems to be more along the lines that this is his "forever home," so making the place more valuable for future sale by adding more rooms may not be a strategy he cares much about. Moreover, as the article mentions, he already went over budget by $300K with this 2bdr 2ba construction plan, and adding another two bedrooms (and another bathroom) on the terrace level may not have been doable. - jmho

I’d imagine it’s the twinkling lights at night that make such a view worth the hassle of constructing a house on a hillside. In the daytime the view is less spectacular.

Perhaps I misread the article, R181, but isn't the downstairs really one large room with a small bedroom that he can seal off if he chooses? It is of course his house, and he seems to be single, so a studio is fine for him. But when you think of a house as something to be built and eventually sold, it would be nice were he to build two extra bedrooms. The cost of those extra bedrooms would be minimal since the expense of a new-build is foundation work. However, not my house, and I quite like it.

He won't appreciate the two flights of stairs down in twenty years, though.

I was just going to add that same thing, he'll probably have to move when he's older unless he wants to climb a lot of stairs.

Chairlift

I suppose. But why BUILD a house that requires a double chairlift from the car to the kitchen/living room? In the end, he will be tortured by the "concept" and probably move earlier than he might have had to into assisted living.

Because it looks good in photos, duh.

I was looking at some site and saw a great little house which was in a canyon near the San Gabriels up north in the valley (SGV). It was on a hillside and was small and cute as hell. And not a bad price, for the town it was in. Then I noticed how far up the side of the canyon the entrance was. There were what looked like a hundred steps (probably 40 or 50, anyway). And more inside (it was two levels). I could handle it now, but what about in a few years? You can only buy a house like that if you're young.

Considering the owner has owned previous properties and is a nurse, I'm sure he factored his age into the construction.

He can probably enjoy a full 20 more years, and then move.

R183 The house was designed and is currently assessed by the county as a 2 bdrm 2 bath. It has sliding panels that can close off the bedrooms. He currently uses the second bedroom as an open den.

R186 See R144

Maybe he’ll install an elevator at some point.

Nurses must make more money than I realized. If he were a doctor I suppose he could build a mansion.