Real Estate Investment Markdown: Bar, Casino, Sand
Check out one of our listings in Palm Springs. This one comes without the airstrip! www.38271viaroberta.com
Not since Johnny Depp put his French countryside village up for sale have San Gabriel Valley real estate investors had an out-of-town real estate opportunity like the one that grabbed national headlines last week. As markdowns go, it was remarkable. But there were…issues…
This deal was described by Fortune magazine as “a 640-acre desert town that comes with a casino, a 10-room motel, restaurant, post office, and an airstrip.” Fortune apparently missed the mobile home park and convenience store that CNN Money noticed. Originally put up for sale in 2010 for $17 million, local investors should appreciate that its newly marked down asking price is just $8 million. Although some potential buyers’ enthusiasm might be dampened by the Google Maps satellite view of the township which shows it to be pretty much, well (honestly) sand—although the airstrip is described as being compose of…dirt. Not that it needs to be reached exclusively by air—the township straddles Route 95, connecting Laughlin (with its many casinos) and Las Vegas (with its many more casinos).
“Cal-Nev-Ari” was founded in 1965 by the current owner, 78-year-old Nancy Kidwell, who Fortune magazine quotes as being motivated by time. “Fifty-one years is long enough,” is her opinion. “It’s time for someone else to do something with it.”
She has a point. Our area’s real estate investors might be somewhat put off by the most recent review of the casino posted on TripAdvisor:
“When you enter you go through the bar and casino. It is dark and two old men were sitting at the bar. It seemed like the music stopped playing and all eyes were on us when we entered. This place is in the middle of nowhere…”
Another earlier review is more succinct:
“It is difficult to understand why it is there…”
That reviewer must have missed the airstrip and the fact that many of the houses have their own airplane hangars. That’s so that “people can walk out of their living room and fly down the taxiway and take off.”
Part of the deal (Southern California bargain hunters, pay attention!) is the stipulation that the airstrip be maintained and kept open for at least 30 years. On the other hand, included are 520 acres of empty land. Not to mention, quite a lot of sand.
For real estate investors whose focus is closer to home, this spring finds many less exotic (but more easily evaluated) local opportunities—and they are here to be viewed without a lengthy drive through the desert. Give me a call if you are looking for a promising Monrovia, Duarte, Glendora, San Dimas, Azusa area real estate investment…as long as it doesn’t absolutely have to include an airpark/casino/motel/post office/convenience store/restaurant/bar!
Buyers and Sellers Differ…Except in This
Modern, open kitchen with loads of natural light – ready for a springtime buyer.
Right now, just a few days into spring, we are right at the start of Southern California’s peak real estate selling season. I’ve always found it odd that you don’t hear much about it—but that also makes it the beginning of the buying season, too!
As a licensed local Realtor®, throughout the course of the year I am privileged to act as the agent for both buyers and sellers in many different transactions. The details I’m called upon to manage do vary somewhat depending on which side I am representing in any given sale—but there is one very significant goal that I regard as identical, no matter in which capacity I serve (more on that later).
There are some generalizations that usually hold true about the difference in mindset between prospective buyers and sellers. For one thing, sellers automatically have in-depth knowledge about their Monrovia or San Gabriel Valley property. Gained through the years, they know the community; they know the most reliable local tradespeople; they know the ins and outs of getting around town. Sellers have a degree of confidence that comes with experience: and when it come to the property at issue, they’re old hands!
Buyers, on the other hand, find themselves to some extent venturing into the unknown. Even if they are already San Gabriel Valley residents, the prospective neighborhood may be largely terra incognita. And for sure, they can’t be positive about the details of the property—what are its strong points, and (worrisome, this) its unknown vulnerabilities, if there are any. In short, buyers automatically come armed with less confidence.
Bringing more parity to the two sides is one of the key services that will lead to the result both want. Whether my own client happens to be on the seller side or buyer side, when the buyers gain confidence that they are as close as possible to the sellers’ encyclopedic knowledge of the property, the best result has the best chance of being met.
As a practical matter, that means digging in and working diligently to assemble and relate all possible information that can be gathered. It can also mean sometimes finding out where the buyers feel least confident, and laboring as needed to see that the gap is filled.
Before, I noted that there is one significant way in which my goal as representative for the area’s buyers and sellers is always the same. It’s this: the best result is always achieved when both sides come away fully satisfied that their interests have been well served.
For the seller, importantly, that means that they’ve received fair compensation for their home. For the buyer, likewise—with the added element of emerging with the gut feeling that no matter what the future holds, they know that they have been leveled with. When buyers and sellers each have confidence that the sale has resulted in fair dealing, the positive feeling lasts.
Whether your next area real estate venture is buying or selling, I hope you’ll give my office a call!