Six things I check before my clients write an offer
Buyers fall in love in the kitchen. My job starts in the garage, the crawlspace and the city's permit records. Here are the six things I look at before I let a client write, in the order I check them.
1. The permit history
In the City of Los Angeles, which includes Brentwood and the Palisades, building records are public through the Department of Building and Safety. Santa Monica keeps its own. I pull them before the first showing. An addition without a permit, a converted garage, a bathroom where a closet used to be: none of those are automatically deal-breakers, but all of them change the price, the insurance conversation and what you can do with the house later. You want to know on day one, not day seventeen.
2. The sewer line
Most houses on the Westside built before the 1970s have original clay sewer lines, and the trees that make these streets beautiful have roots. A camera inspection of the line costs a few hundred dollars. A replacement can cost tens of thousands. I ask for the scope on every house, and I have never regretted it.
3. The fire zone and the insurance quote
This is the one that changed the most. Large parts of the Westside hillsides and canyons sit in state-designated fire hazard severity zones, and insurers have reacted. Before a client removes contingencies, I want an actual insurance quote in hand, from a broker, for that specific address. Not an estimate, a quote. If the only option is the California FAIR Plan plus a wraparound policy, that is a monthly cost that belongs in the offer math. The Palisades fire made this real for everyone, and I treat it as a line item now, the same as property tax.
4. The hillside and the soil
Brentwood's canyons and the streets north of Sunset are beautiful because they are hills. Hills move. For hillside properties I want a geological report or a soils inspection, I want to know about retaining walls and drainage, and I want to walk the lot after a rain if the calendar allows. A flat lot in the Glen or north of Montana skips this step. A canyon lot does not.
5. The HOA documents, if there is an HOA
For condos and townhomes, the building is half the purchase. I read the reserve study, the last two years of board minutes, the budget and any litigation disclosure before my client gets attached. A healthy building with a $2,600 monthly fee can be a far better buy than a troubled building at $900, because the troubled one bills you later in special assessments. 515 Ocean, my listing at Park Plaza, is the kind of full-service building where the fee buys a doorman, valet, a pool and a staff around the clock. You should know exactly what yours buys.
6. The transfer taxes and who pays them
The City of Los Angeles and the City of Santa Monica each add their own transfer tax above certain price points, on top of the county tax, and the thresholds and rates have changed in recent years. Custom on who pays varies by city too. On a high-value sale this is a six-figure line, so I confirm the current numbers with escrow and the client's tax advisor before we agree on a price, not after.
The order matters
Permits and sewer are cheap to check and quick to get. Insurance and geology take longer, so I start them the day we decide to pursue a house. The HOA review happens during the first days of the contract. The taxes get confirmed before the offer goes in. Do it in that order and you will rarely be surprised. Do it out of order and the surprise usually arrives at the worst possible time, which is the week you were supposed to close.
Questions about a street, a house or a number? Text or call me at 310.498.1415, or email cwgrazianorealty@gmail.com.
Christina Woodward Graziano is a California real estate licensee (DRE #02072713) with Keller Williams Beverly Hills, 439 N. Canon Drive, Penthouse, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Each Keller Williams office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity. This post is general information from one agent, not legal, tax, insurance or financial advice; talk to your own professionals before you act on it. Business mentions are personal opinion. Nobody paid to be in this post.