In places like South Pasadena, which has good schools and few houses on the market, bidding wars can send prices skyrocketing, fueling inequity.
It sold in a week, at more than double that price.In the insane Southern California housing market — in which legions of people are priced out of home ownership while people with boatloads of hard cash are battling it out in epic bidding wars — we’re all familiar with houses selling above the listing price.
But a common tactic for creating a feeding frenzy is to price a house on the low end. Mayeda said she didn’t use that strategy, although other agents told me they thought the house had been underpriced at $1,198,000. Mayeda said she checked “comps,” or comparable prices, for similar houses in the neighborhood and set what she considered a fair price for the 1,922-square-foot home with a two-car detached garage.
Mortgage rates are climbing, but “we haven’t seen a decrease in sales prices or demand due to rates adjusting,” according to a Coldwell Banker branch manager. Above, Garfield Park in South Pasadena. Mayeda said eight of the offers were at $2 million or above, and the winning bid of $2.5 million, all cash, made for a tidy return on a modest investment that was made 40 years ago.
“People my parents’ age control $13 trillion in wealth,” said McLaughlin, and it’s “going to start coming down toward my kids’ generation, so Mommy and Daddy will say, ‘We’ll help you buy that house, all cash.’ ”