Thursday, September 2, 2010

VIDEO: For Sale - House of Legos
by Don Jergler | Realty Bites | 12.01.09 |
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It’s as if some gigantic mutant spoiled child stormed through a quiet Belmont Heights neighborhood one day and dropped his colorful toy square on top of a small white house on his way out of town.

Off the beaten path in an upscale section of Long Beach about halfway between Recreation Park and the ocean area sits what must surely strike some who drive by as a giant pile of multicolored Legos. A large, bright patch of yellow wall sticks into a loud red oblong-shaped structure studded with rectangular windows and portholes stood on end. And right next to that is a powder blue wall with a pair of dark blue metal awnings on top of one another. To get a more complete picture, imagine the psychedelic thing propped on a nice, small, white normal looking bungalow.

And that’s a brief description, one that doesn’t include all the colors or geometric shapes, of a landmark home for sale in Belmont Heights.



The home is known by a few names by locals, including its alias, “The Painted Lady,” according to Kym Elder, the listing agent on the 341 Granada Avenue property. Elder likes to refer to the architectural style as “collision design.”

As funny, and pitch-like as “collision design” may sound, the home is listed at an asking price that may be considered modest for homes in that area ($675,000), and it seems to be a great place for someone who likes lots of colors, and who likes to entertain guests.

The three-level home features 1,650 square feet of living space, including two bedrooms, plus an “optional third bedroom,” three bathrooms, a rooftop deck and a two-car garage. Because of its design, the home features lagoon views from just about every one of its dozen or so windows.

The first part of the home, the normal, white bungalow prevalent in many parts of Long Beach, was constructed in the early 1920s with later sections added on throughout the years before height ordinances came into being. Each of the three floors of the home is dramatically different from each other, and as you ascend the home’s spiral staircase you are treated to differing looks and usages. The first floor features a dining area with a lagoon view, a European style kitchen, a tiled floor and a downstairs bedroom. On the second level one can find a huge living room, French doors that lead out onto a balcony and Pergo flooring. The third floor has a large master suite, vaulted ceilings, a master bathroom and a viewing area.

And best of all, if you do plan to entertain lots of guests, people will never have trouble finding which house on the block is yours.  


Comments
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18 Comments so far.
LB resident
Wish the movie would show the house interior instead of the the talking heads.

lbresident1
Phew!

SS
One word: FUGLY

LocalZ
Quite a marketing challenge. You missed the views and much of the interiors. Too much interfering music.

Pam
We actually looked at this house almost 8 years ago when we were house hunting in Belmont Heights. It's really beautiful inside and the kitchen is awesome and the views of the lagoon are gorgeous. BUT I would say the resale of such an odd house would be difficult and I'm sure that's why the asking price is only $675,000! Instead we bought a Spanish house that we love (and could sell easily if we wanted to, which we don't!)

elvis
Wow! A real estate advertisement disguised as a news story on Long Beach Post. Who knew?

KCinLB
Great descriptive language, and I would love to see what you're talking about, rather than watching the two of you talking. Can you re-edit and re-post this?

LB gal
Perhaps the intention was to post this in the 'real estate' section of the UPost area of LB Post. Can I get my listings 'covered' by the news? With video? Seems fair.

Lynne Pillsbury
I remember vividly when a bright, young man had a vision to incorporate the old with a new and innovative, contemporary add-on to create this controversial structure. Like it or hate it, John Callos was an artistic visionary.

PDQ
@Elvis and @LB Gal - this is the second free real estate ad the LB Post has done that I'm aware of. The first was on an overpriced waterfront home in Naples. I discontinued my e-mail updates from LB Post after the first one and told Ryan why in an e-mail. Somehow I'm not surprised this has turned into an ongoing "feature". Don - since this is apparently going to be a regular feature on LB Post, why don't you publish your pricing schedule for these "advertorials" so all real estate agents in the area with listings have an opportunity to get coverage for their listings in your LB Post column? Do you price it as a percentage of the listing price? Do you charge according to the length of the video? Please explain.

Denise
This house has been on the market for a while...i pass it almost everyday. It's located on an odd piece of land.... I'm sure this article was for a free advertisement for this listing..... 675,000 is not a bargain! LB is not an upscale place anymore!!!

Anonymous
When I saw the hed on the e-mail, I knew right away which place this was. This house was up for sale a couple of years ago, and I thought that someone had bought it, but apparently not. I'd always wondered about it, but I too would have preferred a history of the house when it wasn't up for sale. $675,000 seems to be on the low side for that area--I wonder why there's so much trouble selling this place.

lbresident
I disagree with Denise. LB has many very nice, upscale neighborhoods. And Belmont Heights is one of them. I am not a fan of this house however.

don
PDQ. It's not an ad, or an advertorial. Sorry you don't like the piece, but accusing someone of what you are accusing me of is irresponsible and it says a lot about you and your continually farfetched and hateful commentary. It's easy to tear something or someone down...it's difficult to create. But I'm sure that message is lost on you.

LB gal
Don, seriously... you have to admit the video was poorly produced. It would have been nice to see some of the house - interiors, exteriors... if you really were trying to aid in the sale of this house, this was no help. Watching you, and the realtor, while you were talking did nothing to show the home. The whole thing could have been done with voiceovers - while actually showing the features of the house while they were being described.

NA
Fun Video Don, ignore all these negative ppl

Paul
If one likes useless corners and a house that was built to bypass code laws, this is your place. It was built when real estate was hot, but now is a 'white elephant.'

LB long time
Realtors are too cheap to pay professional for most of their services. That explains the poor quality of this video add It lacks any factual history of the house, detail of the house and features of the house. I learned nothing about this house I didn't know before except some real estate agent wants to sell it. Who actually built the house? What is the name of the architect who designed it? What was his motivation? What unique design features dose it offer? By the way, just because you don't understand what label to throw on it, making up your one architectural style calling it "collision design" just show how lazy the agent is at even pretended she has some knowledge of architectural styles. I am surprised I didn't hear other bad clichés like 'peek a boo view'.

Realty Bites
Reality Bites brings the wide world of business into focus through the lens of real estate.

Don Jergler's 12-year journalism career spans four daily newspapers, one magazine and a website. Between 2002 and 2008 he covered real estate, redevelopment, general business, tourism and downtown for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. For the past year he was Editor of Real Estate Southern California and edited and wrote for the popular commercial real estate news source globest.com.

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