Global Courant
Housing is not cheap in Los Angeles. But if you’re willing to live a bit like a troll, there might be something available for you in Alhambra.
Compass Real Estate recently brought to market a one-bedroom fixer-upper on East Main Street, under a bridge, within walking distance of a Vietnamese restaurant and hair salon.
Southern California’s expensive housing market has forced many potential buyers to settle into comfortable homes in outlying suburbs or purchase postage-stamp-sized homes closer to the region’s job centers. Recent increases in mortgage rates have only exacerbated the problem.
Another extreme option for potential buyers: Consider a quirky, one-of-a-kind property like the Alhambra Bridge House.
The 45 square meter apartment, built in 1949, has a terrace overlooking a stream and a roof terrace next to a road bridge, separated only by a fence. It costs $250,000 – a bargain considering the median sales price for an existing single-family home in Southern California is about $785,000.
“We had no comparable properties… no comparable properties,” says Doug Lee, the Compass real estate agent who put the house on the market, which he said once belonged to the parents of a high school friend. “This is a very, very unique property.”
Lee said his friend’s parents bought the house in 2005 for about $72,000.
Interior view of an Alhambra condo built over a stream that’s on the market for $250,000
(Courtesy of Douglas Lee / Compas)
Lee has already seen a wave of interest in the home, which has been on the market for a few weeks.
He held open days and showed the site to 40 or 50 groups every day, he said.
“This weekend we had it open and it was a zoo,” he said.
The average one-bedroom home in the Alhambra neighborhood costs about $350,000, so Lee decided to strategically price the apartment at $250,000 to generate interest — and because there’s no dedicated parking space, Lee said.
“There is no dedicated parking space. It’s a fixer-upper. We didn’t know how quickly the market would react,” he said.
The apartment’s low price makes it one of only 11 properties in the county to be offered for less than $250,000, Lee said.
There is one possible hitch. While most homeowners own the land under their homes, the bridge is presumably public land, Lee said. The real estate agents are working to resolve such property issues with the US Army Corps of Engineers.
