By Similar house was sold to SMC for $51,000 in 1976 BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
Sold: An average, 1,000-square-foot home on Santa Monica’s east-side. Price: $700,000.
The latest acquisition by Santa Monica College is a 6,500-square-foot lot with three bedrooms and one bathroom.
The home, located at 1738 Pearl St., will be used as a SMC administration office.
SMC already owns five others just like it on Pearl Street that have been purchased over the past 27 years. The SMC Board of Trustees this week approved the $700,000 expense, which is a half million dollars more than the last house bought 10 years ago.
“Believe or not, it’s the normal real estate price,” said Greg Brown, director of facilities plan-ning for SMC. “We got some recent comparative sales in the area and they were running in this range.”
SMC bought the first house in 1976 for $51,000, two more in 1977 for $70,000 each, another in 1977 for $79,000 and a fifth in 1993 for $199,000. Escrow for house No. 6 is expected to begin within days, said Tom Donner, SMC’s executive vice president of business and administration.
Donner said he negotiated the selling price with the owner based on other nearby properties. He adjusted for the money that was saved because the house was sold by its owner, without any broker’s commission. Donner said he has been talking to the owner for more than 10 years about buying the house.
“We approached all the owners on Pearl many years ago and said we want to have a buffer between the college and the neighborhood, while retaining the residential appearance,” Donner said.
Anthony Respondek, a broker associate for DBL Realtors in Santa Monica, who drove by the property and checked its records, said the home would be worth about $599,000 on the open market.
Its location directly adjacent to two schools might be considered a detraction to some, but not to SMC.
Using the $700,000 price and with a 20 percent down payment of $140,000 in cash, as well as favorable interest rates, Respondek said one could expect to pay about $3,500 each month for 30 years to purchase the little house on Pearl Street.
The median income for Santa Monica residents is $50,714, according to a city profile prepared by the Rand Corp. That breaks down to about $4,225 per month before taxes. The historical rule of thumb is one should pay one-quarter of their monthly salary on housing.
There is now only one privately owned house left on the stretch of Pearl Street between the college
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 5, 2003. Read the original PDF.