Past client: Purchased a 2+2 condo Feb 2015 $865,000 downtown Los Angeles. Sitting on a modern imported Italian chair over looking downtown L.A.’s skyline from sixteen floors high. DTLA looks like one big construction site. And it’s exciting.
Glenn
What are your thoughts on downtown and how quickly gentrification is happening.
Vance
It’s an amazing thing.
I’m sure you’re going to ask me about my experience working with you so why don’t I touch up on that and than we’ll get into my downtown town “thing.”
I’ve bought and sold… gosh, many different properties from cabins to beachfront homes to raw land, and mansions and silly stuff. About a dozen or fifteen properties total. And working with yourself Glenn was truly the best experience. You’re fun and energetic.
I’m a busy guy. Los Angeles is all about busy and energy. And to have met with me several times and to have narrowed down my needs in just a few hours of my time, and then showing me half a dozen incredible places that were exactly what I wanted, and the only difficulty was deciding which to buy. Kinda like going to a wine store with six of the worlds best, but you can only drink one. So working with you was fantastic.
Now, Downtown L.A. I never thought I’d live in Downtown, Los Angeles. I was born in the suburbs and liked my land and privacy. But the energy and transformation here is nothing like it was two decades ago. We have more construction going on in a one-mile radius than Chicago, San Francisco, and New York combined. It’s positively energizing. We’re right across from Wholefoods, which you told me about. I had no idea that shell of a building was going to be Wholefoods, and now it’s here. Literally in six blocks I’ve got over a hundred restaurants to choose from. Twenty of them would give New York a run for its money. So the energy down here… the transformation. I just absolutely am enthralled with it.
G
You answered several of my questions in one breath, which is awesome, making my life a little easier. Tell me a little bit about where you’re from. Or how long have you been in Los Angeles.
V
Well, I’m a Montana kid born and raised, and I’m an engineering aerospace consultant. So I do a lot of traveling and need access to an airport that can get me anywhere in the world in a heartbeat. So I’ve been in LA for just three years. I moved from Beverly Hills, my wife and I. I’ve really become a city guy. My wife is at our place in New York, and I’m here in Los Angeles. It’s been a great transformation in my life to represent all those different phases with this one. And who knows if it will be the final destination, but for the next several years I’ll be here in Downtown, Los Angeles.
G
That’s awesome. This phase you’re living in, and this beautiful condo on the sixteenth floor looking over the city is breathtaking. Floor to ceiling glass walls. Amazing. In the immediate future, do you see yourself acquiring more properties?
V
You know I thought about that. And certainly Downtown Los Angeles would be a great investment choice. It’s always easier to believe the grass is greener elsewhere, but really it’s most green right underneath our own noses. And I think the prices here, or rather I’m convinced they’re only going to go one way and that is up. It’s still rather very affordable. If you compare to Santa Monica, Wilshire Corridor, Marina Del Rey and other places that are very energetic. Places that are close to work and frankly the price per square foot is lower here than those other locations. So it’s a great investment opportunity you could probably make a return immediately so it’s on my horizon. My finances will not allow me to pull the trigger right now, but certainly in the next year or two.
I’d love to work through you on that, and I’ve given you a few referrals and hope they work.
G
You keep steeling my next question.
801 S Grand Ave Los Angeles, CA 90017
