According to Harris, whose recent listings include the 80-unit age-restricted in Sylmar and the 69-unit Regency at Sherman Oaks, those private buyers have pretty much supplanted institutional buyers for now. "Nearly every transaction closed in 2009, whether small or large, has been sold to a private investor with a long-term investment horizon," Harris says. He describes institutional buyers as "essentially non-existent" in today's market.

Harris points out that most of today's offerings do not yet include the troubled assets that will eventually hit the market. "We won't see a wave of distressed selling until loans start coming due," he says. The bid-ask gap is starting to narrow, he says, "specifically because sellers' expectations are becoming more in tune with the realities of the market."

Buyers today are seeking value, not expecting short-term appreciation, but rather buying for the in-place cash flows, Harris says. "We're starting to see our private clients, who have been dormant for the last five years, inquire about getting back in again," he adds.

One of the most unusual of the recent offerings is the Hillview that Harrington is listing. Its 57 units include 54 apartments and three retail spaces in a building at 6533 Hollywood Blvd. that was built by Goldwyn as the first complex exclusively for actors.

Harrington says that a number of prospective buyers have already bid on the Hillview, in which the owners have invested substantially to restore and renovate the building. He says the two best bids are from buyers who already own properties in Hollywood, which makes a lot of sense in today's market, he says. "Your best buyer today is someone who owns nearby, still has money and is looking for deals," he says. Some other bidders, he points out, make offers well below the asking price in hopes of finding a bargain.

Despite the signs of a narrowing of the bid-ask gap, Harrington says that the struggle to bridge that gap continues because of the uncertainty in today's market and because many buyers believe they'll find better deals just by waiting. "They don't have to deploy a certain amount of capital in a certain amount of time, and they are in no hurry because they think prices are going to be lower later in the year and they will have more deals to pick from," he says.

Nonetheless, Harrington says that the right building in the right location will command asking price--or even above. He cites the case of a property in the $3 million range in Glendale, although not his listing, that attracted more than one offer above list price.

Establishing that list price is a different proposition today than it was when the market was hot, Harrington points out. He explains that, with so few deals closing, brokers sometimes have few if any recent comparable sales to include in their offering packages. As a result, offering packages today are more likely to include "on-market comparables" that show the asking prices that other sellers are asking for comparable properties in today's market.

Instant Insights /

Listings Show Market Aiming to Reprice

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