Yesterday, a little birdy sent Yolanda an unexpected query about a spiffy-looking flipper situation in the trendy and celeb-friendly (and expensive) Los Feliz neighborhood that recently sold for $2,300,000. A wee bit of consulting with listing information and property records reveals that the house was transferred to an anonymous blind trust in what clearly appears to have been an all-cash deal.
With a wee bit of poking and prodding, Yolanda discovered that the property was quietly purchased by a fellow named Steven Yeun and his fiancee. Our boy Mr. Yeun is perhaps better known to the public as Glenn Rhee, one of the main characters on The Walking Dead horror-drama AMC series. AKA the world’s highest-rated cable TV show. Ever.
Of course, Yolanda has never seen the show. But we have heard about it, of course, and apparently it follows a group of “survivors” as they navigate through a post-apocalyptic world overrun with zombies. Yes, zombies!
Oh good grief. Zombies again? Why? If it ain’t zombies, it’s always vampires. How about television comes up with something original for once. Like, say, a wedding dress-wearing Lindsay Lohan chasing a bunch of eligible young men through the streets of LA! She’d have a bottle of booze in her left hand, a marriage certificate in her right, a ciggie danglin’ out her mouth. It’s a hit waiting to be made! And way scarier than zombies.
Forgive us, la Lohan! We miss you. But we also digress.
Mr. Yeun is reportedly engaged to be married to Joana Pak, a professional photographer with more than 22,000 followers on her Instathing doohickey. So we suppose it’s really no big surprise that the couple would buy a house for settlin’ down. As far as we know (and what do we really know?) this is Mr. Yeun’s very first property purchase.
The (mostly) flat-roofed 1970s is single level out front and drops down mullet-style to two floors out back. The rather tiny .15-acre lot won’t win any size queen awards but does have front and rear lawns and room for a pool, per the listing.
Perhaps unfortunately, the 3,324-square-foot house — it was originally sort of a stucco-meets-post-and-beam that’s more like a modern-meets-post-and-beam or something now — backs up to an alleyway that is shared with a long row of not-particularly-fancy apartment buildings and multi-family houses. Not so great for zombie security. Who knows what could be lurking out back, right?
Anyway, the residence was purchased by a flipper this past February (2016) in its original, unvarnished state. Property records show Mr. Flipper paid $1,230,000 and gave it a quick — and some might say rather generic — contemporary facelift complete with those ubiquitous frosted-glass garage doors and black-frame windows and doors.
Mr. Flipper then flipped his flip house back onto the flop market with an asking price almost exactly double what he had paid six months prior. Along came Mr. Yeun and Ms. Pak, who paid him the aforementioned $2.3 million in what appears to be an all-cash sale.
In the home’s original iteration, there existed a wall separating the entrance hall from the living/family rooms, but that is no longer for this world. RIP. The hardwood floors are also all-new, replacing a rather hideous tile setup.
The vaulted ceiling has a skylight and there’s a small fireplace for chilly nights. A bunch of mismatched furniture is a welcome break from the usual flipper white couch motif. You know what we’re talking about.
Another essentially all-new feature is the kitchen, which bears little resemblance to the cramped and closed-in ’70s setup previously. The Viking appliances are all top-of-the line and the island is Caesarstone. Another skylight gives the room an airy feel.
There doesn’t appear to be a formal dining room — as far as Yolanda can tell — but there is an informal breakfast nook area just across from the kitchen. We also spot nary a single television in the home. Well done!
The large-ish master bedroom opens directly to the grassy backyard. Can’t hide those rather low ceilings, however. The master bath is all-new and has — as you’d expect — a glass step-in shower and a free-standing soaking tub. Not sure if there’s a walk-in closet, but perhaps not.
One of the other three bedrooms (the property has a total of 4 beds/3.5 baths) has been transformed into a minimalist home office.
It wasn’t too many years ago that any house in this particular pocket of Los Feliz — way out east by the 5 freeway and uncomfortably close to a very busy boulevard — would never sell for anywhere near the $2 million mark. But now it’s commonplace. Times, they are always a-changin’ and we must learn to cope with that in this new real estate world.
A post-apocalyptic real estate world, as is more like it.
Listing agent: Dorothy Carter, Keller Williams Los Feliz
Mr. Yeun’s agent: Andrew Rhoda, Compass