Real Estate Brokers

I was extremely disappointed by the slanted aspect of "Don't be afraid to sell home alone" (Your Money, Sept. 16). Buried deep in it was a nod to the competence of the full-service brokerage, which was hastily refuted as the writer pushed on to make the point that limited-service brokerages and online ad services are the best approach to selling in today's market.

WASHINGTON — It may be the best-kept secret in residential real estate: For a couple of hundred dollars, a potential buyer bidding on an existing house can ask for a formal energy audit along with the standard inspection clause. That audit, in turn, can save the buyer thousands of dollars in future operating costs and pinpoint the specific features of the house that need correction to improve efficiency. It might also be a tipoff to a sobering reality: This house is an energy guzzler.

Commercial real estate brokerage Julien J. Studley Inc. has closed its Encino office and moved five of the office's seven brokers to its Westside location. The move was the latest in a series of measures by local real estate firms in response to the slow market. Seth Dudley, former manager of the Encino office, said the cost-cutting move was "typical of cutbacks in our industry." He said Studley would continue to cover the Valley office market from the Westside.

Mariner's Mile Marine Center, a nautical landmark in Newport Beach, has been acquired by a local investor for $25 million, real estate brokers said. The property at 2429-2507 West Coast Highway holds five New England-style buildings that date to the 1960s. Mariners Mile holds offices and shops as well as a shipyard and large boat slips, said broker Mark Larson of Lee & Associates Investment Services Group. One of the boats docked there is the Wild Goose, a minesweeper-turned-yacht once owned by actor John Wayne and now operated by Hornblower Cruises.

Real estate brokers are typically those sunny types who can always find a ray of sunshine in a heavy overcast, and the ones attending the 80th convention of the National Assn. of Realtors here last week were no exception. They even managed to find a positive fallout from Black Monday, the stock market crash of Oct. 19. Association President William M.

Want to buy a nice little church or synagogue? How about a roomy church in Tarzana going for $3.1 million or a starter synagogue in West Hills for $1.5 million? A little more than you had in mind? Well, real estate agents for the Almighty, so to speak, have other listings. But brokers who spend all or part of their time handling houses of worship warn that it is not like buying a private residence. Few financial institutions make loans to churches.

The body of real estate broker Arlene Chee of Seal Beach, missing for 2 days, was found in the trunk of her Mercedes with a single gunshot wound to the head, police said Friday. Chee, who with her husband owned Century 21 Fortune in Long Beach, was last seen Wednesday as she left her office for a noon appointment with another real estate agent, police and family members said.

Is it safe? Is it safe? These days in the San Fernando Valley, the question takes on more significance than as a line from the 1970s film "Marathon Man." The earthquake may be history, but the Valley's real estate market continues its wobble. As sellers struggle to secure insurance funds to repair damages and place their homes on the market, wary buyers are looking more closely at just what they might be getting for their money: Are homes here really safe? What damages might lie hidden within?

Lawrence M. Scher smiles when someone describes him as the bad boy of the local brokerage industry. But mention Scher's name to some managers of other commercial real estate brokerages and you may get a grimace. The reason: A competitor accused Scher's brokerage firm last year of raiding not only some of its best brokers but some of its best property listings as well. A $1-million lawsuit was recently settled by Scher's firm, Scher-Voit Commercial Brokerage Co.

While the $500-million Main Street Concourse project would change Santa Ana's skyline, real estate brokers doubt that it will fly. The city gave its OK this week to the eagerly awaited project, which includes what would be the county's tallest office building.

Financially strapped KCET-TV is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology, according to people who know about the pending deal. The Los Angeles television station, which is struggling to rebuild viewership after its recent split from PBS, plans to move its operations to a smaller location, real estate brokers said. Station officials have been touring potential sites, brokers said. Terms of the potential deal were unavailable, but the 4.5-acre property at 4401 W. Sunset Blvd.

Take a short walk away from the bright lights of Staples Center and the giant video screens above L.A. Live, and it becomes clear that the acclaimed revitalization of downtown Los Angeles is still a work in progress. Here, along South Olive Street near West 11th Street, you'll find a smattering of merchants, including old printing shops and mannequin stores, but also a lot of abandoned storefronts guarded by locked metal gates. This area is known as South Park, and apart from Staples Center and L.A. Live, it hasn't seen the kind of office development and loft conversions that have given other parts of downtown thriving commerce and a burgeoning nightlife.

If Huguette Clark can remember her younger days, she may fondly recall the Santa Barbara estate where a private railroad car deposited her family every winter. At 104, she may linger on memories of debutante parties and society luncheons, or of musicales featuring the Paganini Quartet, equipped with Stradivarius instruments courtesy of her mother. Then again, she may not remember a thing. She resides at a New York hospital ? her home for more than 20 years. By all accounts, it's been at least half a century since she last set foot in the 22,000-square-foot house that for years was tended as if a telegram might at any moment signal Clark's arrival.

A Bel-Air compound owned by the late real estate broker Jon Douglas has come on the market at $18.7 million. Set behind gates on nearly 2 acres and built in 2001, the property includes an 11,700-square-foot main house and a 1,750-square-foot guesthouse. The main house features a grand circular entry hall, a wood-paneled library, a gym three guest bedrooms and a master suite that includes a study, a sitting room, his- and-her walk-in closets, his-and-her bathrooms, a sauna and a kitchenette.

Ed Rosenthal sipped the last of his water the morning after he lost his way in an isolated canyon deep in Joshua Tree National Park. It tasted sweet and delicious. He carried a pack stuffed with survival equipment ? a whistle, matches, flares, even a space blanket ? but he brought a large water container that was just an eighth full. He left two huge bottles in his hotel room and passed by a spigot in the park. He meant to hike for four miles at most on a trail from Black Rock Campground that he has walked at least five times before.

Ed Rosenthal, the real estate broker from Culver City who was lost in a remote area of Joshua Tree National Park for six days before he was rescued, remained in the intensive care unit Friday at Hi-Desert Medical Center in Twentynine Palms, Calif., but his condition was upgraded from fair to good. Rosenthal, 64, was stable, sitting up and taking fluids, said hospital spokeswoman Karen Graley. "He's resting comfortably," she said. It remains unclear when Rosenthal will be discharged.

They worked longer hours. They accepted a greater number of small transactions. Senior brokers who had not placed a "cold call" in years returned to making 20 such solicitations a day. It all paid off in the end. In 1991, the Newport Beach office of Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services chalked up its best year in its seven-year history, posting a 12% gain in gross income over 1990. And nowadays, as most anyone could tell you, that's practically a miracle.

Lost in a hot, dry, rugged canyon in Joshua Tree National Park, with no water and no food, Ed Rosenthal, a prominent real estate broker and experienced hiker from Culver City, took out a pen and started to write on his hiking hat. Rosenthal, a poet, never went anywhere without a pen. But he didn't write a poem. He wrote to his wife and his daughter to say he loved them. He wrote advice to business partners. He wrote instructions on where to donate money in his memory. And he wrote an account of what he believed was his last trek in a lifetime filled with hikes.

In the Middle Ages, moats were the thing. More recently, the rich have taken refuge behind tall hedges, view-obscuring walls and guarded gates. But today's super-wealthy, seeking even greater privacy, are increasingly buying adjacent properties as a buffer zone around their mansions. And that's made the compound the hottest commodity on L.A.'s high-end market, real estate brokers say. On the Westside, the growing list of compound owners includes movie industry titan Terry Semel, financier and producer Tom Gores and corporate housing kingpin Howard Ruby, founder of Oakwood Worldwide.