People often pay ridiculous amounts for ridiculous properties here. The current owner paid $200K less than his asking price just 5 months ago FWIW

That is a very high crime area of LB, no some place that I would want to live, even for the much lower price paid earlier this year for that property.

I think the flooring throughout kills the pictures and some of the cabinetry looks a little dried out and shabby.

But is this really a ridiculous price/house? What are the normal comps? It sounds like the $300K was an off-the-market/below market kinda deal, and maybe the current owner did some infrastructural stuff.

My family is currently selling a house off-the-market/slightly below market to a real estate agent's family member because we would rather not have anyone know the house is going to be mostly unoccupied and have to deal with showings and such. The agent is taking a lower commission.

And on my side of things I bought a similar mid-century house at a similar price (which is now "entry level" in the neighborhood) and am into the five figures replacing all the plumbing, electrical and HVAC---nothing that anyone sees, so maybe it's not pure profit on the current owner's part. And he is taking a risk the last sellers didn't: they sold because they had a buyer.

I know nothing at all about Long Beach, but I know that on paper the crime statistics in my area are not great. But I don't feel particularly endangered living here.

This is the same price that we received for my mom's house in Orange County and, I hate to say this, but her house was in horrible condition and very poorly built (1963). So I'd say that this house is not selling for very much for So Cal.
Diane

No, $500K is not a ridiculous price. I would say it's pretty average around here. I would also say that's a pretty average MCM, nothing knock-out about it. In another area, it could easily sell for more, but I think they might have a difficult time where it sits.

I love the back side of the house; the front does nothing for me. Just seems ordinary. Errant, is it indicative of styles in that area?

What was this neighborhood like when it was built?

I looked at my house because, for a long time I thought they were the ugliest houses in the neighborhood. There are a number of houses that present a very blank face to the street, but there are two walls of glass in parts of the house hidden from the street. They were built as part of a slum clearance program. So perhaps the front is the "urban face" of this house, as well.

Yes, the house is very ordinary for the area. Most would see a house in major need of renovation, and nothing more.

I grew up in LB......I don't think that area was particularly nice even in the 60's/70's.

Yup....it's in the Poly HS district.....probably considered the worst HS in LB in the 60's/70's.... and I suspect not great now either (even though Cameron Diaz graduated from there)....

I think there tends to be an assumption that houses designed by recognized architects are almost all built for affluent people in affluent areas. Even Frank Lloyd Wrights clients for the most part were not overly wealthy.

There are a fair number of mid-century in-fill houses built by known architects in neighborhoods that were re-emerging and not particularly safe, in my city. The houses designed by the architect who did mine were for middle-class urban pioneers, not the affluent, who were restoring historic houses in neighborhoods that were showing more stability at that point.