— hi, friends :) i am writing this to you from northern california. i'm leaving for LA tomorrow morning after two weeks with family … one up here, and one in hawaii. what a time. 

— there's something about california in march/april that gets me gooood. last year, when i was living in topanga, i felt this season very distinctly. i remember how wet and crisp and clear and cold the canyon felt. watching the crab apple trees next to my steps that had looked dead and dry for months start to emerge from their slumber. long evening baths into the blue. and in northern california, early spring also hits different. 

— i've been coming to visit family every march for the past three years, and that same chilliness / new green energy is here as well. i love getting to run around my old familiar haunts and putz about with the small town energy and just FEEL. i think you know by now that i am an extremely nostalgic person. trust me when i say that i have never forgotten literally anything ever, lol. so it's very gratifying to revisit places where things happened a very long time ago and kind of just roll around in the remembering; private moments that nobody really gets anymore but me. i feel like these slow seasons at the start and end of the year always encourage that kind of depth.

— but hawaii, well, i wasn't remembering the past, i was very much living in the moment. i got to wear real actual bathing suits for the first time. yay small wins! before this most recent gender-affirming surgery, swimming was … well … an experience. a challenging experience. and forget about finding a cute bathing suit or god forbid taking photos in it. ANYWAYS. this is all to say that cute bathing suits were worn, swimming was had, and the beach girl within got to rear her curly head after months of hibernation. i will say - gah DANG is it a lot to be a woman in a swimsuit. the body standards truly go crazy. that whole trip, i think i did a good job reminding myself of other strong, tall women who blast those arbitrary waif-thin boxes to bits. it helped me keep my shoulders back and stay proud. and as a result, i def had a fabulous time, where lots of things happened.

— SPEAKING OF LOTS OF THINGS HAPPENING! the market has ~awoken~ (at last). we had quite the bumpy start to this year. november through january is our slow season, intensified by the fires. i'm definitely seeing more cute houses hit the market as of late. not as many as this time last year, but cute ones nonetheless. my real estate team has been killing it recently. both the dwellings i mentioned in our last newsletter are in escrow (treehouses in echo park & highland park, respectively) and we've put on some other houses on the market as well. less activity with my buyers as of late. i find that since these clients are generally looking for a verrryyyy specific product (old wooden / midcentury houses) those come up more infrequently. but some favorites are linked below of course :)

— if you're thinking about buying or selling in LA this year, message me here.

— if you're looking to buy a wood house elsewhere in CA + the US, there's a good chance i can refer you to an agent in your city. referrals are a great way to support me. whenever i send a client to one of my cool out-of-area agent friends, i actually receive a portion of that commission! and like most things in life, a recommendation from a friend is the way to go. if that's you, respond to this email and i'd be happy to connect you.

— as always, with the houses i feature below, if you're interested in more details, respond to this email.

— talk to you soon, and sending love.

 

xx,

sam