JoeBabs Selling Again

SELLER: Joseph Babajian
LOCATION: Warner Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
PRICE: $1,995,000
SIZE: 2,011 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 1.75 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Built in 1935 w/ architectural integrity preserved. Timeless design w/ great scale, proportion & symmetry, wonderful authentic moldings & details. Recently restored & brilliantly refined w/ updated kitchen, baths, wd flring & new roof, central A/C. Separate den/office w/ built-in bookshelves. Formal dining rm plus charming junior dining rm. Private brick courtyard w/ fireplace.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: It's been quite some time since Your Mama has heard hide, hair or how-dee-do about much maligned and publicly shamed celebrity real estate agent Joseph Babajian who was indicted late last year on multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud and loan fraud. In fact, the last we heard was in late March 2008 when his recently and expensively renovated 3 bedroom and 3.5 bathroom domicile in Trousdale Estates sold for $6,510,000. But thanks to Our Fairy Godmother in Beverly Hills, Your Mama has learned that another of JoeBabs' properties has been recently listed for sale.

Located on Warner Avenue in the leafy, lush and centrally located Little Holmby section of Los Angeles, the 2,011 square foot house currently carries an asking price of $1,995,000 and happens to sit spitting distance from Candy Spelling's famously monstrous mansion on S. Mapleton Drive. Property records show that JoeBabs purchased the modest ranch house in February of 2003, long before news of his alleged real estate scheming and conniving became public. Although JoeBabs took a $789,000 mortgage at the time of purchase, Your Mama finds it interesting that the sale price is undisclosed. Hmm. Probably nothing suspicious, but with all JoeBabs' bad press we can't help but look a little cross-eyed at all his real estate doings.

Anyhoo, listing information for the renovated residence shows it includes three bedrooms, 1.75 bathrooms, a nicely sized living room with wood burning fireplace, a den with built-in bookshelves which will be appreciated by the few folks who read actual books anymore, and an updated kitchen with depressing drawer pulls and low-brow tile counter tops. Listing information also indicates there is both a formal dining room and a junior dining room. Your Mama has never heard of a junior dining room but we presume that is high-fallutin' real estate speak for the smart looking breakfast room which has been staged with a slightly too small Saarinen table and a couple of cozy 1940s era upholstered armchairs.

Thanks the keen eyes of one of Your Mama's children we now notice that the oval mirrors in the bathroom are hanging over the damn window. Yes, we realize that people need a mirror to pluck, pick and preen, but surely there was a better solution than this.

Always a fan of outdoor rooms, Your Mama finds the interior courtyard inviting and lovely. Once the awning striped patio furniture was swapped out for something more to our liking we can imagine that sitting next to the outdoor fireplace working the knitting needles and sipping gin and tonics would be a perfectly pleasant way to spend the a late November afternoon. However, it concerns and troubles Your Mama that this appears to be the only outdoor space besides the front yard and the long driveway up the side of the house. While this somewhat wee courtyard would be adequate for Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly, it might not be so desirable for someone with a few bratty toddlers who require swing sets, sand boxes and room to swing a cat by its tail.

A quick search of property records reveals that the once high and mighty real estate agent who regularly brokered multi-million dollar deals for the likes of David Beckham and The Spice Gurl, sold a 1,370 square foot house on Sunset Ridge Drive in Laguna Beach in November of 2007 for $2,650,000. Records show JoeBabs bought the 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom house in the Emerald Terrace neighborhood in December of 2004 for an even steven $2,000,000. Records also show that JoeBabs continues to own the small apartment building on N. Sweetzer in West Hollywood that he purchased in March of 2006 as well as a 2,057 square foot house on S. Palm Drive in Beverly Hills that he purchased in March of 2003.

So it would seem that ol' JoeBabs is unlikely to wind up homeless even after he hands over the considerable cash required to pay his high priced attorneys.