Koreatown runs west along Wilshire from Westlake, and it is the most densely populated district in Los Angeles County. For a buyer that density comes in two quite different forms, often on the same block.
On Wilshire itself there are high-rise condominium buildings with doormen, pools and structured parking, which behave much like Downtown's towers and raise the same questions about dues, reserves and lending. On the side streets there is a remarkable stock of 1920s and 1930s courtyard and Art Deco buildings, a lot of it preserved because the buildings stayed economically useful rather than because anyone protected them.
Four Metro stations on the D Line sit under Wilshire and Vermont, which makes this one of the genuinely car-optional parts of the city. It is also the part of Mario's market where the difference between a well-run building and a badly-run one shows up fastest in what a unit is worth.
Ask Mario about KoreatownWhat to check in Koreatown
- In a high-rise: the dues, the reserve study, the assessment history and the rental cap — the same list as Downtown.
- Whether the building is approved for FHA or VA lending.
- In a pre-war building: the seismic retrofit, the plumbing and the parking, which is often none.
- Which side of the building the unit is on. Wilshire is a major road and it does not sound the same at the back.
Questions about Koreatown
Is Koreatown a good place to buy a condo?
It has more condominium stock than almost anywhere else in central Los Angeles and four Metro stations, so it is one of the few places you can buy and genuinely not need a car. As everywhere down here, the building decides the purchase — the dues, the reserves and whether a lender will write a loan in it.
What is the difference between a high-rise unit and a courtyard building here?
A Wilshire high-rise is a full-service building: a desk, amenities, structured parking, and dues to match. A 1920s courtyard building is usually smaller, often has no parking, and its questions are the ones any pre-war structure raises — the retrofit, the plumbing and the electrical. They suit different buyers and they resell to different buyers.
Downtown is not one market. It is a few hundred buildings, and the building decides nearly everything — what the dues are, what they actually cover, whether a lender will write a loan in it at all, whether the parking space is yours or the building's, whether the "loft" is a 1920s office floor with twelve-foot windows or a 2008 tower with a pool deck. Two units a block apart with the same square footage and the same price can be completely different purchases. I would rather spend the first conversation on the building than on the tour.
Licensed in California since 1993, in a market that has to be read one building at a time.
Mario Cabello, REALTOR® · CA DRE #01163184
