How to sell a home above the asking price? Grilled cheese

Broker Rochelle Maize and the Beverly Hills flats home at604 North Walden Drive
Broker Rochelle Maize and the Beverly Hills flats home at604 North Walden Drive

Forget cookies and crackers. If you want to break the record for the highest price per square foot in America’s most iconic zip code, be ready to roll out the food trucks.

At least that’s what Nourmand & Associates agent Rochelle Maize did to sell a 2,300-square-foot property at 604 North Walden Drive in the Beverly Hills flats neighborhood for just under $5.6 million, or $2,453 per square foot, The Real Deal has learned. It was the highest per-square-foot price the neighborhood has seen since 2014. 

“Typically for a brokers’ caravan, people have snacks or sandwiches or cookies,” Maize told TRD. “I had a grilled cheese food truck come in. ”

The truck handed out grub from Santa Monica-based Richeeze Melts. Those attending came hungry, because the trucks were advertised in Maize’s open house ads for the four-bedroom, three-bathroom property. She created a “buyer frenzy,” attracting 250 people to the brokers’ open house, she said. The usual crowd caps at about 50.

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While it got people in the door, Maize said the house didn’t ultimately sell because of the sandwiches.

“It’s really real estate 101 — location, location, location,” Maize said.

The sale price per square foot eclipsed the previous record over the past two years in Greater Beverly Hills, set by 9945 Beverly Grove Drive, which sold for $2,263 per square foot, according to RedFin data. The median home value per square foot in Beverly Hills, according to Zillow, is $1,083 as of April. The buyer was represented by Michael Libow of Coldwell Banker.

Meanwhile, another home a little over five miles east may be breaking the local record for price per square foot. A modest 1,038-square-foot home at 1451 South Spaulding Avenue in Mid-City, listed by Westside Agency’s Jacqueline Gunn, is now in escrow for a sliver below $1.2 million. When it closes, it will be highest price per square foot sold in the 90019 ZIP code at $1,139. Jennifer Eckert of Nourmand and Associates represented the buyer.