Rams players could bring $400M to LA home market

From the Los Angeles website: The Los Angeles Rams move from St. Louis to La La Land could bring anywhere from $200 to $400 million to Los Angeles’ residential market, said Lee Mintz, head of the sports and entertainment division at Partners Trust. The cash will be split between luxury leases and home sales, she estimated.

Roughly 100 people associated with the franchise will move to LA, Mintz said, including players, staff and administrators — and they’re in a rush to settle down before the 2016 season starts in September.

Akeem Ayers

Mintz, a well-known realtor for professional athletes, whose Instagram shows her posing with boldface names from the NBA and the NFL alongside selfies in luxury estates, is already working with a handful of Rams’ players, staff and business managers. Rams linebacker Akeem Ayers is a longtime client. Mintz said he put her in touch with dozens of his other teammates and staff, so her involvement with the Rams is steadily growing.

The Rams’ younger, single players with shorter NFL contracts are interested in leasing in full-service luxury buildings Downtown and in Hollywood, then deciding later whether to buy based on what the future holds, Mintz said. The apartments and condos they are looking at range from $3,000 to $25,000 a month.

“Younger guys want to show off, and to feel elite,” Mintz said, adding that the JW Marriott Los Angeles, which is Downtown near L.A. live, is a favored location because it’s full service and close to the stadium.

The more established players and those with families are looking to buy multi-million-dollar homes in the likes of Manhattan Beach, Brentwood, the Pacific Palisades and Playa del Rey, she said.

“Players with families want to be in safe areas for their children and wives,” Mintz said. “The Rams are playing in Inglewood, which is not the most desirable location, so many are looking to (the Beach Cities) which have easy freeway access and a short commute.”

More will be revealed, of course, when the team knows the location of its training facility.

Houses in Manhattan Beach start at $2 million, Mintz said, but players are looking in the $3 to $6 million sweet spot. Those who are more interested in Brentwood and the Pacific Palisades will face price tags closer to $20 million. Or more, if they want anything like the six-bedroom Brentwood mansion custom-designed by Ken Ungar that Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James recently bought for $21 million.

Akeem Ayers and Lee Mintz (Photo:
lboogie_007 on Instagram)

While some players were initially interested in the prestige of the 90210 zip code, many reconsidered after Mintz explained the commute from Beverly Hills to Inglewood is nothing to sneeze at.

Mintz already brokered the lease of a 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom apartment at a full-service building in Hollywood for Ayers. She recently leased a similar property in the neighborhood to Denver Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman.

For Ayers, the Hollywood move is temporary. Mintz is looking for a house for him to buy that is suitable for his children and fiancé, she said. Ayers is not eschewing the valley. In fact, he’s particularly interested in Sherman Oaks.

Many players are shocked at the high price of LA real estate after living luxuriously in St. Louis on the (relative) cheap.

In the LA area, the median cost of a single family home was roughly $507,000 in the third quarter of 2015, according to a Metro Home Prices report from the National Association of Realtors. In St. Louis, it was a third of that, at $160,000.

“Prices in St. Louis are peanuts and LA is definitely a shock,” Mintz said. “It’s a huge reality check but they are definitely coming up on budget rather than going to smaller spaces or going into the hood.”

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