6527 Etiwanda Ave, Etiwanda

the successful closing 6527 Etiwanda Ave, a 9.15 acre lot in Etiwanda, CA.

When we listed the property in 2021, the vacant land was without any plans or entitlements, but by the close of escrow, the city approved a subdivision into 22 lots of about 18,000 sqft each, which will now be developed into 22 single family homes.

The market was booming at the start of our marketing, and we received multiple offers from many qualified developers. The winning buyer was a local, proven home builder who gave the seller an offer above list price with reasonable terms.

The first challenge of our deal was a zoning hurdle. The Buyer aimed to upzone the property from 14 to 22 homes, a complex process that required navigating through the intricacies of city regulations and gaining community approval. A few weeks after putting this deal into escrow, the City of Rancho Cucamonga was in the midst of overhauling their development standards. This created unforeseen complications, leading to multiple closing delays. The timeline for the deal kept extending due to the City’s ongoing development standards overhaul and personnel changes.

With each delay, we diligently worked on saving the deal from the brink of collapse, strategically crafting addendums that addressed the evolving circumstances. The shifting landscape required the Buyer and Seller to adapt, resulting in a total of eight addendums to keep the deal alive.

With the complexities of the deal, we needed to mitigate our buyer's risk while maintaining a fair and profitable deal for our Seller. We advised the buyer to close escrow only after the Tentative Tract Map (TTM) was approved by the City for the upzoning. To ensure our seller was rewarded for his patience, we negotiated that the buyer would need to pay for this additional time to close. All parties ended up agreeing that the buyer would have the right to extend the close of escrow up to seven times at 30-days each, provided that he released $15,000 to the seller on each extension. Each $15,000 extension payment was in addition to the purchase price (not applied to the purchase price like the initial deposit), potentially adding $105,000 to the total purchase price.

After many months, the TTM was eventually approved in late 2023, and the upzoning was secured. This led to our successful closing earlier this month, more than 2 years after we opened escrow in late 2021.

The LAAA Team's expertise not only steered the deal through turbulent waters but also...