This burnt-out 3-bedroom in Torrance sold for over $1 million. Welcome to California's housing market

[Zorro]

There’s a dilapidated house near my apartment complex in Torrance. Its doors and windows are covered by plywood boards and “No Trespassing” signs. Its frontyard is choked by dry, shin-high weeds. Chunks of its roof are missing.

Its listing on multiple real estate websites read: “This property has Fire Damage. BOARDED UP! … Do Not Enter or Occupy Property. No Interior Showings!”

Photos of the three-bedroom house showed one room with a smoke-blackened popcorn ceiling, and a small kitchen with vinyl flooring darkened by what looked to be a thick layer of mold or dirt.

The empty 1,140-square-foot home at the busy corner of Lenore Street and Anza Avenue, which was built in 1955 and damaged in a house fire two years ago, was snapped up in a probate sale last June.

$1.08 million.

Of course a fire-charred tear-down sold for more than a million bucks. That’s California’s miserable housing market for you.

https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2026-05-19/la-me-california-newsletter-2026-05-19-million-dollar-fire-house-torrance

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Thank you, my dear Zorro, for your very timely post.

I have driven past this house many times on my way to various doctors and such, and I see this every time.

It's a shame.

[CoopersDad]

3. So glad you're out and about again!

California DUers Rock!

[3catwoman3]

2. That's nuts

[sdfernando]

4. Looks like a decent sized lot

The building will be torn down and the entire lot will be redeveloped with condos. I'm sure the investors will make tons more than what they paid for it. It really sucks!

[highplainsdem]

8. Only 5600 sq ft. 1/8 acre.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/4623-Lenore-St_Torrance_CA_90503_M22577-45804

[AZ8theist]

9. Doubtful

Looking at the neighborhood, it's nothing but single family homes.
Not likely zoned for condos, but who knows? Grease enough palms and almost anything can happen.

Every single house in that area is valued at $1.25M and up. Some at $2 mill. You could tear it down, build a new one for $750K, and still make money on it.

Regardless, yes it sucks. I would love to live in California but the RE is out of control. I could sell my house in Arizona and I might have enough for a down payment in Cali., but that's about it!!!!

[sdfernando]

19. Sold my house

In San Diego last year for a bit less than 1mil. 2 story 1750Sqft on a 6000sqft corner lot. It was built and bought in 1977 for 60k. Took that $$$ and early retirement and moved to Spain....it was a good choice.

[AZ8theist]

20. I am SO jealous!!

Congrats!! Well played!!

[LogDog75]

21. I live in Coronado and I can believe how much your house sold for

I have a 3-bedroom, 1200 sqft condo in Coronado built in 1981 that's valued at over $1 million. I bought it in 2003 for $490,000.

Regarding the home in Torrence, I'm not familiar with the area but considering in the LA area land is at a premium, the sale was for the house so someone could build a new house. Like realtors say, it's Location, Location, Location!!

[sdfernando]

22. Coronado is beautiful

but access can be a bear during holidays and summer...I also have an irrational fear of heights and bridges.

As far as the LA is concerned, I don't know why anyone would want to live in the area. Miles and miles of the same type houses and strip malls .You could drive on the surface streets for 10 miles and swear you haven't moved.

What I liked about San Diego was the abundance of canyons. They break up the neighbors and the result is a lot of distinct vibes....it's almost like a lot if small towns mashed together.

Anyway, I'm in Valencia Spain now and living it!

[LogDog75]

23. Thanks for the words about Coronado

My parents bought a house in Coronado in the mid-50s and when my father retired from the Navy we moved back there. I graduated from Coronado High School and just before I retired from the AF I was able to buy a condo here. Traffic is heavy in the early morning and mid-afternoon because of the Navy and civilian personnel who work North Island Naval Air Station but if you plan well you can avoid delays.

The thing I've told people about LA and San Diego is there is only so much land between the mountains and the ocean so everything is crowded and expensive.

As for the canyons in San Diego, the problem with them is wildfires. Every year, it seems a couple of canyons catch fire and threaten homes. It's hard to fight canyon fires but people keep building homes above them.

I've been stationed in Germany and England and traveled around Europe but I never made it to Spain. Friends of mine who've been stationed or visited Spain loved being there.

[sdfernando]

28. My Dad was an officer in the Army

One of my brothers (only 10.5 months older) and me were born in Munich but we lived in Dachau....I have been to Spain before.....in my mother's womb.

[Bumbles]

5. That's obscene!

[senseandsensibility]

6. That reminds me of a listing for a house in the SF Bay Area probably forty years ago

It sold for about three hundred thousand (this was 40 years ago) although there was nothing there except four poles in the ground, which I guess at one time held up a covered parking area. The rest of the lot looked like your photo above.

[OGBuzz]

7. In Texas $1 million buys you a 4,000 sq. ft. mansion with a bit of land to go with it.

[gilligan]

11. Yeah

But it’s still Texas.

[OGBuzz]

14. LOL! Right you are.

[LogDog75]

24. I've spent time in Texas and IMO it's not where I'd like to live

[BadgerMom]

16. But property tax on it is killer.

My husband had a contract that brought us to Fort Worth from Southern California. I’d look at prices for homes around the DFW area and be amazed at how much further your money went in Texas compared to California. Of course, it was still Texas. My husband responded when I said something about it with a comparison. The difference in property tax bills for our lovely home in California and those far less expensive Texas homes was startling! California taxes were far less. (I’m sorry. This was in 2012. I no longer remember the precise numbers.)

Similarly, auto registration in California was far less. No state income tax seems lovely, but government must be funded. Texas makes up for not having a state income tax by higher taxes in other areas.

That said, I realize Prop 13 is likely the reason that California property taxes are less than those of Texas. I’d rather still have the services that were eliminated when Prop 13 passed. That might have kept California real estate at lower levels as well as providing other services.

[LogDog75]

25. Your comment about property taxes got me thinking about which states have the highest property taxes

Using the Tax Foundation's statics, Texas and an effective tax rate of 1.40% compared to California's 0.70%. Texas has the 7th highest effective property tax rate whereas California is ranked 32nd. The assessed value of a home in Texas is less than a comparable home in California and because of that property taxes would be lower.
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/property-taxes-by-state-county/

Property taxes are one thi9ng but the average income in California is higher than in Texas. It's $80,690 in California versus $65.750.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/average-income-by-state

Things do cost more in California again, California has more to offer in terms of work, climate, entertainment, recreation, etc.. than Texas or most other states.

I've lived, as an adult, in South Caroline, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, and California while in the AF and for me none can beat California.

[BadgerMom]

29. Thank you for providing data supporting my impressions!

Your info is really enlightening. I wish we as Dems could highlight this without getting deep in the weeds because we don’t want to lose people. But the media bangs on and on about California taxes and there’s not enough factual pushback like this.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. Hem

Waiting for the bubble to pop.

[BigmanPigman]

12. Over 1 1/2 years several condos in my complex have been on the market

Nobody is buying anything here. The market in San Diego has flat-lined. Some were bought by those greedy companies that give you cash overnight, then the new owners update them, hoping for a huge profit. It's backfired. They are just sitting there, empty. No one will touch them.

[LogDog75]

26. There might be reasons for condos not selling

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine looked at buying a condo in the North Park section of San Diego. He owned a condo in Coronado which he was giving to his daughter and he like the North Park area. He took a look at the financials of the HOA and saw their reserves were almost no existent and everything was done by special assessment.

A lot of condos are overpriced which is why they sit on the market so long.

[BigmanPigman]

27. The reserves are very important.

It's a priority with mt HOA.

[EndlessMaze]

13. The prices are more reasonable inland where I live.

But still high.

[BurnDoubt]

15. What do you suppose would account for such a...

disparity in home values?
In 1954, in the center of California, on recently re-zoned farmland in World-Class Agriculture Country, My Grandparents purchased a three-bedroom home for $8000,00 on a piece of land they bought for $495.00. It was do-able with two Union Jobs, although the end-of-the-month menu most often included Ham Hocks and Navy Bean Soup or “Shit On A Shingle”.
In Sacramento today rents are around $2200.00 a month for a studio or one-bedroom apartment.
Most of the guys who own those rentals may never even see the properties as long as they own them.
The people who could be investing in new-home construction are investing in existing properties so they can raise the rents and let the properties fall into dis-repair and then take a “loss”, passing them on to the next “investors”.
The “private sector" has no interest increasing housing stock because they can make money by ”scarce-ifying” the existing inventory.
This is another issue that “The Invisible Hand” will NEVER solve, because it is simply not who they are.

[calimary]

17. Just TOTALLY out-to-lunch!

One-point-oh-eight MILLION?!?!? W. T. F. ?

O. M. G.

[LoisB]

18. Crazy.