In any given year, my team and I close 3-6 transactions across Silver Lake and Echo Park. Two of those closings, at the time of closing, were price records for rent-controlled fourplexes in the area.
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$300K–$360K
5.0%–5.8%
6.5%–7.5%
~ -1%
Read the block above closely, and you see Silver Lake’s whole investment story in two lines: the surrounding cluster trades at a median near $246,000 per unit, while Silver Lake itself commands a higher. Buyers pay that premium for what cannot be replicated: hillside and reservoir positions, Sunset Junction walkability, and a design-literate tenant base that treats the neighborhood as a destination rather than a compromise. We know the premium firsthand: our closings across both neighborhoods include a $725,000 per unit fourplex sale.
The market is currently running at two speeds. New construction along the corridors pushed vacancy into the 6.5 to 7.5 percent range, concentrated in luxury lease-ups competing on concessions. The vintage 1920s-to-1960s stock that makes up most of the neighborhood tells a different story: tenancies are sticky, demand is steady, and rents, though drifting around negative 1 percent over the past year, hold far firmer than the headline suggests.
For sellers of older buildings, that split is the pitch: your asset class is the stable one.
Pricing here rewards specifics. Pre-October 1978 buildings, most of the local stock in both neighborhoods, carry RSO rent rolls where the loss-to-lease is often enormous, and vacancy decontrol makes every lawful turnover a permanent income reset, which is precisely the mechanism behind premium fourplex pricing. Hillside lots with views, ADU-capable rear yards, and character architecture each add increments buyers genuinely pay for, and across 10+ closings in this submarket, we have collected every one of them at the closing table. Your written valuation, with net proceeds after every tax and cost, arrives within 48 hours.
Here are transactions Max has closed in and around Silver Lake with what made each one work.
PROPERTY NAME: 839 N. Occidental Blvd — Fourplex, Silver Lake
Four renovated 2-BR units with approved plans for two ADUs. Marketed at 4.6% CAP in a rising-rate environment. Seller needed a specific outcome tied to a divorce settlement. Maintained pricing discipline and identified a 1031 exchange buyer comfortable with the ADU optionality. Set a new per-unit pricing record for rent-controlled fourplexes in the 90026 ZIP.
Sale Price: $2,900,000
Price / Unit: $725,000
Time To Close: ~60 Days
RECORD: Fourth-Highest Sale for a Rent-Controlled Fourplex in 90026, per CoStar at the time of sale
PROPERTY NAME: 1926 Santa Ynez St — 6 Units, Echo Park
Spanish-style building two blocks from Echo Park Lake. Four of six units renovated, four vacant at listing. Exchange activity had slowed. Instead of cutting price, expanded outreach and held positioning. An out-of-state exchange buyer specifically seeking Echo Park proximity closed at 95% of asking.
Sale Price: $2,515,500
Price / SF: $504
Cap Rate at Close: 5.5%
Time To Close: ~60 Days
PROPERTY NAME: 659 Imogen Ave — Side-by-Side Fourplexes, Silver Lake
Two adjacent fourplexes sold as a package, just south of Sunset Blvd. Built 1924, RSO-covered, rents approximately 23–26% below market. ADU addition potential on site. Targeted outreach to value-add investors specifically seeking Silver Lake RSO stock with income upside.
Deal Type: Side-by-Side Fourplex Sale
Price: $3,000,000
Building Year: Built 1924
Value-Add: ~23–26% below market rents
PROPERTY NAME: 1611 Donaldson Street — 4 Units, Echo Park
Spanish-style fourplex near Elysian Park, recently renovated with modern finishes. Sourced off-market through direct owner outreach after a buyer’s exchange timeline narrowed on another deal. Closed in 21 days at the fourth-highest price ever paid for a rent-controlled fourplex in the 90026 ZIP.
Sale Price: $2,741,000
Price / Unit: $685,250
Time To Close: 21 Days
Record: Price Record at Time of Closing, Rent-Controlled Fourplex, 90026
2243 India St — Duplex, Silver Lake
A character duplex north of Sunset Blvd, close to the Silver Lake Reservoir, with real appeal, Spanish architecture, larger townhouse-style units, but also structural issues and two tenants of over a decade each paying below-market, rent-controlled rents. Rather than price around those problems, the sale was built on finding a buyer who valued the property for what it actually was: a first-time buyer prioritizing the location, school district, and unit size over near-term rent-roll upside. Proceeds from the sale allowed the seller to complete a 1031 exchange into an out-of-state property.
SALE PRICE: $953,000
PRICE PER SF: $345
PRICE PER UNIT: $476,500
UNIT MIX: (2) 2-Bed/2-Bath Townhouse-Style Units
BUILDING SIZE: 2,764 SF
LOT SIZE: 7,067 SF
BUILDING TYPE: 1931 Spanish-Style, RSO-Covered, Structural Issues at Sale
When one of your closings was a price record for its neighborhood at the moment it closed, every valuation you write afterward carries that history as a reference point. That is the position we price Silver Lake and Echo Park buildings from, backed by numerous closings across both neighborhoods.
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