About the Building
Doheny Terrace is a 1973 condominium at 906 North Doheny Drive, and the county's parcel data confirms it as a genuine for-sale building rather than a rental held whole. The Los Angeles County Assessor carries sixty-six separately assessed homes on recorded condominium Tract 35373, numbered consecutively as condominium units 1 through 66, on a parcel of 37,355 square feet zoned WDR4*. Each is coded 010E, the county's classification for a residence in a converted condominium, which places this among the wave of early-1970s buildings on the Doheny corridor that were built as apartments and subdivided soon after.
The assessor's dates tell that story precisely. Year built is 1973 and effective year built is 1978, a five-year gap that on a building of this type usually reflects the work and the reassessment that accompany a conversion. Condominium Tract 35373 sits between the tract numbers recorded for neighbouring West Hollywood conversions of 1974 and 1975, which is consistent with a mid-to-late 1970s map recording. Anyone buying here should read the recorded date on the tract from the preliminary title report rather than relying on the year built figure that listing sites publish.
The unusual feature of this building is uniformity. Four sampled county records give unit areas of 1,153, 1,249, 1,250 and 1,255 square feet, all with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, drawn from four different floors. A condominium directory publishes a wider range of 714 to 1,291 square feet, which suggests a minority of smaller plans the sample did not catch, but the dominant product here is plainly a two-bedroom home of roughly 1,250 square feet. That has real consequences for how the building prices and how quickly an appraiser can find support.
Height is settled by the addressing rather than by the listing sites. Assessor unit numbers run in the 200, 300, 400 and 500 series, with nothing in the 100s, which is the signature of a building whose ground level is given over to entrance, parking and services and whose homes begin one floor up. Four residential levels above a ground floor matches the four storeys reported by a condominium directory. The subterranean parking that the same directory describes is consistent with the absence of any 100-series home. Establish on the recorded plan which level a home actually sits on, because the numbering is not a reliable guide to storey height in a building cut into a slope.
The amenity programme is broad for sixty-six homes. A condominium directory lists a pool, spa, sauna, gym, clubhouse, recreation room, card room, meeting room and barbecue area, with controlled access, an automatic gate, closed circuit cameras and subterranean side-by-side parking, and notes that residents pay their own electricity, cable and internet. That list comes from a directory rather than from the association, and on a building of this age some of it may reflect facilities that have been repurposed. Confirm what is open and what it costs to run. Ask in particular whether the gym and card room remain in their original use.
Amenities & Services
The Residences
Sampled homes on the second, fourth and fifth levels measure 1,249, 1,250 and 1,255 square feet, each with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a fourth on the second level measures 1,153. Repetition on that scale means the floor plate is a simple double-loaded arrangement with a single dominant stack, repeated up the building. The practical benefit is comparability: sales inside the association are directly comparable to one another, which makes pricing legible and appraisal straightforward. The cost is that a buyer has almost no choice of layout, only of floor and orientation.
Every sampled record returns the same configuration. For a 1973 building this is entirely characteristic: developers of the period built the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment as the default product for this part of Los Angeles County and repeated it without variation. What that means for a buyer is that the differences between homes are almost entirely in condition, floor, aspect and outlook. Spend the viewing time on light, noise from Doheny, and the state of the kitchen and bathrooms rather than on hunting for a better plan. Ask whether the second bathroom is ensuite or serves the hall, because in 1973 plans this varied by stack.
A condominium directory reports a range starting at 714 square feet, well below anything the sampled county records show. Buildings like this frequently carry a small number of one-bedroom or studio homes, often on the lowest residential level or at the ends of the plate where the geometry is awkward. If a listing here is materially cheaper than the others, check the recorded area before assuming it is a bargain, and confirm on the condominium plan whether it is a genuine one bedroom or a converted space. The county's own record for the specific parcel is the reliable check, and it is free to look up.
There are no 100-series homes in the county roll. Units run 201 upward through the 300s and 400s to the low 500s, which puts the lowest homes one floor above the street and the highest four floors up. In a building on a busy north-south route that hierarchy matters more than usual: the higher floors trade street noise for exposure and views west toward Beverly Hills, and the lower floors trade the view for a shorter walk and, often, a better price per foot. Ask which homes face west across Doheny toward Beverly Hills and which look back over the Norma Triangle.
A directory describes subterranean parking with side-by-side spaces and an automatic gate. Side-by-side rather than tandem is a meaningful distinction in a building of this vintage, since tandem parking is the norm in 1970s Los Angeles County construction and it substantially affects daily usability for a two-person household. Verify the allocation and the configuration from the title report rather than the directory, and ask the association whether any additional or guest spaces exist and how they are assigned. Storage in a subterranean garage of this era is often informal, so confirm whether any cage or locker is deeded to the home or simply tolerated by the board.
A building constructed as apartments in 1973 and subdivided a few years later was detailed to apartment standards: shared plumbing risers, party walls built for a landlord rather than for owners, and a single central system in some cases. Over five decades much of this will have been altered unit by unit. Ask what the association has replaced building-wide, in particular the plumbing stacks, the roof and any central equipment, and what remains the responsibility of the individual owner under the CC&Rs. Conversion-era CC&Rs are frequently vaguer on this boundary than modern ones, which is why reading them matters more here than in a 2007 building.
Due Diligence
This is a genuine for-sale condominium. Sixty-six separately assessed parcels sit on recorded condominium Tract 35373, numbered as condominium units 1 through 66 and coded 010E by the assessor, the county's marker for a converted condominium. The building was constructed as apartments in 1973 and subdivided afterwards, so read the CC&Rs for how the conversion allocated responsibility between the association and individual owners. Ask specifically how the plumbing risers, roof and any central equipment are allocated, since that is where conversion documents are most often ambiguous.
West Hollywood's Ordinance 17-1004, adopted in April 2017 and effective April 2018, requires retrofit of wood-frame buildings whose ground floor contains parking or similar open space where the permit was applied for before 1 January 1978. The city states plainly that soft-story condominiums are included in the programme, and that only non-ductile concrete and pre-Northridge steel moment frame condominiums were exempted. A 1973 building over parking must be checked against this. Ask for the screening report.
The city's guidance estimates most soft-story retrofits between roughly $40,000 and $160,000 for a building, with owners bearing the cost and no pass-through to rent-stabilised tenants. Priority I buildings of sixteen or more units were noticed on 2 April 2019 with a five-year compliance sequence, since adjusted by council resolution. Establish whether this association has completed, permitted, planned or ignored the work, and whether it was funded from reserves or by special assessment.
A condominium directory describes subterranean parking, side-by-side spaces, an automatic gate and closed circuit cameras. It does not state how many spaces attach to each home. On a 37,355 square foot parcel with sixty-six homes, one space per home is the realistic expectation and two would be generous. Read the deeded or assigned allocation off the preliminary title report, and confirm whether the space is single, tandem or side by side before pricing the home.
A directory states that pets are permitted subject to association rules, which is the standard formulation and tells you nothing about limits on number, weight or breed. Request the current pet rule and any amendment adopted since the CC&Rs were recorded. In a building with a pool deck and shared corridors, also ask how the rules handle common area access, since enforcement practice varies widely between associations of this size.
No leasing rule is published for this association. California Civil Code section 4741 sets the statutory floor: an association may not cap rentals below twenty-five percent of units and may prohibit tenancies of thirty days or less. West Hollywood regulates short-term rentals separately at city level. Ask the board what it has adopted, when, and what share of the sixty-six homes is currently tenanted, since owner-occupancy affects lender treatment. Owner-occupancy below roughly half the building can restrict the pool of available lenders.
The association does not publish its inclusions. A directory states that residents pay their own electricity, cable and internet, which implies the assessment covers water, trash, common area maintenance, master insurance, the recreation facilities and management. Directory dues figures are neither current nor authoritative. Request the operating budget, two years of financial statements, the delinquency report and any notice of special assessment before removing contingencies. Ask also what the assessment has done over the past five years rather than only what it is today, because the trend tells you more than the number.
California Civil Code section 5550 requires a reserve study at least every three years with a visual inspection, reviewed annually by the board. On a 1973 building with subterranean parking, a pool, a spa and a sauna, the significant components are the garage deck and its waterproofing, plumbing risers, the roof, elevators and pool plant. Read the study for the percent funded figure, and ask what has actually been replaced rather than what is scheduled.
Everything above is drawn from public records, city permit data and published sources. The association’s statutory disclosure package is the only authoritative answer on dues, rules, reserves, insurance and litigation — Ben will request it and read it with you before you remove contingencies.
Common Questions
Keep Exploring
More about the neighbourhood: West Hollywood
Off Market & Coming Soon
Residences here reach the open market rarely, and some never do. Ask Ben to tell you when one is coming, including quietly.
Work With Ben
Units here often trade before they are ever listed. Tell Ben what you are looking for and hear first when something opens up, including off market.
Start the ConversationOff Market & Coming Soon
Residences here reach the open market rarely, and some never do. Ask Ben to tell you when one is coming, including quietly.
Ben will reach out shortly to set up your tour.
