Palisades-News-March-18-2015

Palisades News
March 18, 2015 Page 13
Ogden Cleaners Changes Hands
By SUE PASCOE
Editor
Daniel and Yanna Sapozhnikov
closed a chapter of their lives on
Saturday, February 28, after selling
Ogden Cleaners on Sunset Boulevard to
Tommy Goullais.
The following Monday, the couple was
in the store, helping with the transition and
saying goodbye to customers and friends.
“I’m sorry, I’ll miss you,” said long-time
customer Helena Lara. “Who’s going to do
my pants? Don’t go, I don’t like change.”
Long-time customer, Norman Beegun,
said: “I’ve become friends with Daniel and
Yanna. We’ve gone out to dinner with
them; gone to services with them. They’ve
become part of the community.”
Beegun was one of many who praised
Daniel’s tailoring ability on that Monday.
“My son would come in with a pair of
pants and say he needed them tomorrow
and Daniel would do it,” Beegun said. “He
would never say no. He just altered a
tuxedo I hadn’t worn in 20 years and
couldn’t get into, but now it fits.”
Fran Dunner, who has three daughters,
said her youngest, Susie, would typically
buy something in the morning and need
it that evening, but that Daniel always
came through with the alteration.
Daniel remembered Patty Pappas as his
first alteration customer when the couple
took over the cleaners in 1997.
“We had a special arrangement,” said
Pappas, the mother of three girls. “Daniel
would always agree to the shorter hem
length they sought,” she said, “but when he
altered it, he always let it down lower.”
After the Sapozhnikovs took over the
cleaners, Daniel estimates business grew by
100 percent. He said that several thousand
Temescal Garden
Cleanup March 28
The Pacific Palisades Garden Club and
Palisades Beautiful co-sponsor the beautification
efforts at the N/E/X/T/Garden in
the northeast corner of Temescal Canyon
Park. This new acronym for the long-established
garden area spells: Native/Environmental/Xeriscape/Temescal.
Hands-on help is needed with various
gardening tasks on Saturday, March 28 from
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. People can come any time
and volunteer as long or short as they want.
Street parking next to the site (just south
of Bowdoin) is available on Saturdays.
Contact: ppgardenclub@verizon.net or
call Barbara Marinacci (310) 459-0190.
Daniel and Yanna Sapozhnikov welcome Tommy Goullais, the new owner of Ogden
Cleaners on Sunset.
Photo: Bart Bartholomew
people went in and out of the shop’s door
every week—and he knew most of them
by their first name.
The owners were asked if the Caruso
Affiliated purchase of nearby Swarthmore
influenced the sale. “It didn’t have anything
to do with it,” Daniel said. “It was just time
to let it go.”
He cited his difficulty with finding good
help because of the town’s geographical
location. “I’m sure many businesses have
the same problem.”
The Sapozhnikovs live in Tarzana, and
six days a week would fight the traffic on
the 405 going and coming from the Palisades.
He said even when he was away
from work, “my head was thinking of work,
of situations, of people.”
Daniel said Yanna wants him to rest,
read a book, go to the beach, travel, and
“do all of the things I haven’t done in the
past 17 years.”
Before coming to the Palisades, he sold
a previous dry-cleaning business, but stayed
home for a only month before he couldn’t
take the inactivity.
“This time I’m going to try to stay home
for six months,” Daniel jokingly said, but
then reflected: “I may have a hard time
doing it.” The couple has a three-year clause
that does not allow them to open a similar
business in Pacific Palisades.
Daniel and Yanna shed tears as customer
after customer gave hugs and asked for
their phone numbers so they could stay in
touch.
“It’s too emotional about leaving,” said
Yanna whose mother is suffering from dementia,
which is demanding more of
Yanna’s time and is another reason for
selling the shop.
The couple have two grandchildren, ages
1 and 3, and would also like to spend more
time with them.
“If I had known it would be this difficult,
I’d reconsider,” Daniel, 63, said.
Goullais, the former owner of Fame
Cleaners on La Cienega, was helping at the
counter. “I enjoy a service business,” he said,
noting that he doesn’t plan to make any
changes at Ogden’s. The Woodland Hills
resident will continue pickup and delivery,
as well as the environmentally friendly
cleaning processes the cleaner uses.
The new owner will retain all of the
current employees, including the women
at the front counter, Jesse Hernandez and
Gina Vargas and tailor Fernando Pena,
who worked with Daniel. A second tailor,
Enio Aguilar, who worked at Fame Cleaners,
has been added.
“We just wanted all our customers to
know we appreciated their business. We
weren’t able to tell everyone in person, but
please tell them ‘thank you,’” Yanna Sapozhnikov
said.
Winning Strategies for Buyers in a Bidding War
By MICHAEL EDLEN
Multiple offers” occur either when
a seller receives more than one
purchase offer at the same time
or receives another offer before a counteroffer
is presented to the first buyer. This
has occurred fairly often since 2012 and has
created a frustrating environment for wellqualified
buyers who repeatedly are outbid
in their attempts to buy a home.
The following suggestions are based on
my having participated in hundreds of
multiple-offer negotiations and observing
the various dynamics that can occur.
• Ideally, being an “all-cash” buyer with the
cash available or, at a minimum, being
fully approved for financing before
writing an offer, will usually give you
the advantage.
• Know the market inventory well by attending
open houses and becoming familiar
with what has recently actually sold.
• Have a family or personal photo to be
presented with your offer, as well as an
introductory letter which your agent
can help you prepare.
• Be as rational and disciplined as you
can, willing to either step up or pull
back depending on the circumstances.
• Take the long view. Remember that you
may be living in this neighborhood for
many years. The house can often be
changed in various ways, but the location
cannot.
• Ask your agent to counsel you on contract
details that may improve your position
at little cost or risk to you. A
seasoned agent will know ways to make
your offer stand out over others.
• Be prepared to make decisions in a
short amount of time, as timing your
offer and any responses to the seller is
essential to success.
• Select an agent who has successfully
guided many other buyers in multipleoffer
situations.
Although the highest and best offer usually
succeeds, it is not uncommon in this
market that a seller will receive more than
one strong offer. The seller will at times ultimately
select the buyer based upon personal
or other nonfinancial reasons rather
than one who offers a higher price.
Michael Edlen has been involved in hundreds
of multiple offer negotiations since 1987,
including several that had 20-35 offers. He
and his team have carefully developed strategies
for multiple offers when working with
both buyers and sellers. More tips and information
are available at MichaelEdlen.com.
He can be reached at (310) 230-7373 or
michael@michaeledlen.com.