With the number of homes for sale down, prices continue to climb.

By Mary O’KEEFE

For decades Crescenta Valley has been one of the best-kept secrets in the Los Angeles area but that secret has appeared to have gotten out … in a big way.

“There is a shortage,” said Jana Wunderlich of Podley Properties, of the number of houses for sale in the area.

With demand up for homes in Crescenta Valley and La Cañada and the number of homes available for sale down, the area is a seller’s market – and the amounts buyers are willing to pay have surprised even the most veteran of realtors.

Wunderlich said she sold a two-bedroom, one-bath home with 894 square feet sold for about $710,000.

That’s unusual, she added.

“It’s a seller’s market in La Crescenta and the Foothills,” said Susan Lindsey of Dilbeck Real Estate. “Our inventory is way down.”

“There is just nothing out there. We put something on the market and it gets swept up when we have our first caravan,” said Amy Dginguerian of John Hart Real Estate.

From what Wunderlich has heard from her clients, many are moving up to the Foothills due in part to the over-construction in Glendale outside of the

Crescenta Valley.

“They are building so much and it is pushing older people up here,” she said. “But I can tell you this is happening from Sunland-Tujunga to Pasadena

and Sierra Madre,” she said of those relocating to the foothill areas.

While some may want to flee development in areas like south Glendale, the reason many are moving is something that has driven the real estate market for years – low crime and good schools – which CV and La Cañada enjoy.

“In February, 16 homes sold. The average [number of] days on the market were 45 and the average price in the [CV area] was $848,042,” said Phyllis Harb, of Harb & Co., Dilbeck Estates.

This trend, although a little less intense, is happening in Glendale homes outside of CV; however, the Foothills seem to be the most popular area at this time.

Harb said she has not seen the same Glendale flight that Wunderlich has found.

“The costs of rent have skyrocketed to $2,500 to $3,000. As the rents continue to increase people are thinking, ‘Why pay rent? We need to buy,’” Harb said.

She said she saw something like what is currently happening in the real estate market in the 1980s. A financial crash followed. Then there was the economic downturn in the early 2000s, which left a lot of homes on the market because homeowners could no longer afford their mortgages. Now, with this lack of inventory as prices soar, she is certain the economy will once again suffer a crash at some point.

At present, though, both Wunderlich and Harb have seen buyers paying cash for home purchases.

“Especially in the Pasadena area,” Harb added.

“At the end of last year about 40% of our transactions were cash buyers and not all of them were investors,” Lindsey said.

“There are a lot of cash [buyers],” said Dginguerian. “A lot of foreign buyers.”

But not all are buying for investment, she added. Some are living at the homes purchased.

Dginguerian added that schools and low crime are reasons the area is so attractive to buyers.

“It is also a sense of community,” she said. “And [this area] has a great sense of community.”

The realtors interviewed for this article advised buyers go through a real estate company to sell their homes and, although that may seem like advice most realtors would give, they added that in a market like this it is even more important to have professional guidance.

There are many variables when selling a home where professional guidance can be invaluable from considering cash buyers to knowing how long to wait before weighing all the bids that can come in.

The average number of days from market to close in La Crescenta is 37 days, Wunderlich said.

The bottom line, though, is inventory.

“I think people were waiting [to see what happened after] the election,” Lindsey said of her theory as to why fewer homes are for sale.

She added inventories this time of year are historically lower than other times; however, “homes don’t list until spring. We expect it to jump a lot in the summer months once school is over. We, hopefully, will see more of an inventory [then].”

Harb had a succinct way of describing this seller’s market.

“The problem – our population is growing but not growing with [available] homes,” Harb said.

  Mary Okeefe