Pasadena CA Real Estate

It's that time again for the California cities of Pasadena, San Marino, San Gabriel, Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, Glendale, La Canada Flintridge and South Pasadena to dispose of their household hazardous and e-waste.  This summer's round up will be held in two locations:

1. Saturday, June 14 from 9 am until 3 pm at Pasadena's Rose Bowl, Parking Lot K (1001 Rose Bowl Drive)
2. Saturday, June 28th from 9 am until 3 pm at Southern California Edison in Rosemead.  SCE is located on the southwest corner of Walnut Grove Avenue and Klingerman Street.

ADDITIONAL DATES ADDED:

1. Saturday, August 16th from 9 am until 3 pm at County of Los Angeles Departmetnt of Public Works Headquarters - 900 South Fremont Avenue in Alhambra.  Open for all LA County Residents.  Enter the facility from Orange Street.
2. Saturday September 13th from 9 am until 3 pm at 900 South Fremont.  Same as item #1.

Household items to be accepted include:

• Motor oil
• Paint, medicine
• Garden care products
• Computer Monitors
• Cell phones

No explosive or radioactive materials, tires or waste from a business is welcome.

Please do not mix materials together when preparing for the disposal.  Keep original lablels on packaging and put the products ina box in the trunk of your car.

These roundups are serving the cities of Pasadena, Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, Glendale, La Canada Flintridge, San Gabriel, San Marino, Sierra Madre and South Pasadena.

ADDITIONAL ONE-DAY HHW / E-WASTE COLLECTION EVENTS THROUGH MIDDLE OF 2009:

Saturday, October 25, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Montebello HHW / E-Waste Collection Montebello Town Center Mall - Map Saturday, November 1, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Unincorporated South Whittier HHW / E-Waste Collection LA County Sheriff's STAR Center - Map Saturday, November 8, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of South El Monte HHW / E-Waste Collection Community Center - Map 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Bellflower HHW / E-Waste Collection Simms Park - Map Saturday, November 15, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of El Segundo HHW / E-Waste Collection Raytheon Company - Map 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM Unincorporated Lennox HHW / E-Waste Collection Park & Ride Lot - Map Saturday, November 22, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Monterey Park HHW / E-Waste Collection Stadium Parking Lot - Map Saturday, December 6, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Malibu HHW / E-Waste Collection Malibu Civic Center - Map Saturday, December 13, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Lomita HHW / E-Waste Collection City Hall Parking Lot - Map Saturday, December 20, 2008 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of La Verne HHW / E-Waste Collection Brackett Field - Map Saturday, January 10, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Bell Gardens HHW / E-Waste Collection John Anson Ford Park - Map Saturday, January 17, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of El Monte HHW / E-Waste Collection El Monte Airport - Map Saturday, January 24, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Hermosa Beach HHW / E-Waste Collection Clark Stadium - Map Saturday, January 31, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Santa Fe Springs HHW / E-Waste Collection Rio Hondo College Fire Training Academy - Map Saturday, February 7, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Claremont HHW / E-Waste Collection Claremont Corporate Yard - Map Saturday, February 14, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Hawthorne HHW / E-Waste Collection Betty Ainsworth Sports Center - Map Saturday, February 21, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of Diamond Bar HHW / E-Waste Collection Gateway Corporate Center - Map Saturday, May 16, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM City of West Covina HHW / E-Waste Collection West Covina Maintenance Yard - Map Sunday, June 14, 2009 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM Unincorporated Agoura HHW / E-Waste Collection Calabasas Landfil - Map

For more information, please visit www.lacsd.org or call (888)CLEAN-LA.

Pasadena home buyers asking home sellers to pay for some of their closing costs need to be very careful at how the California Purchase Contract is written.

There are two types of closing costs.  They are Recurring and Non-Recurring costs.

Recurring Closing Costs are charges or fees which will occur more than once.  For example, home property taxes, fire insurance, mortgage insurance, HOA (Home Owner Association) dues.

Non-Recurring Closing Costs are charges or fees which only occur one time during the purchase of your Pasadena home.  These charges include escrow fee, title insurance, recording fees, notary public fees, loan origination and discount point fees.  In essence, anything that is a one-time fee and will not be paid again.

The reason that it is important to specify the types of closing costs a buyer is asking the home seller to pay is because as a buyer, you'd want to use the full amount of closing costs allocated to you by the seller.

For example, your offer is asking the Pasadena home seller to pay $5,000 of your closing costs.  The costs are not described as recurring or non-recurring.  Most lenders will allow the escrow company to credit you non-recurring closing costs only.  If these non-recurring closing costs come up to only $4,000, you will not be able to apply the remaining $1,000 towards your Pasadena home purchase.

Make sure to work with your lender and Pasadena Real Estate agent to understand what kind of closing costs your mortgage lender will allow and the percentage of the sales price that can be applied towards these costs.

Don't be caught unawares.  Be an informed home buyer!

READ MORE:  How much can you expect to pay in closing costs and what are they?

If you are ready to start your Pasadena home search, please call me at 626-627-7107 or email me at irina@irina4realestate.com.

When you buy or sell a home in Pasadena, California, you will incur closing costs.  Real Estate closing costs are generaly expenses associated with buying or selling your property.

Pasadena Home Seller Closing Costs usually include:

• Real Estate sales commission - usually the biggest chunk or expense.  Each real estate agent and company sets their own real estate commission fees generally based on the services that they provide.  Pasadena Real Estate agents market properties differently, belong to different real estate boards and each has their own streangths and weaknesses.  Interview your real estate agent carefully to find the right one for you.
• Escrow Company Charges - each escrow company has a fee schedule.  I prefer to use Landmark Trust Escrow in Pasadena.  Tammey Bazinet of Landmark Trust Escrow is an excellent and knowledgeable escrow officer.  She is certified by the state of California since 1993.  Landmark Trust charges $185 standard fee plus $1.75 per each thousand of the home sales price.  Price your escrow companies.  Each has a different fee schedule and a lot of escrow officers are NOT certified. 
  • Additional escrow fees include public notary charges, loan tie-in fees, document preparation and messenger fees.
• Title Company Charges - each title company has their own fee schedule.  The fees are based on the sales price and vary significantly from one company to the next.
• Loan Pay Off Fees:  banks usually charge fees when you pay off your loan including reconveyance fees, recording fees and demand fees.
• Pasadena Occupancy Report - City of Pasadena charges $124.63 for Pasadena condo or townhome inspections and $128.75 for single family residences.  A city inspector will come out, perform an inspection and provide a report.  These fees usually go up once a year and most likely will be increased this summer.
• Home Warranty for the buyer:  it is common practice in Pasadena to provide a home warranty plan for the first year of home ownership for the buyer.  A home seller does not have to provide this plan, but most do.

Pasadena Home Buyer Closing Costs:

• Mortgage/Lending Fees:  the most significant closing cost for the buyer would be lender charges including points, application and processing fees. 
• Appraisal Fee:  if financing is required on your home, the lender will request an appraiser to provide an appraisal report.  In the past, desk appraisals were acceptable by lenders, but recently a full appraisal is required by most lenders.  A full appraisal will include the appraiser visiting your Pasadena home and taking pictures of the interior and exterior and providing comparable sales in the area for the last three to six months.  Appraisal fees run anywhere between $350 to $600.
• Escrow Company Charges:  both buyer and seller pay their own escrow fees.  See above escrow fees for information.
• Title Company Charges:  same as above.
• Inspection Fees:  recommended minimum home buyer inspections include a physical inspection and a sewage line inspection.  Roof inspections, mold inspection, structural engineering inspections are also available.  Make sure that your inspector is a CREIA inspector.
  • Physical inspectors charge based on the size of the house and can be anywhere between $250 and $600.
  • Sewer line ispections usually run $250
    • Send me a quick email or comment below if you'd like to get a list of local Pasadena inspectors. 
• Permit Fees:  I suggest that buyers go down to city hall to pull permits on the home that they are buying and talk to the city building inspectors.  This is the best way to research the history of your new home and understand what kind of improvements or changes can be done in the future.

For more information on the escrow process, closing costs or assistnace with buying or selling your Pasadena home, please call me at 626-627-7107 or email me at Irina@Irina4RealEstate.com

My last post identified the price point for luxury homes and estates for sale in San Marino, California.

It is clear that the top 10% of the San Marino Real Estate market is for homes costing $3,000,000 and above.  I wanted to take a look at the 13 luxury homes in San Marino that were sold in 2007 and see what affluent San Marino home buyers expected to get for their money.

Below is a list of amenities and features of almost all the San Marino luxury homes reviewed:

• LOCATION:  All of these San Marino estates were North of Huntington Drive in close proximity to the Huntington Library or Lacy Park.
• LARGE LOTS:  Affluent San Marino luxury home buyers can expect at least 1/2 an acre of land.  A lot of these homes had an acre of land or more. 
• FIVE is an IMPORTANT NUMBER: Almost all these San Marino estates had five or more bedrooms and offered more than 5,000 square feet in living space.
• FORMAL DINING ROOM and FAMILY ROOM:  All these San Marino homes had a formal dining room and a family Room
• TWO STORIES:  12 out of 13 San Marino homes sold over $3,000,000 last year were two stories.  Some had lifts.
• POOL & SPA:  Most of these homes had a pool and a spa
• FIREPLACES:  All San Marino estates had fireplaces.
• CLOSET SPACE:  All homes listed walk-in closets.

Surprisingly, the following list of features that you would expect be necessary for most of San Marino home buyers were NOT a given in the luxury San Marino market place.

• GUEST HOUSE:  Less than half of these San Marino Estates had guest houses.
• LARGE GARAGES:  Most of these San Marino homes had a two to three car garage
• TENNIS COURTS:  Only 3 out of 13 estates had tennis courts.
• RENOVATION:  Quite a few of these San Marino luxury estates required significant renovations and upgrades.

Some additional amenities listed included gourmet kitchen with Viking appliances, a butler pantry, bomb shelters, finished basements and area zoned Air Conditioning units.

SEARCH SAN MARINO HOMES FOR SALE

My question to you is, if you were to spend over $3,000,000 for a luxury estate, what would you expect to get?  Are the amenities and features above in line with your expectations?  Please comment below.

If you are ready to find your dream home in San Marino or need a FREE market analysis of your San Marino home, please do not hesitate to call me at  626-627-7107  or email me at Irina@Irina4RealEstate.com.

An average price of a San Marino CA home for 2007 is $1,750,000.  With San Marino Real Estate prices being so high, are all homes in San Marino considered luxury homes.

It's hard to come up with a definition of a luxury home.  What's luxurious to some is just average to others.

Real Estate Agents in San Marino California and the rest of the country usually agree that a luxury home is usually at the top 10% of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) prices for a particular area.

Looking at the last 136 home sales in San Marino, it's clear that if we apply the definition above, the luxury price point in San Marino starts at $3,000,000.

Currently, there are three luxury homes in San Marino California that fall into this category:

1390 Oxford Road, San Marino

Offered at $2,980,000 (a little below the $3 million point, but by just a touch.

2065 Courtland Avenue, San Marino

Offered at $4,530,000

1385 Old Mill Road, San Marino

Offered at $9,300,000 

READ MORE:  What can you buy for $9.3 million in San Marino

For a list of luxury homes or estates in San Marino California available for sale today, please click the link below:

SEARCH SAN MARINO LUXURY HOMES AND ESTATES HERE

To start your dream home search in San Marino, California, please call Irina at  626-627-7107  or email me at Irina@Irina4RealEstate.com.