Pasadena Homes for Sale and Real Estate

Read the full report on Altadena home sales statistics by clicking here.

And, if you are interested in fun activities to do in Pasadena, take a look at our 365 Things To Do in Pasadena® page.

Thinking of selling your Pasadena area home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Irina Netchaev at (626) 629-8439 to discuss what is happening in today’s Pasadena Real Estate Market.

Posted in Homes For Sale

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Jan. 10, 2013

9 Real Estate Tax Questions Pasadena Homeowners Must Ask

9 real estate tax questions to ask I know it's no fun thinking of taxes when we just welcomed in a New Year, but as a real estate agent working in Pasadena, I thought I'd share with you some thoughts to reflect on.

Now is the time to start putting together records and information for your 2012 tax returns which are due April 15, 2013. Here are some tax questions homeowners need to ask:

1. What tax benefits did homeowners get in the recent 'fiscal cliff' budget agreement? Two tax provisions that ended in 2011 were reinstated for 2012 and 2013: 1. Mortgage insurance premiums are again tax deductible for people with adjusted gross income below $110,000; 2. Homeowners will continue to get tax credits for certain energy-efficient home improvements. For details, visit www.irs.gov or ask a tax professional.

2. What are the home related tax deductions people most often claim? One of them is the mortgage interest deduction (which can mean about $3,000 in tax savings for the average itemizing homeowner) and another one is the deduction for property taxes.

3. What is the #1 mistake homeowners make with their taxes? If your real estate taxes are not part of your monthly mortgage payment, you are billed by your town or county. Those tax bills often include other items like trash collection and snow removal fees. Be careful to deduct only the part of your bill that is property tax.

4. What tax deduction should I be sure to take? Make sure to deduct any points you paid on the mortgage you took out to purchase your home in the tax year you paid them. But if you refinanced, you need to amortize and deduct any points you paid over the life of the mortgage. People can easily forget the deduction after a few years.

5. What's the most important thing I should do as a first-time homeowner? Look at the HUD-1 form you received when you closed on your home. There may be fees like prepaid taxes or interest you can now deduct.

6. What should I look out for if I've owned my home for a number of years? If you've refinanced and taken out home equity loans or lines of credit, remember that the maximum outstanding home equity debt that's deductible is $100,000 and the maximum amount of deductible mortgage interest is $1 million.

7. Which home improvement records should I keep? Keep all receipts for the capital improvements you've made to the property. Tax rules let you add these expenses to your home's cost to reduce any profit you might have to pay taxes on when you sell. But most people are exempt from taxes on the first $500,000 of profit for joint filers ($250,000 for single filers).

8. What's the difference between a capital improvement and a repair? Fixing a furnace so it keeps working is a repair; replacing it is a capital improvement.

9. Will taking a home office tax deduction increase my chances of being audited? Taking the deduction shouldn't generate an audit by itself. But if your expenses are unusually large, or if it looks like you're using office costs to create artificial losses, the IRS will probably look into it.

NOTE: Always consult a tax professional for the definitive answer to any tax question.

Posted in Buyers, Sellers

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Oct. 18, 2012

Altadena's Most Expensive Home Sales

Interested in Altadena real estate? Take a look at the latest home sales data for the last few months.

Total of 111 homes went into escrow. Total of 102 homes were sold in the 3rd quarter. There were less than two months of inventory.

The highest priced home sold:

Month	Address	Bed/Bath	SQ FT	Lot Size	Year
July	2150 Holliston($965,000)	4/4	3076	18,596	1911
August	3917 Lilac Canyon ($1,450,000)	6/6	5128	7524	2001
September	1369 E Altadena ($3,975,000)	7/8	12,828	68,953	1915

Posted in Altadena

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Oct. 3, 2012

Pasadena Home Sales Stats at a Glance September 2012

Pasadena home sales statistics for November

Another successful month for Pasadena area home sales. Prices are stable or up in some areas. Inventory of homes for sale is definitely on the low side and multiple offers are seen more often than ever before.

Interest rates for home mortgages are below 3% for 15 year loans and just a bit over 3% for 30 year loans.

Interesting Pasadena Fact:

Did you know that Barack Obama lived right here in Pasadena at 256 East Glenarm #3 while he was attending Occidental?

Interested in more information about Pasadena and surrounding cities, check out our City Guides below:

And, if you are interested in fun activities to do in Pasadena, take a look at our 365 Things To Do in Pasadena® page.

Posted in Arcadia, Celebrity Homes, Pasadena, Real Estate Market Reports, San Marino

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Aug. 31, 2012

Selling a San Marino Home?

Selling a San Marino home?

You are in luck... San Marino inventory is low and prices are up!

# of home sales in San Marino (1/1/2012 to 8/31/12) - 112

# of all cash buyers - 39 - that's 35% of all home sales!

% of sold to list price - 103% - speaks of multiple offers... more buyers than sellers

Average price per square foot - $628 compared to $569 last year

San Marino School District is still #1 in Southern California. Values are here and home buyers agree!

San Marino California real estate data for July 2012

Interested in selling your San Marino home? Give Irina a call at 626-629-8439.

Irina Netchaev is a real estate broker specializing in helping home sellers and buyers in San Marino and surrounding areas.

Posted in Real Estate Market Reports, San Marino

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Aug. 29, 2012

Lock Bumping - Is Your Pasadena Home Safe?

A gentle reminder to all the home buyers in or outside of Pasadena. CHANGE your locks and hire a great locksmith!

Congratulations! Escrow is closed and you just received the keys to your new Pasadena home.

Before you move into your new home, most Pasadena real estate agents will recommend that you change your keys. Even though the home sellers were very nice and you know that they will never try to break into your home, how do you know how many home keys are out there circulating with their family and friends. Unless you want to take a chance on seeing a surprise guest, its time to change your keys.

As you are changing the cylinders out for your new home keys, consider the following:

Lock Bumping is more and more prevalent. Lock bumping? You must mean lock picking? Well.. its actually both.

Lock Bumping as described by Wikipedia is a lock picking technique for opening a pin tumbler lock using a specially crafted bump key. In essence, someone with this special key, inserts it into the lock, bumps it with a heavy instrument and is in your house. No major work required on their part.

A little history on locks and keys:

Keys have been around since Egypt as far back as 4,000 years ago. Of course, in those times locks were made out of wood.

The first all-metal lock appeared between the years of 870 and 900 and are attributed to the English craftsmen. Then came the padlocks, castle & chest locks, treasure locks, safe locks, etc.

The basic anatomy of todays common door lock:

The locks that we are familiar with now are basically pin-tumbler locks. There are two parts to the lock: the body of the lock itself and a round cylinder with holes drilled in.

A lock will have a minimum of two pins. A spring keeps pressure on the pins in the cylinder.

The drilled-in holes correspond with the notches of your key.

The two most commonly used locks in Pasadena are:

Medico - considered to be a high security lock.
Schlage - very common lock, but is considered by many licensed locksmiths to be the best in the West.
Quikset - based on my interview with several locksmiths, Quikset is not as good as Schlage or Medico, but is considered to be a better lock than some of the others on the market.

What can you do to protect your family?

Get a Medico lock - although having a Medico lock can be an ˜announcement to the burglars that you have valuable worth checking out.
The next easiest and least expensive thing to do would be to hire a licensed locksmith to insert several spool drivers (minimum of two) into the mechanism of your lock. Its not difficult to do and will make your lock very difficult to pick and to bump. I just had all my locks updated with these spool drivers by a wonderful locksmith - Greg Stewart. Greg is licensed, specializes in repairing antique locks and is extremely customer service focused. You can reach Greg at (818) 554-3135 . On average, the price of this additional security runs an extra $5 to $15 per lock plus a service call.
Get a security system/burglar alarm.

As Benjamin Franklin said ˜All a lock does is keep an honest man honest. It removes temptation.

We have to take stewardship of our Pasadena homes seriously. Take the necessary steps to secure your lovely Pasadena home.

If I can be of any assistance with your Pasadena Real Estate needs, please do not hesitate to email me or call me at (626)629-8439. Thank you!

Interested in more information about Greater Pasadena Area cities, check out our City Guides below:

SEE ALL HOMES FOR SALE HERE!

And, if you are interested in fun activities to do, take a look at our 365 Things To Do In Pasadena® page.

Thinking of selling your home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Irina Netchaev at (626) 629-8439 to discuss what is happening in today’s Southern California Real Estate Market.

Posted in Behind Closed Doors, Buyers

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Aug. 11, 2012

Pasadena Homes For Sale - Summer Update

It's hot! No, it's very, very hot in Pasadena. With temperatures in the triple digits, the real estate market is heating up as well. This summer has been spectacular for Pasadena home sellers. Most well priced and well presented homes are selling within days with multiple offers.

Inventory is non-existent, Pasadena home buyers are out in force and interest rates are the lowest they've been. This pretty much creates a perfect storm.

Let's take a look at inventory first. Looking at the graph below, you can clearly see the change in inventory in the last two years. Pasadena has seen a 62% decline in available housing.

The darker green also shows that the number of sold homes increased drastically in June. 192 Pasadena homes were listed for sale and 116 sold. We've eaten through over 60% of available inventory. Compare that inventory to 481 available homes for sale just two years ago.

Pasadena Homes for Sale - July 2010 - July 2012

Pasadena housing inventory summer 2012

Now, let's take a look at pricing. Pasadena has homes for sale from low $200,000 all the way up to multi-million dollars. The market varies by price segment. I wanted to give you an idea of how the market is doing for homes under $500,000, between 500,000 and a million and over a million.

Pasadena homes under $500,000

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Posted in Pasadena, Real Estate Market Reports

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Aug. 10, 2012

1787 Orangewood St in Pasadena

Inventory has been low in Pasadena over the last few months and for those home buyers that are looking to buy in one of the most desirable neighborhoods, a new home listing just came on the market.

1787 Orangewood Street, Pasadena California

1787 Orangewood Street Pasadena

This character Spanish bungalow offers 4 bedrooms and 2 baths with additional space over the garage. Light and bright, with plenty of windows, coved ceilings, 2 fireplaces - one looks suspiciously like a Batchelder, central a/c and heating, french doors and a 2-car garage are just some of this Pasadena home's features.

1787 Orangewood Collage

Please visit this home's website - Caltech Home For Sale - for more information! Or, call Irina at 626-627-7107. To learn more about Pasadena California and to search for all homes for sale in Pasadena, visit our Pasadena Real Estate page.

Read More: Pasadena City Guide

Posted in Homes For Sale

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June 21, 2012

Pasadena Home Inventory Sorely Lacking

Multiple Offers... Shortage of Homes... Heated real estate market!

All of the above seem to be the norm in the last month or so. Pasadena home buyers are finding themselves rushing to be the first one to see a house for sale and hoping that they will not have to compete with dozens of offers. Yes... you heard me right... dozens of home purchase offers. So... what is driving this?

Low rates, the general feeling of hitting the bottom amongst investors, flips (yes... we are seeing multiple homes being flipped again) and of course, summer months.

Don't believe me? That's okay, let's look at the stats below.

Pasadena Real Estate Statistics as of May 2012:

Inventory - the # of homes available for sale in Pasadena is 53% lower than in May of 2011. That's 176 available homes for sale vs 379 last year.
Under Contract - 40% more homes went into escrow or in real estate legalese "pended" last month vs May 2011 - 105 vs. 75.
Average price per square foot went up by 7.2% to $410.
Sellers are asking 9.4% more for their homes than they did same period last year.
There's only 1.8 months of inventory vs. 5.4 months of inventory compared to last May.
Average sold home price in Pasadena was $774,000 based on 89 closed sales. By the way, last year in May 2011, there were also 89 sales but much more homes to choose from!

Statistics above are from TrendVision as provided by the Pasadena Foothill Association of Realtors.

Have you been looking for a home in the Greater Pasadena area? What have you run into?

Interested in more information about Pasadena and surrounding cities, check out our City Guides below:

REQUEST YOUR HOME'S MARKET ANALYSIS TODAY!

And, if you are interested in fun activities to do in Pasadena, take a look at our 365 Things To Do In Pasadena® page.

Thinking of selling your Pasadena home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Irina Netchaev at (626) 629-8439 to discuss what is happening in today’s Pasadena Real Estate Market.

Posted in Buyers, Pasadena, Real Estate Market Reports, Sellers

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June 16, 2012

Selling Your Home? Generate Multiple Offers!

Selling your Pasadena home? Why is it that some homes sell immediately and others sit on the market? What do successful home sellers do to generate offers?

Did you know that if you price your home at market, only 60% of potential home buyers will take the time to look at your property?

I am going to share with you 5 sure fire tips that will help generate not just one, but multiple offers on your home.

Make buyers fall in love with your home! Homes are sold on emotion. You need to do everything possible for potential home buyers to head-over-heels fall in love with your home at first glance. So... what do you do? Hire a home stager. Yes... a home stager, not a decorator, not your real estate agent who claims they will tell you what to do, but a professional home stager with proven and quantifiable experience in helping you prepare your home for sale. A great home stager will work with you and your real estate agent to give you a step by step plan of what needs to be done to present your home in its possible light. READ MORE: Preparing Your Home for Sale
Give buyers peace of mind! Buying a home can be a very stressfull and emotional (yes... there goes that word again) experience. Make it easy for potential home buyers to make an offer on your home. Hire a physical inspector and provide an inspection report. Get a foundation expert to come out and give a report card on the structural stability of your property. If you replaced or updated plumbing, electrical or did any type of significant work to your house, have a house book available at all your showings clearly identifying all you've done. Buyers love that and will feel comfortable moving forward with the home purchase transaction. READ MORE: Pasadena home sellers can save thousands of dollars with home inspections!
Get as many eyeballs on your home as possible! Once your house is staged, ensure that your realtor takes spectacular, professional photographs to showcase your house. Remember over 90% of all home buyes begin their home on line. Your house needs to stand out from the rest of the Pasadena homes. Your home has only a few seconds to make that first impression.
Exposure and Marketing! Hire an internet savvy real estate agent who not only will aggressively negotiate on your behalf, but also understands how to promote your house on-line and via traditional efforts. Does your real estate agent know how to syndicate your home to multiple real estate portals? Various local Pasadena blogs? Does your Realtor know how to use Social Media? How will they communicate your home listings to the real estate community locally and area wide?
Strategic Pricing! Remember the asking price also known as list price is not the same as the sales price. Make sure that you listen to the guidance of your real estate agent to ensure that your home is priced correctly to generate activity and bring in the highest number of "eyeballs" which in turn with the presentation and disclosure will bring you multiple offers!

Interested in more information about Greater Pasadena Area cities, check out our City Guide below: