Langham Hotel, previously known as the Pasadena Ritz Carlton, is surrounded by some of the most beautiful luxurious estates in Pasadena and San Marino.  So, if you are curious to see what's available in the Langham Huntington Hotel Neighborhood, let's take a look at a couple of homes I previewed today.

1535 Kenmore Road, Pasadena

My personal favorite of the tour.  This 4 bedroom, 3 bath home is right around the corner, on a cul-de-sac, with a tranquil and peaceful back yard. 

Per Listing Agent:  An entry is a journey, & architect Miller Fong has employed harmony, flow & spatial dynamics to guide us into his own stylish contemporary world. This striking residence is open & livable w/ a flexible floor plan, walls of glass & remarkable vistas. On entering, a serpentine wall leads past a spacious den w/ fireplace towards the great room w/ generous seating area, fireplace, dining space & fantastic kitchen w/ newer stainless appliances. The materials are exciting: a mosaic tile backsplash is juxtaposed against a polished, stained concrete floor; marble counters are a foil for sponged walls; & natural skylights contrast w/ European, low voltage cable strung lighting. A convenient guest bath & laundry are adjacent. The master suite offers a grand picture window, a spectacular bath w/ Jacuzzi tub & wall-less garden shower & a dream dressing room that shares the entry's dramatic serpentine wall. 3 additional bedrooms, a handsome bath & extensive patio space complete this exquisite home.

Listed with Tink Cheney, Coldwell Banker

830 Huntington Garden Drive, Pasadena California

This home is right behind the Langham on the magical Huntington Garden Drive.

Per Listing Agent A traditional Cape Cod near the Langham Hotel on a quiet street. The lovely kitchen is updated with granite counters and newer appliances. A large bedroom suite is on the same floor level with the living room, the dining room, & kitchen. The living room is special living space with an elegant fireplace, and views over the pool. The family room is downstairs with bathroom, and 3 bedrooms with access to pool area and gardens. There is a stone patio, a wood deck and grassy area with a beautiful pool. The bathrooms are marble with granite counters hardwoods and limestone floors.

Listed with Monica Wilson (w/ Janet Fitzgerald), Coldwell Banker

445 Buena Vista Street, San Marino California

Close enough to the Langham, but just a few blocks away from San Marino's Mission District and infamous Julienne's Restaurant.  The best of both worlds!  In conversation with the listing agent, this property is not expected to be available for longer than a week or so.  Multiple offers expected.

Per Listing Agent: FABULOUS MONTEREY COLONIAL HOME IN THE POPULAR MISSION DISTRICT. A WONDERFUL NEIGHBORHO0D NEAR PASADENA & SOUTH PASADENA,PLUS EASY ACCESS TO THE 110 FREEWAY.Y0U WILL LOVE THIS LOCATION. DON'T MISS THIS LOVELY SPACIOUS, REMODELED HOME; IT'S A TRUE GEM. GREAT 3RD FLOOR LOWER LEVEL WITH A FIREPLACE, 2 WINDOWS, BUILT-IN CUPBOARDS, AND NEWER CARPET.A PERFECT AREA FOR A MEDIA ROOM OR RECREATIONAL AREA.

Listed with Linda O'Neal, Dilbeck Realtors

1335 Saint Albans Road San Marino

This home is also in San Marino known for its #1 rated California Public Schools.  It is almost across the street from Lacy Park with its rose garden and tennis courts.  If you're looking for a Mid-Century this luxury property might be for you.

Per Listing Agent - A spacious one story mid century home situated on over 1/2 acre (25,200 sq.ft.) in one of the most desirable San Marino locations, adjacent to Lacy Park and the Huntington Library. Enter this beautiful home through Chinese fret work entrance. This home features 4bed, 3ba., powder room, large living room with raised marble fireplace, formal dining room, kitchen with breakfast area, charming wood paneled family room with built in book shelves, corner fireplace and wet bar, a grand sized multipurpose garden room overlooking and opening out to rear patio gardens and pool. The exquisite professionally landscaped front and rear gardens featuring oversized resort style pool, specimen trees: palms, bamboo, foliage plantings and ferns, rear patio, private rear deck, two 2-car detached garages, all add to and extend the livability of the San Marino residence.

Listed with Linda Chang (w/ Brent Chang), Coldwell Banker

Listing information for properties above is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Take a look at some of the other San Marino homes for sale below:

For specific details of the home above, please visit San Marino Luxury Homes For Sale.

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

PasadenaViews Real Estate Team

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

Irina at PasadenaViews.com

(626)629-VIEW (8439)

Pasadena real estate median sales price for single family homes went up 8.5% from last month.  However, the median price is 17.1% higher than last February 2009.  Looking at the last 3 years, the picture is not so pretty, pasadena's median price is down almost 30% from 2007.

1 month			1 year			3 years
	Jan 10	Feb 10	% Change	Feb 09	Feb 10	% Change	Feb 07	Feb 10	% Change
Median Price	518	562	8.5%	480	562	17.1%	780	562	-27.9%

Here are the real estate statistics for the last 2 months (based on ITEC Multiple Listing Service):

Please note the data is a bit different from the table at the top of the post given the timing of home sales pull.

If you were to buy a Pasadena home 7 years ago, you'd still be ahead on your investment - about 30% ahead.  Average price per square foot in February 2003 was $287.

Interestingly enough, Pasadena condos and townhomes did even better 7 years running.  They are ahead over 45%. 

1 month			1 year			7 years
	Nov 09	Feb 10	% Change	Feb 09	Feb 10	% Change	Feb 03	Feb 10	% Change
Avg. Sq. Ft. Price	356	356	0.1%	343	356	3.7%	245	356	45.4%

Pasadena Foreclosure Statistics:

There are currently 15 foreclosure homes available for sale.

Average foreclosure list price is $451,580.

17 Pasadena foreclosures are currently under contract and are in escrow.

In the last 6 months, there were 56 foreclosure homes that closed escrow and sold on average at 101% of list price. 

35 of the 56 homes were sold over asking.  Some as much as 18% over asking!

Interested in seeing what is currently available?  If so, you can search all Pasadena Foreclosures here.

See all Pasadena Homes for Sale below:

See the listing feed of all Pasadena homes above for all the details and information.  it is updated every few hours.

You can also see all the property listing feeds by city or zip code.

READ MORE:

San Marino Real Estate Statistics

San Gabriel Real Estate Statistics

Altadena California Craftsman

PasadenaViews Real Estate Team

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

Irina at PasadenaViews.com

(626)629-VIEW (8439)

In reviewing the numbers of home sales in Pasadena California for January 2010 and comparing it to January 2009, the stats that jump out at me are:

Pasadena Single Family Houses for Sale

• The inventory is a bit lower and it takes a lot less time to sell a home in Pasadena this year than last.
• Price per square foot of sold homes is actually higher this year than last.
• Even though there's less inventory, almost twice as many units sold in January of this year than last.
• And, fewer home listings expired.

Pasadena Condos for Sale

• Again less inventory this year, but significantly higher number of sales - in January of 2009, only 5 condos sold and 33 in January of 2010.
• Price per sq. ft. of sold condos is a bit lower at $367 vs. $379
• Absorption rate is only 19.6 weeks in 2010 vs 158 weeks in 2009

Pasadena Townhouses for Sale

• A lot more new townhome listings this January than last year.  However, the total number of units is consistent at 67.
• Only 4 townhomes sold in January of 2010 vs 11 in 2009
• Price per square foot is significantly higher and is over $400.  This is most likely driven by a small number of sales.  That number will come down in February as volume of sales rises.

Here's a nice visual of Pasadena SFR (houses) inventory.  As you can see the number of houses for sale is half of what it was in November of 2008.  That has been one of the challenges for real estate agents and home buyers in 2009 - lack of inventory.  However, the number of Pasadena homes in the foreclosure process is quite high.  However, as lenders are taking back these homes, they're holding on to the inventory and the foreclosure homes are very slowly trickling in to the market place.

READ MORE:  Pasadena California Foreclosure Statistics and Forecast

Looking for a Pasadena Home for Sale?  Here's a list of Pasadena homes via direct feed from the MLS:

For more information, take a look at Pasadena home details here.

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

PasadenaViews Real Estate Team

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

Irina at PasadenaViews.com

(626)629-VIEW (8439)

Last week, I had the opportunity to tour 1649 Lombardy Road in Pasadena California.  This gracious home resides among the Pasadena estates that are minutes from the Huntington Library in San Marino and CalTech in Pasadena.

Wallace Neff, the architect known for developing the "California" style of homes excelled himself when he designed this estate in 1924.  Since then, this luxury home has been tastefully renovated and is now waiting for a new owner.

READ MORE:  Top 10 Luxury Estates sold in Pasadena in 2009

Estate Property Details:

5 Bedrooms and 6 Baths

House was measured to be over 7,300 sq. ft. per agent's brochure

Lot size is 23,425 per assessor

Formal Dining Room

Amazing Great Room with an Open Kitchen

Game Room

3 Car Garage

Zoned HVAC System

Double Gated Driveway

and much, much more...

As you walk through this home, the attention to detail and the use of materials throughout is breathtaking.  Take a look at some of these photos, courtesy of Laurie March.

Peace and tranquility with lush landscaping and use of wood floors throughout...

Library/Ofice... love the nook for the books and tons of light through the windows.

Read more »

There's a lot of talk about the "shadow foreclosure inventory" across the country - homes that are in the pipeline for a foreclosure or have been foreclosed by the bank, but not released or listed on the real estate market and are not part of the existing inventory.

On December 17, 2009, Bloomberg reported:

The number of homes that may be in the pipeline for a sale because of foreclosure and delinquency climbed about 55 percent to 1.7 million at the end of September, according to estimates by First American CoreLogic.

We are constantly getting calls from home buyers asking about available foreclosures in Pasadena California.  Unfortunately, the volume has been pretty darn low.  Almost nothing to choose from.  If a nice REO home comes up on the market, it is sold (usually with multiple offers) immediately.

Let's take a look at the actual REO (foreclosure) inventory in Pasadena:

Single Family Homes available for sale - 9

Condos available for sale - 4

Townhomes available for sale - 3

As you can see the foreclosure count above is pretty miserable compared to the overall inventory of Pasadena homes available for sale:

Single Family Homes available for sale - 203

Condos available for sale - 152

Townhomes available for sale - 50

But, are we sitting on a ton of "shadow" foreclosure inventory?  When will these REOs be released?  How will that inventory affect the current Pasadena home prices? 

Let's look at some hard data as of January 10, 2010

Bank Owned Homes in Pasadena:  88 total

Since we know that only 16 REO homes are actually listed for sale, the other 72 are MIA.  That's 82% of foreclosures that are sitting on lender books waiting to hit our real estate market.  That's also approximately 16% of additional inventory to the existing listing inventory.  Here's the break down:

Single Family - 53 homes

Condos and Townhomes - 35

Read More:  See Pasadena Foreclosure List of Properties

Number of Pasadena home owners who received Notices of Default (NODs): 206

To receive a Notice of Default, otherwise known as NOD, a home owner has to be behind on their payments.  They usually would have missed at least 3 payments and the Notice of Default is the beginning of a foreclosure process.  Here's the break down:

Single Family - 143

Condos and Townhomes - 63

Number of Pasadena home owners with Auction Dates already scheduled:  298

Most of these homes will be auctioned off in January or early February unless the home owners are able to either get current on their mortgage, negotiate a short sale with the bank, or get the bank to postpone the auction date. 

Single Family -232

Condos and Townhomes - 66

Read More:  It's all about forgiveness!  Understand the short sale process

It's interesting to note that only a few of these home owners are trying to negotiate a short sale with their lender.  Only 9 condo/townhomes are listed for sale as short sale and 30 single family homes. 

As you can see, we will definitely be seeing quite a few foreclosures on the Pasadena real estate horizon.  When will they hit?  I don't know.  We've seen continuous efforts by the government to help home owners hold on to their homes including lender moratoriums delaying the foreclosure process.  Unfortunately, that is not helping the majority of Pasadena property owners who are in trouble.

If you are a Pasadena home buyer, 2010 will be a year of opportunity.

If you are a home owner who is in trouble and is in jeopardy of losing your home, don't wait for the bank to foreclose.  A short sale is a much better option.  Give us a call for a free consultation and we'll try to help.

To see how your neighborhood is affected by foreclosure, take a look at our FREE foreclosure neighborhood data and analysis tool here.

Additional Reading:  2009 Real Estate Home Sales Recap and 2010 Pasadena Real Estate Forecast

IRINA NETCHAEV & ASSOCIATES

Pasadena Real Estate Agents

445 South Fair Oaks Avenue

Pasadena, CA 91105

(626)629-VIEW(8439)

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