$300,000 FOR A HOME BUT HOW MUCH HOUSE THAT WILL BUY DEPENDS ON HOW FAR YOU WANT TO ROAM.Byline: Barbara Correa Staff Writer A Spanish-style bungalow in Long Beach, a 1,300-square-foot tract house in San Dimas and a two-story, four-bedroom ranch house in Fontana have one thing in common: $300,000 price tags. The median price for a home in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, - which crossed the $300,000 threshold in March and has set records each month since - and what you get depends a lot on where you live. From the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , heading north or west is still the pattern for families moving up with the equity in their home. For many first-time buyers and young families from the western San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of southern California. It lies to the east of the city of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and to the west of the Inland Empire. , East L.A. and South Central, ``go east'' is the maxim, to larger digs in San Dimas, Glendora and Covina, while still staying close enough to commute to old jobs, said Dick McClelland of Century 21 Citrus Realty in San Dimas. In that city, $300,000 is now buying a 1,200- to 1,400-square-foot standard tract home - slightly larger in Covina. Even in more affordable areas of the San Gabriel Valley, prices come as a shock. ``I'm selling homes in my mom's neighborhood in La Puente La Puente (lä pwĕn`tē), city (1990 pop. 36,955), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles; laid out 1841, inc. 1956. Primarily residential, the city manufactures hardware, electronics, and paper products. for $200,000,'' said Nick Guido, owner of West Covina West Covina, city (1990 pop. 96,086), Los Angeles co., S Calif., in the San Gabriel valley; settled 1905, inc. 1923. Before World War II, West Covina was a small rural community where walnuts, wheat, and livestock were raised. Realty. ``These are rock-roof, flat-top houses. They're selling like crazy.'' In older communities like Whittier, Norwalk and Downey, ``you're looking at a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath, 1950s tract house,'' said Nashat Benyamein, owner of All Stars Realty in Norwalk. That same $300,000 in Pico Rivera Pico Rivera (pē`kō rĭvĕr`ə), city (1990 pop. 59,177), Los Angeles co., SW Calif., SE of Los Angeles on the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers; inc. 1958 with the union of Pico and Rivera into one community. would buy a couple hundred square feet more, but it won't buy much of anything in nearby La Mirada La Mirada (lä mĭrä`də), city (1990 pop. 40,452), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1960. La Mirada derives from the Spanish for "the view," referring to the panoramic view of the surrounding valleys from atop the city's hills. . If you want to be near the beach, you are looking at smaller and older. The closest $300,000 would get you would be downtown Long Beach, where that price buys a 1,300-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths in a Craftsman fixer-upper built sometime between 1910 and the 1930s, said Prudential agent Steven Parker. New downtown lofts would be out of your median price range since they are starting at $335,000 for 1,200 square feet. San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. style To begin to see prices drop significantly, buyers need to cross the San Bernardino County line. Folks with $300,000 to spend in Fontana, for example, would have no trouble finding a two-story, 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home, said Mike Ballard, a real estate broker at Century 21 King in Chino Chino (chē`nō), city (1990 pop. 59,682), San Bernardino co., S Calif.; founded 1887, inc. 1910. It is the business and processing center of a diversified farming (notably dairying) area. . Newly built, 2,400-square-foot, four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath homes are going for as low as $240,000. ``We have a lot of land left; we have the (Ontario International) Airport,'' Ballard said. ``People are camping out to get these houses.'' Jeff Stoffel, owner of Century 21 Showcase in San Bernardino, reports the biggest wave of upgrade buying - that's buyers who purchased their first home three to five years ago and are now able to buy more house thanks to price inflation - in 15 years. A lot of those upgraders are buyers from L.A. and Orange counties looking to get more house for less money in places such as Redlands, Loma Linda Loma Linda may refer to:
Right now, $300,000 would buy a 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, three-bath house in a tract like the new East Highlands Ranch development between Redlands and San Bernardino, at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). . For bargain hunters Bargain Hunters was a game show on ABC in the summer of 1987, hosted by Peter Tomarken. Games Each episode featured six contestants, with two playing one of the following games — Bargain Quiz, Bargain Trap and Bargain Busters — at a time. set on plus-sized living, who want to be far away from, well, anything, there are still plenty of homes available for less than $100,000 in San Bernardino County - probably one of the few areas of Southern California that offers such elbow room elbow room Noun sufficient scope to move or to function Noun 1. elbow room - space for movement; "room to pass"; "make way for"; "hardly enough elbow room to turn around" room, way . One of those areas is the Victor Valley, L.A.'s newest bedroom community just a short jaunt over the Cajon Pass At an elevation of 1,277 meters (4,190 ft.) the Cajon Pass (IPA: [kə'hoʊn 'pæs]) is a moderate-elevation mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California in the United States. from San Bernardino. ``Victorville is becoming the affordable market ... for the entry-level single-family home buyer willing to commute 30 to 40 minutes to the 10 or the 15 Freeway,'' said Jay Moss of KB Homes. ``It will be next year's hot market.'' To spend $300,000 in the Victor Valley, it would have to be a custom- built house - located ``on the mesa'' on 2 1/2 acres, said LaWanda Barnhart, an agent at New Life Realty in Hesperia. Beyond the Valley To get that kind of value in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County, buyers would have to venture as far afield as the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley , where $300,000 can buy a five-bedroom, 2,800- to 3,400-square-foot dream house built after 1990. The property would include a three-car garage and a pool on a lot big enough to keep a horse, said Dusty Kleidosty, a Realtor at the Doug Anderson & Associates Inc. Century 21 office in Lancaster. More urban-minded buyers on a budget will need to revise their definition of dream house. In Ventura County, where pressure to limit new building is strong, just about any home priced below the $300,000 mark is going to be a fixer-upper and not in the best of areas, said Brian Troop of Troop Real Estate Inc., a commercial and residential real estate firm with eight offices in the county. That's no surprise in areas like Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. and Westlake Village, where frenetic demand has been driving prices higher for years. But it's causing some sticker shock Sticker shock is a United States term for the feeling of surprise experienced by consumers upon finding unexpectedly high prices on the price tags (stickers) of products they are considering purchasing. in areas seen as traditionally more affordable, like Simi Valley, where $300,000 would be a base price for an entry level, three-bedroom, two-bath house between 30 and 40 years old, said Troop. In the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. - which until the current run-up was still considered the bedroom community of choice for families looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. affordable alternatives to Los Angeles - pickings are slim at $300,000. ``Right now, that would buy 1,800 square feet, three bedrooms and two baths ... a standard tract house,'' said Barbara Thomson, a sales associate at Century 21 Palmieri in Newhall and a real estate professional in the area for 20 years. And that's if you can actually find something to buy. Inventory in Santa Clarita is normally around 2,000 homes - right now, it stands at less than 500. ``As soon as new homes start to be built, they get bought,'' said Thomson. ``This is the biggest explosion of real estate this town has ever seen.'' On the Westside of Los Angeles, from Westchester to Mulholland and from Pacific Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). to Hancock Park, $300,000 buys - Surprise, surprise! Zero! - in the way of a house, that is. ``If there was one, it would have something significantly wrong with the plumbing,'' says Josie Benjamin, associate manager at the Beverly Hills east office of Coldwell Banker. In that price range, Westside wanna-bes need to think condo. Buyer beware What does all this mean for buyers looking for the American dream at somewhere around that median price? Again, it all depends on location and persistence. ``Buyers who are motivated are doing whatever they have to to get their home, meaning they bid higher,'' said Frank Ball, associate broker at Remax of Santa Clarita. ``Others are just losing the desire to stay in the market.'' ``People don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what to do,'' said Gilles Kohler, a real estate associate at Remax Grand Central south of Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana, where $300,000 would buy a 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-bath tract house built in the 1950s. ``If you go full price, you might lose it anyway,'' he said, because there is such a strong supply of buyers ready to plunk down Verb 1. plunk down - set (something or oneself) down with or as if with a noise; "He planked the money on the table"; "He planked himself into the sofa" plonk, flump, plank, plump, plump down, plunk, plop whatever amount it takes to close the deal. ($300,000 will still buy a 30- or 40-year-old, 1,500-square-foot place in parts of Reseda, Encino and Winnetka, and in the Northeast Valley, that would purchase a 2,000-square-foot house with a pool.) For first-time buyers, the biggest obstacle is often getting over the initial shock of home prices. Gina Schnell, 32, and her husband, Michael, 38, began their search for a home early this year in the San Fernando Valley thinking about a range of between $200,000 and $250,000. ``After about a month we decided, well, we need to expand our budget,'' she said. The couple and their 2 1/2-year-old son had been renting in Glendale, but found prices there way out of range. ``We considered Tujunga and La Canada Flintridge, but that area was also unbelievable.'' The Schnells eventually found a 1,650-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bath home with a spa within their $275,000-$300,000 budget near the Cascades golf course in Sylmar. Indeed, Southern California buyers will find a stubborn determination can still land them their dream digs. After the death of her husband last October, Jeanette Fraser, 51, was feeling pressured to leave the memories behind in the house in Saugus they shared for 27 years. Still, she had a specific idea of what she wanted, and wasn't going to settle for just anything. Fraser, a systems manager at Union Bank of California Union Bank of California is one of the 30 largest commercial banks in the United States. It has 327 branches, the majority of which are in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange Counties. in Monterey Park, went through three different Realtors who didn't share her vision. She spent months plowing through listings in the Sunday papers, repeatedly getting the same response from brokers listed in the ads: ``That one is already in escrow.'' ``I was beginning to worry something was wrong with me,'' Fraser said. Finally, one evening, she got a call from John McAdams, her agent at Remax of Santa Clarita. He had some homes he wanted to show her. Sure enough, at the last house she saw that day, Fraser didn't want to leave and knew that this was the one: a 1,500-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bath, original-owner house in Santa Clarita. It's a downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing from the old 2,000-square-feet on half an acre house in Saugus, but exactly what she wanted. McAdams told her they should make an offer as soon as possible to avoid a bidding war. He, Fraser and Frank Ball hunkered down in the Remax office that night to draw up the paperwork. Her offer, $354,900, went through the next morning. The owner slept on it one night, and the deal was clinched. ``It was hard waiting,'' said Fraser, who owns the old house outright, so isn't under any pressure to sell in a hurry (not that she's likely to have much trouble selling it for more than she paid for the new one.) ``I feel sorry for the people who have deadlines of 10 days or two weeks. ``They are not going to get what they want, or they are going to pay twice as much. It's just that tight.'' CAPTION(S): 5 photos, drawing Photo: (1 -- color) Fontana 5381 Wrangler wran·gler n. 1. One who wrangles or quarrels. 2. A cowboy or cowgirl, especially one who tends saddle horses. Noun 1. Drive 1,562 square feet 4 beds, 2 baths PRICE: $335,000 (2 -- color) San Dimas 544 W. Fourth St. 1,336 square feet 3 beds, 1.75 baths PRICE: $309,000 (3 -- color) Long Beach 2150 Eucalyptus St. 1,380 square feet 2 beds, 1 bath PRICE: $325,000 (4) For $299,000, you can buy a 3-bedroom, 2-bath home in the suburbs, such as this house in the 6500 block of Bothewell Road in Encino. (5) A 676-square-feet, 1-bedroom, 1-bath condominium in this Wilshire Boulevard high-rise in Westwood sells for $299,000. Drawing: (color) no caption (Road) Warren Huskey/Staff Artist |
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