Northeast Los Angeles: Stucco Versus Wood Homes

For fortunate homeowners lucky enough to own a classic old wood bungalow or Craftsman house with real wood exteriors in neighborhoods like Pasadena and Altadena, stuccoing is never the answer for your worn wood siding or weathered window frames.

In recent years, many areas of Northeast Los Angeles have experienced an increase of interest from homebuyers. Pasadena real estate and Altadena real estate have been booming for years, as well as other “hot” areas such as Echo Park, Eagle Rock and Highland Park.

The Northeast LA area is notable for these late-19th-Century homes, architecturally significant for their craftsmanship and excellent materials. As buyers are moving into the increasingly gentrified Highland Park, Eagle Rock Altadena and Pasadena neighborhoods, they often face a similar question: What is the cheapest and easiest way to refresh this rundown century-old house? Though you might be tempted to modernize the look of your house, the original wood exterior is fundamental to the vintage character of the house. Stuccoing over old wood will not update the house’s appearance; it will only conceal one of its most beautiful assets. Properly maintained wood siding will bring up the resale value of any home and beautify the neighborhood considerably.

Some homebuyers might choose to stucco over wood to save the work of having to repaint the house again and again. This is a common misconception about stucco. In addition to the expense of stuccoing your home, you will have to paint the stucco just as frequently as wood. Cracks will form in your stucco, and you will have to reseal them. Ultimately it’s not cheaper or easier to deal with a stucco exterior in comparison to a wood exterior.

It’s a myth that stucco is an inexpensive way to insulate a home. Actually, stucco does a poor job, and insulating your attic has been proven to be the cheaper and more effective option. The cost of a professional stucco job will run $6 to $8 per square foot, costing a homeowner at least as much, and possibly up to five times the expense of having the antique wood siding restored, especially in Highland Park where most of the wood exteriors are still in good condition.

Another commonly believed myth is that stucco will prevent rot and help preserve the original wood exterior beneath it. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Stuccoing over the wood would prevent it from breathing, which actually encourages deterioration. A new coat of paint or stain is the most effective preservative for your home’s wood exterior.

Fixing a tattered real-wood exterior with a do-it-yourself stucco job may look like a cheap and easy solution for a new homeowner. The result, though, is simply that: cheap. Stuccoing requires a sturdy layer of metal lath to be attached to the wood paneling. This kind of skill is usually left to a contracted professional. Left to an amateur, the results can get ugly. Common stuccoing mistakes include improper plywood sheathing installation, improper selection of lath by weight and style for each span of application, and improper installation of flashing and sealants at all possible points of water entry. Faulty construction can result in premature cracking in the stucco, structural deterioration, and sometimes stucco separation, chipping and peeling off.

Ultimately, preserving the wood exterior is invaluable to your home. The quality of materials and craftsmanship simply cannot be duplicated today. Stucco will only detract from the value and integrity of your home, as it loses the history that gives it character and charm.

Magnesite Flooring and Vintage Northeast Los Angeles Homes

If you’re fortunate enough to own a vintage home with magnesite flooring, you owe it to the value and authenticity of your home to restore its magnesite to its former glory.

Ever the fashion in many early 20th-Century Los Angeles homes, magnesite is loved for its durability and beauty, and for keeping the home cool through the summer. These idyllic homes, including wood bungalows, Craftsman and Spanish Mission Revival-style houses, are special to the architecturally important to cities like Glendale, Pasadena and neighborhoods of Northeast LA such as Atwater Village, Eagle Rock and Highland Park.

Atwater Village Real Estate has been a hot commodity as of late and Altadena and Pasadena real estate is perpetually booming. New homebuyers who are purchasing the vintage homes in these areas of learning about magnesite flooring and find themselves wondering what to do about restoring or replacing it.

Over 10,000 homes in Los Angeles County have some kind of magnesite flooring. If the magnesite is properly restored, it can improve not only the character but the value of your home, and by up to ten percent. Homebuyers are willing to pay a lot more, even for an authentic magnesite entryway, staircase or countertop.

Staying authentic to the true style of your house is key. Magnesite floors have a vintage look well matched with wrought-iron light fixtures, arched doorways and hardwood floors. As gentrification makes the housing markets in Highland Park, Eagle Rock and Echo Park (as well as surrounding neighborhoods like Atwater Village) more competitive, new homeowners will want to peel back the old carpet or linoleum and check for the original beauty of magnesite floors.

The old-fashioned flooring appears in many colors, smooth like cement or in Mediterranean and Spanish-pattern tiles. Unlike regular tile, magnesite is formed on site. It is made by mixing an organic compound of magnesium with water. Workmen can cut and stamp the magnesite while it sets, or mix pigments into the compound, to give it a tile or marble aesthetic.

The worst damage to magnesite is chipping and pitting due to nails and hammering from linoleum and carpet being installed on top of the original floor, a common practice in the Sixties and Seventies as carpet became popular. If the magnesite has significant cracked and crumpled areas, you likely need to have the areas cut out and a new magnesite poured in and mixed with matching pigment. Then, the repairman can paint highlights onto the patch to ensure that it blends with the original magnesite, including redrawing the original patterns.

The total cost of repair can run from $500 to $3500 but will ultimately be a pittance compared to the overall increased value of the home. Only a few select specialists remain who truly know how to bring out the beauty of magnesite. Though the art of making magnesite is a thing of the past, there are a few expert artisans in the Los Angeles area who remain fluent in the varied and complex techniques to mix, pattern and patch it.

Once a Magnesite floor is repaired, you will want to maintain it with non-oil cleaners. Oil residue has to be stripped off, which adds to the cost to restore. Instead of oily cleaners like Murphy’s Oil Soap or Pine Sol, treat your magnesite like wood floors with a Polyurethane finish.

Magnesite has a beautiful coloration, ranging from opaque to translucent, with variable amounts of calcium, carbonates, oxides, manganese, aluminum and silicates of iron that lend to its milky-white appearance. Painting over the magnesite flooring will cover up its unique color and unusual porous texture. While you will not only regret losing its vintage artisanal feel in your home, future homeowners and tenants will miss out on experiencing this precious and forgotten material.

In Northeast Los Angeles Real Estate, “Pretty” Costs More

The adage “Pretty Costs More” applies to a number of subjects, but especially to the current real estate market.

Buyers in today’s market are being bombarded on all sides with confusing stories about what a home might be worth, whether it’s a good time to buy, what to look for in a home, and especially whether the market is going up or down from here. What to do?

Many buyers go for looks. Just like a pretty girl gets more attention at the high school dance than the brainiac, a house that looks like it stepped out of Dwell or House Beautiful gets more attention and subsequently more money than the house with good bones, solid construction, but tired or out-of-date bathrooms and kitchen.

One example of the pretty theory from the area of Highland Park real estate: a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in Highland Park recently came on the market for $379,000. It was a trust sale and the house needed a lot of work.  So the agent had inspections done, had the sellers clean, paint, and stage it, and hoped to get a few offers and a bit more than the asking price. Perhaps you saw it on the front page of the Los Angeles Times.  This property captured the attention of the media because it was cute and charming — and at a great price. The paint and staging brought out the unique character of the home and buyers came running.  Seventy-three (yes, 73!) offers later, the property ended up selling for $542,000.  And that was even after the agent provided to all prospective buyers disclosures and inspection reports that showed the house needed lots of work, including foundation, electrical, plumbing.  Basically all the expensive, not fun items that make for a smooth running, low-maintenance home.

Here’s another example from the ever-booming region of Eagle Rock homes for sale: a cute little 2-bedroom, 1-bath cottage was listed for $419,000. At the time (the start of the spring buying season), it seemed like a reasonable price for a small house in a good but not the best part of Eagle Rock. Seventeen offers later, the house sold for $505,000 cash. This was an investor flip and all the investor did was polish it up a little — new kitchen counters and a dishwasher, refinished the hardwood floors, painted and landscaped. The inspections showed that the chimney was completely unusable, the HVAC was at the end of its life, and roots invaded the sewer line to the extent that the camera couldn’t get through the whole line. No matter, the buyers were happy that they were able to buy the charming home.

The perfect example of how pretty is worth more is 2035 Ridgeview Avenue, which was perfectly updated and exquisite, but only 1353 square feet. We came on the market at $649,000, which was what the sellers had paid for it in 2006 before putting about $200,000 into in, and we ultimately sold it for $760,000, the highest price per square foot for a home sale in Eagle Rock since 2007.

The final example is where all the factors came together at the perfect time: a good 1920s house on a large lot with views, a wonderful private setting, a tastefully updated floor plan, and a seller who did everything the stager dictated. We priced it at $699,000 because that was a number the seller could live with, and at our first open house we were asked by some people why it was priced so high. There were no comparables for a house that size in that location. But the house had such emotional appeal that we ended up with 23 offers and the property ultimately sold for $865,000.

On the other hand, there are a couple of good solid homes in good locations that are currently sitting on the market. We priced them $80,000 to $100,000 less than the prettiest listings, and we have no offers. These are properties that a buyer could put their own designer touches to and have great properties for less money, but buyers obviously don’t see it that way. Why?

Buyers have no imagination. If it isn’t gorgeous already, they don’t see the potential. Sorry, buyers, this sounds harsh, but I have seen it time after time.

In today’s market, the pretty houses that are well-priced are going for more in multiple offers. If you are a buyer, tired of losing out in the intense competition, what can you do?

• Find some more money and offer more on the next one.
• Look for properties that have several good features, see if the ones you don’t like are ones that you could improve yourself, and make an offer.
• Give up and stay where you are.

Another option that I have seen many people try is to keep looking, thinking they will surely find that needle in a haystack, that great house that nobody else has seen that is in a great neighborhood, has a great price, and is really charming and pretty besides. If this is the option you are pursuing, maybe you should ask yourself if you really want to buy a home right now, or do you just think you do.

Whether you’re talking about Eagle Rock, homes for sale in Glendale, Pasadena or Echo Park real estate, the pretty theory consistently holds true.

Fences in Northeast Los Angeles

Providing privacy and safety, fences also play a major role in beautifying a neighborhood and increasing the resale value of your home.

This is particularly true in Northeast Los Angeles cities like Altadena and Pasadena, where fences often add to the character of homes and streets.

Since the big boom of interest in Pasadena real estate and Altadena real estate in those particular communities in Northeast Los Angeles, the challenge of restoring older, vintage homes to their previous glory has extended to the challenge of restoring the properties’ fences. As the new, younger tide of buyers are learning, fences are far from unimportant.

While fences serve a number of practical purposes, deterring crime and bringing safety and privacy to your home, they also mean a lot to neighbors and passersby. Your fence sets the tone in the kind of relationship you form with the people on the other side of it. Are you shutting out your neighbors? Erecting a fence that hides your house sets the mood for an unfriendly neighborhood. Low fences are more amicable, and studies have shown that the smallest fences deter crime by implying boundaries.

Your choice of fence style also plays a role in how safe the neighborhood is perceived. Bars over your windows or around your yard tell onlookers that this neighborhood experiences crime, impacting the desirability of the homes in it. Wrought-iron posts in cement blocks will make your home look more like a detention center. Urban decay starts with a changing mood. How would you feel if you saw window-barred homes near a house you were looking to buy? There are many delectable styles of fence that ward off burglars to the same effect. A strong fence can only provide so much resistance without an adequate security system for your house.

Your choice of fence can function to highlight the authentic architecture of your home. If you live in a typical Pasadena or Altadena-style Craftsman or cottage-style home, an arbor over your front walk would fit nicely with a picket or horizontal wooden fence. These fences, as well as rail fences, also look great around traditional homes. Enhance your Spanish-style house with rustic and board type fences as well as solid walls.

What kind of fence is common in your neighborhood? In high-end neighborhoods like Altadena and Pasadena, styles of fences matter a great deal. Though the choices of fence on your street may not also work for you, you don’t want a fence that sticks out like a sore thumb. For example, it might be more common in your neighborhood to have short, ornamental fences, in which case a tall, austere fence would seem obstructive. Paying attention to the design, quality and size of nearby fences will help you to select a fence for your home that fits in.

Privacy is a top concern for homeowners looking to construct a fence. Your local building and safety department can provide you with fence regulations. A permit may be required if you opt to construct certain types of fences, or fences above a certain height.