Pasadena, CA Homes for Sale: Hastings Ranch Neighborhood

Year after year, the city of Pasadena, CA retains a reputation for hosting neighborhoods are essentially recession proof when it comes to real estate. Homes for sale in Pasadena, CA are always in demand. As the value of homes in other neighborhoods close by rise and fall, Pasadena homes are known to hold their value in spite of dips in the market because of the great demand from homebuyers.

Hastings Ranch is a relatively new, suburban neighborhood located in the furthest northeast corner of Pasadena. Hastings Ranch is north of Sierra Madre Boulevard and is boarded by Michillinda Avenue to the east and Riviera Drive to the west.  This neighborhood is picturesque with beautiful tree lined streets, children playing, and yards carefully decorated for every holiday. Because Hastings Ranch is just below the mountains, many residents get to witness forest wildlife on an every day basis. Hastings Ranch is has large shopping centers in southeast corner by Sierra Madre Boulevard and Michillinda Avenue. Hastings Ranch is split into two distinct neighborhoods: Upper Hastings and Lower Hastings.

Hastings Ranch was founded in the late 1800’s when Charles Cook Hastings bought 1,100 acres of land. This land was used as a ranch with grapevines, exotic plants, and farm animals like dogs, horses, peacocks, cats, and pheasants. In the late 1940’s, Lower Hastings started to develop with many houses sprouting up on the ranch. Twenty years later the trend took off and Upper Hastings was built.

Hastings Ranch has also become a popular tourist spot. Many tourists hop off the 210 Freeway to enjoy the wide variety of stores, services and restaurants. During Christmas time, Hastings Ranch transforms into a winter wonderland as many of the residents indulge in the holiday spirit. Northern Hastings Ranch often has a Christmas light display of all their best house decorations.

Hastings Ranch is the home to several schools including Don Benito Elementary School, Pasadena’s magnet elementary school, and Field Elementary School. Hastings Ranch has one private school called La Salle High School. Once students advance upwards in school they have to travel outside of Hastings Ranch for Wilson Middle School and Pasadena High School.

One of the hot spots in Hastings Ranch is Hamilton Park. This park is popular among parents, children and non-residents who come here to indulge in nature, the playground, and sporting events. Hastings Ranch is away from the hustle and bustle of Pasadena, resulting in a peaceful life.

The average real estate price is $814,149, which is higher than 87.7% of Californian neighborhoods and 97.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. The average rental price is $2,298, which is more expensive than 88% of neighborhoods in California. Most of the homes in Hastings Ranch are either medium or large sized single-family homes with high-rise apartments. The current vacancy rate is 2.6%, which is lower than 89.5% of the neighborhoods in the United States. The housing demand is particularly tight in Hastings Ranch. Residents of this neighborhood enjoy the luxury of being close to Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, while enjoying the comforts of a suburban life under Mother Nature’s nose.

Pasadena real estate is a market that requires a seasoned and experienced hand when trusting a Pasadena real estate agent to represent you in either buying or selling a home. Make extra certain that your agent has demonstrated success in the Pasadena market as well as one that is licensed and certified.

Pasadena, CA Real Estate: Bungalow Heaven Neighborhood

For those homebuyers seeking Pasadena homes for sale, Bungalow Heaven is considered to be one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods. While other nearby neighborhoods such as Eagle Rock, Altadena and Highland Park experience something of a snakes and ladders-effect as far as demand and home values, Pasadena, CA is a city where homes are always in demand and keep their value pretty well.

Bungalow Heaven comprises a sixteen-block neighborhood located south of Washington Boulevard, north of Orange Grove Boulevard and between Lake Avenue and Hill Avenue to the west and east. Bungalow Heaven consists of over 800 small craftsman homes that were built between 1900 and 1930. Bungalow Heaven became a landmark district in 1989 and there are now historic home tours annually.

Bungalow Heaven was developed in the early 1900’s when Pasadena was in the midst of development. People from the Midwest were running away from harsh winters and were seeking refuge in the Pasadena area. Local businesses began to sprout up and farmers began to harvest fruits and grow orange groves. The craftsman style bungalows were the most popular choice of house with their large French doors, spacious porches, and myriad windows. People who loved the outdoors were able to enjoy them from the comfort of their own home. Craftsman bungalows require several architectural features. The roofline is low pitched, there is a front porch with pillars, using “natural” building materials like stone and wood, handcrafted tiles in the interior, hardwood floors, and wood shingles on the exterior.

The closest business district to Bungalow Heaven is located just outside of Lake Avenue, making Bungalow Heaven mostly a residential area. There is a stunning park located in the middle of the neighborhood called McDonald Park. There are no direct schools in Bungalow Heaven, but resident children will attend Longfellow Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Eliot Middle School and Pasadena High School.

The average real estate price is $702,475, which is higher than 80.7% of neighborhoods in California and 96.5% of neighborhoods in the United States. The average rental price is $1,361, which is lower than 64% of Californian neighborhoods. Approximately 53% of the residents in Bungalow Heaven are employed management, executive, and professional occupations. The second most common career with 26% of residents is occupational jobs like food service and sales jobs. Finally, both manufacturing occupations and clerical, assistant jobs consist of 11% of the population each. The current vacancy rate of is only 0.8%, which is lower than 95.4% of neighborhoods in the United States. It is extremely difficult to find housing in this sought after neighborhood.

Bungalow Heaven is a great place to live; in 2009 it was designated one of the 10 great places to live in American by the American Planning Association. Because of its historical distinction, great care and effort is placed into preserving the unique character of these craftsman bungalows.

Homebuyers and home sellers in Pasadena who are looking to buy and sell – especially in high demand areas such as Pasadena should seek out a licensed and certified real estate agent in Pasadena who possesses demonstrable success buying and selling homes in the area.

Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act

The Dodd Frank Act prevents the type of irresponsible lending that so badly affected the Northeast Los Angeles housing market, leading to short sales and foreclosures.

Everyone remembers the real estate boom of the mid-2000. It seemed like everyone could afford homes.  Throughout Northeast Los Angeles, homes were being snatched up by first time buyers who it seemed before could not qualify for mortgages. Homes in Highland Park would fetch a high price, the new buyer would move in, fix up the property and within a few years, it seemed, the property would be short-saled or foreclosed on.

In the end, it was found that loans were being written to buyers who could not and should not have been qualified to obtain these loans. They were not asked to prove that they could afford to pay the mortgage payments and many were not even asked to prove that they were gainfully employed. This is called “predatory lending”.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is developing the final stages of The Dodd Frank Act. The Director of CFPB, Richard Cordray, is an advocate for the consumer and their journey in purchasing a property. He has initiated the final phase of the Act called the Anti-Predatory Lending Act, which will affect both buyers and sellers in the process of purchasing a home. He states, “In the end, this rule is straightforward. It puts behind us the irresponsible lending that disrupted the housing market and so badly damaged our economy. And it provides strong new consumer protections while preserving needed access to mortgage credit.”

Servicer companies collect monthly mortgage payments from borrowers on behalf of the loan. These companies also manage escrow, loss mitigation applications, account balances, and initiate foreclosure on defaulted loans. The CFPB created the Anti-Predatory rules in response to the mortgage crisis. There was an inexplicable amount of homeowners in financial distress who were seeking help from the servicers.

This new mortgage reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act consists of new rules that provide borrowers with detailed information about their mortgage loans. They also give assistance to borrowers if they are financially struggling to make their mortgage payment. Finally, these rules protect consumers from wrongful actions made by mortgage servicers.

Servicers must provide specific information to the consumers so they are prepared for interest rate adjustments and new charged fees. This can be accomplished in several ways. First of all, servicers must send periodic billing statements. These statements must be issued monthly and show the amount currently due, all of the payments received, how past payments were applied, the transaction activity, all fees associated to the account, contact information, and information on delinquencies. The servicers must also send a notice with several months in advance if the interest-rate will be adjusted.

The servicers must provide assistance to homeowners. The servicer must contact the consumer if he or she is falling behind in payments. The servicer has approximately 8 weeks to settle the issue. In addition to contacting the consumer, the servicer must also assign their clients personnel to advise the borrowers on the status of any loss mitigation application and about specific timelines. Servicers are obligated to work with borrowers in developing a “loan workout” to assist the borrowers in paying back their loan in full.

Finally, these new rules put a restriction on “tracking” which is when a servicer is foreclosing a property while simultaneously auditing a consumer for a loan modification. Servicers cannot initiate a foreclosure until 4 months after a borrower falls delinquent. In these 4 months submitting a loss mitigation application can redeem the borrower. The only way a servicer can initiate foreclosure on a borrower who submitted the loss mitigation application is if the borrower is not eligible for a mitigation application, if the borrower rejects the loss mitigation offer, or if the borrower does not comply with the loss mitigation stipulations.

Today, the Northeast Los Angeles market is recovering with more responsible lending taking place.  Small, older communities are seeing healthy buying and selling with buyers who can afford to pay the payments as well as remodel. Homes for sale in Garvanza have increased, usually selling higher than asking. Same is true for homes in Hermon, Los Angeles, where multiple offers is the trend.