Venice Beach has been one of the miraculous exceptions to the disastrous housing slump of the last few years. Though many have had to revise unrealistic ideas about the value of their properties and some folks who bought at the height of the market are on the hook for more than their homes are worth, values in Venice have held remarkably stable and properties have continued to move compared to many other neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Even though Venice can command some of the highest prices in Los Angeles per square foot, this is an older part of town which is still undergoing ‘gentrification." Many of the homes here date from the early to mid-1900's and are sometimes smaller than those in other parts of the Westside. Unlike most of L.A.'s beach cities, there are a number of homes here that are close to the beach for well under a million dollars. With the exception of Long Beach and San Pedro, Venice is the least expensive beach property from Malibu to Laguna Beach. When you consider that this is prime time, high demand, L.A. basin real estate... Venice is actually one of the best deals in Southern California with a continuing upside for appreciation.
Venice Beach is also internationally recognized (the Baywatch Factor) and attracts new buyers from around the world who want to be part of the Venice lifestyle which is funkier and more eclectic than Santa Monica and some of the other beach towns.
Though sales volume has tapered off by about 20% since the Federal tax credit expired in April, Venice is enjoying an active real estate market along with many other parts of the Westside right now. Over 40 properties have sold here in tha second quarter of 2010 and higer-end properies have been selling as well over the last year.
The really good news for potential buyers is that homes closer to the beach which enjoy premium prices have shown signs of coming more into line with the rest of the real estate market. I've seen some surprisingly good deals listed in the last few months here that seem to be a real departure from asking prices earlier in the year.
The upshot of all this is that Venice Beach seems likely to be a continuing sucess story of the Los Angeles real estate market for some years to come and the opportunites available now along with historically low mortgage rates may make this the right time get in on the California dream... Live the Life.
See Complete, Categorized, Up-to-Date MLS Listing for all Properties Available in Venice and L.A.'s Beach Cities at AJonesREALTOR's Website:
http://www.labeachcitieshomes.com/venice-beach-real-estate.html
Andrew Jones is a Los Angeles native and resident of Venice Beach who is a real estate agent in both California & Nevada.
Comments(0)