North Hollywood vs. Highland Park (Pasadena, Burbank: sales, apartments, rentals)

[Arnie Vickers]

What would you say is a better place to purchase a single family home? Based on my prelim research
North Hollywood, south of Victory, is slightly pricier but you can get something decent in both places for around 800k.

We're looking for something in terms of 1. present day safety 2. longer term upside.

Thanks!

[jacktravern]

Just out of curiosity if you have 800K to spend, why would you be looking at those 2 areas?
They're not awful or anything, but definitely some better options if you have that kind of budget.

[jm1982]

Yeah I agree . I'd pick a nice part of north Hollywood over Highland Park if deciding between those too .
Prices per sq foot are nuts in highland park now . I can see it was once an area people would move to because it was affordable but not it seems people are paying a big premium for the hipster factor similar to Echo Park .

If spending $800,000 I'd probably look at Pasadena , Burbank or Woodland Hills.
All solid low crime areas with nice amenities nearby .

Of course these neighborhoods are far from each other.

Do you need to be near a particular area for work ?

[saybanana]

I dont know North Hollywood that well, but I can tell you more about Highland Park.
You can sort of divide it into 3 parts. York Blvd Area, Garvanza-Northern or York Figueroa area, and South of York Figueroa

York Blvd area is generally the current nicer area. Mostly single family detached homes with Eagle Rock as the north and west border and parts of Mt Washington to the west/southwest. Alameda St north is a good dividing line. The nice restaurants/shopping street, bars, are between Ave 50-53 on York. Also some other places along York Blvd. A lot of the homes here have been flipped, renovated and sold for $200-300 hundred thousand more than they originally bought. But I think many would pay the higher renovated price for something turn key rather than buy a older piece and try to do it themselves. I've been to many open houses. They redo a lot from new roof, kitchen, bath, plumbing, AC/heat, water tank. and so on. But getting those cheaper unrenovated houses are not easy or cheap anymore. The higher up in the hills the more expensive they get like over a million. You can check out Redfin/Trulia on past sales of $1 million and see that they are slightly higher.

Garvanza is one of the nicer places in the area since it is right next to the million dollar homes of Pasadena esp along the AVe 64 route. It isnt as nice down near the freeway on San Pascual or near the York/Fig intersection because of the businesses and cars and homeless that try to live near the freeway and freeway parks. On fig north of York you get a mix of some streets of just residential and some just apartments. Some apartments are trouble areas. The homes up the slight hill off Figueroa tend to be quieter. The higher up the hill the more expensive.

Last is Fig south of York. This is the heart of Highland Park. You'll find the 2 MEtro Gold Line stations, the theater, major banks, library, 2 big parks and a larger shopping/amenities street. Also find a lot of nice grand old homes and lots of taller and larger apartment buildings. Monte Vista St has a lot of problems because it is the dividing line of 2 feuding gang zones. But the gentrification is getting stronger here. Tensions of eviction protest are stronger here because most of the rentals are in the area. There have been some new housing development near the Food4Less grocery but you get little land and large new home for a price of smaller older home but larger land size in the other areas. Lots of new shops going to open up in the new few years. Many of the older buildings are getting renovated and will soon rival York Blvd shopping area as the place to be.

In terms of safety, there are still issues like most of LA. Helicopters are common near daily especially around the Figueroa/Monte Vista area and lesser so in other parts. In the past you wouldnt walk around at night. Not as bad to walk around. Feels safer on York because many bars/eateries there stay open later. Figueroa south doesnt have many places open late, maybe the bowling place/theater/greyhound pub and 7/11 and fast food places. But most the area stores close by 8 or 9pm. During the day, the area and most of LA generally feels safe. Lot of families with kids at the parks. Kids walk to school alone. Shops with people in them. People brunching on sleepier weekends. At night, most stores close and streets are empty and not many people walking around. Most places in LA you wouldnt want to walk, run, exercise at late and Highland Park is no difference. You can look at crime stats online and compare them to other areas.

Will the area continue to get better in long term? Yes. Highland Park is past the tipping point. Many more affluent people are moving, which brings in more businesses, shops, restaurants, bars, amenities, and restoration of older homes and buildings. A large part of the area is under HPOZ zoning which is historic preservation. You wont see any super tall dense buildings or major teardowns of older structures in these areas. The parking lots next to the Metro station are going to be developed but keeps getting chopped down smaller and smaller compared to the original concept. Years later nothing, still. The downside is many current residents are angry and have resentment towards the newcomers. Thats true for many parts of LA. They are squeezed out due to rising rents or evictions, loss of familiar shops/stores and people who are richer and different from them. Highland Park has been for many decades a place for new immigrants from Asia and Latin America to settle down rather than 1st generation or 2nd which usually leave for nicer parts of LA county. But now HighlandPark is no longer for immigrants but rather middle to upper middle class. There is still a large community of those who bought their homes decades ago for $100-200K or less, and will stay for a long time. Youll see their homes not looking that great because they dont have the money to update it to what flipped houses are. And if they fix it up they will likely pay higher property taxes I think, not sure how that works.

If looking for homes, I would look for up in the hills with a view preferably. Not on a street zoned for apartments or multiresidents R1.5 or R2. If you do, you could consider building an addition and rent it out. Also away from large apartment buildings like along Monte Vista because lots of noise, traffic, and forget street parking for you or friends. Otherwise happy hunting.

[Kings Gambit]

Originally Posted by Arnie Vickers

North Hollywood vs. Highland Park?

North Hollywood, south of Victory, is slightly pricier but you can get something decent in both places for around 800k.

We're looking for something in terms of 1. present day safety 2. longer term upside.

Thanks!

Why choose between those two areas? Your one other post in the thread you started you mentioned San Pedro but you didnt participate in the discussion. Are you going to participate in this one? What did your realtor suggest to you?

Originally Posted by jacktravern

Just out of curiosity if you have 800K to spend, why would you be looking at those 2 areas?

I have the same question for the OP.

[jm1982]

This was an interesting piece Marketplace did on gentrification in Highland Park . They actually setup in the area . A lot more substantive than most of the gentrification articles .

They traced the ownership of homes and actually interviewed the previous owners which was interesting.

I can see it's a hip area but prices per square foot are crazy . I can see how it could of been a good play when things were starting to gentrify and prices were lower . Same in Echo Park .

https://features.marketplace.org/yorkandfig/

[elhelmete]

Originally Posted by Kings Gambit

Why choose between those two areas? Your one other post in the thread you started you mentioned San Pedro but you didnt participate in the discussion. Are you going to participate in this one?

nope

[streetscenes]

Between the two, I would choose Highland Park over North Hollywood. More interesting part of town, closer to DTLA and Pasadena, good public transportation options with the Gold Line. More upside IMO due to these factors.