Curbed has selected San Pedro as neighborhood of the year!

Every year, Curbed LA runs a neighborhood contest in which their readers select the best livable L.A. neighborhood.  This year, our own little Burbank almost won. (Finally, some recognition for Burbank.)  But at the end, it was beaten out by...San Pedro! Check the link here.

I actually sold a home in San Pedro this year.  Before that, I just thought it was an industrial port with cruise ship berths.  My buyer clients, who knew better than I did, convinced me otherwise.  Once I went down there, I became impressed by the housing stock and the affordability.  Many of the homes, including the one my clients purchased, are on the hill and have views of the harbor.  Yes, it's a bit far away from many attractions, but the Ports of Call development is getting a huge face lift, so new and better entertainment and dining options will be coming very soon.  Good on ya, San Pedro!  And hopefully Burbank will win the Curbed contest next year.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need an ocean view? Consider San Pedro

If you are like me, you probably think the port city of San Pedro is nothing but an industrial port with huge cranes, shipping containers, cruise ship docks and the like.  But no.  The residential neighborhoods are really nice and so is the housing stock.  Best of all, 3 bedroom 1600+ sf homes with ocean views are selling for under $700,000.  That’s not a typo.

I learned about San Pedro when I helped my clients JB and Kristie buy a home there – we closed last week.  The residential neighborhoods grew up in the 1920’s on the hill above the harbor.  Most of the homes were built for port workers.  The port is still quite active and there are lots of attractions around it, including a sailing marina, Ports Of Call (several good restaurants), a huge brewery, and the U.S.S. Indiana.  Ports Of Call is being gentrified to the tune of many millions of dollars – check it out in a year or two.

Back to the housing stock.  Most of the homes seem very well maintained.  The few we saw all had basements, which were still being built in the 1920’s, and had layouts typical of the pre-war time period.  Didn’t see any mid-century homes.  With a couple exceptions, we also didn’t see a lot of mansionization.  The most surprising thing for me was the ocean view at that (relatively) low price.  It took about 25 minutes to get there from downtown L.A. – not a bad commute if you work on the west side of town.  This area is certainly some place to consider for home buyers for the price, the view, and the housing stock.