Westwood Los Angeles Real Estate

westwood los angeles california home to some of the richest people in the world also home to broke university students westwood is a neighborhood in the city of los angeles next to beverly hills about 20 minutes away from the beach so let's discover this beautiful interesting neighborhood let's talk real estate history prices who lives here why the heck are people moving here we'll talk about the most expensive real estate in westwood which hint happens to be underground all of this and a bunch of other fun stuff coming up [Music] and let's start with a little bit of history the first major attempt to develop westwood was around the 1880s in what would have been a town called sunset they started by developing a cemetery and that's that's pretty much as far as they got before they went bankrupt looking back maybe breaking ground on a new development catering to dead people was probably not the best idea although to their benefit the cemetery still exists today and it's home to one of the highest concentration of celebrities in the world dead ones including marilyn monroe and the playboy man hugh hefner in 2020 a burial plot in this cemetery was listed for 745 000 which per square foot would make it by far the most expensive real estate in westwood by like over a thousand percent but anyway then around the 1920s the jans investment corporation came in and was pretty much like ah here's an idea let's start developing stuff for living people and so some of the earliest homes in westwood above ground were built around 1924 starting south of wilshire boulevard and moving up then around 1925 ucla announced that they would be moving into the neighborhood and this was a major boost to the growth of westwood it led to the development of westwood village and the high-end residential communities surrounding it most of the development in westwood happened between 1930 and 1940 and was intended for upper middle class and well rich people at the time it was a hub of intellectual and financial wealth and fast forward to today and not much has changed and now for a shameless interruption to let you know that this video is sponsored by myself daniel rangel real estate agent in los angeles if you're looking to buy or sell don't hesitate to reach out but more importantly if you like this video make sure to hit like or subscribe to get more los angeles real estate related videos and sorry about that but anyway so who lives in westwood about 50 000 people but if we have fun with it and we make westwood a living person and call him patrick patrick is uh he's older he's an intellectual prefers to wear jeans maybe a lawyer maybe a doctor i mean compared to venice beach he's uh he's traditional but like 1969 i was a hippie when i was young but chose money instead type of traditional now patrick also has kids and they also represent westwood there's michael who tucks his shirt in only so you can see his gucci belt buckle there's maria who looks like she just got out of bed but only because she prefers to shop for books then makeup and then of course there's the youngest tony lives in the moment find me at her bb's three in the morning but somehow still manages to get things done westwood is like a beautiful diverse family so why are people moving in westwood well if you live in westwood you have access to great elementary schools westwood is also included in well a bunch of lists for being one of the safest neighborhoods in los angeles you're also surrounded by some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in la including beverly hills bel air and brentwood you're typically also moving to westwood if you're looking for bigger houses more land or more traditional architecture you're not really going to find too much contemporary big glass architecture like like you may find in neighborhoods like uh west hollywood or the hollywood hills but now for the fun stuff let's talk real estate the median price for a single family house in westwood is about 3.3 million dollars an increase of about 120 in the past 10 years which is great but honestly not among the highest increases in los angeles i mean some neighborhoods in los angeles have hit well over 200 percent during the same period but here's the thing westwood is a well-established high-end neighborhood it's it's been like this since like well forever it's not it's not really an up-and-coming neighborhood and that also comes with benefits for example during the great recession of 2008 from peak to bottom when some parts of los angeles dropped in value by like over 50 percent in westwood property values went down by like 13 which contextually is like nothing so while you're not going to get crazy returns in westwood you're also not going to lose a bunch of money now in the past 20 years it has gone up in value by about 285 percent so yes the longer you hold the better you are the median price for a condo is about 1 million dollars an increase of about 98 in the past 10 years which does reflect the recent comeback for condos after being hit pretty hard during the pandemic and now let's talk about the different neighborhoods or areas within westwood now there's a bunch of different pockets in westwood but for this video we're only going to cover three one the most expensive two my favorite and three the best bang for your buck but before we do that let's check out some popular hangout spots number one westwood village now historically westwood village has seen better days for a moment it was kind of suffering from an identity crisis split between the the needs of the broke university students and the needs of the wealthy residents but things are definitely getting better cool new coffee shops are moving into the neighborhood more community events are embracing the village and new types of fun businesses are moving in like center one and indoor rock climbing place expected to open later this year then you got persian square south of wilshire boulevard a commercial district with cafes shopping and of course some of the best persian food in town and if you're looking for the best breakfast in town make sure to stop by mary and rob's cafe a historical staple in the community that has an amazing breakfast burrito also because westwood is so conveniently located you also benefit from the offerings of the surrounding neighborhoods like the century city mall in century city rodale drive in beverly hills japan town in west la and san vicente boulevard in brentwood all of which are just like minutes away and now let's talk neighborhoods or the different pockets within westwood number one the most expensive area by far is holmby hills located on the northeast part of westwood now along with its neighbors bel air and beverly hills holmby hills is part of what is called the platinum triangle together these three neighborhoods make up some of the most expensive real estate in the world the median price in holby hills is about 40 million dollars with a low of about 26 million and a high of about 120 million dollars to which you might be asking why why so much money and well after neighborhood one of the major elements of ultra expensive real estate is is land while the typical lot size in los angeles may be around like 5 000 square feet in holby hills it's more like 50 000 square feet that's like 10 times your typical lot size now naturally this also means more space for bigger houses and while the typical house size on on the west side of los angeles may be around uh 2 400 square feet in holby hills it's more like 24 000 square feet to which you're now like but i can't even see these houses all i see is a bunch of leaves and hedges exactly one reason people move to holmby hills is privacy from the outside you see nothing inside everything happens holby hills is where hugh hefner threw some of the most ridiculous parties at the playboy mansion and interesting fact the playboy mansion was originally the house of the family that founded westwood and is also known as the arthur letts junior estate built around 1927. another interesting thing many of the homes in this very expensive ultra expensive neighborhood were built during the 1930s like during the great depression so it's starting to seem like recessions don't even exist in westwood and still in the category of most expensive we have to mention when it comes to condos you've got the wilshire corridor or as they used to call it the platinum mile where you're going to find the highest concentration of luxury condos in los angeles the median price for a condo here is about 1.1 million dollars with a high of over 20 million dollars hoa fees here are also some of the highest typically around 2 000 a month and while many condos here are older being built around the 70s and 80s they still demand high prices one reason because of their historical place in los angeles glamour and luxury i mean there's one building here the the wilshire terrace built in 1958 that's so exclusive the only way to buy it is cash but even if you have the cash you still need board approval there's a screening process which may include a background check references and actually proving that you're actually rich next up my favorite neighborhood little homey it's it's right next to homey hills and as the name intuitively implies it's kind of like homey hills younger more affordable brother the median price for a house here is a little bit more humane at around 4.8 million dollars and unlike other neighborhoods in los angeles that have been transformed over the years from low end to high end this neighborhood has always been high that's kind of the way it was originally planned and a couple ways that you can tell this without necessarily having to know the history of a neighborhood one the amount of trees most trees in los angeles are not native to los angeles so trees usually means money number two telephone poles unlike the the area south of wilshire and a bunch of other neighborhoods in los angeles you're not really going to see telephone poles right outside your bedroom window they were buried underground to visually protect the landscape number three curvilinear streets you're going to notice that the streets here are just like a maze of curves the intention was to embrace and appreciate the lines of the hilly terrain and as a byproduct you're not really going to have cars speeding up and down the street because that would be bad for them mostly but anyway some other things that distinguished little homie is the preservation of its original architecture mostly period revival architecture in the style of american colonial spanish among other traditional styles you're not really going to find a lot of contemporary architecture here and if you try to change that your neighbors are are probably going to hate you buying a house in little homies about embracing its history and its architecture that's why you're also not really going to find a whole lot of new construction and there really isn't a need to tear down and build bigger houses like is the case in neighborhoods that were originally planned as lower end the typical house size here is about 4 300 square feet on an 11 000 square foot lot which is about double the typical size now if you're looking for new construction or more contemporary architecture in westwood you're gonna find a little bit more options south of wilshire boulevard where houses were originally smaller intended for less rich people and for this reason no one seems to care about knocking them down kind of messed up but also kind of the way it works and that brings us to our third and final neighborhood the best bang for your buck the area south of wilshire boulevard between beverly glen and westwood boulevard the median price here is more affordable at around 2.7 million dollars houses are typically smaller at around 2 800 square feet with lot sizes around 6 600 square feet now at the time of construction in the 1920s 1930s by westwood standards this was affordable middle class housing by los angeles standards this was still higher middle class and by today's standards this is still expensive real estate i mean if you can buy a house here you should be proud of yourself i mean financially that's still gonna put you in what top three to five percent of the u.s population great job but anyway if you're looking for newer construction in westwood you're more likely to find it here where 2 000 square foot houses are being knocked down and replaced with like 4 000 square foot mcmansions and in the process pushing property values up and i would say this is like a recent trend starting maybe in the past six to seven years and hate it or love it as more of this happens i think the section of westwood is going to dramatically change and see big price increases in a way this is kind of like your up and coming neighborhood within westwood so it's like the best of both worlds a well-established area with good appreciation potential so in summary if you're looking for a big house on a big lot you've got a bunch of money you want privacy or you just want to be able to scream and shout and not be heard holmby hills could be the place for you now if you're looking for a nice quiet street tree lined with traditional style houses like in the movies and steal a big house and steal a big lot but not at a ridiculous price then little homie could be the place for you if you want high-rise luxury be part of los angeles glamour history then you've got the wilshire corridor and finally if you're looking for a growth potential but still in a safe well-established up-and-coming very convenient neighborhood then you belong south of wilshire boulevard and by the way my name is daniel rangel real estate agent in los angeles if you're looking to buy or sell if i can be of any help it would be an honor and if you like this video make sure to hit like or subscribe to get more los angeles real estate related videos including more neighborhood tours

Channel: The Artist of Real Estate

Views: 6,674

Keywords: westwood real estate, Westwood real estate agent, moving to westwood, holmby hills, holmby hills homes, holmby hills real estate, los angeles real estate, los angeles real estate agent, beverly hills real estate, luxury homes, ucla, video tour, real estate, westwood los angeles, los angeles neighborhoods, moving to los angeles, wealthiest neighborhoods in america, best neighborhoods in los angeles, los angeles realtor, wealthy los angeles, daniel rangel, moving to la

Id: OcOdoFc2TuM

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022