Pasadena Real Estate - Home Buyer

Pasadena Real Estate

Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of 2010, the population of Pasadena was 137,122. Besides hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena Real Estate is also the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena City College, Fuller Theological Seminary, Art Center College of Design, the Pasadena Playhouse, the Norton Simon Museum of Art and the Pacific Asia Museum.

The Great Neighborhoods in Pasadena Real Estate 

Bungalow Heaven

Bungalow Heaven is Pasadena's first Landmark District in Real Estate. It has many different architectural styles, but locals mainly know it due to its abundance of California Bungalows that were built between 1900 to 1930s.

Garfield Heights

Garfield Heights is Pasadena's second official Landmark District in Real Estate. It's an eclectic area of Craftsman bungalows to historic two and four unit apartments. Most of these homes were built from the late 19th century to the 1920s. Note the distinctive architectural features like pillars, retaining walls, foundations - made of river rock.

Historic Highlands

In late 2007, city of Pasadena has unanimously approved Historic Highlands as a Landmark Distirct. It's about time since this area has some of the most beautiful craftsman homes in Pasadena.The Historic Highlands Real Estate Area straddles the borders of Pasadena and Altadena, situated between New York Blvd. on the North, Washington Blvd. on the South, Lake Ave. on the West, and Hill Ave. on the East.

Madison Heights

A great neighborhood right next to the South Lake Avenue District. It has a strong neighborhood association and has an annual 4th of July parade and other family oriented activities.

Oak Knoll 

Once the site of a sheep ranch owned by Henry Huntington, this area of Pasadena real estate began its life before the turn of the 20th century featuring many grand estates. These estates were built to showcase the lovely native oaks growing in the area. The most famous estate in the area would be the former Ritz Carlton, now Langham Hotel & Spa.

Old Pasadena Historic District

Old Town is Pasadena's original business district that began at the intersection of Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. Newly revitalized, Old Town is one of Southern California's leading destinations. It has pedestrian-friendly streets, designer boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants.

Orange Heights

Once known as "Pill Hill", because of the large number of physicians and care givers who lived in the neighborhood, Orange Heights has always been at the heart of Pasadena's civic life. Some of the city's most prominent citizens have lived here, attracted by the beautiful architecture, terraced yards, tree lined streets, and mountain views.

Prospect Park

Prospect Park is a tiny piece of real estate just North of the 134 Freeway and West of 210 - where the two freeways meet and is off of Orange Grove and Prospect Blvd. This area was designated as a housing development in 1906 and had Sylvanus Marston clinker-brick portals on Orange Grove at Prospect Boulevard. Beautiful and mature camphor trees create a shady arch over the wide boulevard as you enter from Orange Grove. This neighborhood showcases a collection of Greene & Greene houses, the Gamble House and Frank Lloyd Wright's La Miniatura.

Lower Arroyo Seco & San Rafael

In 1940s, the shortage of real estate in Pasadena led to the development of the San Rafael area and new residences were built that reflected the upper middle class and very wealthy families.

Pasadena Unified School District

The schools of PUSD are as diverse as the many great neighborhoods of Pasadena California.

The "800 Club"
In 2011, eleven PUSD schools scored 800 or higher on the API, meeting or exceeding the State's goal for academic achievement. Their schools include NAtional Blue Ribbon Awards and six of the schools were noted as California Distinguished Schools.

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Pasadena School Rankings

This new Pasadena School TestRating feature is updated regularly. TestRating feature is a school rating system that ranks public schools within their state according to their performance on state-wide standardized tests. A school’s TestRating is a percentile ranking (1-10), 10 is the highest score and 1 is the lowest. A TestRating of 10 means that a school’s test scores are higher than 90% of the schools in the state of California.

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Top Pasadena Real Estate Buyer Agents

1) Licensed Pasadena Realtors, can help you determine your buying power -- that is, your financial reserves plus your borrowing capacity. If you give a Pasadena California Real Estate Agent / Realtor some basic information about your available savings, income and current debt, he or she can refer you to lenders best qualified to help you. Most lenders -- banks and mortgage companies -- offer limited choices.

2) Your Pasadena Real Estate Agents have many resources to assist you in your home search. Sometimes the property you are seeking is available but not actively advertised in the market, and it will take some investigation by your agent to find all available properties.

3) A Pasadena Real Estate Agent can assist you in the selection process by providing objective information about each property. Pasadena Real Estate Agents who are Realtors have access to a variety of informational resources. Pasadena Realtors can provide local community information on utilities, zoning. schools, etc. There are two things you'll want to know. First, will the property provide the environment I want for a home or investment? Second, will the property have resale value when I am ready to sell?

4) A Pasadena Realtor, can help you negotiate. There are myriad negotiating factors, including but not limited to price, financing, terms, date of possession and often the inclusion or exclusion of repairs and furnishings or equipment. The purchase agreement should provide a period of time for you to complete appropriate inspections and investigations of the property before you are bound to complete the purchase. Your Pasadena California Realtor can advise you as to which investigations and inspections are recommended or required.

5) A Pasadena Real Estate Agent can provide due diligence during the evaluation of the property. Depending on the area and property, this could include inspections for termites, dry rot, asbestos, faulty structure, roof condition, septic tank and well tests, just to name a few. Pasadena Realtors can assist you in finding qualified responsible professionals to do most of these investigations and provide you with written reports. You will also want to see a preliminary report on the title of the property. Title indicates ownership of property and can be mired in confusing status of past owners or rights of access. The title to most properties will have some limitations; for example, easements (access rights) for utilities. A Pasadena California Real Estate Agent's title company or attorney can help you resolve issues that might cause problems at a later date.

6) A Prudential California Pasadena Realtor can help you in understanding different financing options and in identifying qualified lenders. A Pasadena Real Estate Agent can guide you through the closing process and make sure everything flows together smoothly.