Palos Verdes Drive North Real Estate Break Down

With multiple requests to write about “The Lanes” in Rolling Hills Estates, here you have it! The city of Rolling Hills Estates is tricky as the city boundaries spread over five MLS areas. Today’s blog will cover the largest portion (about 70%) of Rolling Hills Estates – the Palos Verdes (P.V.) Drive North MLS area. Before we get started, check out my Palos Verdes page to view the mapped boundaries of the entire Hill and respective MLS areas. Also, check out the P.V. Drive North page to learn more about the neighborhoods discussed today.

Masongate

The Masongate area is highly coveted for its large lots in its small, quiet pocket of the Palos Verdes Hill. Sitting right next to Valmonte, Masongate offers lots averaging around 20,000 sq. ft. allowing for large estates or horse property.

This area has long-time owners and low-turnover since its residents rarely move from the beloved neighborhood. As a result, you will find a lot of homes that need work but will sell for a premium.

A perfect example of this is 1 Stagecoach Road. A long-time owned, 3,600 sq. ft., family home sitting on a 19,000 sq. ft. lot came out asking $1.899 million. Although it needed work, it sold with multiple offers at $2.2 million this past year.

Sitting in a bucolic setting and a 43,000 sq. ft. lot, 12 Saddlebow Lane commanded a high price. This four-bedroom home with a pool and large backyard space sold quickly at $2.836 million.  

Lastly, 6 Hidden Valley Road sold for $1.648 million. With 2,100 sq. ft., this is a perfect home for a buyer looking to grow. My advice (after seeing homes like Saddlebow sell for over $2.8 million) would be to clean up the current structure for as little as possible and then build a brand-new home in a decade.

Los Rachos Verdes

If you head Southeast on P.V. Drive North from Masongate, you run into Los Ranchos Verdes, or as I like to call it, Ranchview.

This is another area known for low turnover. In 2018 there were 10 sales with all but two homes needing a significant amount of work.

The entry-level, fixer homes this past year included some of the following:

• 8 Shady Vista Road
  • Sold for $1.2 million
• 65 Ranchview Road
  • Sold for $1.35 million
• 23 Santa Bella Road
  • Sold for $1.44 million

The turnkey sales for 2018 included the following:

• 4 Ranchview Road
  • Sold for $1.625 million
• 35 Silver Saddle Lane
  • Sold for $1.7 million

Both properties offered move-in options with 2,500 plus sq. ft..

With the low turnover rate and recent housing inventory being quite old, Ranchview real estate values are ready to go higher. For instance, in 2017, 58 Ranchview Road sold as a flip for $1.65 million, in which it had no comparables. The crazy part is that just a year earlier the property had been purchased for only $965,000.

The last significant sale in Ranchview occurred all the way back in 2013 when the five-bed, 3,656 sq. ft. 49 Shady Vista Road sold over-asking price for $1.9 million. Today, that property would fly well into the $2 million range.

This well-located, quiet neighborhood has truly lacked new and larger homes for sale. As soon as the sub-market goes from old inventory to new and larger inventory, this great Rolling Hills Estates pocket should run higher!

Academy Hill

Academy Hill is one of two unincorporated county areas of P.V. Drive North’s real estate market. This neighborhood gets its name as a result of the streets feeding directly up to Chadwick School.

This is a tract home neighborhood developed in the 1970’s and offers a big bang for your buck. In 2017, there were eight sales ranging from $1.11 million to $1.58 million. The price per square foot on these sales was between $442 and $622 per square foot, which is some of the most affordable pricing in Palos Verdes and the Beach Cities.

Between 2017 and 2018 Academy Hill had eight “affordable” sales between $1.11 million and $1.6 million. There were only four other sales with three of them going over $1.7 million (all occurring in 2018).

The most interesting sale during this period was the flipped property at 4160 Quinlin Drive. It was purchased in April of 2017 for $1.11 million and it was sold shortly after in November 2017 for $1.56 million.

The three sales over $1.7 million stood as three of the top five sales for the area, ever. Selling for a record breaking $2.8 million, 4178 Pascal Place far outpaced the number two sale that sold for $1.750 million earlier this year. This home on Pascal Place was a massive 7,800 sq. ft. structure on a 13,770 sq. ft. lot, something that would never be allowed to be built in incorporated cities on The Hill, but that is the beauty of the lax Los Angeles County building codes.

Side note: Academy Hill’s 2017 to 2018 market trends represents exactly what can happen to a neighborhood when bigger, newer, and more desirable homes come to market that have been missing as comps. Most certainly these sales will help raise all values…something to reiterate with the Ranchview market and the potential it has down the road.

Westfield

If you are looking to utilize the very lenient Los Angeles County building codes, then just on the other side of Crenshaw from Academy Hill is the second unincorporated area on our list today, Westfield.

This area is horse and peacock territory on larger underdeveloped lots from the 1950’s and 1960’s that, for the right buyer, allows for a ton of possible value add.

The Westfield market tends to have a mind of its own. Take a look at median price over the last few years:

• 2015: $1.460 million
• 2016: $1.725 million
• 2017: $1.475 million
• 2018: $1.720 million

The reason for the fluctuation in the market is because this neighborhood is a hodgepodge of older homes versus updated homes.

For 2018, you see two examples of this…

• 26957 Bolan Lane
  • Sold for $2,163,000
  • 3,500 square feet, large backyard, and pool
• 27538 Eastvale Road
  • Sold for $3,080,000 (sold incomplete and with high-risk)
  • A MASSIVE home over 13,000 square feet

On the flip side, you had a lower sale that needed to fix everything:

• 27241 Sunnyridge Road
  • Sold for $1,335,000
  • 2,468 sq. ft., 32,760 sq. ft. lot

And my Westfield “winner of 2018” is this property on Eastvale Road:

• 26922 Eastvale Road
  • Sold for $1,600,000
  • 2,250 square feet, 28,000 sq. ft. lot flat lot

This sale in 2018 was the jack of all trades. With L.A. County building codes, the sky’s the limit here. There is opportunity to add a large accessory dwelling unit over the garage or go with huge horse stables, pool, guest house, etc. in back. Another option in the future is that the lot would support a massive estate home that an owner could choose to build at their convenience. The house in great condition and there are a ton of options without any work needed up front. I believe this is the type of home buyers should target when looking in the Westfield area.

The Lanes

Jumping back into the city of Rolling Hills Estates, an area known as “The Lanes” is a highly desired area by many Palos Verdes residents. “The Lanes” run from Crenshaw Blvd to Palos Verdes Drive East and borders P.V. Drive North, to the north…if that makes sense. They got their name by being a group of streets ending with Lane (duh), like Rawhide Lane, Empty Saddle Lane, and Strawberry Lane, evoking a cute country charm in this neighborhood. The beauty of these streets is that they really have something for everyone and encompass much of the previous areas mentioned in the blog.

There are high-end, expensive homes that will rival Masongate prices to affordable options that compare to Westfield and Academy Hill areas. And of course, in between homes offered by Ranchview and beyond. Let’s see some of those examples…

Starting with some higher-end 2018 sales…

• 6 Silverbit Lane
  • Sold for $2.75 million
  • 4,100 sq. ft., 13,000 sq. ft. lot
• 3747 Palos Verdes Drive North (an unnamed “Lane” not on the Drive)
  • Sold for $3.375 million
  • 3,588 sq. ft., 76,517 sq. ft. lot

Fixer Opportunities

With sales like Silverbit and P.V. Drive North, there are also opportunities to buy projects houses and make them your own, and perhaps, earn a little equity along the way.

• 82 Dapplegray Lane
  • Asking $1.65 million
  • 3,346 sq. ft., 10,856 sq. ft. lot
•  2553 Palos Verdes Drive North
  • Asking $1.695 million
  • 3,473 sq. ft., 24,762 sq. ft. lot

• 19 Bucksin Lane
  • Asking $1.895 million (pending, went to escrow in only seven days)
  • 2,016 sq. ft., 70,000 sq. ft. lot

Entry-Level

Lastly, there are entry-level homes that offer some great value relative to the expensive sales in the area.

• 6 Bucksin Lane
  • Asking $1.699 million
  • Sold for $1.699 million
  • 4 bed, 3 bath, 2,294 sq. ft.
• 18 Buckskin Lane
  • Asking $1.699 million
  • 5 beds, 4 baths, 3,040 sq. ft.

Or you can skip the work of 18 Buckskin and offer on 3448 Tanglewood Lane, which is completed and totally turnkey.

• 3448 Tanglewood Lane
  • Asking $2.15 million
  • 5 beds, 4 baths, 3,223 sq. ft.

Conclusion

Like I said…there is a lot to cover in this P.V. Drive North area. The Palos Verdes real estate market is vast, and it pays to do your homework in such a unique area of the South Bay.

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