With everything going on in the world right now, it’s extra important that we all due our civic duty and fill our our census info online. By filling it out online a census worker will not have to stop physically at your place, which is better for everyone.
“Patty is such a passionate real estate agent who we can truly trust! We purchased our first property through her and she helped us find the most desirable house on the market. Huge plus of having her as an agent is that she understands what we want as we needed an agent who is keen to environmental/architectural design. With her knowledge and expertise, we nailed down a bidding war and signed off all the documents with confidence. If you are looking for someone who is your consultant, advisor, and reliable negotiator, that’s Patty! “ – A. Oshima
Patty is amazing! I recommend her to anyone I meet who is looking to buy. We were first timer buyers who thought the odds were stacked against us in LA’s competitive market. Amazingly we got the first house we put an offer on, and it’s our dream home. She knows her stuff as well as adding her own philosophy and insight into what it means to find a home and what will really make you happy. Not to mention Patty is so competent, when all was said and done we were like; ‘huh, that was easy!’ – H. Keefe
Patty is all too familiar with the challenges and pitfalls of the Southern California real estate market. She is realistic, straightforward, and offers clients her uniquely creative insights based on years of experience, not just in real estate, but as a homeowner, landlord, landscape designer, and artist. With her help and wealth of knowledge throughout the entire process, we found our ideal place. – Stephanie Ellison & David Hsia
Most people know me as being a Los Angeles / NELA realtor. But I’m also a part time Hi-desert resident and Airbnb Super Host. My husband and I split each week between out homes in Echo Park (Los Angeles) and the Upper Friendly Hills area of Joshua Tree, California.
If you are thinking about buying or selling in the Hi – Desert (Joshua Tree, Yucca Valley, Flamingo Hts, Landers, 29 Palms, Wonder Valley, etc.) I would love to help you.
The desert is a magical place. It’s a spectacular place to retire or live if you can work remotely. Driving at night, when there is no traffic, you can get from DTLA to Joshua Tree is about 2 hours. So it’s a reasonable distance for a second home or vacation rental property. We love our city/desert lifestyle.
I have a monthly newsletter I send out for people who are curious about buying or selling in the Hi-Desert. SIGN UP HERE
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Thinking about buying or selling in NELA or the Hi-Desert?
Let's get coffee and talk about your plans!
Curious what you home is WORTH?
JUST SOLD! Large, three story Hi-Fi (Historic Filipinotown) condo in walking distance to Echo Park and really close to the bars and restaurants on Temple and Beverly. This place has tons of space to spread out. It’s fully renovated and ready to move in. It’s in a great location on a quiet street. Hi – Fi is really well situated neighborhood close to public transit, DTLA, Hollywood and Silver Lake / Echo Park. Tons of new apartments being built nearby on Temple Street.
1st Quarter Heat Map – see what neighborhoods are the hottest right now
Echo Park & Silver Lake condos are in high demand
1/2 the most popular cities for second home in CA are in the desert
Silver Lake in process of being refilled but not everyone agrees it’s a good idea
Sorry grandma… no one wants the family heirlooms
Meet the flipsters… millennial hipsters who flip houses
I dig this kinetic Iranian house
Living with a lot of plants may help you live to be crazy old
LA making it harder to take rent controlled units off the marketExpert tips on picking paint colors
The differences between how rich and poor people spend their money
You could put your stuff in storage and start living the #vanlife
Nation wide we are in the 2nd biggest housing boom of all time
Small lots homes in Echo Park now starting over 1m
Leimart Park photo essay
My sister-in-law Jody & her husband Tim just opened an Airbnb in Joshua Tree
Fascinating article on how TGI Fridays is losing it’s flair and the trend toward clutter free interiors
The 4 types of gentrifiers… are you one of them?
Jon Hamm just bought a very thoughtful minimalist house in Los Feliz
Building permits in LA dropped 6 percent last year
Emily Henderson’s round of 126 dining room tables
Is everyone focused too much on gentrification?
They way we are living & spending money is changing and it’s killing retail stores
Pasadena closing loopholes on relocation fees for tenants
Median priced home near Dodger Stadium $640, 4th highest for a MLB ballpark
Thinking about buying or selling property on the east side of LA…
or Joshua Tree?
Let’s get coffee and talk.
View from my office this AM.
Market Update: Atwater, West Hollywood, Mt. Washington
Great neighborhood guides: HiFi, Mid-City
My update on Spirit Wind renovations – Week 8
House next door to Spirit Wind is for sale
Adding daughter as homeowner on house may trigger big taxes
Photos of Pasadena’s Bungalow Heaven
Sign up for a Walking tour of Boyle Heights
Weekend guide to the desert – Beyond Coachella
Map of areas with Victorian homes in Los Angeles – Tip: Lincoln Heights has great prices
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Hi Everyone!
It’s that time again. I’m hosting another Home Buyer’s Q + A on April 10th, 6pm. It’s going to be at my house in Echo Park. Bring your partner, friends and join us for cocktails, snacks and a ton of great info!
Highlights
Come hungry — we will have lots of snacks, drinks & cocktails.
Please RSVP via email to pattyhume@kw.com. Space is limited since it is at my house.
+ Feel free to invite friends, but just make sure they RSVP!
XOXO,
As many of you know, Jonathan and I have been hunting for a weekend house in Joshua Tree. We drove out a few times in the fall to look at properties. There is not a lot on the market right now and there seem to be a lot of people looking. We initially wanted a mid-century house near the boulders, but quickly realized that there are none on the market. Properties like that almost never come up for sale on the MLS, and when they do they go for a very high price per square foot. Meaning they are probably going to be cash deals. I think people tend to keep a lot of these properties in their family for decades or sell to friends. So we had to be kind of open-minded and look at what is on the market now.
I was initially really excited about this big metal building, behind a small house. I thought it would make a great art studio for me.
But the building was kind of huge and too overwhelming. But impressive.
Great mid-century 1 bedroom house. It needed a lot of work and was too small for us. Beautiful windows and fireplace. I hope someone with good taste buys this and really makes it shine.
Some of the houses had spectacular views but were a bit suburban. 
Breakfast nook with a killer view of valley and Big Bear in the distance.
This place was an art barn/house with a ton of land and a shipping container. It used to be a sweet potato farm.
I really liked the barn, but it didn’t have enough living space. And I wasn’t really sure what we would do with 23 acres of desert.
Cute place with new metal fences in 29 Palms. Lots of outdoor patio space. And a shipping container.
We think this is some kind of un-finished fountain in the living room of this house. It might need a pulsing laminar stream. You see a lot of strange architectural details in houses in Joshua Tree.
Desert modern, a product of the oughts. Very SCI-arc. Clad in concrete board. We initially just wanted to see this place out of curiosity, but we kind of liked it. It’s very sharp, angular and masculine.
View of Joshua trees & the National Park in the distance. The owners of this house said that a bobcat came right up to this window once. I saw a coyote chasing a rabbit.
We saw a lot of properties on this trip. Here were a few properties I got excited about, but they were so different. I said it was like comparing 1000 ladybugs, an albino tiger and a two-headed snake. Each one was very different and had different possibilities. All in all I realized I was less concerned with having a mid-century house (and boulders) and just wanted something architecturally significant with a great view. The views are really important to me as a landscape designer. As is having bonus space for my art studio. Originally that was a “nice to have” but it became a “must have”.
We drove into Palm Springs and mulled it over at the Ace Hotel. There were a lot of pros and cons. And we asked each other if we were crazy. But we pretty quickly decided to put in an offer on one of these places. Can you guess which one we picked?!
Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Joshua Tree House Hunting saga.
As the year comes to an end, it’s nice to look back. It has been a cray-cray year for me and I haven’t had the chance to sit back and reflect as much as I would like. Honestly, I have been kind of beating myself up that I haven’t made more time to blog this year. But looking back through all my posts I realize that I have written a lot (between all my blogs). I picked these 10 blog posts, not because they got the most likes or view, but because I liked them and thought they might be the most helpful to you.
For me, 2015 was a transitional year. I lost some friends and two grandparents. There were a number of family and friends that were very sick or dealing with difficult situations. I’m grateful that things are settling down. 2015 felt like the end of one era and 2016 will be the beginning of another. I’m really for this new year. Let’s make the next trip around the sun the best one ever.
XOXO
Way Way up in the Ancient Bristlecone National Forest
Exploring the Moorten Botanical Gardens, Palm Springs
Hungry for Plants at Flora Grubb Gardens, San Francisco
Highland Park (Figueroa St. corridor), Los Angeles 90042
Angelino Heights, Echo Park, 90026
Boyle Heights Neighborhood, Los Angeles 90033, 90063, 90023
Elysian Valley (AKA Frogtown), Los Angeles Neighborhood 90039
12 Awesome Outdoor Couches – 2015
Turf Free Backyard, Pasadena
8 Easy Ways to Improve your Curb Appeal
Joshua Tree can be a great place for people in NELA to have weekend homes. It’s a 2 hour drive from DTLA during the middle of the day or at night, when you can avoid traffic. A variety of mid century home can be found between $50k and $150K. And newer modern architectural homes between $200-350k+.
There is a cool, creative scene growing in the area. If you haven’t already seen it… read the recent Vogue article by Lilly Stockman.
Joshua Tree Village is right at the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. The landscape is stunning and other worldly. You kind of feel like you might be on Mars. It’s a place you can commune with the stars, hike, paint, write, and detox from social media. It’s the kind of place where you just might have time to listen to records, read books or write.
Jonathan and I love going out there and have decided we want to buy a weekend house in Joshua Tree. We have started spending more time out this year, Airbnb-ing places and house hunting.
A popular rental we came across driving down a dirt road.
A geodesic dome hidden in the boulders
We turned around a corner on a dirt road and found this supervillian house hidden in the boulders.
In Jtree high and low are mixed together. This house was made of three old train cars stacked next to each other.
A cute mid-century flip in Joshua Tree Village.
Joshua Trees up close
Another geodesic dome – Buckminster Fuller would approve.
This place looks pretty defendable.
Lots of mid-century homes that need some TLC.
It’s keeps getting more civilized out in Joshua Tree. You can do yoga, get coffee and order dish pizza on this block of the highway.
Crossroads Cafe is one of our favorites. Vegan friendly cafe. Try the spicy seitan tacos.
This was one of the properties we looked at just outside of Joshua Tree Village. I love the western stage set feel.
Checking out the backyard boulder situation.
A big part of my fantasy about having a house in Joshua Tree is having an art studio where I can work on collages and drawings in peace and quiet. Here I am checking out the garage/studio of a property. I liked this place but it was overpriced and needed a lot of work. We are going to go back in a October and look at more places. I’ll keep you posted.
