Understanding HPOZ - Historic Preservation Overlay Zones - in Northeast Los Angeles

The popularity and value of existing homes in Northeast Los Angeles is due to vintage neighborhoods and homes. It’s no accident: HPOZs promote that.

Homeowners who own - or have owned - classic or historic homes in Highland Park, Garvanza, Lincoln Heights and several other older neighborhoods have learned that renovating one of these homes isn’t a free for all. These neighborhoods are among the ever-growing list of neighborhoods that fall under the citywide HPOZ ordinance.

Investors in a home renovation in Highland Park, a 104-year old bungalow, found out a few things about Historic Preservation Overlay Zones (HPOZs) in 2012. After purchasing it to flip - cleaning it up and improving it overall - they were told the vinyl front door and window replacements were out of character from the home’s history.

This came from the board of the Highland Park-Garvanza Preservation Overlay Zone, which governs about 4,000 homes in the Northeast Los Angeles (NELA) neighborhoods. As is the case with the approximately 34 HPOZs throughout Los Angeles, the purpose is to protect neighborhoods with distinct architectural resources. Those resources can include everything from Victorian “painted ladies” to swank Mid-Century Moderns to humble two-bedroom cottages.

The Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ president explained to the The Eastersider LA news website that they are sympathetic to individual homeowners who unknowingly make changes without getting approvals. But in the case cited above, the renovators were professionals. “They should know better,” he said.

HPOZs exist in Lincoln Park, Hancock Park, Balboa Highlands, Vinegar Hill, and Pico-Union, among other places. NELA neighborhoods with homes for sale in Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, Mt. Washington, and Hermon are not yet subject to an HPOZ jurisdiction. But that can soon change.

The Highland Park-Garvanza HPOZ was the first to protect commercial buildings along with residential structures, which are rich in Queen Anne, Shingle, Craftsman, Mission Revival, and Tudor Revival homes. Homeowners in Highland Park are justifiably proud of the strong influence of the Arts and Crafts movement evident in its many Craftsman-style residences, a major draw in Highland Park real estate.

The Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources says HPOZ zones provide five advantages:

Increase in property values: Based on national research, homes in historic communities appreciate in value faster than those outside of such districts.

Control over inappropriate alterations: New construction, additions, and alterations need to be reviewed to protect individual buildings as well as neighborhood character.

Creation of community identity: Board members and other local residents are actively involved in defining the characteristics of history and architecture, which can lead to other organizing activities as well.

Tax reduction eligibility: Structures built during a neighborhood’s “predominant period of development” that have retained most of their historical features are eligible to receive substantial property tax savings under the Mills Act program.

Preservation advice/guidance: Knowledgeable board members often are able to provide technical expertise to homeowners, based on past experience with similar properties, and to suggest contractors and craftspeople with appropriate skills for repairs and updates.

The city advises that HPOZ designations do create some disadvantages for property owners, such as delays on major renovations that are subject to a 75-day review period (less so for minor modifications, which can move more quickly) - and some designs are rejected. The Office of Historic Resources advises that neighborhoods should seek an HPOZ for the purpose of preserving character and history, not simply as a tool to stop out-of-scale (“McMansion”) development. Few neighborhoods are perfectly intact from their origins, so replacement of unfortunate structures might be a positive move.

Unsure if historic preservation is what you want in a home? Speak with a reputable real estate agent with years of experience assisting people buying and selling new and restored homes in the Northeast Los Angeles region.

The Importance of Your Home’s Online Presence

Online listings are essential to modern real estate marketing, but many sellers make mistakes. In Northeast LA, these tips are essential for home sellers.

The Internet has transformed the real estate industry and the tools are getting better by the year. Once upon a time home hunters peered over listings in newspapers, posted in the windows of real estate offices, or paged through listing books in realtor offices. Where did people find the time?

Today a homebuyer and a home seller will meet in a way akin to Internet dating. It’s infinitely faster than the analog methods and also a time-saver in that it eliminates unlikely showings. That is, if the online presence of the listing is done smartly and honestly.

Smart and honest are two sides of the same coin. It’s important to be realistic about what a home looks like, but not necessary to highlight some of its lesser features (again, the online dating metaphor works: no one posts pictures that zero in on a skin blemish, or what their hair looks like after waking up, or before the 15 pound weight loss). At the same time, over-selling a house before the first visit can backfire: for example, the use of a wide-angle camera lens to make a small room look bigger is a recipe for disappointment.

Another advantage of online advertising of a home for sale is it has fewer limits, particularly where it comes to photography. You can show every room in the house, plus the exterior (front, back and sides), as well as the neighborhood. This works for attracting people from out of town – émigrés to Southern California are reading about NELA, Northeast LA, so they naturally would like to see how it compares to other areas.

Mt. Washington real estate in particular, as well as Highland Park homes, have been two high-demand areas - red hot markets - that have benefitted tremendously from online listings. A listing for Highland Park, for example, might include pictures of specialty retail and restaurants on York and Eagle Rock Boulevards to get a sense of what they might do on weekends. Sellers in Mt. Washington might want to show off its green, quiet overlook roads and the laid-back character of its windy mountain streets and panoramic views.

But a seller can confer with their realtor to make sure the online ad is a good digital version of what is called “curb appeal” (the first impression a buyer has upon pulling up in front of the property). Here are some things to boost interest through the online ad:

Photo magic - Unless you are versed in the basics of photography and have a design sense, you should leave this job to the professionals. The property should be cleaned of clutter, with angles and lighting that complement its best features. It’s quite remarkable how many FSBO (for sale by owner) listings do this amateurishly.

Online ads are more than photos - The copy helps sell the property too, once it’s gone through the search filters and has managed to grab the buyer’s attention. Headlines are of utmost importance. The job a headline is to deliver a benefit (e.g., views), something not available everywhere (e.g., in four directions) with a touch of intrigue (e.g., a mix of city and country): “Views in every direction, looking at downtown and a nature preserve.” The reader is given a mental image that should get them to read further into the listing.

The rest of the copy should sell a lifestyle as much as X number of bedrooms. Describe the physical property, but weave in the story about what it’s like to entertain there in the summer or at the holidays, the kind of neighborhood it’s in, and if it’s a quiet place to sleep – or a wonderfully urban neighborhood full of vitality and things to do: “This is the kind of bungalow that defines Glassell Park (or Garvanza, Hermon or Highland Park...).”

The 15 words that sell - Thanks to data analytics, Zillow has identified 15 words that increase the sale price. They specifically looked at lower-tier priced homes and found these words were most associated with higher closing prices (listed from most to least): luxurious, captivating, impeccable, stainless, basketball (meaning recreation nearby), landscaped, granite, pergola, remodel, beautiful, gentle, spotless, tile, upgraded and updated.

To be clear, only words that actually apply to the property should be used. The online ad is step one of the process, and therefore needs to be truthful while compelling.