Santa Clarita - 'The City of New'

I do the majority of my business in the Santa Clarita Valley. It's where I've lived for almost two decades so I know it well. I do help clients in the San Fernando Valley, and I know the regulations that are different from here, but I don't know the town, as much as I should, to call myself a specialist there.

Santa Clarita has been around for many years, constantly growing and changing. We have homes that are over 50 years old and then, reason for this blog post, many, many homes that are less than ten years old.

So, I nick-named SCV the 'City of New' quite some time ago and I still frequently call it that. 

Everyone loves the shiny new car, the new dress, the new shoes, the new fish in their aquarium (for Mike), the new golf clubs. And, I've found that most buyers, shopping for homes in SCV, like newer houses better than older homes.

Now, I'm not saying people don't like the charm of older homes, with mature trees and frequently bigger lots. I am only telling you what I've seen over the last decade of selling homes here in SCV.  Because SCV has many newer homes, that seems to be what the clients gravitate toward. And, really, for a while, we had a lot of new construction going on which made the kitty of newer homes larger.

There is less to do with newer homes, less to repair, less carpet that needs to be changed, less tile that needs to be replaced with granite, less single paned windows that need to be changed to dual-paned, less galvanized plumbing that should probably be switched to copper.

The newer homes are like the shiny new toy for your childs' birthday!

The reason I bring this to your attention is just to think about my favorite thing, re-sale. While you are buying a home that has had a lot of upgrades, over the last 30-40 years and the trees are nice and big and shady? It's still an older home. And, when you have the competition of all the new ones, it does make that home a tad harder to sell.

There is a buyer for every home, absolutely. But, when buying and selling homes in the City of New, I see that the buyers are entranced more with shiny and new than shady and older.

Me? I want a nice big rambling old single story on a few acres with lots of big shady trees. But, I'm not one that always goes with the majority. ;o)