Community of Los Angeles

A Short History of Los Angeles Real Estate   The value of Los Angeles real estate has been apparent since the earliest explorers to the area claimed it for the Spanish throne, calling it The City of God. In 1769, Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi predicted a large settlement would one day inhabit the site. Two years later, with the establishment of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, located just a few miles south of present day Pasadena, a growth process began that spread further south. In 1777 the Governor of California recommended to the Viceroy of Spain that a pueblo be developed on the site mentioned by Father Crespi. In 1781 "The Town of Our Lady of the Angels" was established by 44 settlers of Filipino, Native American, African and Spanish ancestry forming the beginnings of the alpha world city now known as Los Angeles. Equally diverse today, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to almost 9 million people of all races, cultures and creeds which greatly add to the strength of this truly global city.   Alta California was ceded to the United States government in the 1848 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American war and the "Town of Our Lady of the Angels" continued to grow. Since the cities incorporation in 1850 Los Angeles real estate values have been the foundation of economic and industrial growth, first as ranch land and following the development of the railroads and the division of the vast Spanish land grant ranchos, as citrus farms, resort communities and residential subdivisions that encouraged investment and an increase in real estate values. By the end of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, city construction projects such as the Port of Los Angeles at San Pedro, the electric streetcar system and the Los Angeles Aqueduct which brought in much needed water to the expanding city, helped values to rise strongly as well. Westward development toward the ocean in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica as well as the creation of new towns in the San Fernando valley and the eastern San Gabriel valley surrounding the fashionable city of Pasadena created more niches for investors and new homeowners pouring into sunny California from the east and mid-west in search of the much publicized "golden lifestyle." The continual growth of manufacturing as well as the successful development of the Hollywood film industry only added to the available job market and need for housing.   Despite occasional setbacks brought on by nature, occasional periods of over speculation, the great Depression and World War II, the Los Angeles metropolitan area has been a haven for real estate investment. For those who believe in the value of real estate there is never a bad time to buy, but there are incredible rewards for those wise enough to buy when prices are low. The continual growth of business, the increasing job market Southern California has repeatedly known as well as the expanding focus of people who recognize this from all over the world gives one cause to consider the possibilities.