And while local sellers note an up-tick in multiple bids, interest rates continue to hover at basement lows and the local market continues to show greater stability than that of the overall Southland region, sales remain sluggish for higher-end homes.

“Right now inventory is low and demand is huge…for homes below the $500,000 mark. I’m seeing them move very quickly, oftentimes with multiple offers and final amounts higher than the initial listed prices,” said realtor Matthew Morgus of Keller Williams Realty in Los Feliz. However, “once you hit the $1-million-and-over price points, the market goes down after that.”

Overall June sales in Los Feliz rose 5% over June 2009 while the median sales price for a single family home, at $684,866, represents a 4.9% increase over the previous quarter, according to Trulia.com, which compiles statistics from area brokers and agents and the local Multiple Listing Service.

The average listing price in Los Feliz was $1,225,792 and the average price per square foot was $389. The median price for a single-family house in the Hollywood Hills came in at $967,500 in June, up 22.4% from a year ago. The average listing price on Trulia.com for homes in Hollywood Hills was $2,159,139, as the average price per square foot was $560 in the first quarter.

In Silver Lake/Echo Park, June sales were down 1.3% over the same period last year, while the single-family median was $525,000, up 21.2%, or $92,000, from the first quarter and down 3.7% from June 2009. The average price per square foot for homes in Silver Lake was $395.

Coldwell Banker realtor Ken Winick, who’s sold homes in Los Feliz, Hollywood Hills and Silver Lake/Echo Park areas for over 20 years, notes the average Los Feliz price, of about $1.2-million, is only slightly off from the $1.3-million listing in 2007, just before the brunt of the economic downturn.

Clearly, he said, the market, “held its own” and has proved comparatively stable over the last couple of years.

“Serious buyers,” said Winick, “are out there in full force on any given Sunday.”

Both Winick and Morgus suggest the tendency of sellers to over-price their $1-million-plus homes has kept Los Feliz and its neighboring areas from a faster market recovery.

Renee Kische, also a Keller Williams realtor, suspects the market has also been slowed by tighter lending practices, now requiring would-be borrowers to present larger sums for collateral, even if they have high-paying positions and are more than able to cover their mortgage payments.

In the Los Feliz, Silver Lake/Echo Park and Hollywood Hills neighborhoods in particular, where many residents are high achievers but nonetheless self-employed, “you look at the debt-income ratio and taxes that are so high, you can’t qualify for a loan.”

Kische—who recently launched www.AccessHollywoodRealEstate.com, an interactive online video guide—said buyers who refuse to give up their ownership dreams may need to revisit more traditional investment practices, like socking away a little more money for their home nest eggs.

“It’s basic economics,” she said.

Under the leadership of longtime Silver Lake resident Bill Watanabe—Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center of Los Angeles and recent recipient of a National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) Award—the first national Asian Pacific Islander American/National Trust for Historic Preservation Forum was held in San Francisco in June.

The three keynote speakers were Silver Lake resident Dr. Sue Fawn Chung, an Advisor Emeritus of the NTHP; Irene Hirano Inouye, President of the U.S.-Japan Council of Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, wife of U.S. Senator Inouye, and NTHP Board of Trustees member; and Anthony Marion Babauta, Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, Dept. of the Interior.

The purpose of the forum was to mobilize Asian American communities to participate in the preservation movement of protecting significant buildings, the built environment, archaeological sites and to engage young people in Asian American preservation.

Approximately 200 people participated in the forum. Historic sites are generally listed on the state and national registers, but according to Elaine Jackson-Rotondo of the National Park Service, only 3 percent of the sites on the national register represent minority locations and of this figure, less than 3 percent are Asian-American.

Among the Silver Lake sites for consideration is the former home of the late architect, Eugene Choy.

Watanabe will again chair the steering committee that will plan the 2012 forum, tentatively scheduled to be held in Los Angeles.

90026 Condominimums

1707 MICHELTORENA ST 302 $395,000
850 LUCILE AVE 14 385,000
872 LUCILE AVE A 365,000
1707 MICHELTORENA ST 314 315,000

90026 Single Family Homes

1322 MICHELTORENA ST $885,000
1540 N BENTON WAY 765,000
1419 ANGELUS AVE 750,000
1319 N OCCIDENTAL BLVD 610,000
1654 MICHELTORENA ST 550,000
1706 MORTON AVE 521,000
1447 AVON TER 471,000
3123 BERKELEY AVE 428,000
1443 CALUMET AVE 411,000
1475 WALLACE AVE 390,000
2167 VESTAL AVE 390,000
227 LAKE SHORE TER 295,000
442 PARKMAN AVE 270,000
2211 MONTANA ST 256,000
132 N WESTLAKE AVE 194,000

90027 Condominiums

5125            HAROLD WAY 103            $190,000

90027 Single Family Homes

2221 N CATALINA ST $2,499,000
4046 CROMWELL AVE 2,290,000
2131 CEDARHURST DR 1,450,000
3710 LOWRY RD 1,245,000
3327 TICA DR 1,130,000
2020 N HOOVER ST 863,500
4543 AVOCADO ST 851,000
4237 LOS NIETOS DR 850,000
4020 WOKING WAY 800,000
3133 ETTRICK ST 708,000
4230 NEWDALE DR 575,000
1853 N MARIPOSA AVE 530,000

90039 Condominimums

2018 GRIFFITH PARK BLVD 103 $390,000
2354 FLETCHER DR 113 175,000

90039 Single Family Homes

MEADOW VALLEY TER $900,000
2112 PANORAMA TER 882,500
2081 ARMSTRONG AVE 791,500
3200 BRIER AVE 740,000
2340 LAKE SHORE AVE 732,000
2252 SILVER RIDGE AVE 695,000
2209 GLENHURST AVE 670,000
3461 GRIFFITH PARK BLVD 660,000
3710 EDENHURST AVE 552,000
3048 LAKE SHORE AVE 505,000
3437 GARDENSIDE LN 425,000
3235 FINCH ST 420,000
2971 LAKE SHORE AVE 419,000
2615 HOLLYDALE DR 415,000
2440 LA CLEDE AVE 342,000
2203 LOMA VISTA PL 200,000

90036 Condominiums

2020 HOLLY DR 12 $480,000
2020 HOLLY DR 3 470,000
2020 HOLLY DR 10 469,000
2020 HOLLY DR 4 460,000
2020 HOLLY DR 8 455,000
2020 HOLLY DR 13 455,000
2020 HOLLY DR 9 450,000
6752 HILLPARK DR 304 331,500
2700 CAHUENGA BLVD E 3103 239,000
1929 TAMARIND AVE 9 216,000

90068 Single Family Homes

3035 BECKMAN RD $3,100,000
5761 VALLEY OAK DR 1,775,000
6755 WEDGEWOOD PL 1,320,000
2676 HOLLYRIDGE DR 985,000
2338 BRONSON HILL DR 875,000
2314 CANYON DR 810,000
2100 IVAR AVE 755,000
6871 SUNNY CV 698,000
3125 LAKE HOLLYWOOD DR 630,000
6764 MILNER RD 619,000
7200 SUNNYDIP TRL 600,000
2909 PARK CENTER DR 500,500
2306 HOLLY DR 455,000

Sales are from the previous month.  Source: Great American Real Estate Solutions

Although our clothes always seem so squeaky clean after a visit to the dry cleaners, most dry cleaning is ironically done using a toxic chemical. Perchloroethylene (or perc, for short) is a synthetic, volatile organic compound (VOC) that is still used as a solvent by most dry cleaners in the U.S.

Perc has been found to cause dizziness, headaches, nausea, skin, respiratory irritation, and possibly liver and kidney damage and cancer. It also finds its way into the air, water and soil during the disposal of dry cleaning waste.

California has committed to phasing out perc by 2018. But for the next 8 years, it’s worth searching for a dry cleaner with green practices, ideally one that uses liquid carbon dioxide instead of perc, since this method does not use harmful chemicals. One local dry cleaner, Holly Hills Dry Cleaning and Laundry in Hollywood (www.hollyhillsdrycleaning.com) switched to liquid CO2 three years ago.

“Many of our customers were worried about perc and wanted greener cleaning. We also provide re-usable dry cleaning bags to customers to use instead of plastic bags,” said customer service representative Daniel Miranda.

Fortunately, many dry cleaners are adopting a similar organic approach, meaning that our clothes can actually come home squeaky and “clean.”

Sustainable Saturdays at Silver Lake Library

Solar Electricity for Your Home or Business

Discussion and “Q and A” by Matt Moses of Mimeos Sustainability Consultants

Sat. Aug. 7th, 11 a.m. Free. RSVP at www.sustainablesilverlake.org or call (323) 913-7453.