Ashgrove & Co. · Letters No. XLIV to XLVII
The Ashgrove Letter.
On the estates of old Pasadena, one letter at a time. Four or five a year, on the houses of Pasadena, San Marino, La Cañada Flintridge and Sierra Madre, and what the county file says about them.
How an estate is priced when there are no comparables
A house that last sold in 1987 has no comparable in the ordinary sense. It is priced from the land, the cost to build it again, and what the last three buyers of its kind actually paid, in that order.
Read the letter →XLVIPasadena · August 20, 2026The 1928 Wallace Neff on Oak Knoll, and what the county file said
The listing said Neff. The family said Neff. The county file said something more interesting, and it changed the price by a figure I will not print but the seller was pleased with.
Read the letter →XLVSan Marino · August 8, 2026Selling a house that has been in the family since 1961
Sixty-five years, four generations, one sale. The practical steps, in the order they should happen, from someone who has done this with forty families.
Read the letter →XLIVSan Marino · July 15, 2026San Marino’s second quarter, in six closings
Six houses over four million closed in San Marino between April and June. Four of them were ours. Here is what each one said about the market, which is more useful than an average.
Read the letter →By town
Receive the letters.
A letter when there is something worth a letter. No market updates for their own sake.