Three miles apart, two completely different conversations. Why the Valley-wide number is the least useful number you can read.
July 2026 · Anita Rich
Every quarter someone publishes a Valley median and every quarter it tells you almost nothing about your house. Studio City and Valley Village sit minutes apart and behave like different cities: different buyer, different price band, different amount of patience.
A Valley-wide figure blends all of that into one number that describes no one's home.
Micro-location does most of the work. South of the boulevard versus north. Flat lot versus hillside. A quiet interior street versus a through street. Then condition, then timing, and only then anything you would read in a headline.
When I price a house I am looking at the nearest genuinely comparable closed sales — including the expired and withdrawn listings, which tell you where the ceiling actually was.
Ask three questions of every comp you are shown. Did it close, or is it still asking? How long did it sit before it went into escrow? And what did it look like when buyers walked in? A closed sale that took ninety days and one price cut is a very different data point than a closed sale that took nine days.
If you own in Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Encino or Valley Village and you want to know what your specific street has done, ask. I have watched most of these blocks turn over more than once.
Written by Anita Rich, licensed in California since 1980 and a broker since 2004. If you want this read applied to your own address, ask.
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