Buying a Home in Mar Vista

Buying a home in Mar Vista is usually a decision made after Venice. Buyers want the Westside lifestyle, add up the boardwalk crowds and the parking war, and start looking inland.

What they find is 2.9 square miles on the bluff between Venice and the 405, with bigger lots than the neighbors, stronger residential character, and original mid-century single-family stock. The name means view of the sea, and from the high ground around Mar Vista Hill you can actually see it.

The trade is honest and worth saying out loud. You aren't walking to the sand. Against Culver City you also give up a walkable downtown and newer construction, and you get bigger lots and more original character in return.

Mostly original mid-century single-family homes on lots that are genuinely larger than what you find in the surrounding neighborhoods, with less new development than Culver City.

The high ground around Mar Vista Hill carries the views the neighborhood is named for and prices accordingly. Down the slope you're buying lot size and character rather than outlook.

Because the stock is largely original, the real variable is what has been done to it. A thoughtful renovation and a flip that covered problems rather than fixing them can look similar in photographs. Decades around a contracting business taught me what to look for, so on the walkthrough I'm looking at the roof, the panel, the drainage, and anywhere old work meets new.