Walled Streets : Security-Conscious Home Buyers Make Gated Communities the Hottest Trend in Upscale Housing Market

Having a large house with a three-car garage, an Olympic-size swimming pool or a Jacuzzi is not enough these days to put a San Fernando Valley homeowner on the cutting edge of the upscale housing market, real estate experts say.

The new hot trend is living behind bars--in the form of gates and fences.

Among those who can afford it, gated communities are the most popular housing phenomenon in the Valley since back-yard tennis courts, developers and real-estate agents say.

Although Los Angeles planning and public works officials said no exact figures on the number of gated communities are available, experts estimated the number at more than 200 in the Valley.

“Living in a guard-gated community is the new status symbol,” said Temmy Walker, president of James R. Gary Ltd., a real estate firm. “It used to be that you were ‘in’ if you lived in West Los Angeles. Then the symbol changed to living south of Ventura Boulevard. Now it’s living in a gate-guarded community.”

The popularity of gated communities has grown so much in the past five years that new housing developments with only seven houses are putting up gates and guards, experts say. And the trend is expected to continue. Even some residents living in older communities with aging houses are thinking about putting walls around their neighborhoods, saying it would increase their property values, experts say.

The majority of new development in growing areas such as Calabasas is behind gates and fences, said Sue Harned, an owner-broker with Park Plaza Realty.

“Gated communities have an added prestige,” Harned said. “Nothing is being built under $650,000, and the homes are large. But for people to spend that much money, you have to offer them something more than just a nice home.”

One reason for the boom is the desire of affluent residents to feel secure. In most gated communities, only residents and employees of residents, such as landscapers or maids, are allowed within the fences, which are watched by round-the-clock guards. The streets are private, and there are many common recreational facilities such as swimming pools, playgrounds and meeting halls.

Unexpected guests of residents within gated communities cannot drop in for a spontaneous visit without checking in with a security guard, who calls ahead to see if the resident is home and ready to receive company. Some communities have computerized lists of permanent guests who can be let in and out without having to check in each time.

However, some experts say the gates and fences do not offer true security. Also, most of the communities are in remote areas with low crime rates.

“It’s mainly the appearance of security that people are buying,” said Karen Conlon, director of community relations for Shapell Industries, which is building several gated communities near Porter Ranch and Thousand Oaks.

“It’s a marketing device,” she said. “They feel that if their children go down a street to visit a friend, they won’t get kidnaped by some stranger. The gate and that wall give them that secure feeling. And the more secure looking, the better it is.”

Although status and security are the prominent reasons cited for the trend, some experts say that living in a house behind a gate can increase property value. “It could bring a house’s value up by as much as 50%,” Walker said.

A case in point, industry representatives say, is Running Springs, a four-year-old development of about 50 houses on Tampa Avenue south of Devonshire Boulevard.

In an area dominated by tract houses that sold for about $500,000 each a few years ago, the Running Springs development was transformed into a more prestigious and exclusive neighborhood with the addition of gates and a security guard.

“They made it an exclusive pocket,” Walker said. “People who live in those areas already want to be in a high-priced neighborhood, so there is the added incentive of being in an exclusive, high-priced neighborhood. Why spend that much money on a house if there’s nothing to separate it from the others?”

Houses in Running Springs are selling for between $1.1 million and $1.4 million, according to members of the Running Springs homeowner association.

Opinions differ, however, on whether living in a gated community can increase a house’s value.

Conlon said houses within gated communities are more valuable. “We’re not able to put a dollar value on how much more the houses are worth, but there is a definite property enhancement,” she said.

But Gary Blackmon, a real estate appraiser who lives in the ungated community of Sherwood Forest in Northridge, isn’t so sure. He said several residents in the neighborhood--bordered by Balboa Boulevard, Lindley Avenue, and Parthenia and Nordhoff streets--want to turn it into a gated community.

“It’s an old area, and many people are under the assumption that it would raise property values, as well as prestige,” he said. “I’m just not sure if values would change that much. Plus, all that might be offset by the money we would have to pay in dues to maintain the community.”

Joe Pifko, sales manager for Hidden Hills Country Estates, a gated community that will be part of Hidden Hills, said, “The perception is that it makes a property more expensive, but I’m not sure about that.

“When it comes down to it, these houses would be just as expensive without the gates,” Pifko said. He said houses in Hidden Hills Country Estates in Woodland Hills should sell for about $3.9 million. “We would have charged that price without the gate.”

And Menina Gemper, who has lived in Monteria Estates in Northridge for 12 years, said her house, which she is trying to sell for $5 million, would have that price tag even if there were no gates.

“It doesn’t make any difference,” she said. “I mean, the gate is nice to have. But it really doesn’t add to the value.”

The growth in popularity of the gated community is tied to the marketplace, said John Krygelski, director of marketing for ASL Financial, builders of Running Springs and another nearby gated community under construction, Ridge Gate in Northridge. “If you spend a weekend in our sales office, it’s easy to hear that people really put a priority on security, so there’s a great market for gated communities now,” he said.

“People like to live in a place where they are comfortable, where parents can let the kids ride their bikes without worrying about traffic,” Krygelski said.

Most have names that conjure up images of grandeur and exclusivity --Vista Point and Calabasas Country in Calabasas, Monteria Estates in Chatsworth, Westchester Estates in Woodland Hills, Westlake Island in Westlake.

The communities are usually overseen and operated by a homeowner association, which can establish strict rules on the number of guests allowed inside, the kind of architecture and the amount of landscaping. Individual households pay dues to finance the maintainence and amenities of the community, such as swimming pools and recreational facilities.

Membership in such organizations can be expensive. Just paying for a security system with two round-the-clock guards can cost a homeowner association about $100,000 a year, residents say.

It is difficult to pinpoint what kicked off the trend toward gated communities. Some developers and real estate agents cite Fremont Place in Los Angeles near Hancock Park as among the first.

But the increasing power of suburban homeowner associations in recent years has led to the proliferation of gated communities, some experts say. The associations are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of their neighborhoods, and having a community behind a wall gives them more control.

“When non-members of a homeowner association come into a community, there might be problems with vandalism or crime,” Conlon said. “By having a community behind a gate, the organization is able to . . . maintain the desired control.”

Hidden Hills was one of the first gated communities in the San Fernando Valley. The area, which is home to 2,000 people, has two entrances that are gated and guarded.

It was incorporated in 1961 as a city to retain the area’s rural and equestrian life style and to fight a planned extension of Burbank Boulevard through the community, city administrators say. The minimum size of a lot is an acre, and the structures vary from one-story ranch houses to large hillside mansions.

Norman Spieler, a certified public accountant, his wife, Marsha, and their children moved in May to a ranch-style house in Hidden Hills. Spieler said he loves the fact that he can keep and ride his two horses in the community.

“To us, having security was an issue, but it was not a major issue,” he said. “We want to have property and room for the horses. And we wanted a ranch-style house.”

Marsha Spieler said she cherishes the privacy. She had grown tired of an onslaught of house-browsers cruising past her former house in a fashionable neighborhood of Calabasas.

The street in front of Spieler’s house is quiet and almost void of traffic. Casual house-browsers are nowhere to be found. They are not allowed past the 24-hour security gate that separates Hidden Hills from the rest of the area.

“I know people like to do that--drive in nice neighborhoods and look at the houses, but I didn’t want that,” she said. “That was important. I didn’t want the children playing in the street where there was a lot of traffic. Plus, it’s a lot quieter and much, much safer.”

The only reminder of the outside world is the incessant low roar of the Ventura Freeway less than a block from the entrance of the community. Few cars are visible on the street, even during the day.

Because it is an incorporated city, Hidden Hills can be entered by non-residents wishing to visit the community’s City Hall or other administration buildings.

Living behind a gate doesn’t mean letting down your guard, said Ron Friedman, who got a scare on Halloween that had nothing to do with ghosts or goblins.

Friedman, a certified public accountant who lives in Running Springs in Northridge, said two teen-agers scaled the wall and tried to sell crack cocaine to younger children. The children ran home to tell their parents, who notified the guard, but the teen-agers escaped over the wall before they could be caught.

The incident was a reminder to Friedman on why he values living behind a gate.

“There’s lots of drugs going on out there, and I really want my children to be separated from that,” he said. “It’s important for a family to have that good, safe feeling. Even though that episode happened with the drugs, the kids are still safer in here.”