Gays Becoming Hot Property in Santa Ana

In the Historic French Park District here, a handful of turn-of-the-century houses grace a mile-square area.

Because of overcrowding and absentee landlords, however, many of those stately homes are not aging well.

To counter that, the homeowners association is recruiting a particular group of potential residents: gays and lesbians.

French Park is one of six Santa Ana neighborhoods that sent representatives to the summer’s Gay Pride Festival in Irvine.

“We know from past experience with West Hollywood that the gay community totally revived the old homes there,” said Debbie McEwen, president of the Historic French Park homeowners association. “They’re double income, no kids. They don’t tax the system.”

McEwen said the booth she set up at the Gay Pride Festival was intended to encourage gays and lesbians to view French Park as friendly. “Whether we sell one house because of it, we won’t know,” she said.

McEwen said she got the idea from a newspaper story about the Azalea Park section of San Diego, which is marketing itself to gays and lesbians.

Azalea Park was showing typical signs of neglect: broken windows, peeling paint, dead grass. Landlords are often absentee. The neighborhood has had tremendous success attracting potential home buyers, said Vicki Davis, who is leading the effort.

In two months, Davis said, about 200 gays took Azalea Park van tours organized by the local homeowners association. Three houses were rented as a direct result, one was purchased and another is in escrow, she said.

Some older residents are upset by the prospect of having gay or lesbian neighbors, Davis said, “but most people have been nice. If you’re trying to sell a house in this market and somebody’s bringing in 20 to 30 potential buyers, you’re going to be nice.”

Davis and her associates have been actively seeking gay and lesbian neighbors by introducing themselves at a local gay pride parade and festival, then making follow-up phone calls.

In Santa Ana, meanwhile, McEwen is relying on word of mouth, but other homeowner associations are seeking out real estate agents who work with gay and lesbians clients.

Representatives of the Floral Park, Victoria-Heliotrope, French Court and Wilshire Square areas of Santa Ana have all talked with Reid Realty in Lake Forest.

“They know (gays and lesbians) take care of their homes,” said Brad Luke of Reid Realty. “And they wanted us to help them know how to go about attracting them.”