Victoria & Michael of Compass Report Rising Sales of Los Angeles Homes Held by One Family for Half a Century

The Hollywood based team has represented homes held 46 to 51 years across Los Feliz and Encino, and shares what selling a long held home actually involves

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A generational turnover is quietly underway in Los Angeles. Across the city's older neighborhoods, homes are reaching the market for the first time in decades as longtime owners downsize and family estates change hands. Victoria & Michael, a Compass real estate team based in Hollywood, report that these sales have become a defining part of their practice. Recent representations include 2235 North Catalina in Los Feliz, held by one family for 51 years, 5712 Spring Oak Drive in the Los Feliz Oaks, held 47 years, and 5050 Andasol Avenue in Encino, held 47 years, with ownership periods confirmed through public records. The team's current listing at 5231 Franklin Avenue in Los Feliz is offered for the first time in 51 years.

According to the team, a home held for half a century sells differently than any other property. Permits from past work were often recorded on paper slips, and confirming them can mean searching boxes in person at the Los Angeles Hall of Records, sometimes without success. Garage conversions completed decades before accessory dwelling units were common were rarely permitted at all. In one sale, an addition built before the sellers had even purchased the home, more than 50 years earlier, could not be documented and ultimately cost the family over $200,000 in price reductions. Sewer lines, water heaters and HVAC systems are usually at the end of their lives, and clearing a lifetime of belongings is its own project. One recent cleanout filled roughly 20 trucks.

The surprises run in the other direction too. The team finds that owners who stayed in one home for decades often maintained it carefully, fixing problems as they appeared. Pulling up 1970s carpet regularly reveals original hardwood floors in remarkable condition, flooring that is difficult to find in newer inventory.

The harder work, they say, is rarely the house. It is the family. Victoria & Michael will not take a listing until every decision maker, including siblings, trustees and attorneys, has met together, and they have found that sales run most smoothly when one person, ideally a trustee from outside the family, holds decision authority. Once relatives have removed what they want to keep, the team coordinates the estate sale, donations and cleanout, then manages painting, staging and landscaping, the three investments they find return the most. Preparing a long held home for market typically takes six to eight weeks.

A recent trust sale illustrates the stakes. The home had been in one family for 51 years and was filled to the rafters, and developers were offering $2,400,000 as is. The team believed the single story mid-century would draw owner-occupants if it was presented properly. After considerable discussion, the family agreed to invest about $50,000 in preparation. The home was listed at $2,750,000, drew 22 offers, and closed at $3,440,000, which was $1,040,000 more than the developer offers on the table.

"Families in this position need compassion more than anything, and they rarely know to ask for it," said Victoria Massengale, Principal and Estate Director of Victoria & Michael. "Whether the owner is downsizing or has passed away, there is an enormous amount wrapped up in these houses. They are lives lived, not just properties. Our job is to take everything off their plate, and to take care of the human being as well as the home."

"A wise friend once asked me whether I wanted to renovate my own home or restore it, and that question changed how I look at every house we represent," said Michael Maguire, Principal and Estate Director, who is restoring a 1920s home in Los Feliz. "A home that has stayed in one family carries a sense of place that buyers may not be able to explain, but they can feel it. The most useful thing a family can do before selling is archive the history: old photographs, blueprints, records of work. New owners want to be part of the next chapter."

The team encourages longtime owners to plan while the choices are still theirs to make: meet with a trust attorney and accountant early, since estate structures cannot be changed after an owner's death, and begin passing along belongings to the people meant to have them. The mistakes they see most often are hiring contractors before consulting an agent, accepting a first off-market offer from a neighbor or developer, and leaving a home to sit for years, where deterioration erodes value. In one case, sellers spent over $100,000 modernizing the kitchen and bathrooms of a 1920s Spanish home before calling an agent, stripping the character buyers wanted, and netted less than a light refresh would have returned.

"We were selling a family home of 42 years and wanted the best to help us through unfamiliar waters," said Stephen and Deborah Wyle, who sold their home with the team. "They knowledgeably and kindly guided us through staging, pricing and strategy, and their presence at every showing brought the house to life. When our older home hit difficult permit challenges midway through the sale, they resolved them. Victoria and Michael exceeded their reputation."

At the closing of one recent estate sale, the trustee told the team the house had felt heavy for years, and that the process had brought life back into it. Families preparing to sell a long held Los Angeles home can learn more at https://victoriaandmichael.net.

About Victoria & Michael

Victoria & Michael is a Los Angeles residential real estate team at Compass led by Victoria Massengale (CA DRE 01397097) and Michael Maguire (CA DRE 01762981), serving Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood Hills East, Hancock Park, Beverly Hills and surrounding neighborhoods. Founding agents of Compass in Los Angeles and of the Compass Sports & Entertainment Division, the team brings more than four decades of combined experience, over $600 million in total sales, and has been consistently named to the Wall Street Journal RealTrends top 1 percent of agents nationally.

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Victoria & Michael
6430 Sunset Blvd, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90028
+1 323-640-2924
victoriaandmichael@compass.com
https://victoriaandmichael.net
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