Not to be confused with the Brentwood in Northern California, Brentwood is a prestigious community located north of Santa Monica and only minutes from the ocean, where home prices are in the upper ranges, and continuing to climb.

"The prestigious community of Brentwood (pop. 13,212) in Southern California offers easy access to the freeways, and featuring the J. Paul Getty Museum, Brentwood is a highly desirable neighborhood," says Realtor Anthony P. Marguleas. "A mixture of families and upwardly-mobile singles, Brentwood offers beautiful homes and equally striking condominiums. Shopping, restaurants, parks, and the best schools in California are all perks of living in Brentwood. Home prices range from $600,000 up to $11 million."

Explains Marguleas, "Brentwood, zip code 90049, has seen an average price appreciation of 10-12 percent for the past 4 years. If a home is priced well, we are still seeing multiple offers and sometimes even over the asking price. Now there are 114 homes available. Low interest rates seem to be fueling this hot market. Entry-level homes from $600,000 to $900,000 are still selling very quickly due to the large number of buyers who want to live in Brentwood. The higher end price range of $1 million and up has been hit harder. This is especially true in the upper end range of $3-$10 million."

Realtor Laura Zajdman says, "Brentwood is a tiny upscale community located north of Santa Monica and on the westside of Los Angeles. Comprised of houses, restaurants and a few businesses, this area is a highly desired residential suburb. Brentwood real estate values have always maintained a steady increase due to the exclusivity of the neighborhood."

"The median price of existing homes in California in September increased 17.3 percent and sales rose 3.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago," says Zajdman. "Over the long haul, real estate has proven to be a pretty good investment. On average, house prices increased by a compound annual rate of 5.6 percent over the past 25 years, according to statistics from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. But recently, the performance has been much better: U.S. house prices increased an average of 7.4 percent during 2001."

"With many buyers wanting to live in Brentwood, there are very few homes available and we have seen home price appreciating very quickly," says Realtor Dan Urbach. "This past month we saw 34 homes sell with an average price of $1,248,691 and an average days on market of 110. With condos we saw 25 condos sell for an average sales price of $416,400 and an average days on market of 55."