By Mary O’KEEFE

The Crescenta Valley and La Cañada are communities known for their unique location, high quality schools and neighborhood spirit. These are qualities well known by Kobeissi Properties owners Mike and Sandy Kobeissi, and they reflect that spirit in the ways they approach both their clients and their agents.

On Friday at their Client Appreciation Night, the Kobeissis expressed their thanks to those who have worked so hard to support them and to introduce their philosophies of community, pride and support to those who may not know their company well.

Kobeissi Properties was established over five years ago, although Mike Kobeissi has been in real estate for over 25 years.

“Every year [for the past five years] we have held this event to show that we appreciate our agents and clients. We also wanted our agents to invite another agent so they can see how Kobeissi Properties differs from the rest,” Sandy said.

Several real estate agents outside the Kobeissi company attended the event, which helps the agency to grow and to get the word out about their business.

“We just really want to show [agents and clients] that we are like a family, not just a regular real estate company,” Sandy said. “It is never a competition among agents. We share our properties and listings with each other. We go above and beyond when it comes to prestige and service.”

Sandy brings that sense of community to her business as well as to events.

“I was born and raised in the Montrose and La Crescenta areas,” she said. “I love this [community].”

Real estate has always fluctuated between buyers’ markets to sellers back to buyers and, with the recent economy woes, home prices in the area, like the rest of the country, were hit hard. Now that has changed and the signs of a stronger economy are evident in the housing market.

“The market is crazy right now. Homes are getting multiple offers and they are selling higher than usual,” she said. “It is a sellers’ market right now.”

In fact, Mike recently sold a home in La Crescenta for over $2 million.

“The neighborhoods we live in are very quiet, you don’t have to worry about congestion,” she said. “I think that is the advantage of living here, and we are a very close-knit community throughout the foothills. And you can’t go wrong with any of our schools.”

And because the Kobeissis have been in the real estate business for a long time, they know that a market that goes up can just as easily go down.

“To everything there is a downside. The turnover will [slow] and it becomes a buyers’ market,” Sandy said.

Although in this area the market is never really down, or down for long, Sandy added that the Appreciation Night is a perfect way to prepare for the future by highlighting what her company does in the present.

For those who are already with Kobeissi Properties, a night of meeting new people, catching up with old friends and being appreciated by those they work for made for an evening to remember.

  Mary Okeefe