September 2007 
There are 33 blog entries for September 2007.
Rhapsodize, Theorize: Why MB, not Hermosa?
Saturday, September 29th, 2007 at 5:56am. 147 Views, 0 Comments.
Then someone asked a question that seemed poignant. To paraphrase: How did it happen that MB, and not Hermosa, became the dominant or "in" town around here?Oh, there's no sense disputing it. The question is why things evolved this way. We'd like to hear your thoughts.
True story: Several years ago, your humble correspondent mentioned to an old family friend that we now lived in MB.
Response: Awkward silence, throat clearing, and a gently phrased, "Oh, do you like it there? Do you find it nice?" This was laden with the sort of bellyache and deep…
Systematic $100k Cuts on Elm
Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 5:57am. 158 Views, 0 Comments.
In three months on the market, the new construction at 2807 Elm has cut $400,000 off its asking price. Each time, the cut was $100k.The initial list date was June 28. The cuts:
- July 20: $100k
- Aug. 19: $100k
- Sept. 5: $100k
- Sept. 25: $100k
2807 Elm (click for details) is a lovely and mostly well-thought-out home that simply started much too high at $2.899m.
The current price of $2.499m for 5br/5ba and 3550 sq. ft. means it remains in the upper tier of comparable active listings. (Click here to download the newest MB Market Update.) The closest comps are 648 35th (5br/5ba, 3600) at $2.295m (began at $2.45m) and a quite nice one at 2709 Oak (also 5br/5ba, 3600) at $2.299m.
It seems plain that Oak could drop further,…
45th/Highland Open Sat-Sun
Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 11:11pm. 177 Views, 0 Comments.
Don't cancel your weekend plans, but you might want to find a window this Saturday or Sunday (1-4pm) to drop in on the first open houses at 4419 Highland (click for listing details via Redfin). For our most recent stories on this home, click here.Sometimes called the "Gateway to Manhattan Beach," and other times called the worst location west of Sepulveda, we must also be clear that this home is a candidate for "most improved," inasmuch as it replaces a godawful dumpy shack. That was no way for our town to make a first impression.
Enter on Highland. If you're driving, park....... um....... where? Any suggestions?
If you do go by, ask yourself: Is this home "three levels of bliss" as the listing assures us? And come back to this post to write your reviews.
Blogroll Updates
Thursday, September 27th, 2007 at 6:49am. 126 Views, 0 Comments.
A quick note here – MBC's blogroll is updated for the first time in a long time. See the right-hand column.
We've got categories now for Housing and Real Estate (many of them bubble blogs), Realtors' Blogs (a select few), and Economics.
The additions are generally bearish. (What're you gonna do? That's who writes blogs!)
We're open to suggestions for well-written blogs, regardless of perspective. We're particularly short in MB or South Bay blogs that lean positive. That's a long-running problem.
Can't guarantee a mention or link for everyone, but your suggestions are welcome.
We've got categories now for Housing and Real Estate (many of them bubble blogs), Realtors' Blogs (a select few), and Economics.
The additions are generally bearish. (What're you gonna do? That's who writes blogs!)
We're open to suggestions for well-written blogs, regardless of perspective. We're particularly short in MB or South Bay blogs that lean positive. That's a long-running problem.
Can't guarantee a mention or link for everyone, but your suggestions are welcome.
Confirmed: 2007 the Worst in 8 Years
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 6:02am. 112 Views, 0 Comments.
You have to hand it to the bulls and cheerleaders who drop by MBC from time to time to say everything is peachy in the MB real estate market.
The two recent focal points of the "all's well" argument have been:
1) This year is pretty much the same as last year, and
2) Inventory is comparatively low, and with no supply glut, there's no crash.
To be fair, our more level-headed friends have also said we can't really evaluate the impact of the troubles – i.e., the problems in lending that became undeniable this August – until, perchance, next Spring.
Fair enough, we can wait.
The bulls and cheerleaders cited data. But, alas, we have data now, too. Data tell a story. And the data tell us that 2007 is already the worst of the last eight. Not all of those were…
The two recent focal points of the "all's well" argument have been:
1) This year is pretty much the same as last year, and
2) Inventory is comparatively low, and with no supply glut, there's no crash.
To be fair, our more level-headed friends have also said we can't really evaluate the impact of the troubles – i.e., the problems in lending that became undeniable this August – until, perchance, next Spring.Fair enough, we can wait.
The bulls and cheerleaders cited data. But, alas, we have data now, too. Data tell a story. And the data tell us that 2007 is already the worst of the last eight. Not all of those were…They Were Made to Move
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 4:22am. 97 Views, 0 Comments.
In June, MBC featured a South End walkstreet home that had hit the MLS after being listed first for some time on Zillow with a "Make Me Move " price of $3.75m.Once 332 6th hit the MLS, the asking price took a 10% step down to reality, to $3.375m.
332 6th was sold within a month (hey, it's a lovely walkstreet home, of course it went fast!). It closed the other day for $3.141m. That's $234k off the MLS list price, and down 16.2% from that first dream price on Zillow.
Everyone's happy. One family has a nice $3m walkstreet home, and another walks with a nice $1.3m profit.
Uh-oh. Someone is not happy. The sellers of another $3m walkstreet home have canceled their listing. Perhaps they finally saw the writing on the wall. Perhaps the 6th St. sale ended their…
Countdown: Sept. May Be Worse than August
Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 5:33am. 145 Views, 0 Comments.
It's Monday, and MBC will be looking for new escrows to post. Was anyone busy this weekend?Here's a reason to worry: We're going to need some new sales, a few at least, for September to be "better" than August.
In August, we saw 10 SFRs go into escrow west of Sepulveda, and stay. (See MBC's 5-month inventory report for that number, and previous months' pendings.) Right now, we're stuck at 7 new SFR escrows in September, none new since the 13th, by our records.
August was already poor compared to recent months – about half the recent rate of sales. You'll hear that August is always slow, but this year's slowdown had a clear, driving factor – the metastasizing mortgage mess.
MBC has noted before that there was already something strange about the September sales…
Update on Three Hard Cases
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 4:08pm. 115 Views, 0 Comments.
We had no idea when we featured a few specific homes on MBC that they'd be with us for months and months.
You get the feeling that nothing has changed with these listings, despite step-by-step price cuts. Something is keeping the buyers away. Now it seems all three sellers, who bought their homes within the last couple of years, will lose money.
You get the feeling that nothing has changed with these listings, despite step-by-step price cuts. Something is keeping the buyers away. Now it seems all three sellers, who bought their homes within the last couple of years, will lose money.
- 758 14th, in the Arbolado Ct. development, surely harmed its own chances by overpricing to start. On March 1, this one began at $1.990m, fully $295k more than the owners had paid 9 months earlier, in July 2006. The list price has edged down a bit at a time, so that it's now at $1.699m. Loss with 6% cost of sale: $97k.
- 3009 Highland (listed now as "232 30th Pl" - click for details), first drew MBC's notice (see
Scaffolding is Down, So's the Price
Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 6:05pm. 145 Views, 0 Comments.
The builders have made impressive progress at 4419 Highland (45th/Highland). With the stucco team finished, we just need to wait for the interior to be built out and this one will be ready for walkthroughs.MBC has to admit, this home looks a bit better than expected, and of course it's a giant improvement over the wrecked shack that used to occupy this lot.
We do find it a very strange use of stapled-on stone for one corner to feature stacked rock. What structural purpose would be served by having a single corner built from stone, if it were real? This is just a perplexing accent.
To celebrate the end of exterior construction work, as the scaffolding came down, so did the price. The listing began at $1.695m – let's be honest, that was ridiculous – back on…MB Market Update for 9/15/07
Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 4:21am. 111 Views, 0 Comments.
The new MB Market Update spreadsheets are available for download by clicking here, or by using the link at the upper-right corner of the main MBC page. Information in this update closed Sept. 15. This and older updates are archived at our sister-site/data-dump here.
Quick note on a new feature: As readers may have already noticed in recent days, MBC is providing links to active listings via Redfin, which has recently expanded into Southern California. Previously we could not reliably, directly link to individual properties, so this is a nice development. Just about any day on the blog where we write about a home, a live link will appear with info via Redfin.
The first half of September in our west-of-Sepulveda region was distinguished by big-dollar sales.…
Quick note on a new feature: As readers may have already noticed in recent days, MBC is providing links to active listings via Redfin, which has recently expanded into Southern California. Previously we could not reliably, directly link to individual properties, so this is a nice development. Just about any day on the blog where we write about a home, a live link will appear with info via Redfin.
The first half of September in our west-of-Sepulveda region was distinguished by big-dollar sales.…
