March 2010 
There are 24 blog entries for March 2010.
Quack Quack
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 3:40pm. 119 Views, 0 Comments.
Down in the real Sand Section, 2 ugly ducklings now have deals.
215 S. Valley (4br/3ba, 2550 sq. ft.), right at the border with Hermosa and abutting the Robinson Elementary playground, found a buyer within 7 weeks of listing this year.
That's a lot better than the 8+ months without a sale that the home experienced from Summer 2008-March 2009.
As we noted in early February in "215 Valley's Back," the home was offered first for $1.650m, much too high, and only gradually slid to $1.399m. MBC more or less predicted in early 2009 that the listing would approach $1.2m to find a buyer.
Though it quit in 2009, this year, Valley was back at $1.235m, with all kinds of "affordability" come-ons in the listing:
215 S. Valley (4br/3ba, 2550 sq. ft.), right at the border with Hermosa and abutting the Robinson Elementary playground, found a buyer within 7 weeks of listing this year.That's a lot better than the 8+ months without a sale that the home experienced from Summer 2008-March 2009.
As we noted in early February in "215 Valley's Back," the home was offered first for $1.650m, much too high, and only gradually slid to $1.399m. MBC more or less predicted in early 2009 that the listing would approach $1.2m to find a buyer.
Though it quit in 2009, this year, Valley was back at $1.235m, with all kinds of "affordability" come-ons in the listing:
- Best value for the money in all of Manhattan Beach!
- If
The Church in the Sand?
Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 2:11pm. 157 Views, 0 Comments.
Whether or not you're a parishioner, you probably know quite well where American Martyrs church is.You see the gilded bell tower rising high above the Tree Section from many points in town.
Did we say the tower rises above the Tree Section? You thought so, too, right? But what if the church was actually in the Sand Section?
For one thing, that already-valuable real estate might be worth a bit more.
For another, homes in the Martyrs neighborhood could sport a "Sand Section" designation, and with that, perhaps an expectation of higher prices than they may already fetch. Buyers searching for beach-adjacent properties in MB might pull up some of these homes and give them a shot.
Looking at a list of homes that have transacted in the past several years in the…
Weekend Opens (3/27-3/28)
Saturday, March 27th, 2010 at 5:44pm. 134 Views, 0 Comments.
Are you around this weekend? In Mammoth? Off to the desert or a tropical isle?
We'll get some serious beach weather this weekend, so if you're here, you can enjoy the full benefit of the 90266. Without the towel service, unfortunately.
There are a couple of new opens, plus a healthy set of longer-running listings worth checking in on.
Click here for the complete list of opens published in the Beach Reporter, or at any time use the link from the "Property Search Tools" pull-down menu in the top navigation bar.
As always, click any highlighted property address for more pics & details via Redfin.
Please report back here at MBC on any open houses you visit – what you like, what you don't like, etcetera.
Sand Section
A debut worth your time, partly for the home…
We'll get some serious beach weather this weekend, so if you're here, you can enjoy the full benefit of the 90266. Without the towel service, unfortunately.
There are a couple of new opens, plus a healthy set of longer-running listings worth checking in on.
Click here for the complete list of opens published in the Beach Reporter, or at any time use the link from the "Property Search Tools" pull-down menu in the top navigation bar.
As always, click any highlighted property address for more pics & details via Redfin.
Please report back here at MBC on any open houses you visit – what you like, what you don't like, etcetera.
Sand Section
A debut worth your time, partly for the home…More Foreclosure Prevention
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 8:53pm. 136 Views, 0 Comments.
Usually the rule is to hold your "bad" news for a Friday afternoon release, meaning fewer people hear about it and even fewer read about it in the paper on Saturday. (What's a newspaper?)
A getaway day like this Friday? Any news coming out must be awful.
Not so in D.C., though. The feds are talking about yet another foreclosure-prevention program. It's a revision to the last plan that didn't work well enough.
One rave review comes from Moody's analyst Mark Zandi:
"This is very exciting," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "I think it has the potential to be a game changer, to really bring a quicker end to this foreclosure crisis that is engulfing the housing market and the economy. I'm very encouraged."
"I think this could mark the end…
A getaway day like this Friday? Any news coming out must be awful.
Not so in D.C., though. The feds are talking about yet another foreclosure-prevention program. It's a revision to the last plan that didn't work well enough.One rave review comes from Moody's analyst Mark Zandi:
"This is very exciting," says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. "I think it has the potential to be a game changer, to really bring a quicker end to this foreclosure crisis that is engulfing the housing market and the economy. I'm very encouraged."
"I think this could mark the end…
Banned in China
Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 3:49am. 164 Views, 0 Comments.
The Google is in the news on account of their trouble with Chinese internet censors.
You don't have to tell MBC about that; we've got the same problem. Kinda.
As reported recently by one jet-setting reader, MBC is blocked by the Chinese tech overlords.
What, the Communists have no use for $3m beach homes?
For those of you heading abroad soon, we've also heard that some elements of the front page don't load right in Singapore, that the old search box didn't work right in Amsterdam (try the new Lijit search box next time you're there) and that internet service is surprisingly slow around Lake Como.
MBC's readership is, of course, mostly quite local, and definitely American (USA). Out of curiosity, we took a snapshot of a recent month's traffic, finding that…
You don't have to tell MBC about that; we've got the same problem. Kinda.
As reported recently by one jet-setting reader, MBC is blocked by the Chinese tech overlords.
What, the Communists have no use for $3m beach homes?
For those of you heading abroad soon, we've also heard that some elements of the front page don't load right in Singapore, that the old search box didn't work right in Amsterdam (try the new Lijit search box next time you're there) and that internet service is surprisingly slow around Lake Como.
MBC's readership is, of course, mostly quite local, and definitely American (USA). Out of curiosity, we took a snapshot of a recent month's traffic, finding that…MB Market Update for 3/15/10, Sand
Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 4:02am. 121 Views, 0 Comments.
The Sand Section was a bit slow to catch the wave of this relatively busy 1st quarter, but it's making up for lost time.
For this update, we'll look at activity in the first half of the month, as seen on our MB Market Update spreadsheets, and add in some more up-to-date action to bring you current.
Sand Section
Total inventory at mid-month was at 34, with 17 SFRs offered for less than $2m (see actives $2m).
New offerings in the first half of the month included:
For this update, we'll look at activity in the first half of the month, as seen on our MB Market Update spreadsheets, and add in some more up-to-date action to bring you current.
Sand Section
Total inventory at mid-month was at 34, with 17 SFRs offered for less than $2m (see actives $2m).
New offerings in the first half of the month included:
125 8th ($2.995m) (pictured), 416 6th ($1.779m) and 3413 Bayview ($835k), none of which lasted long – only Bayview slipped past March 15 before a deal was posted.
- 316 10th (4br/5ba, 4100 sq. ft.), a steel-and-glass modern at the corner with Crest that probably won't go quite so quickly at $3.8m.
Close the Books on 1413 Pine
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 4:16am. 158 Views, 0 Comments.
It was early this year that we got one of the first indications that low rates, pent-up demand and low inventory could lead to a warm first quarter – in terms of local real estate, that is.
That early indicator was 1413 Pine (4br/3ba, 2275 sq. ft.), a remodel that had failed to sell 2 years prior when it was badly overpriced at $1.759m.
The home returned to market January 12 and was featured that day on MBC, where we greeted the new listing with a pricing poll. (See "Re-Poll: 1413 Pine," which includes a review of the home.)
Pine's new listing began at $1.389m, nearly $400k below the 2008 price, and stood almost alone in the price range.
While we gave MBC readers almost a week to see the home and vote, a buyer – one of several – stepped in and made the…
That early indicator was 1413 Pine (4br/3ba, 2275 sq. ft.), a remodel that had failed to sell 2 years prior when it was badly overpriced at $1.759m.The home returned to market January 12 and was featured that day on MBC, where we greeted the new listing with a pricing poll. (See "Re-Poll: 1413 Pine," which includes a review of the home.)
Pine's new listing began at $1.389m, nearly $400k below the 2008 price, and stood almost alone in the price range.
While we gave MBC readers almost a week to see the home and vote, a buyer – one of several – stepped in and made the…
Look Who's Found Buyers
Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 7:01pm. 125 Views, 0 Comments.
Our ongoing story of this surprising Spring continues to be written by buyers snapping up listings that had been relatively ignored:
- 317 8th, a South End lot at the corner with Crest, was the longest-running walkstreet offering at about 140 days when a buyer knocked. The price had recently dropped to $1.679m.
672 19th (3br/2ba, 1675 sq. ft.), a late-50s cottage with some inspired 50s-revival decor, was last discussed here in "Guest House Returns" in Sept. 2009.
Weekend Opens (3/20-3/21)
Saturday, March 20th, 2010 at 2:30am. 124 Views, 0 Comments.
Funny how the rush of new offerings hasn't fully continued. Very little is new this weekend – perhaps some sort of madness has temporarily consumed half the population. Or maybe everyone was just busy prepping for the Robinson Fun Run.
We're still happy to suggest a couple listings that have popped up here previously, and there are new offerings among Sand Section THs and in the Trees. We encourage you to find the gems among the opens this weekend and report back.
Click here for the complete list of opens published in the Beach Reporter, or at any time use the link from the "Property Search Tools" pull-down menu in the top navigation bar.
As always, click any highlighted property address for more pics & details via Redfin.
Please report back here at MBC on any…
We're still happy to suggest a couple listings that have popped up here previously, and there are new offerings among Sand Section THs and in the Trees. We encourage you to find the gems among the opens this weekend and report back.
Click here for the complete list of opens published in the Beach Reporter, or at any time use the link from the "Property Search Tools" pull-down menu in the top navigation bar.
As always, click any highlighted property address for more pics & details via Redfin.
Please report back here at MBC on any…
MB Market Update for 3/15/10, Hills
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 3:57am. 146 Views, 0 Comments.
The new MB Market Update spreadsheets for 3/15/10 are available for your online viewing now by clicking here, or at any time by using the pull-down menu on the front page under "MB Market Updates."
March has more or less maintained the sales pace of our pretty warm February. We saw an amazing 17 sales (new escrows) of SFRs west of Sepulveda in the second half of February, and 11 more in the first 15 days of March. A few of those came in right at the wire.
New offerings outpaced sales, as one might expect, with 17 new listings in this period.
With new offerings, sales, flopped escrows and a couple of cancellations, total inventory rose by just 5 listings over the end of February, to 83 SFRs total by mid-March.
Inventory by sub-region west of Hwy. 1 (for more…
March has more or less maintained the sales pace of our pretty warm February. We saw an amazing 17 sales (new escrows) of SFRs west of Sepulveda in the second half of February, and 11 more in the first 15 days of March. A few of those came in right at the wire.
New offerings outpaced sales, as one might expect, with 17 new listings in this period.
With new offerings, sales, flopped escrows and a couple of cancellations, total inventory rose by just 5 listings over the end of February, to 83 SFRs total by mid-March.
Inventory by sub-region west of Hwy. 1 (for more…
