August 2011 
There are 19 blog entries for August 2011.
It's Got to Be the Schools
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 at 6:18pm. 286 Views, 0 Comments.
School starts today, which got us thinking about the intersection of schools and local real estate.
Living in the LA area, if you don't happen to live in a neighborhood with great schools, here are some of your options: private school, transferring to another "good" school nearby on a year-by-year permit basis, fudging your residence address, home schooling. Or sucking it up and hoping for the best.
And then there's Manhattan Beach.
Forbes magazine earlier this year called MB one of the towns in the US with the "best schools for your real estate buck." Among cities with median home prices of $800k and above, MB ranked #1, while MB was 6th overall nationwide.
Partnering with Forbes, GreatSchools.org provided the additional data on MB's ranking: a score of …
Living in the LA area, if you don't happen to live in a neighborhood with great schools, here are some of your options: private school, transferring to another "good" school nearby on a year-by-year permit basis, fudging your residence address, home schooling. Or sucking it up and hoping for the best.
And then there's Manhattan Beach.
Forbes magazine earlier this year called MB one of the towns in the US with the "best schools for your real estate buck." Among cities with median home prices of $800k and above, MB ranked #1, while MB was 6th overall nationwide.
Partnering with Forbes, GreatSchools.org provided the additional data on MB's ranking: a score of …Martyrs is Hoppin'
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 4:13am. 229 Views, 0 Comments.
Some of the most eye-popping recent sales have come in the Tree Section's cherished Martyrs hill area. The west-facing slope, which often draws ocean views (yes, from the Trees), draws top dollar, as we'll see.
533 15th (6br/6ba, 5300 sq. ft.) is simply one of the greatest homes in MB, or at least it must be if it could draw this kind of rave from MBC:
[This home] could give a pulse to a dead man, bring songs to the lips of a cynic, or, for most of the rest of us, will just elicit "oohs," "ahhhs" and dropped jaws.
It's a giant, crisp, ocean-view beach house benefiting from a huge (7700 sq. ft.) lot on Martyrs Hill. (Built 2004.) That was from our late-April review as the home was on the market at $5.350m. That was over…
533 15th (6br/6ba, 5300 sq. ft.) is simply one of the greatest homes in MB, or at least it must be if it could draw this kind of rave from MBC:
[This home] could give a pulse to a dead man, bring songs to the lips of a cynic, or, for most of the rest of us, will just elicit "oohs," "ahhhs" and dropped jaws.
It's a giant, crisp, ocean-view beach house benefiting from a huge (7700 sq. ft.) lot on Martyrs Hill. (Built 2004.) That was from our late-April review as the home was on the market at $5.350m. That was over…
Weekend Opens (8/27-8/28)
Saturday, August 27th, 2011 at 3:02pm. 188 Views, 0 Comments.
Don't you Love volleyball?Just a year ago, they were taking away the MB Open, then suddenly making it some kind of all-volunteer operation. It seemed to work out.
Yet here we are now with a big-time tequila sponsor and a going-nowhere novelty player and, hey, it's free pro volleyball at the beach again. It's good!
(Photo credit: Kevin Love @ the MB Open, via Patch – Credit: Sylwia M. Ozdzynski.)
But of course the new tequila tournament isn't all that's going on in MB this weekend. There are real estate sellers looking for real estate buyers. A few picked this weekend to debut.
To plan your tours beyond the properties mentioned here, try this Redfin map list of open houses – you can sort by price or sub-region of MB by clicking the…
Close the Books (Again) on 742 27th
Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 4:36am. 297 Views, 0 Comments.
One of the amazing things about writing (or reading!) a real estate blog for 4 1/2 years is the consistency with which you see certain stories, themes and specific properties come back around.
The newest case of a recurring property is 742 27th, a big (4br/4ba, 3550 sq. ft.), nicely located home with a decent yard and some updates.
Using MBC's Wayback Machine, we find that in January 2008, we asked readers to chime in on the eventual sale price of 742 27th, in one of our Pricing Polls. (See "Poll Results re: 742 27th.")
Only a stunningly bearish 17% of those voting thought 27th would sell for less than $1.75m. Everyone else – except the 4% who said "won't sell" – guessed higher.
Now, a full 3 1/2 years later, 742 27th has closed for $1.701m.
…
The newest case of a recurring property is 742 27th, a big (4br/4ba, 3550 sq. ft.), nicely located home with a decent yard and some updates. Using MBC's Wayback Machine, we find that in January 2008, we asked readers to chime in on the eventual sale price of 742 27th, in one of our Pricing Polls. (See "Poll Results re: 742 27th.")
Only a stunningly bearish 17% of those voting thought 27th would sell for less than $1.75m. Everyone else – except the 4% who said "won't sell" – guessed higher.
Now, a full 3 1/2 years later, 742 27th has closed for $1.701m.
…
A Rent/Buy Example
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 at 7:48pm. 239 Views, 0 Comments.
We recently overheard a local agent speaking with a client and the guy, a straight shooter, said to the client in so many words: "For many potential buyers in the South Bay these days, the rent/buy equation favors renting."
Nice to hear a guy who doesn't talk his book, right?
Equations are one thing, emotions are another, and the rent/buy decision seems rarely to be about something so quaint as the monthly nut or so quant as a 20-year forecast. Point being: Some folks just know they want or need to rent, and some folks just know they want or need to buy. Spreadsheets are optional.
If you want to run the equations, there are any number of helpful formulas and online tools. One of the simplest and best is this interactive page at the New York Times…
Nice to hear a guy who doesn't talk his book, right?
Equations are one thing, emotions are another, and the rent/buy decision seems rarely to be about something so quaint as the monthly nut or so quant as a 20-year forecast. Point being: Some folks just know they want or need to rent, and some folks just know they want or need to buy. Spreadsheets are optional.
If you want to run the equations, there are any number of helpful formulas and online tools. One of the simplest and best is this interactive page at the New York Times…
Forgotten North of Valley?
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 2:15pm. 192 Views, 0 Comments.
Families coming into MB are going to look first in the Tree Section. So there's your first asset if you're selling: There will be buyers.
Give them 5br and plenty of space, now you're in the sweet spot. (It'd be nice to offer a yard, but if you know the Trees, you know that's often just a wish-list item. Buyers figure that out quick, too.)
Despite having some of the things buyers want, several Tree Section listings are lingering because they haven't found the right price. And some confront an extra hesitation from buyers who see the region of the Trees north of Valley as less desirable.
Here's a look at some active offerings that face the dual challenges of location and price, and almost seem forgotten as a result:
3104 Maple (5br/4ba, 3350 sq.…
Give them 5br and plenty of space, now you're in the sweet spot. (It'd be nice to offer a yard, but if you know the Trees, you know that's often just a wish-list item. Buyers figure that out quick, too.)
Despite having some of the things buyers want, several Tree Section listings are lingering because they haven't found the right price. And some confront an extra hesitation from buyers who see the region of the Trees north of Valley as less desirable.
Here's a look at some active offerings that face the dual challenges of location and price, and almost seem forgotten as a result:
3104 Maple (5br/4ba, 3350 sq.…Weekend Opens (8/20-8/21)
Saturday, August 20th, 2011 at 3:01pm. 208 Views, 0 Comments.
Enjoying your vacation?MBC's here for you, whether you're checking in from Cabo, Melbourne, Long Island or, perhaps, from your iPhone in a tent deep in the woods. (C'mon, now, you're not completely roughing it!)
Back here at home, they're calling these the "dog days" again, almost all quiet on the RE front, but we've got a little bit of new stuff for your online viewing or – should you actually be nearby – for your tours this weekend.
And sorry to be the first to break this to you, but your incoming kindergartners can now count the number of days before school starts on their fingers. Summer, where'd ya go!?!
To plan your tours beyond the properties mentioned here, try this Redfin map list of open houses – you can sort by price or…
Another Trade at 864 12th Ct.
Friday, August 19th, 2011 at 12:14am. 274 Views, 0 Comments.
It was nearly 4 and a half years ago, in MBC's 9th post, that we posed this question: "What's Up with 864 12th Ct.?"
We called the little home a "frequent flier on the MLS," noting these bubble-era trades of the home:
In March 2007, the owners were trying for another little markup to $1.549m – more than $1,000/PSF for a Tree Section house backing up against a commercial parking lot. Wow.
But when we were asking "what's up with that?" in 2007, we had the sense that the sale wouldn't happen, and it didn't. The listing quit, and we didn't hear more about 864 12th Ct. (4br/2ba, 1500 aq. ft.) again.
Until recently,…
We called the little home a "frequent flier on the MLS," noting these bubble-era trades of the home:- Aug. 2002: $850k
- Aug. 2004: $1.150m
- Aug. 2005: $1.469m
In March 2007, the owners were trying for another little markup to $1.549m – more than $1,000/PSF for a Tree Section house backing up against a commercial parking lot. Wow.
But when we were asking "what's up with that?" in 2007, we had the sense that the sale wouldn't happen, and it didn't. The listing quit, and we didn't hear more about 864 12th Ct. (4br/2ba, 1500 aq. ft.) again.
Until recently,…
Ocean Views for Less
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 at 11:47pm. 185 Views, 0 Comments.
Yesterday we focused on a tight-knit subsegment of MB's beach-close areas: the long, sloping walkstreets west of Highland.
Now there's a new price on a shortie just steps across the road that may leave heads shaking when it wraps up.
329 19th
(4br/4ba, 3625 sq. ft.) is a sleek, conceptual modern by a noted local architect whose work hits the market from time to time. (Most recently 532 6th in the South End.)
The home was custom-built in 2001 and sold near the market peak in March 2006 for $2.950m. But fortunes evidently changed recently; NODs began in October last year, during a time that the home was on the market at $2.999m. (That's right, no discount from a peak purchase.)
That listing failed, but the property came back in April…
Now there's a new price on a shortie just steps across the road that may leave heads shaking when it wraps up.
329 19th
(4br/4ba, 3625 sq. ft.) is a sleek, conceptual modern by a noted local architect whose work hits the market from time to time. (Most recently 532 6th in the South End.) The home was custom-built in 2001 and sold near the market peak in March 2006 for $2.950m. But fortunes evidently changed recently; NODs began in October last year, during a time that the home was on the market at $2.999m. (That's right, no discount from a peak purchase.)
That listing failed, but the property came back in April…
Action in the Teens
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011 at 6:05pm. 330 Views, 0 Comments.
| |
| View down winding 18th St. |
Drink in the ocean views, hear the waves lapping at the shore, brace yourself against the cool summertime breezes.
All around you, find a mix of homes trying to maximize space and views, with a few very, very original cottages – early 1900s originals – barely hanging on, reminding you that Manhattan Beach was once a difficult beach frontier, before those $100 speculative plots ballooned in value to $2m, $3m or more.
These are the few prime walkstreets north of downtown, 16th-20th St., a little pocket with some of MB's choicest beach-close properties. (Note to sticklers: We'll count 20th St. in the "teens" for purposes…
