February 2012 
There are 19 blog entries for February 2012.
That Whooshing Sound
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 3:31pm. 333 Views, 0 Comments.
The way 2012 has begun is familiar by now. A nice property comes along, east or west of the highway, and you can almost count the DOM on one hand before it's gone.
That whooshing sound you hear is the inventory flying off the shelves, so to speak.
Even against that backdrop, the quick sale at 221 30th (5br/5ba, 4550 sq. ft.) made quite a whoosh.
As we noted this weekend, it's a big, late-90s custom build with some pretty great views. Over and across the walkstreet, there are good views to the south, but thanks to the neighbor's being just one story, there are very good views due west, too, all along the building, even toward the north.
Lots of space, big views, steps to the beach and – maybe less easily appreciated – a very short walk to MB's "second…
That whooshing sound you hear is the inventory flying off the shelves, so to speak.
Even against that backdrop, the quick sale at 221 30th (5br/5ba, 4550 sq. ft.) made quite a whoosh. As we noted this weekend, it's a big, late-90s custom build with some pretty great views. Over and across the walkstreet, there are good views to the south, but thanks to the neighbor's being just one story, there are very good views due west, too, all along the building, even toward the north.
Lots of space, big views, steps to the beach and – maybe less easily appreciated – a very short walk to MB's "second…
Weekend Opens (2/25-2/26)
Saturday, February 25th, 2012 at 5:50pm. 242 Views, 0 Comments.
It seems about half the new listings coming out these days are failed listings from 2011 or even 2010 – hark, there's one dating to '07! – coming back to try their luck in what must seem like a sunnier climate.
The must-see of the weekend is also the priciest, a Saturday-only opportunity to check out the views from 636 8th in the Hill Section. (First writeup below.) A close second is 221 30th, which offers an actual, livable home and great views of its own.
To plan out your weekend tours, try this Redfin map list of open houses – you can sort by price or sub-region of MB by clicking the title on a column. Or click here for the more traditional Beach Reporter list of opens.
As always, click on any highlighted address for more pics & details via Redfin. If you…
The must-see of the weekend is also the priciest, a Saturday-only opportunity to check out the views from 636 8th in the Hill Section. (First writeup below.) A close second is 221 30th, which offers an actual, livable home and great views of its own.
To plan out your weekend tours, try this Redfin map list of open houses – you can sort by price or sub-region of MB by clicking the title on a column. Or click here for the more traditional Beach Reporter list of opens.
As always, click on any highlighted address for more pics & details via Redfin. If you…
Puzzling Palm Among Pending
Friday, February 24th, 2012 at 6:32pm. 239 Views, 0 Comments.
It's an unusual house, to say the least. But virtually anything offered for sale these days in MB seems to find a buyer fairly quickly.
And so it was with 2516 Palm (3br/2ba, 2250 sq. ft.), which we called "Puzzling Palm" in our "Weekend Opens" post a week ago.
We also called it "a mixed-up curiosity of a house" for which the layout "raises multiple questions."
And the location is not a dream, either. It's at the end of a short cul-de-sac (dead-end street?) hemmed in by busy Marine. Ardmore is just on the other side of the fence, and noise is evident from traffic whooshing by.
But both price ($1.189m) and an unusually large lot size (7350 sq. ft.) made Puzzling Palm attractive. It lasted a week. (Officially they are still looking for "backup offers.")
…
And so it was with 2516 Palm (3br/2ba, 2250 sq. ft.), which we called "Puzzling Palm" in our "Weekend Opens" post a week ago.We also called it "a mixed-up curiosity of a house" for which the layout "raises multiple questions."
And the location is not a dream, either. It's at the end of a short cul-de-sac (dead-end street?) hemmed in by busy Marine. Ardmore is just on the other side of the fence, and noise is evident from traffic whooshing by.
But both price ($1.189m) and an unusually large lot size (7350 sq. ft.) made Puzzling Palm attractive. It lasted a week. (Officially they are still looking for "backup offers.")
…
Where's the Love for Buyers?
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 at 8:02pm. 241 Views, 0 Comments.
To work, a market needs both sellers and buyers.
Sellers need buyers.
Buyers need sellers.
And in real estate, both parties generally need agents.
But the business of real estate agency does not treat both parties equally.
Agents seem to love sellers. Buyers, not so much.
From years spent in and out of the market, and a few years here producing MBC, we've picked up the tension. We've written several times about how the industry seems to serve sellers to the detriment of buyers.
Buyers may be necessary, but they're annoying – that seems to be the prevailing view.
Yesterday, while touring a property well outside MB for a client, we heard a listing agent say it crisply:
"I hate buyers."
He noticed when your blog author shook his head in surprise.
"Seriously, I…
Sellers need buyers.
Buyers need sellers.
And in real estate, both parties generally need agents.
But the business of real estate agency does not treat both parties equally.
Agents seem to love sellers. Buyers, not so much. From years spent in and out of the market, and a few years here producing MBC, we've picked up the tension. We've written several times about how the industry seems to serve sellers to the detriment of buyers.
Buyers may be necessary, but they're annoying – that seems to be the prevailing view.
Yesterday, while touring a property well outside MB for a client, we heard a listing agent say it crisply:
"I hate buyers."
He noticed when your blog author shook his head in surprise.
"Seriously, I…
Close the Books on 1st Speedy Speckie
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 3:49pm. 262 Views, 0 Comments.
They finally did it. They sold one.
The first of the 6 Speedy Speckies, 2516 Pine, has now closed.
Sale price: $1.775m.
Of note: The listing agent also represented the buyer.
That sub-1.8 price is quite a step down from the very first posted asking price, $2.199m, from last May. (See "$2.2m for First Speedy Speckie.") They did adjust that request quickly down to $1.999m before the end of May, but you could see the heights they were reaching for.
The sale here is the conclusion of the second deal that had been posted for 2516 Pine. Upon the first note that this one was in escrow, MBC asked readers to weigh in on what they thought this first spec home of the group might sell for.
As we reported in "Your Ex(spec)- tations on 2516 Pine," a…
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| 2516 Pine |
Sale price: $1.775m.
Of note: The listing agent also represented the buyer.
That sub-1.8 price is quite a step down from the very first posted asking price, $2.199m, from last May. (See "$2.2m for First Speedy Speckie.") They did adjust that request quickly down to $1.999m before the end of May, but you could see the heights they were reaching for.
The sale here is the conclusion of the second deal that had been posted for 2516 Pine. Upon the first note that this one was in escrow, MBC asked readers to weigh in on what they thought this first spec home of the group might sell for.
As we reported in "Your Ex(spec)- tations on 2516 Pine," a…Weekend Opens (2/18-2/19)
Saturday, February 18th, 2012 at 5:50am. 263 Views, 0 Comments.
If you're a local and, maybe more so, if you've got kids in school, this is the start of Ski Week.Ski Week has nothing to do with the beach, and everything to do with the behavior of MB residents.
Word is that in years past, school absences in February became atrocious, epidemic, and – more to the point – costly. The schools get money based on attendance. If the kids were skipping class to be in Mammoth, Aspen, or Sun Valley with mom & dad, the schools suffered.
So now we get a full week off of school in February so the parents (and kids) can play. All to the better: The change has netted about $1m more per year for the district, by one account, with reduced absences. Not to mention the economic boost to Mammoth, Aspen, Sun Valley... or even Palm Springs.…
Close the Books on 1305 8th
Friday, February 17th, 2012 at 3:30pm. 270 Views, 0 Comments.
We're going to remember the first weeks of 2012, at least, as a time when East MB listings flourished and sold.
New listings were slow to unfold west of the highway, but there was no such constraint on EMB.
In the first week of the New Year, while your blog author was still re-adjusting to West Coast time after a trip east, out came 1305 8th (6br/4ba, 4100 sq. ft.).
The home felt like what it was: a late-80s home with incomplete remodeling, but it had the asset of lots of space – inside and out.
That's why you go east of Sepulveda. (For the space, not the 80s.)
1305 8th debuted at $1.725m and lasted just 10 days. In early January.
It has now closed for $1.710m.
That quick deal was just a harbinger.
Here are the 7 other quick EMB sales of larger…
New listings were slow to unfold west of the highway, but there was no such constraint on EMB.
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| 1305 8th |
The home felt like what it was: a late-80s home with incomplete remodeling, but it had the asset of lots of space – inside and out.
That's why you go east of Sepulveda. (For the space, not the 80s.)
1305 8th debuted at $1.725m and lasted just 10 days. In early January.
It has now closed for $1.710m.
That quick deal was just a harbinger.
Here are the 7 other quick EMB sales of larger…
Quite a Ratio
Thursday, February 16th, 2012 at 6:23am. 195 Views, 0 Comments.
Does inventory seem tight?
Does it seem like all the good stuff sells quickly?
From the standpoint of a buyer who's searching, yes, it certainly does. And your blog author is more and more influenced by that perspective, representing clients who are looking.
But it's not just perception. Look at some data.
Take the biggest possible sample of MB real estate inventory as of Feb. 15, 2012.
There are 93 SFRs, THs and condos active on the market across all of MB. In some past years we've seen inventory of 100+ or so among just SFRs west of Sepulveda at an inventory peak.
But there are 70 SFRs, THs and condos now in escrow citywide.
93 to 70. Call that 1.3:1 as an active to pending ratio. Quite nearly as many pending deals as active listings.
Consider Hermosa, where…
Does it seem like all the good stuff sells quickly?
From the standpoint of a buyer who's searching, yes, it certainly does. And your blog author is more and more influenced by that perspective, representing clients who are looking.
But it's not just perception. Look at some data.
Take the biggest possible sample of MB real estate inventory as of Feb. 15, 2012.
There are 93 SFRs, THs and condos active on the market across all of MB. In some past years we've seen inventory of 100+ or so among just SFRs west of Sepulveda at an inventory peak.
But there are 70 SFRs, THs and condos now in escrow citywide.
93 to 70. Call that 1.3:1 as an active to pending ratio. Quite nearly as many pending deals as active listings.Consider Hermosa, where…
End of an Era on 16th
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 3:31pm. 254 Views, 0 Comments.
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| 337 16th |
But, yes, 16th was offered:
- for 5 months in 2007 (mostly at $4m);
- for 6 months in 2008 (mostly at $3.8m);
- for 2 months in 2010 (at $3m); and
- for all of 2011 and 2012 (at $3m, down to $2.699m).
Now let's sound the trumpets, folks, because 337 16th has posted a deal. For neighbors and market-watchers alike, it may feel like the end of an era, the doorway to another world.
Who can say what makes a listing last forever?
With 337 16th (4br/5ba, 4550 sq. ft.), you have a plenty appealing home, very big, with a proper walkstreet layout downstairs – a chill room opening to the…
Close the Books on 1801 Palm
Monday, February 13th, 2012 at 8:25pm. 273 Views, 0 Comments.
They have finally sealed up a sale at 1801 Palm (4br/4ba, 3900 sq. ft.), a newer (2000) home that logged a fairly amazing 279 DOM last year. Amazing, that is, for a larger, nice Tree Section home on a great block and a sunny corner lot.They wrapped it up at $2.100m, down an irrelevant $29k from the last price cut made in July 2011.
The sale price is off $199k (-9%) from the start price from last March.
Perhaps more interestingly, the chop is also 10% down from the May 2004 acquisition price of $2.325m. MB's median price for 2011 for SFRs was pretty much flat to 2004 (see "2011 Wrap: More Sales, 2004 Median"), so we notice when someone comes in notably off that line.
Curiously, that prior listing began in March 2004 at $2.050m, perhaps begging for the…
