April 2012 
There are 17 blog entries for April 2012.
Sunday Opens (4/29)
Sunday, April 29th, 2012 at 6:37pm. 197 Views, 0 Comments.
We've got another goodly crop of new offerings this week. Nothing quite so world-smashing as the Sand Section duo last week, but nice homes just the same.
Before you know it, Spring will be Summer and this little rush of inventory will wind down. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
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 tour, tell us what you see, what you like and what you don't like in the comments here.
Sand Section
552 3rd (3br/3ba, 1850 sq. ft.) is a cute 1940s original with additions in…Are We Up Yet?
Friday, April 27th, 2012 at 4:07pm. 171 Views, 0 Comments.
With the buzz in the air about multiple-offer situations and all, we've heard all kinds of blanket statements about the market's direction.
The only one that matters is MB Confidential having switched to saying this feels like a "seller's market." (We kid!)
We've heard others say flatly:
We've done that, with mixed results.
Looking purely at year-to-date numbers for SFRs, are we up by a bunch?
It depends.
Median price YTD for all of MB is up $50k, or +3%, over the same period last year. (That's Jan. 1-April 25 in our data.)
The median citywide for…
The only one that matters is MB Confidential having switched to saying this feels like a "seller's market." (We kid!)
We've heard others say flatly:
- "Our market is already up 5%."
- "The high end has never been stronger."
- "We're up 10% already and there are more bidding wars."
- "It's on."
We've done that, with mixed results.
Looking purely at year-to-date numbers for SFRs, are we up by a bunch?
It depends.
Median price YTD for all of MB is up $50k, or +3%, over the same period last year. (That's Jan. 1-April 25 in our data.)The median citywide for…
MB at the End of the Rainbow
Thursday, April 26th, 2012 at 4:07pm. 224 Views, 0 Comments.
Everyone seems to want to find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
For a few fleeting moments this morning, Manhattan Beach was at the end of a rainbow.
We decided to share our snapshot. (Click to enlarge.)
For a few fleeting moments this morning, Manhattan Beach was at the end of a rainbow.
We decided to share our snapshot. (Click to enlarge.)
Same-House Sale Up 6% YOY, But...
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 4:35pm. 172 Views, 0 Comments.
To evaluate and compare real estate market trends, it's a dream to use same-house sales.
If you can see how the same house sold year after year, or use a set of same-house sales, you can get a good picture of the market's progress.
That's the Case-Shiller Index in a nutshell.
You won't often find short-term examples in MB, but there is a same-house trade that just posted and may prove tempting. It requires all kinds of caveats, and doesn't prove to be much of a barometer, but let's take a peek regardless.
We're up on the Plateau in the Sand Section at 469 28th, a somewhat sizable (4br/4ba, 3140 sq. ft.) and fairly new (2004) home that has now traded twice in less than a year.
This one sold for $2.0m in June 2011.
The new owners had plans. They saw the 2004…
If you can see how the same house sold year after year, or use a set of same-house sales, you can get a good picture of the market's progress.
That's the Case-Shiller Index in a nutshell.
You won't often find short-term examples in MB, but there is a same-house trade that just posted and may prove tempting. It requires all kinds of caveats, and doesn't prove to be much of a barometer, but let's take a peek regardless.
We're up on the Plateau in the Sand Section at 469 28th, a somewhat sizable (4br/4ba, 3140 sq. ft.) and fairly new (2004) home that has now traded twice in less than a year.This one sold for $2.0m in June 2011.
The new owners had plans. They saw the 2004…
Close the Books on 763 31st
Monday, April 23rd, 2012 at 9:51pm. 186 Views, 0 Comments.
It's rare indeed to see a Tree Section home go over $3m.
But once upon a time, it happened at a storybook house on prestigious 31st Street.
That was Summer 2006, as our local RE market was only beginning to hit the occasional bump in the road. The storybook home was 763 31st (5br/5ba, 3575 sq. ft.). It sold for $3.025m back then, in what could be called our last bubble year.
Regular readers know this one has been on and off the market for the past couple of years. We've repeatedly done 2 things here at MBC:
New agents, new year, same result – a 2011 listing…
But once upon a time, it happened at a storybook house on prestigious 31st Street.
That was Summer 2006, as our local RE market was only beginning to hit the occasional bump in the road. The storybook home was 763 31st (5br/5ba, 3575 sq. ft.). It sold for $3.025m back then, in what could be called our last bubble year.Regular readers know this one has been on and off the market for the past couple of years. We've repeatedly done 2 things here at MBC:
- expressed our love for the home ("a custom masterpiece"), and
- questioned list prices that ran as high as $3.295m.
New agents, new year, same result – a 2011 listing…
Weekend Opens (4/21-4/22)
Saturday, April 21st, 2012 at 2:26pm. 220 Views, 0 Comments.
What if everything new was at the beach?
That's about the size of things this weekend. And there are some pretty fabulous properties worth your time.
If you like a really, really tricked out, high "wow" factor home, the first couple on our list are "must-sees." In fact, 128 5th is probably having its one-and-only open on Saturday 1-4pm, and it's worth organizing your day around.
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 tour, tell us what you see, what you like and what you don't like…
That's about the size of things this weekend. And there are some pretty fabulous properties worth your time.
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| 128 5th |
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 tour, tell us what you see, what you like and what you don't like…
Buy Low, Sell High on 33rd
Thursday, April 19th, 2012 at 4:26am. 213 Views, 0 Comments.
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| 660 33rd |
Updated to 2012... since it has just re-sold.
This is a newer home that first hit the market in June 2008 (uh-oh!) seeking $3m.
Oh, those spec builders were pushing and pushing. And some were late to the game.
In November 2008, with the price down a trickle off $3m, MBC described it as:
truly not our kind of newbie, but it is vast... and it has its style points. What we find garish about the stonework, others will find opulent.
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| Kitchen at 660 33rd |
The foreclosure was in Oct. 2009, which many would mark literally…
Close the Books on 337 16th
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 7:18pm. 172 Views, 0 Comments.
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| 337 16th |
This year, we saw a deal post at one of the homes with the greatest market exposure in Manhattan Beach over the past 5 years. That's 337 16th (4br/5ba, 4550 sq. ft.), which has exceeded 1,000 DOM since 2007. That's some kind of record for persistence.
We summarized the listing history in our last reference to the property:
- 5 months in 2007 (mostly at $4m);
- 6 months in 2008 (mostly at $3.8m);
- 2 months in 2010 (at $3m); and
- all of 2011 and 2012 (at $3m, down to $2.699m).
Now the deal has closed at the most recent asking price: $2.699m. (Side note:…
Weekend Opens (4/14-4/15)
Saturday, April 14th, 2012 at 5:05pm. 249 Views, 0 Comments.
Spring Break is over and you may be spending the weekend holed up, cobbling together your taxes at the last minute, but do take the chance to venture out if you can. We're getting a few new good listings to see, the reins on inventory having been unleashed just a bit.
Major rains on Friday got in the way of our efforts to go see all the new listings we hoped to see. (Your blog author here ran the L.A. Marathon in 2011 in torrential rains, but for some reason driving around to open houses was a major hassle; go figure.)
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…
Major rains on Friday got in the way of our efforts to go see all the new listings we hoped to see. (Your blog author here ran the L.A. Marathon in 2011 in torrential rains, but for some reason driving around to open houses was a major hassle; go figure.)
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…
Aimed High, Quit Fast
Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 1:03am. 162 Views, 0 Comments.
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| 2216 Manhattan Ave. |
The Spanish TH is a beauty. But the seller's attempt to get $534k more for this one than the sellers of another unit in the same 4-unit complex got last September – that was ill-fated. The listing canceled today.
We noted last month in "Third Spanish TH Asks the Most" that 2 of the 4 units in this little complex traded last year.
2212 Manhattan Ave. (4br/4ba, 2600 sq. ft.) sold off-market last April for $2.5m. Later, 2211 Bayview, directly attached to 2212 Manhattan Ave. and right up behind it, sold on the open market in Sept. 2011 for $2.065m. (Arguably, the views at 2211 Bayview are superior to those from both 2212 and 2216 Manhattan…
