price cuts

We see two more examples of how this year is being kind to listings with a difficult history.

128 20th (5br/5ba, 4600 sq. ft.) is the latest to make a deal – posting an escrow on Monday afternoon.

On the one hand, here, you've got a lower 100-block location on one of the treasured Teen Streets.

On the other, you've got this, achem, very custom structure. In the past we've called it "a giant home with good views but way, way too much of its own style."

The current listing calls it a "[c]ustom artfully designed contemporary" and "sophisticated."

You say tomato...

This one ran a long time in 2010-2011, racking up an incredible 560 DOM in a failed listing.

The price at launch was $4.450M, and the last time we saw it make a chop was in

This is not exactly a market where people are bargain-hunting. Not in the first half of 2013.

But there are chances to make deals below the listed retail price. Just start with a list price that's too high, and watch the drops come when buyers make their case to the sellers.

An impressive example of a quick discount taken was over at 514 N. Dianthus (6br/5ba, 3700 sq. ft.), a corner-lot house that felt, frankly, unusual for the Hill Section when we toured it.

It "felt like" a Tree Section house, probably owing to the 40-foot wide lot. This creates a fairly narrow house for the Hills, but beyond that the home was outfitted like a luxe Mediterranean, and quite smashing attractive. (With a larger-than-Tree-Section-size lot at 5500 sq. ft., the house

To say that 217 9th St. has been offered for sale for a long time might miss the point.

It came to market in February 2012, hoping to strike while last Spring's market was just starting to heat up.

But at $3M, this little 3br/3ba, 1700-odd sq. ft. modern on a half lot did not look like a deal. It began at $1,701/PSF, much higher than you'd find on The Strand.

The listing limped through Summer last year and only made a big, bold cut when a new agent took over in October.

That cut dropped the asking to $2.500M. Still steep.

Another 6 months passed, but now the little modern city house has closed for $2.250M. Officially, 309 DOM tolled for the property from Feb. 2012 through April this year.

Sure, that sale was 24% off the start price, but

Having trouble selling? Hanging around too long, accumulating DOM?

Eventually you might have to cut your price.

When we reported here daily on the buyers' market of 2008-2011, price cuts were the norm.

Very nice, mainstream properties price in reach of most MB buyers (let's say under $2M) would linger and linger, trying to find their market, along the way generating a trail of pricing attempts that would help tell a story.

Today, "mainstream" properties under $2M enter an overheated market and tend not to last.

Higher-end properties, though, sometimes do hang around. Put in one question mark or more, and the property may be passed over a while.

Here are some of the big-dollar homes in MB that have recently made cuts:

448 1st (4br/4ba,

It's easy to talk about the overheated market conditions around Manhattan Beach these days.

To see only the fast deals and bidding wars, you'd think that buyers are neither choosy nor price-sensitive anymore.

And then you get a case like 3308 Pacific, which provides some kind of reminder that a more sober reality does still intrude – from time to time.

This is a home we have called "a quirky 80s contemporary in a subpar location."

That's 8 words that may tell you all you need to know as to whether the property might have been interesting to you, or not.

Memorably, the listing for this property in 1996 called it "Manhattan's most exciting modern home." The 2012 listing also went for the excitement factor, touting it as an "architectural

When is a "huge price reduction" not all that impressive?

When the start price was preposterous.

Still, they're right to claim that 421 32nd Place has, in fact, made a new "huge price reduction." (We've dropped out the all-caps you see in the listing, because we don't mean to scream at you.)

Yes, it's "huge" to drop from $1.3M to $1M ($995K) in just over a month.

It's a 23% cut.

These sellers must be crazy with how they're discounting the place, eh?

But no, really, they're just approaching market value. They must have noticed the lack of offers in an otherwise hot market.

How do you value a little old cottage like this on a half lot on an alley?

This one is officially 2br/1ba, 725 sq. ft., and, frankly, cramped and old. It lacks a

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One click on our Sand Section search gives you the active listings in that area only. (Use the "MB Search" dropdown menu.)

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It seems to be no big surprise that a few of last week's new listings made quick deals. But we've also seen some longtime listings finally get some ink on the bottom line as well. 

We'll look at a few – wait, excuse, I need a drink of water... OK – we'll look at a few examples of each here below.

1829 Laurel (4br/3ba, 3250 sq. ft.) is a 1981 build on a corner lot home in a much-desired part of the Trees near American Martyrs.

This one was memorably described as "aching for a more thorough remodel." We were not able to tour in the narrow window that it was offered to agents to see it, but there was a queue of at least 20 potential buyers clamoring to get in.

The start at $1.970M reflects size and location. Refreshed, it might be valued at