remodels 
There are currently 19 blog entries related to this category.
MB Confidential's New Look & Tools
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 7:10am. 473 Views, 0 Comments.
Hey, look. We’ve built something new!
And the change is good, with the new look, feel and function here at MB Confidential.
Building on our tradition of regularly producing insightful analysis of local real estate, we’ve now added the best hyper-local search and data you can find.
You can now search quickly, with one click, by region or subsection of Manhattan Beach.
Say you’re only looking in the Sand Section...
One click on our Sand Section search gives you the active listings in that area only. (Use the "MB Search" dropdown menu.)
You’re wondering how much Tree Section homes have been selling for recently?
One click delivers the past 6 months’ worth of sales in the Trees, listing the newest first. (Use the "MB Sales Data" dropdown
…Gutting 704 Pacific
Thursday, December 6th, 2012 at 3:03pm. 187 Views, 0 Comments.
There's nothing wrong with Pacific Avenue in the Hill Section. Some stretches between roughly 6th to 10th Street enjoy big ocean views, and many of the lots are large, affording bigger homes. It's a premier estate block for both reasons.
Alas, it may take a few cycles of development to get all the houses right.
As an example, look to 704 Pacific, where the site currently hosts a home that was custom built in 1997.
There was nothing awful about the condition of the house. It's big (5br/7ba, 4975 sq. ft.), and the layout – on the lot – of the buildings took good advantage of the large, upsloping 8960 sq. ft. lot. It's got a nice, quiet, sunny backyard.
The home did have a design problem, though, which caused it to stagnate on the market…
Alas, it may take a few cycles of development to get all the houses right.
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| 704 Pacific: Then |
There was nothing awful about the condition of the house. It's big (5br/7ba, 4975 sq. ft.), and the layout – on the lot – of the buildings took good advantage of the large, upsloping 8960 sq. ft. lot. It's got a nice, quiet, sunny backyard.
The home did have a design problem, though, which caused it to stagnate on the market…
The 'F' Word: Flippers
Friday, November 23rd, 2012 at 11:29pm. 213 Views, 0 Comments.
A declining or depressed market sees no spec development, and certainly no quickie-remodeler flippers.
We had one of those down markets here from roughly 2008-2010.
Spec builders re-entered the Manhattan Beach market as of early 2011 with the "Speedy Speckies" (see "Speedy Speckies Sprout," April 2011). High-quality spec projects have begun in earnest over the past year-plus, and some have sold.
So where are the flippers?
Friday's LA Times piece on multi-million-dollar flips got us asking that.
To define the term "flippers" here, we're talking about folks who buy a place in dated, imperfect condition and bring it up more toward modern tastes, then quickly resell it.
In most any stable market, you should be able to make some money if you…
We had one of those down markets here from roughly 2008-2010.
Spec builders re-entered the Manhattan Beach market as of early 2011 with the "Speedy Speckies" (see "Speedy Speckies Sprout," April 2011). High-quality spec projects have begun in earnest over the past year-plus, and some have sold.
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| The O.G. Flipper |
Friday's LA Times piece on multi-million-dollar flips got us asking that.
To define the term "flippers" here, we're talking about folks who buy a place in dated, imperfect condition and bring it up more toward modern tastes, then quickly resell it.
In most any stable market, you should be able to make some money if you…
Transforming an LV Cottage
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012 at 3:20am. 206 Views, 0 Comments.
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| 1605 Harkness |
This Liberty Village cottage was in original – and degraded – condition when it hit the market in February. (See our review from then.)
But boy, oh, boy, did they rework it over the ensuing 6 months or so.
This 60-year-old scraper was given the treatment by some inspired pro remodelers. They added square footage.
It was: 3br/1ba, 1075 sq. ft.
It is now: 3br/2ba, 1500 sq. ft.
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| Added-on Family Room at 1605 Harkness |
In…
Starting Over at 512 1st
Friday, October 19th, 2012 at 6:18pm. 199 Views, 0 Comments.
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| Holy tilted house, Batman! |
It was a visual cue that something was awry with this mid-90s built contemporary.
That cue proved correct.
There was the very curious layout – 3br downstairs, the master on the third floor, living spaces sandwiched in between.
There was the odd use of the lot – a separate garage building up front on 1st St. with a guest unit/bonus room on top. A "yard" in between, but not on the sunny southern side of the lot.
And within the brazenly different building, there were quirks. One observer wrote: "[I]t does have a number of rooms with curved walls, which leave unusable corner spaces."
MBC said, "512 1st…
Pushing $6m in the South End
Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 at 4:21pm. 174 Views, 0 Comments.
As the beach gets richer, only the rich will move to the beach.
That's the sense you get from 2 new listings down in the South End, one each on either side of $6m:
224 6th (5br/5ba, 4100 sq. ft.) is a planned new home, just a few months from completion, maxed out on a 2700 sq. ft. ocean-view lot. Some nice names are attached to the project.
They're running with the "plantation" style that's been sweeping town since someone used 3 lots on The Strand to show off the style in maximal fashion. (That's 212 The Strand; see "Big, Beautiful, Too Much?")
Asking price for this new one: $5.5m.
That would put 224 6th on a par with the biggest spec construction sale of the year, at 128 18th (5br/5ba, 4000 sq. ft.) a "tropical contemporary" that…
That's the sense you get from 2 new listings down in the South End, one each on either side of $6m:
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| 224 6th (rendering) |
They're running with the "plantation" style that's been sweeping town since someone used 3 lots on The Strand to show off the style in maximal fashion. (That's 212 The Strand; see "Big, Beautiful, Too Much?")
Asking price for this new one: $5.5m.
That would put 224 6th on a par with the biggest spec construction sale of the year, at 128 18th (5br/5ba, 4000 sq. ft.) a "tropical contemporary" that…
Santa Barbara on Palm Has a Deal
Thursday, July 19th, 2012 at 4:56am. 173 Views, 0 Comments.
We were pretty frank in our first review of 1820 Palm.The sellers were starting, most likely, "above market price" at $2.149m, for a 2450 sq. ft. remodel. They were hoping that the super location and very nice Spanish/modern styling would propel them to surprising heights.
We called the home "undeniably sharp and attractive," but wondered if the 70s original could really command anything like that kind of money. Especially with a patio rather than a yard.
Then the sellers corrected to $1.999m a month ago, and we were unsurprised at the 7% cut.
But still... $2m for 2400-odd sq. ft.?
It's just a month after that cut, and now they've posted that they've got a deal at 1820 Palm.
5 bedrooms, great block, style... no work to do. Can you almost see it? How do they wind up?
'Puzzling Palm' Down to Bones
Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 4:56am. 162 Views, 0 Comments.
Frequently you'll walk through a lower-priced property and say to yourself, "This place could be great, if only everything were different."
One of the better examples of that phenomenon early this year was the home at 2516 Palm (3br/2ba, 2250 sq. ft.), which MBC dubbed "Puzzling Palm" because of its manifestly strange layout.
The backstory was that an old 2br house had been picked up and moved from Beverly Hills to the site years ago, then several local additions were made. This contributed to the surprising layout: 2br in back off the dining room on the first floor, then the master suite up front, through 2 living rooms and upstairs over the garage.
In our review of the home, we called it "a mixed-up curiosity of a house,"…
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| 2516 Palm when on market |
The backstory was that an old 2br house had been picked up and moved from Beverly Hills to the site years ago, then several local additions were made. This contributed to the surprising layout: 2br in back off the dining room on the first floor, then the master suite up front, through 2 living rooms and upstairs over the garage.
In our review of the home, we called it "a mixed-up curiosity of a house,"…
New Owners Get to Work
Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 6:56pm. 161 Views, 0 Comments.
Periodically we like to check in on some recent sales to see what kind of work people are doing to the homes they have purchased.
Here are a few recent examples – including at least one big eye-opener.
3100 Laurel (4br/3ba, 2100 sq. ft.) is our first case. Our before-and-after photos here show the evolution.
This is a home on a corner lot at 31st St. that MBC said had "almost too many flaws to count" with a layout we said was "shockingly awkward," partly due to the mid-level garage. (The listing called it a "great layout," so you can see there is room for different opinions. Har.) That mid-level garage is almost necessitated by the odd upslope of the lot toward Laurel – unless you scrape the house.
The ivy-covered 60s original with a pool in back was going…
Here are a few recent examples – including at least one big eye-opener.
3100 Laurel (4br/3ba, 2100 sq. ft.) is our first case. Our before-and-after photos here show the evolution. This is a home on a corner lot at 31st St. that MBC said had "almost too many flaws to count" with a layout we said was "shockingly awkward," partly due to the mid-level garage. (The listing called it a "great layout," so you can see there is room for different opinions. Har.) That mid-level garage is almost necessitated by the odd upslope of the lot toward Laurel – unless you scrape the house.
The ivy-covered 60s original with a pool in back was going…
Fix It, Get It Done
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at 2:54pm. 152 Views, 0 Comments.
For 6 months last year, they couldn't get a nibble for a duplex at 860 MBB.
It was priced as low as $849k for 2 legal units, and the numbers could be made to work for using it as a straight-up investment property.
One reason we know the marketing was poor was that this cell-phone shot from across the street was all that appeared in the listing. (See "Crooked, Crooked Duplex.")
Note to sellers: If your agent can only muster a drive-by to snap a photo to market your home, there may be some unfortunate shortcuts being taken in other places as well.
This year, things were different at 860 MBB.
First, a new agent helped the sellers blaze through a long to-do…
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| Last year's "marketing photo" for 860 MBB. |
One reason we know the marketing was poor was that this cell-phone shot from across the street was all that appeared in the listing. (See "Crooked, Crooked Duplex.")
Note to sellers: If your agent can only muster a drive-by to snap a photo to market your home, there may be some unfortunate shortcuts being taken in other places as well.
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| Revised, retooled – and sold version of 860 MBB. |
First, a new agent helped the sellers blaze through a long to-do…
