All Blog Entries by Dave Fratello

New construction: People like it.

The Tree Section: People like it.

Getting a deal: People like that, too.

Somehow, though, 3208 Pacific (4br/3ba, 3180 sqft.) hasn't sold yet.

With its latest $50K cut, this new home is currently asking $2.549M.

That makes it the cheapest new construction home in the Tree Section in the past...

How many years?

Wow, more than 6 years.

The last time a newly built home of at least 3000 sqft. in the Tree Section sold for less than $2.550M was August 2012. It was 616 30th (5br/5ba, 3370 sqft.), pre-sold at $2.512M.

The only recent new construction sale with a $2.5 in front was 3605 Oak (5br/4ba, 3250 sqft.) at $2.575M in June last year. That was an artistically smashing modern, but in a challenging

Happy new year to you.

We've closed the books on 2018 and everyone should be ready to make 2019 happen.

This will be our last biweekly market update for 2018, though we'll continue to pore over stats for some time and will share that data with you.

We gotta start with a headline: Home sales totals in Manhattan Beach were down from 2017, but even with 2016.

At 391 total sales, Manhattan Beach saw the exact same number of sales as 2 years prior.

We were down 31 from 2017 (-7%), but up 32 from 2015 (+9%).

Because it did seem that the second half of the year 2018 was a bit slow - particularly the 4th quarter - we compiled sales totals from the last half of each year, also.

From July 1-Dec. 31, with 194 closed sales, you can see that

The automated home valuation... people love it and hate it.

The "Zestimate" helped build Zillow by offering a tantalizing window into what your home is worth, and what your neighbor's is worth.

Following that example, the onetime darling little upstart Redfin built a "Redfin Estimate" valuation formula and slapped it on active listings and off-market properties alike.

We have a new revelation about the Redfin Estimate today.

Did you know they can erase history?

It's as if the bots can simply change their minds, and hide their tracks.

(Image here is from this classic Ren & Stimpy cartoon. Enjoy.)

Lest anyone think we're piling on Redfin, we'll remind you that we've taken on the Zestimate in past years, trying to see how accurate…

The real estate market is seasonal.

People do buy and sell at all times of year, but there are waves of activity where a listing is more likely to find a buyer. The end of the year is not typically one of those times.

As if to buck market seasonality, some sellers push out a listing in November and December. Often, that choice of timing is propelled by other factors, but sometimes it's a strategic choice of sorts: If we get our listing out toward the end of the year, we'll be all alone in the market. Buyers will have to come to us.

Now, with just a few days left in the year, we'll take stock of some late-in-the-year listings and see how they've performed so far.

New In November

A quick search finds 36 listings in Manhattan Beach where the