Enthusiasm Can Be Dangerous

As a buyer, when your home search nears some deadline, or you've just hit a point of desperation, it's possible to make a mistake. 

Or you might just be overly enthusiastic – you see a place and say, "ooh, that's the one!" You want to blow away the seller with an amazing offer to be sure no one else has a shot at the house.

Alas, it's possible to pay too much. Even in Manhattan Beach. 

Besides the initial sting, there does not need to be any long-term damage. The market will eventually catch up to whatever price you paid. 

If you hold, that is. 

As we see from a front-row seat often enough, life changes, and homes need to get sold.  

Sometimes, a quick resale can expose an overpay. 

That seems to be the case with 1500 2nd (4br/3ba, 1609 sqft.), a nice corner-lot remodel on a half lot near Pennekamp and Mira Costa. 

Ten weeks into its second attempt to resell after a purchase just last year, in February 2025, the listing has finally cut down to... the asking price from January 2025. 

This chart will help map out the pricing journey for this one. 

We can see that the January 2025 asking price of $2.300M would represent a pretty hearty gain (49%) over 4 and a half years from the acquisition price of $1.545M back during COVID times. 

But remember, this was January 2025, and while, frankly, there weren't all that many instant purchases by families relocating from areas impacted by the tragic LA County wildfires, there was a clear buzz in the market. Buyers unaffected by the fires were affected by the market, and the way the winds were blowing.

So that perhaps-ambitious asking price could maybe work. Sellers must have thought: Give it a go, and see what the buyers do. 

One buyer was overcome with a fateful "must have" instinct, and threw down. 

They plunked down an offer at $2.635M, or 16% over asking, and got the house. 

That was a big number for 1600 sqft. on a roughly 3200 sqft. lot at a busy corner. But still, it could have worked out over time. 

Time was not on the buyers' side, however. Things changed, and by October last year, they became sellers, asking $2.495M to start. It was already a concession that the purchase price was too high, by at least $140K.

That listing ran a couple of months and expired at year end. 

Coming back in February this year, they started at $2.399M, or most of another $100K below. 

When that didn't work, they recently made a cut to $2.299M, essentially the list price from January 2025.

We'll see where it eventually trades.  

No one celebrates misfortune, of course. There was some kind of change for the sellers, and it's going to prove costly. This is ultimately about every buyer's greatest fear: Paying too much in an expensive, inflated market.  

That fear can lead to analysis paralysis, where you never write an offer at all. Buyers often need to overcome the fear and make their move. 

It will usually work out fine. But you need to hold title for a while.