markup

It's like yesterday... just 2 weeks ago.

The Hill Section lot sale at 512 Pacific came to market determined not to waste one minute. And there was no time wasted.

The starting price for this 11,400 sqft. plot was $4.599M, a "come hither" price if there ever was one. (In our blog post, we called the number "a clarion call that echoed across the Manhattan Beach landscape.")

Multiple offers came immediately, the price shot up, and the sale has now closed. My, that was all quick.

Closed price: $5.500M on Tuesday.

Now, what does that say about the neighbor, 500 Pacific, now in its 5th month on the market, priced 14% higher today at $6.280M?

[UPDATE: 500 Pacific closed in March for $5.700M.]

As we said in that prior post, "the lots are the same. Both…

Neighbor fights can become nasty. The sale of a couple plots of land needs not get too rough, though.

Two next-door neighbors in Manhattan Beach's Hill Section were on the market side-by-side for a time there, with a victor now emerging.

One took the approach of overpricing and trying to make the market come to them.

That was 500 Pacific. It's a big Hill Section corner lot (11,400 sqft.) with views over wide 5th St. and over homes to the southwest.

From the top rear corner of this lot, a new home should have views of greenbelt treetops, Sand Section rooftops, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and a goodly line of blue from the Pacific.

What a commodity! A big parcel of scarce land in a prestige location with views!

In October, they listed at $6.825M. It was

A weird thing to see in a rising market is the phenomenon of short-term holds that are profitable upon resale.

We already noted last month that the midsized house on a half lot at 1560 10th got 10% more than the 2013 price in a resale that closed just 11 months after acquisition. (See this post.)

But that resale, at $1.479M, was practically a lower-tier sale.

Now comes the corner-lot Tuscan at 1603 5th (5br/5ba, 4700 sq. ft.) at pretty much the highest tier for a conventional home in East MB, with a new sale at $2.850M.

Scratching at 3 already?

Why, just last year, in April 2013, the same home sold for $2.575M.

So they didn't really need to worry about whatever led to such a quick exit. (We're not prying.) Ordinarily, you'd think any profit upon…

No one buys a house to live in it for a year. Or for 11 months.

And if circumstances require a quick resale shortly after you've unpacked, expect to lose some money. Transaction costs can be killer.

Unless you're lucky, and it's 2014.

That's the happy ending at 1560 10th St. (4br/3ba, 2400 sq. ft.), a dollhouse of a remodel on a half lot in East MB.

This one emerged first last year, back in June 2013, asking $1.389M.

That was just a little high, and it closed in early August for $1.349M.

By April this year, it was back (call it 8 months later), asking $1.479M. 

They made a quick deal, but it flopped and the property dropped off the MLS a while before popping back up. A new deal posted in late May.

Just before July 4, they closed for that asking…