Last year, Manhattan Beach real estate saw a new high with a median home price of $1.900M. (See our full page about median home prices in Manhattan Beach, including links to past analyses.)
So, what's a typical median-priced house in Manhattan Beach going to look like?
Turns out, we have 7 answers for you.
That's because 7 homes sold in 2014 for exactly that new median price. This is an interesting way to get a picture of what that money buys in a few different areas of town.
For more on median prices in 2014 and past years, see our recent post: "MB Median Prices Rocket to New High in 2014."
Here's the full gallery of 7 homes:
3504 Palm (5br/4ba, 3450 sq. ft.) is a late-90s Mediterranean in the Tree Section with modest upgrades, but largely original.
It features the fairly open, great-room floorplan that's more or less standard for family homes in the Trees. There's a modest backyard with patio and grass.
Location-wise, this one involves a compromise with its proximity to Rosecrans.
A glance at the sold listing will miss some of the true history on this one. The property listed in April at $2.199M, but had some difficulty finding a buyer. It ran 6 weeks with one agent, took a break and re-listed at a new price ($1.999M), running another 6 weeks before cementing a deal for $1.900M in August.
576 33rd (3br/3ba, 2000 sq. ft.) is an inspired mid-century style remodel with wide-open common spaces.
The home has had trouble in past markets, though, because it's really 2br main house with a third bedroom set over the garage as a separate unit.
In fact, a 2011 try at $1.475M flopped and the home rented out.
But 2014 was different, and you already know the sale price: $1.900M.
By the time this sale closed in May 2014, land values on nice streets like this stretch of 33rd were moving close to $1.900M already – and that's about where they stand today.
768 26th (3br/2ba, 1450 sq. ft.) could well have been a monster lot sale, with enormous competition going for this huge 6100 sq. ft. lot, which happened to have a little 3br cottage on it.
Alas, the buyer, who paid (of course) $1.900M, didn't want to scrape. The point was to be in the neighborhood. So it was possible to pay a little more than the spec builders and would-be owner/user buyer/builders.
The sale was in March 2014. Just parking it on the land alone has arguably made the buyer $800K or more on paper in the span of several months.
605 N. Valley (3br/4ba, 1900 sq. ft.) bears a 1970s build date, but flippers made it a sharp, tight, modern remodel before bringing it to market in October.
To get a newer-feeling home with a South End Sand Section location under $2M, maybe the only option is to take a home on busy Valley.
The flippers added value and made good money quickly. They got the property for $1.350M in April (off-market). The sale closed in November at $1.900M.
221 Homer (1br/2ba, 750 sq. ft., 1700 sq. ft. lot) is another South End Sand Section property, but there's no flipper re-do here.
No, no. The old, tiny duplex is long gone. It's a construction site.
The 1700 sq. ft. lot is bigger than a half lot, just 2/3rds the size of a more typical lot.
But it's west of Highland, with views, and you know what that means.
While 605 N. Valley sold for $1,000/PSF with a structure, here 221 Homer sold for $1,117/PSF for the dirt alone. The $1.900M sale price would equate to a $3.065M price for a comparable full-size lot.
15 Bridgeport (3br/2ba, 2630 sq. ft.) is an SFR in Manhattan Village, with its own private backyard.
It showed as a vintage 80s original, having gone 30-odd years without the winds of change blowing through.
Still, in May 2014, its sale at $1.900M was substantially higher than any Village SFR sale since 2007.
In late 2013, the updated and somewhat larger SFR at 34 Village Circle (3br/3ba, 2975 sq. ft.) had sold for $1.710M. (Keeping the price a bit lower was its location backing up to Marine Ave.)
Neighboring, much larger and fabulously updated 19 Bridgeport (5br/3ba, 3200 sq. ft.) had sold for $1.700M in 2012.
Later in 2014, the new (recent) high of $1.9M at 15 Bridgeport was eclipsed twice by updated Village SFRS: 13 Bridgeport ($2.300M) and 22 Chatham ($2.130M).
1525 3rd (5br/5ba, 4475 sq. ft.) holds a surprising amount of house behind a modest, low-slung Spanish exterior.
It's surprising because this 1990 build has tons of space below street level. The downsloping lot allowed construction of ample living areas downstairs – in fact, most of the living space seemed to be down there. With bedrooms up and down, and sprawling family rooms, the home is a bit dizzying at first.
Though the home has had some upgrades and showed quite livable, we would not be surprised to see someone choose to do a complete remodel.
This home has a full-size, 7500 sq. ft. lot, what you kind of expect east of Sepulveda, but not as big of a yard as one might imagine, and a pool takes up most of it.
This one sold for $1.900M in the earliest part of 2014.
That's what your $1.9M got in 2014.
We were reminded, in reviewing these properties, of a Spring 2013 post here at MB Confidential. In "Average Family Home: $1.9M," we announced that the market had moved up to a point where getting the basics: 4+ bedrooms, around 3000 sq. ft. in a suburban neighborhood west of Sepulveda, was going to run you $1.9M. All 3 homes we featured then were in the Tree Section just east of Pacific school, walkable to school and, arguably, to town and beach.
That same money doesn't get you that kind of location now.
