THs

Just 14 months ago, there was a bidding war for 109 Bayview.

The ocean-view townhome (3br/4ba, 2030 sq. ft.) in the South End of the Sand Section was built in the early 90s and still looked very much like that in 2013. And the floorplan's a bit choppy.

Still, it was easy to see why multiple bidders drove the price up $200K at the time: Ocean views that are simply jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring... heck, they're darn near a religious experience. (Over the top?)

Those views are partly thanks to favorable topography, and partly thanks to old height limits. You can't build this tall again, so there's a special kind of scarcity factor built into this building.

In November 2013, the sale closed at $2.600M. Then the new owner started thinking through a remodel.

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If someone promises you huge profits for no work, be skeptical.

Unless it's a timely real estate investment in Manhattan Beach.

In another measure of how our local real estate market has rocketed recently, we now see a closed sale that comes in more than $1M above the most recent sale, which occurred just 2 1/2 years ago.

It's 2305 Bayview (3br/4ba, 2570 sq. ft.), a modern remodel of a 2004-built TH. 

The open floorplan on the top level is nice, and it's got a bonus few townhomes offer: A good-sized separate living room downstairs that's been outfitted as a home theater. 

There are ocean views, but really they're the standing-up type.

The home's easy to like. That's probably why in its June 2012 sale, it got bid up a bit, from $2.249M to $2.300M.

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This was a year of rising real estate prices in Manhattan Beach, but you have to start somewhere.

Here's our roundup of the, achem, cheapest properties to sell this year.

Lowest Overall Price

1520 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Unit D (2br/2ba, 1125 sq. ft.) at $465K in March 2014.

If there was going to be a super-low price in MB, a small condo east of Sepulveda was going to be a likely candidate. This one ran from Aug. 2013 till early 2014 when they found a buyer.

This unit has some spiffy upgrades from the 60s original. The listing description offers this hopeful assessment of the property: "All in All it looks like a happy, comfortable, worry free place to live."

Worry free!?! Sign us up.

Lowest-Priced Townhome

32 Bermuda Court (2br/2ba, 1465 sq. ft.)

It has been a heck of a year for townhome prices in Manhattan Beach. Suddenly the 3's are not at all out of the question for a unit with a view.

Down on Highland in the South End, two 90s townhomes figured to be a part of the party. But both saw the market adjust from their initial hopes and aspirations.

The most extreme overreach was at 512 Highland (3br/3ba, 2135 sq. ft.) which debuted in the depths of August asking, achem, $2.789M.

We had several reservations about the place, including its layout (2br share the master bath for a feature we had to call a "jack-and-jill master bath") and its overall condition – not too much updated from the '97 build.

In terms of pricing, this one soon had a bigger problem: Competition nearby.

That was 616 Highland