tree section

Not everyone is getting more today for a property than they might have in, say, 2014 or 2015. If the Manhattan Beach real estate market hasn't turned, its upward momentum has at least paused for a bit.

But for the folks who purchased a lot to build on in the Tree Section near town, at 1800 N. Ardmore, there was a modest profit to be made on a 2014 acquisition.

The big lot, a bit over 6500 sqft. on a rising corner, will make for a nifty building site, with the park, greenbelt and downtown all nearby.

The most recent owners went to the trouble of designing a slick, modern new home with a pool in the "front" yard along Ardmore. Or, as the listing put it more precisely, the sale came with:

"fully approved and permitted plans for a 6-bedroom, 5200 square…

Sometimes, sellers make mistakes.

Especially in a market like this one, where sellers can look back at a few years' worth of upward pricing momentum, see underlying strength in the market and the buyer pool, and get fixated on nabbing that big number that they always hoped their home might be worth.

Then reality intervenes. If there are no buyers at your dream price, the question becomes: Are we really sellers?

At 200 38th St. (3br/4ba, 1800 sqft.), a modern-style TH with nice views in El Porto, it looks like the sellers are answering, "Yes, actually, we'd like to be sellers."

You'll see in the property details here on MBC that the CDOM ("combined days on market") count is 89 as of this morning, even while this is a "new" listing as of Friday.

But…

Inventory in the Tree Section is 50% higher than last year now, 30 listings versus 19 in mid-August 2015, and sales have been a bit sluggish.

But we wanted to call attention to a couple that have made deals recently.

747 18th (5br/4ba, 3625 sqft.) is one that was surely compelling, and was surely going to be selling. It would be only a matter of time and price.

This Spanish-inspired mid-80s house is at least adjacent to a great location, within sight of American Martyrs school and just one block off of leafy Laurel Ave. (The garage and 2br are on Pacific at stretch that can get busy around school and commuter times.)

The sellers moved out and commenced a quick refresher/remodel, meant to somewhat update the house – new master bath, new carpet and other…

If you're going to try to sell during the quieter Summer months, you had better be ready to sell.

Show that you mean it.

Of course, we mean show it with price.

Almost half of the most recent sales (new escrows) in town came within a week of their actual marketing dates. (That includes this Tree Section listing at 1825 Walnut, asking $1.379M.) 

At a time of burgeoning inventory and a modest sales pace, that's remarkable. Feels like the old days... for those sellers.

Not at all incidentally, 4 of the 5 sales we will point to below were priced under $1.600M. That's considered to be the more "affordable," lower tier of the Manhattan Beach real estate market. For all of 2016, out of 214 closed sales to date in MB, just 62 (29%) sold at $1.6M or below.

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