tree section

If you want to get a little extra juice for your listing while it's gotten slow, what do you need to do? Chop the price.

Do that, and it pops up on all the local agents' MLS hot sheets as a price reduction. Websites like MB Confidential and Redfin will feature the price cut. Buyers may take a second look.

And if you're the seller, here's the great news: There's no minimum price cut to get all the benefits of extra attention from agents, buyers and the Internets.

As is proved by the new $1.00 price cut at 1208 Oak (5br/4ba, 3125 sq. ft.).

Yes, $1.00 and no cents.

From the nice, round figure of $2,000,000 to $1,999,999.

Our morning email from Redfin was even confused: "Price Change to $2M on 1208 Oak," it was headlined.

Nope, sorry robot. You've been…

A couple of typos made the Manhattan Beach real estate market look a bit weird in this past week.

In maybe a glimpse of a future our kids or grandkids may see, 3011 Elm sold for a price (initially) reported as $32,125,000.

We like the Spanish "courtyard" home just fine, but for a 5br/5ba, 3600 sq. ft. house on a quiet, tree-lined block far from The Strand, that price made no sense. Not even in this market.

Alas, there was an extra "0" typed in, which was fixed 3-4 days later. Actual price: $3,212,500.

Now, this house will sell again. It's already sold 4 times in 10 years. This is the highest price yet. Even without the extra zero.

Meantime, in a window into the past, 2413 John (4br/2ba, 1900 sq. ft.) sold for $1,145,000. 

Well, that's what the

To judge by the most recent closed sales come in, you'd think no one knows how to price a house anymore.

We've seen markets where nearly every listing price seemed to be an overreach. Today, start prices seem to be literally just the starting points. Consider these very recent closings:

510 23rd (4br/4ba, 3200 sq. ft.) is a 2009-built Spanish in the gaslamp district.

Start Price: $2.699M

Sold Price: $2.826M

Amount Over Asking: +$127K / +4%

Note: That result was different from when the same home debuted back in 2008-09. It ran 7 months on market and sold for 16% under the asking price way-back-when, the year your kindergartner was born.

1901 Lynngrove (3br/1ba, 1100 sq. ft.) is a mostly original corner-lot cottage in Liberty Village. The home has

We'll remember the first half of February 2015 as the time when we said, "Oh, really!?!" a few more times.

The kinds of deals buyers are making early in the year continue to set the tone for another roaring year in Manhattan Beach real estate. Consider:

• 316 4th St., a corner lot at Crest and the flat 4th St. walkstreet, listed for $3.300M, about $600K above 2 recent nearby lot-sale comps, and is in escrow for more than 10% more than asking price; this says "watch out, South End." Ocean views helped on this one.
  

• Two East MB lots deep into the 1700 block, specifically 1721 Gates and 1727 Gates, listed for $1.400M and $1.500M, respectively, and made immediate deals. Previously, you might have penciled them in at $1.300M-minus each, but no. (FYI 1727