Wide-Open Spaces That Aren't

Let's say you're looking for a nice, new house in Manhattan Beach with a ton of outdoor space.

Well, then, be careful what you find on the internet.

New construction projects tend to come with computer renderings of the final project. And like this one, for 416 8th St., they'll tend to show the home in magical isolation, like it's on some kind of island, instead of showing the actual block where the home will be built.

It's only logical. And we can't really say the renderings are misleading. They are what they are: Idealized visions of the homes when they are complete. (In the case of 416 8th, they have not even broken ground yet.)

That was true at 750 30th St., whose rendering suggests a location wrapped in a hearty band of green grounds, tucked up against a forest on three sides. Oh, how the children could run and play.

Reality: While this home is in the Tree Section, but there are homes on three sides, not parkland.

It's similar at 717 25th, new construction that just posted as sold (for $3.245M). 

If only there were no neighbors on either side.

It would be a true retreat, befitting its Cape Cod style, as if it were in some semi-rural location on the East Coast. But no.

In a twist, this one adds an air of "reality" by showing a late-model luxury car parked in the driveway. With a casual glance, you may say something like, "Hey, why didn't the agent park his car somewhere else before taking the picture?" Tricky.

There's another CAD fantasy landscape in the sold listing for 328 28th, new construction that found a buyer off-market and posted in August this year.

That's a Sand Section home in the somewhat crowded view areas of the North End, running along Alma.

But you'd never know from the listing photo that there are any neighbors at all. Just some giant grey ice blocks that seem to cloud the view of the Pacific.

You just can't believe computers these days, can you?