Real Estate in the Beach Cities: June 2010

Whether you're looking to buy a home in Manhattan Beach, are considering selling and want to see the comparable homes, or just like to look at other peoples homes, weekend open houses are a great way of accomplishing this.  Manhattan Beach real estate offers everything from condos to oceanfront mansions and alll are available to see this weekend.  See below for the open houses for the weekend of June 19th and 20th. 

If you find yourself looking for open houses on future weekends we update our Spouth Bay open houses every week.

For those of us that live in Manhattan Beach or Hermosa Beach the green belt is something we use or drive past on a daily basis.  For those not in the area or relocating to the South Bay it may not be quite so obvious.  So what is this green belt anyway?

The Green Belt is the Path Winding it's way through the above picture

The green belt is a landscaped path that cuts through the middle of both Manhattan and Hermosa and is a popular place to walk dogs, go for a run, or just a pleasant route to get from here to there.  The path starts near the corner of Sepulveda and Rosecrans and winds it's way through town to eventually end in Hermosa Beach near the corner of Valley and Herondo.  The path is around 3.8 miles long and follows the old Sante Fe Railroad path. At one point the plans were to develop the old railway but thankfully it was decided to make it open spaces for all to enjoy which is nice as green space is a limited commodity in the South Bay.

Keith Kyle is a licensed Realtor, short sale specialist and Top Producer with South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach.  He serves his clients throughout the South Bay and his websites KeithKyleHomes.com and FindYourSouthBayHome.com offer the most comprehensive real estate websites in the South Bay with free MLS access, current home listings, open houses, recent home sales information and more.  Keith can be reached at 310-251-2344 or by email at info@KeithKyleHomes.com.  For more information on the South Bay, visit my Beach Cities Real Estate blog.

The unusual abundance of oceanfront beach homes on the Manhattan Beach Strand has declined somewhat in the recent weeks as some homes have been pulled from the market and others have sold and closed escrow.  There are currently 4 homes on the market with some very unique and interesting opportunities.  The list price for 1700 The Strand is actually for a 50% undevided ownership interest which is certainly uncommon for Manhattan Beach real estate listings.  Of the other 3 homes one is a very large oceanfront townhome, one is new construction with Tuscan inspired architecture, and the other is a modern Ray Kappe design built in 1985.  For further descriptions and pictures visit our Manhattan Beach oceanfront homes site or click below.

Recent Manhattan Beach Strand Home Sales

Two oceanfront homes sold in May of 2010.  The first at 112 The Strand was a large 3 bedroom 4 bath home built in 1988.  The home was originally listed for $7,795,000 and closed for $7,334,000 and was on the market for only 20 days.  The second home was listed by several agents over the past year and although the current listing was priced at $7,999,000 and close at $7,500,000 it was originally listed for $9,795,000 in July of 2009.  The home was on a corner lot with the expected expansive views.

Keith Kyle is a licensed Realtor, short sale specialist and Top Producer with South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach.  He serves his clients throughout the South Bay and his websites KeithKyleHomes.com and FindYourSouthBayHome.com offer the most comprehensive real estate websites in the South Bay with free MLS access, current home listings, open houses, recent home sales information and more.  Keith can be reached at 310-251-2344 or by email at info@KeithKyleHomes.com.  For more information on the South Bay, visit my Beach Cities Real Estate blog.

The Fusion South Bay real estate market has continued to be far more active than the surrounding areas with 7 homes having sold and closed escrow since mid April.  Of the 7 homes all were standard sales other than the home at 5401 W 149th Place #3 which was a short sale.  Eliminating the one short sale listing the average days on market was only 27 which is well below the area average.  

There is currently one 3 bedroom unit in escrow with a list price of $599,000 and was only on the market 7 days.  The 3 bedroom units are fairly rare and the demand is generally high.

Currently there are 2 active listings at 5406 149th Place #10 and just listed today (not on the list below) is 5401 149th Place #16 listed at $529,000.  Visit our Fusion active listingssite to see pictures, descriptions and floorplans

Fusion South Bay is a fantastic option for anyone considering the South Bay and wanting to be fairly near the ocean.  The homes were built from 2005-2007, are generally in good condition, have very low HOA fees, and the location is adjacent to Manhattan Beach.

Keith Kyle is a licensed Realtor, short sale specialist and Top Producer with South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach.  He serves his clients throughout the South Bay and his websites KeithKyleHomes.com and FindYourSouthBayHome.com offer the most comprehensive real estate websites in the South Bay with free MLS access, current home listings, open houses, recent home sales information and more.  Keith can be reached at 310-251-2344 or by email at info@KeithKyleHomes.com.  For more information on the South Bay, visit my Beach Cities Real Estate blog.

For those agents unfortunate enough to have dealt with Countrywide and Bank of America and their short sale process, the use of their Equator system (it's not actually theirs but currently the only lender using it) was supposed to make the process more efficient, more manageable and more transparent.  The problem lies in the fact that the system is only as good as the people managing the files, which in my case has not been very good.  As every email and communication is tracked on the system, I do hope that the one real benefit to come from it is for the higher ups to see just how poor the communication is and how long and inefficient the process can be.  I have thankfully closed deals on Equator and have several currently at the "negotiation" stage.  The process takes just as long as it ever did, and most Equator messages sent to the negotiator, or anyone else, usually go unanswered.  On my latest file there has not been a task assigned nor any message from the bank in over 6 weeks and my attempts to contact them have gone unanswered.

If something has improved.....it's not something I've seen yet.  Overall the Equator platform is just fine, but until it's efficiently and effectively managed, it's just the same old Bank of America process with an online presence.

Opportunities continue to exist in the the luxury real estate market of Manhattan Beach with 13 distressed homes currently for sale at some stage of the foreclosure process.  Of the 13 homes there are 7 single family homes, 5 townhomes and 1 condominium.  3 of the homes are bank owned properties with the other 10 being either short sales or homes with NOD's filed.  Visit our Manhattan Beach short sale and foreclosure website to see more information.

Keith Kyle is a licensed Realtor, short sale specialist and Top Producer with South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach.  He serves his clients throughout the South Bay and his websites KeithKyleHomes.com and FindYourSouthBayHome.com offer the most comprehensive real estate websites in the South Bay with free MLS access, current home listings, open houses, recent home sales information and more.  Keith can be reached at 310-251-2344 or by email at info@KeithKyleHomes.com.  For more information on the South Bay, visit my Beach Cities Real Estate blog.

As many of my clients are from out of the area or out of state, they seem to have a notion that the South Bay is simply one big city and there aren't all that many differences between Manhatgtan Beach, Hermosa Beachand Redondo Beach.  The reality is that even within these cities the individual neighborhoods vary quite a bit.  Due to the sheer size of the city, Redondo Beach is one of the more varied communities in the South Bay in terms of types of housing, size and age, and price. 

The area just east of Hermosa and just South of Manhattan (see Golden Hills Map)is a hilly section of Redondo Beach known as the Golden Hills.  Knowing the areas pros and cons is an important step in determining whether the Golden Hills is the right area for you.  The homes in the area have a not entirely flattering nickname and are called "tall and skinnies".  Drive down any street in the area and you'll see why.  When the homes were originally built the area was subdivided into 25x100 foot lots.  With no alleys in the rear, this means that the frontage of the home required a 2 car garage and as you'll notice, the homes look somewhat similar.  So here's the pros and cons of the area.

Pros:

1. You get a bigger house for a lower price.  Many of the homes in the area are in the 1700+ square foot range with spacious living rooms, open kitchens and good sized bedrooms.
2. Prices for these 1700+ square foot houses generally start in the high $600k range and newer, larger homes can sell for over $1,000,000.
3. Location is excellent.  Being just east of Hermosa Beach, means that the Golden Hills is very close to the beach.  Saying it's a walk or bike ride is a bit of a reach, but it's not far off.  Being this close to the beach means cooler summers and warmer winters......and who doesn't like that.
4. Upgrades.  Many of the homes in the area have been very nicely upgraded and well taken care of.  Those that haven't can be purchased for an even greater discount.
5. Price.  Look just west in Hermosa and the price jumps considerably.  Try to find a home this size in other parts of Redondo and expect to pay $100k more.

Cons:

1. The biggest complaint that I get to the area is the bedroom configuration.  With a 25 foot wide lot there's only so many options the original builders had.  The general layout is living room (often with vaulted ceilings), kitchen and master bedroom upstairs, and garage and 2 bedrooms downstairs.  The master on one level with the other bedrooms downstairs is often an obstacle with families with small kids or expectant parents.
2. Proximity to your neighbors.  Again with lots 25 feet wide, and front doors usually needing to be on the side of the house due to the garage, don't generally mean much room between you and your neighbor.
3. Lack of street parking.  With 2 car wide driveways in front of every 25 foot wide lot, it doesn't leave much room for curbs.  On the other hand a two car garage plus 2 driveway spaces may make that a non factor.
4. Small yards.  Generally these homes have a small yard in the rear without a front yard to speak of.  Again this can be a positive or a negative, depending on your situation.

Overall the Golden Hills offers a great opportunity to own a good sized home, at a good price and just a short drive to the beach.  See Recent Golden Hills home sales.

For more information on the area of Golden Hills or other neighborhoods in the South Bay, feel free to contact me.

Keith Kyle - Realtor, e-Pro - South Bay Brokers- 2501 N Sepulveda Blvd Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 310-251-2344 - Keith.Kyle@SouthBayBrokers.com

For real estate information, open houses, and FREE MLS access visit www.KeithKyleHomes.com