I wanted to shed a little light on one of the prime areas of Manhattan Beach, the “South End Sand Section”. My definition of “South End Manhattan” as far as this evaluation is concerned is: Northern Border is 11th st. South to First St., and The eastern border is Valley Dr., west to the Strand. This includes the “flat walk streets” -(300-500Blk of 10th street to 4th street), also the “200 block” (homes that are south of the pier between Highland and Manhattan Ave.) and the “100 block”. (homes between Manhattan Ave. and Ocean Drive.)
This first part is going to be about Active and sold listings in the “flat walk streets” and a couple other streets east of Highland (for example 300-500 blk of 3rd st, 2nd st, and 1st st.). I will talk about what is available and what sold in the past year, along with some of my thoughts on trends in the area, such as lot value and popular streets.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE?

505 3rd street $1,899,000
4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,571 square feet, this house definitely needs a face lift but gives you a lot of square footage for the price. You will see a lot sale at a higher price than this later in the report.
(mls# s08024927 listed by south bay brokers, Chad Fahlbusch)

408 6th street $2,340,000
4 bedrooms, 2.75 baths, 2,263 square feet, on a great street! This house was originally built in 1977 but has been updated in the recent years. This house has some floor plan issues (for example none of the front rooms down stairs go out to the walk street they are boarded in by a high fence) and disclosure issues but it is a great location.
(mls# S958414 Listed by Shorewood Realtors, Liz Walker)

341 10th street $3,300,000
This house has a beautiful front house with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms at 2,457 square feet and a 1 bedroom 1 bath at 678 Sft. It has a very warm feel, really nicely done and has a lot of nice finishes. It is a duplex that could be turned into single family very easily, (the north side of 10th st zoning allows you to have a second unit, check with the City of Manhattan (mls# S08039198 Listed by South Bay Brokers, Dunham Stewart)

528 6th street $3,449,000
4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 3,321 square feet of living space very nicely done contemporary home that was built in 2005. This house is very light and price with high quality finishes the only down side I would say is that it is 2 doors from valley Dr. which brings some noise to the area.
(mls# S958347 Listed by Northwest Realty, John Corrales)

400 3rd street $3,499,000
4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 4,059 square feet of living space on a larger lot that is 3,300 square feet. This is a very nice house on a larger lot, this lot faces west/east unlike most of the sand section lots that face north/south.
(mls# S08041983 Listed by Pierside Realty, William Herman)

316 10th street $3,999,000
4 bedroom, 4.5 bath, built in 2004, 4,350 square feet of living space. This one also has ocean views, it is very contemporary in design and is on a slightly smaller lot than the standard 30 by 90 foot lots over there.
(mls# S954823 Listed by Shorewood Realtors, Pam Harlan)

Here are some sales I dug up from 2007 in this area:

ADDRESS BEDS/BATHS SQ FT. YR BUILT SOLD PRICE

401 2ND ST. 5/5 5,300 2006 $4,000,000 *

325 9TH ST. 5/5 3,700 2003 $3,659,000 **

525 2ND ST. 4/4 2,753 1996 $2,125,000

440 6TH ST. 2/2 1,240 1939 $2,050,000 ***

544 4TH ST. 3/3 1,951 1948 $1,600,000

437 1ST ST. 4/3 2,632 1985 $1,450,000

420 1ST ST. 1/1 817 1942 $1,075,000 ****

*This was a new construction a large west facing lot with a full basement the house had a lot of living space!
**This was a nice house on a great street, this would be a prime example of a property that is in high demand in the south end flat walk streets (it sold in ’07 for over the asking price).
***This is also on a great street and was purchased in ’07 for lot value (supposedly) I know this because the house has been torn down. This is going to be a spec home. Personally I feel like this builder paid a BIG number for this lot. The last spec house that was built on Ingleside did not do so well (N/E corner of 4th st. and Ingleside.)
****This house sold for this price because of its location.

In general if you want to live in the south end of town you actually have some homes to choose from. The problem is I feel like there is something missing or taking away from each one of these properties which would be the main reason why they have not flown off the shelf. Yes, things still do fly off the shelves believe it or not. I would say the biggest reason that some of these have not moved is they are not in the heart of the south end walk streets, the streets that seem to get the most attention and money are the 300-400 blocks of 9th to 4th st. The biggest reason is the proximity to the beach and town as well as the kid friendly atmosphere. If you walk down these streets you can tell there are a lot of families with young kids. There is something to be said for having the ability to let you child go out and play and not have to worry about cars or a bunch of strangers coming down your street. It is a very fun and happy place to be and the fact that the streets are mostly flat makes it that much more conducive to kids play and family socializing.