On November 23rd there will be 5 local homes auctioned off at a live auction.  All five homes are New construction that have been sitting around for along time and need to be sold.  All 5 homes are now listed on the MLS by the auction company and the listing agent at their staring bid price.  You can view these homes with your with your Realtor up until the time of the auction.  Keep in mind the Starting prices are not necessarily what the homes will sell for, the seller has a “reserve price” that is not disclosed and he does not have to sell the home unless the reserve price is met.  The reserve price is set before the auction and can not be raised but it can be lowered if the seller wishes.  Also at the auction the buyer pays a “buyers premium” of 7.5% which is basically a commission that gets added on to the total price.  The seller does not get any of that money but it is still an additional cost that comes after you agree on price.

Homes for sale:

1405 Faymont Manhattan Beach
4 bedroom home on a 5400+ square foot lot, starting price $1,399,000.  This home was last listed at 1,699,999 by Carl Henkel Peirside Realty.  This is a really good family neighborhood and is a really big house.  Its close to schools parks and the freeways.  This will be a really good buy for somebody.  At this current price and the “buyers premium” the buyer would be paying $1,504,000.

2509 Palm Dr. Manhattan Beach
$1,449,000 starting bid.  This a 5 bedroom 5 bathroom home in the tree section.  3100+ square feet of house and a 4,480 square foot lot on a cul-de-sac street.

1211 11th st. Manhattan Beach,
this is a 3,500 square foot home on a 6,300 square foot lot.  Big house in an okay location.  Starting bid price $1,450,000 last listed for $1,995,000.

544 21st st. Hermosa Beach,
this is a 3,700 square foot home on a 5,000 square foot lot in the heart of the Hermosa Valley this home and its twin sister (540 21st) are the best location of all five homes for sale.  This home is one of 3 homes that were built all at the same time.  One of them sold a few months back in a standard sale the other 2 have been sitting there.  Starting bid $1,669,000. Last listed for $2,289,000

540 21st street Hermosa Beach,
3,500 square foot house on 5,000 square foot lot.  Starting bid $1,649,000 Last listed for $2,289,000

From what I have been told to be a bidder at these auctions you have to be approved and have a few things with you in order to bid. First thing is an actual approval letter from a bank that proves you are able to purchase a house in this price range.  Then you need $50,000 cashiers check and a personal check for an additional 10% of the purchase price.   This is all suppose to be non refundable at the time of purchase.  After you have won the auction and turned in your deposit you have 30 days to close escrow.

The auction company is Premier Estate Auction Company, they have all 5 properties listed on the MLS.

HAPPY BIDDING!

In Manhattan Beach you have the strand which is great but for those that don’t want to shell out that kind of money there is the 100 block walk streets.  Next to the strand this is one of the most desirable places to live in the Beach.  In a normal market there may be 1 or 2 sales in this section a year!  A busy year would be 4 sales…to clarify I am referring to full lot (2,700 sq ft or 30ft X 90ft lot) single family residences.  As of today we have 4 listings “for sale” on the market!!! this is highly unusual, and of course the reason is because of all the craziness in the stock market, I am sure all these potential buyers have lost 20-40% of their net worth from last week alone!  Not to mention the fact if a builder was interested in one of these potential tear downs it is next to impossible for he/she to get a reasonable loan, its not impossible but it is much much more difficult.

Currently there are 4 listings on the market as of today:

1) 129 8th st.  Listed for $3,499,000 by Roger Leonard of Coldwell Banker.  This is a very nicely remodeled home with an extra unit over the garage.   It is good size and in great condition its actually a decent deal considering some lot value sales have sold higher than this price in the recent past.  The negatives of this property are the beach bathroom at the end of the street, the commercial building next door and the lack of nice homes across the street.  I feel its well priced for what it is but its not the best of the best.

2) 128 6th st. for $ 3,500,000 listed by Denise Lavell of Re/Max.  This is really a land value deal, the house is the original house from way back when, there is no real garage and the everything in it needs to be replaced.  This is really the only Land value listing in the bunch.  The property across the street sold for “land value” in January 2008 for over 3.6m, so this one looks good at this price, some may argue its on the “wrong side of the street”.  There is a big thing on the walk streets that the north side of the street is better because you get more sun exposure in the front of your house. (I will get into that in another post)  This property was or is in escrow but might fall out so they are looking for another buyer.

3) 133 17th st. for $ 3,650,000 by Kevin Pratt of Shorewood Realtors.  This house is a “tweener” is not a tear down but its not a big beautiful house.  Its in really good condition but it is a little small in the main house with 3 small bedrooms.  Then it has a 1 bedroom apartment over the garage.  Its very clean and very simple, the location is great but the price seems on the high side compared to 129 8th st. where the house is so much better than this one.

4) Last but definitely NOT least is 202 Ocean Dr. (North corner of 2nd st and Ocean Drive, directly behind the strand)  This house is listed for $7,499,000 by David Caskey of Shorewood Realtors.  This house is absolutely stunning!  It is beautifully built with lots and lots of detail and flows seamlessly from level to level, and the finishes are amazing.  They did not use any material that was ground breaking or that you haven’t seen before but the combination of colors and textures were awesome.  Its a big price but for what it is and where it is I am willing to bet they get close to it, only time will tell.

This is a small post is to comment on what is available in a very prime section of Manhattan Beach and the fact that there are 4 of them out there at one time proves that the market has changed.  Not that there was a lot of doubt.  I would say that prices in this area have not come down necessarily but they are not appreciating like were or at all in some cases.  The proof this market has changed  is a “100 block buyer” has his choice of what he wants where before he had to take what came up or wait months if not years for the next one to pop up and grab it.

Overall the market has slowed down, everyone is waiting to see what is going to happen with this “economic stimulus-rescue-shoring-financial-bailout”,  if it gets passed at all!!

That being said there is still some surprising activity:

Town home at 1202 Cypress listed for 1,325,000 (coldwell banker-Craig O’rouke)  sold in one week (last week) with 3 offers and went for $25,000 over asking price.

2108 the strand in hermosa beach is supposedly sold, list with remax Liz Broen, listed for $4,999,000.  Basically a land value deal and they got close to full price from a highly qualified buyer.

121 25th st Manhattan beach 3,250,000 Listed with Shorewood Realtors Dave Caskey, hit the MLS as “back up offers only”. I personally was going to show it to someone but it essentially sold in one day.

These are only a few examples of what’s moving.  I am not saying that the market has not slowed down but I am saying that the well priced stuff or the hard to find stuff is still moving quickly especially if they meet both those criteria.

My deal of the week is 340 27th st. Hermosa Beach, CA
Listed for $1,199,999 by Geraldine Athas- Vazquez of Re Max 

it is 1,950 sft very nicely updated, very charming inside with 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths and a rooftop deck with great views.  The location is not great, 27th st. is a busy street but for the money this house is a good buy!  It is close to the beach, really close to Hermosa Valley Park (great for kids) and has an ocean view.  I predict it will be gone pretty fast even with the economy the way it is.

Now is the time to buy!

I feel we are getting really close to the bottom, a lot of people do not agree but here in the beach cities I think we are close to the bottom. ( I am going out on a limb here) But when it bounces back it will bounce back hard and fast and lots of people will miss it.