415 30th st. Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
Listed by Lissett Evanzia of GMAC Realty.  Last listed at $1,799,900 has been in escrow for a while and is now a closed sale at $1,650,000!

This home was built in 2005 by Nick Schaar, a 4 bedroom 3.5 bathroom single family home in a nice neighborhood.
The house was about 2,827 square feet with a roof top deck and a 2 car garage.  The house was nicely built but was a very challenging floorplan.  There are 3 levels, the top level is an open kitchen an living room, middle level is Master suite and garage, and lower level (basement, all underground) are 3 additional bedrooms.  So the kids live in the dark dingy basement, this had a huge effect on its value.

This home sold brand new in 2006 for 2,058,000, now sold for $1,650,000…that equals about a 20% drop,  this is about the drop that the beach area has been seeing from the peak.

There is a North Redondo Neighborhood called the “Golden Hills” or Area 154 in the MLS  it is where the tall and skinny homes are.  These are “typically” 1700-2200 square foot homes on 25 foot wide lots by 100 feet deep.  The activity in this area is usually good it has a lot of turn over because they are “typically” first time home buyer or 2nd time home buyer homes and when you have a couple of kids or more they tend to get small.

Here is a picture of the type of home I am describing (see above).

The activity is as follows:

Active listings:

18 single family homes are for sale right now in that neighborhood priced between $527,500-$1,194,000 of those 18 Ten of them are the “tall and skinny” on those 2500 square foot lots, they are priced between 699,000-1,079,000.

In Escrow:

7 properties are in escrow which range from 475,000-849,000 (last listed prices) of which 5 are tall and skinnys…one at $475,000 and 4 over $600,000.

SOLD as of 1/1/09

9 sold in the neighborhood sold prices between 533,000-744,000.  This is a crazy statistic! The Highest closed sale for the neighborhood is $744,000!!!!!! that is crazy. Of those 9 sales 5 are tall and skinny, from $644,000-744,000 only one escrow right now has the possibility of closing higher than $744,000 the rest of the pending sales are all lower.

BEST DEAL OUT THERE

I am not being bias at all but my listing at 1741 Havemeyer no listed at 725,000 is the best deal out there.

Click here to see my listing.

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.

This is the first of many reports presented by me based on knowledge I have obtained through my work and investigation. This first report is on the Hermosa Beach Strand and specifically the houses that have been recently sold on it. The strand is about a mile and a half long and contains Hermosa Beach’s most expensive residential real estate.

One general principle about the Hermosa strand is that the northern end seems to be the preferred end, values at the north end of the strand seem to be higher as reflected in the comparable sales than in the southern end. Another principle in regards to these properties is (in general) every lot is different in size, the difference is mostly made up in the length of the lots with most lots on the strand being 30 feet wide. These lots also vary in their zoning; the majority of the lots are zoned for single family, some are zoned for multi-unit use but most-likely do not have the require lot size to build more than one unit. The difference in zoning does effect the height limit, R-1 zoning is a 25′ height limit and r-2 and r-3 are 30′ height limits (these are general zoning rules, to check zoning please go to www.hermosabch.org) . All of these factors can and do contribute to the value of a specific property. One thing they are allowed to have that separates them from Manhattan Beach strand properties is they are allowed to have roof top decks, which makes for great private areas to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the beach. In the last 3 years (going back to Jan. 2005) there have been approximately 15 sales which is about 5 per year.

Sales in 2007 that are closed on the MLS are:
2115 the strand: 3 bedroom, 3 bath, built in 1985 , 2,518s.f. sold price: $5,000,000

2014 The strand: 3 bedroom, 3.5 baths, built in 1992 , square feet 2,390s.f. sold price: $5,000,000

1632 the strand: 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, built 1974 square feet 2,200 sold price: $4,290,000 this house was sold to a developer for land value, it is currently being torn down and will be a new house in the future.

3001 The strand: 5 bedroom, 5.5 baths, built in 2007, square feet 6,204. sold price: $10,000,000 This house is a new construction home designed by Louie Tomoro sold in pre-construction. Very beautiful home.

802 The strand: 5 bedroom, 5.5 baths, remodeled in 2006, square feet 3,540. Sold price: $8,500,000. (This property was purchased in 12/2006 for $5,000,000 and then totally remodeled and resold in 2007)

Also found a closed sale that was recorded with the county but did not hit the MLS:

2126 The Strand: Lot value sale, older home on a smaller lot. Sale price: $3,640,000.

There are 2 sales currently in escrow (January 2008)

3003 The Strand: This is new construction 5,747 sft. list price $11,900,000

2826 The Strand: This is an old beach cottage on a large lot in Northern Hermosa that is rumoured to be sold to a builder. List price of $7,900,000.

WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN???

Land value on the strand is now above $3,000,000 in the least desirable locations and up to $7,000,000+ in the best location with the biggest lot size (single lot). To give you an example of appreciation in the last year we can look at 1632 the strand; it sold for $4,290,000 (6/29/2007) and is currently listed on the M.L.S. for $5,800,000. It is being sold as a building site, it is currently a vacant lot and the plans for a beautiful new house are fully approved through the city. Keep in mind this is not an official sign of appreciation since the property has not officially re-sold for the the new/higher price but gives you a clue that values have gone up.

To give you an idea of what your “middle of the road” (not land value, not brand new, not an A+ location) properties are selling for we can look at the two sales of 2014 the strand and 2115 the strand. Both selling for $5,000,000. 2115 the strand was more of a traditional house with two levels and decent living square footage. 2014 was an older contemporary style with similar square footage but 3 levels of living space. Both are located north of the pier but not considered to be “north Hermosa”strand.

The highest sale on the strand is currently 3001 the strand which was sold at the end of last year after just before being completed with construction from the ground up. This sale was inked before the construction was done at a price of $10,000,000. This is currently the biggest sale on the strand until its neighbor that was being built at the same time closes escrow. That house (3003 the strand) was listed at $11,900,000 and currently in escrow (official sales price is unknown). From what I am seeing of land values these high prices will not be the top for very long (i.e. 2826 the strand).