A kitchen remodel can be extremely effective at increasing both the value and the utility of your home. But it’s also costly, and if done improperly, can be a huge money sink. Too many homeowners neglect to plan their kitchen remodel adequately and end up regretting some of their choices.
Most plans to remodel the kitchen begin with the idea that something is missing or wrong with the current kitchen setup. This could be various things, such as insufficient counter space, odd direction of workflow, or not enough storage, or perhaps you just want an island and don’t have one. However, it’s important to recognize that space is finite. Whatever changes you make, you’re probably sacrificing something else to make it happen. Plan out where you are going to place appliances — both large and small — and how much storage you will need. Consider how you intend to navigate the kitchen while using it, and ensure that the path is both clear of obstacles and sensible. For example, if you fry up some eggs for breakfast every day, you’ll probably want the stove to be relatively close to the refrigerator, and if you make coffee at home, your coffee maker should be near where the coffee is stored.
Another common error is choosing the trendiest materials and colors for your kitchen. It may garner the most interest now, but if you aren’t selling immediately, it’s a mistake. Whatever’s in fashion now will probably be more expensive than other options and isn’t any more likely to stand the test of time than any past trend. Timeless designs and neutral or classic colors will always be at least serviceable.
SARAH LEE GUTHRIE Holiday Show Fri, Dec 01, 2023, 8:00 PM, Doors 7:00 PM
Sarah Lee Guthrie sings originals plus the iconic folk songs made famous by her father Arlo, grandfather Woody and their comrades in music. Enjoy holiday cider and sing-alongs.
Sarah Lee Guthrie’s bright vocals prove that she is a force to be reckoned with in her own right. Over the past 2 decades, she has continued her ancestral legacy, touching the hearts of folk fans nationwide.
She released 6 albums so far, including her 2009 family album Go Waggaloo, featuring Arlo, her then-young children and unused Woody Guthrie lyrics. The album won a Golden Award from The Parents’ Choice Foundation.
And watch for their Thursday, November 30, 6:30-9PM show at the Banana Leaf & Beach Cities Social, 1408 S Pacific Coast Hwy, Redondo Beach, CA 90277
SoCal favorites, Andy & Renee, along with their band Hard Rain, have taken their unique sound and multi-instrumental skills to venues large and small all over the world. Named, “Best of The Beach” for many consecutive years by The Easy Reader, their seventeen CD and three DVD releases have also won them countless awards. They are known for their numerous energy-packed live performances and have made a name for themselves as producers and performers of Dylanfest, an 8-hour music festival attended by hundreds of fans and featuring many of L.A.’s top musicians annually in the Spring.
As always, Jodi’s Songwriter Showcase will be held the third Tuesday of the monthat Project Barley in Lomita. NO RESERVATIONS – Get there early to get a table! Put it on your calendar for November 21!!
Project Barley serves excellent Food (Gourmet Pizza, gluten free/vegan options, wings, sandwiches, salads), wine, and award winning beer. Food served till 8:30pm. 2308 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, CA 90717 https://projectbarley.com/
The Performers
Jodi Siegel
Jodi Siegel was born in Chicago, IL. The Home of the Blues! She eventually relocated to California and began playing and singing in countless blues, R & B, pop and original music bands throughout Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles. Over the years Jodi has opened for and or shared the stage with many respected musicians including: Albert King, Robben Ford, Robert Cray, J.D. Souther, David Lindley, Fred Tacket and Paul Barrere (Little Feat) and countless others. Her songs have been recorded by Maria Muldaur (“So Many Rivers To Cross,”-cowritten with Daniel Moore and “If I Were You”-cowritten with Danny Timms) Marcia Ball (“So Many Rivers To Cross.”) and Teresa James (“Come Up and See Me Sometime”-cowritten with Danny Timms)
Abby Posner
Abby is an award winning, multi-instrumentalist, a featured artist on both CMT and the Americana Festival this year, and has composed music for commercials, TV, Radio and movies. Touring throughout the US and beyond, Abby has built a strong, loyal following. She has opened for such artists as Phranc, Sierra Hull and Dustbowl Revival. Her style goes from Americana/Country/Folk to pop, rock and even jazz. She has a fun rapport with her audience and is very entertaining! For more information go to: https://www.abbyposner.com/
Steve Wood and Beth Fitchet Wood
Keyboardist Steve Wood and guitarist Beth Fitchet Wood have a long, checkered past in music, together and separately (Honk, Kenny Loggins, Jackson Browne, Sting, Paul McCartney, Dave Mathews and film composition). Their music expertly combines folk, pop, rock and jazz with soaring vocal harmonies and well crafted songs that are lighthearted, serious, romantic, sarcastic and always unpredictable!
Beth has recorded a dozen well received solo albums in folk, jazz, pop and children’s music genres, and produced the decade long weekly Laguna Beach Songwriters Showcase, “Beth’s Tuesdays”. Beth has also received multiple awards for her songs over the years including winning the Best Song(s) award at the Tucson Folk Festival in 2009 for “Red Red Sky” and “Peace in the Valley.” Both Steve and Beth are impossible to categorize into any one genre; they do them all! They also have a fun onstage banter and are fun to watch and to listen to! For more information on both Steve and Beth go to: http://www.bethfitchetwood.com/http://www.stevewoodmusic.com/
Home sales on the Palos Verdes Peninsula chalked up an impressive set of statistics in October. Comparing the October 2023 sales to October of last year showed a stunning 26% increase in sales volume beside an equally impressive 11% increase in median price. At the opposite end of the spectrum the Beach Cities October sales volume fell 19% from 2022, while the median price dropped 14%.
Elsewhere across the Los Angeles South Bay volume and prices were mixed with the general trend leaning toward decreased number of homes sold and prices struggling to stay level with last month while often slipping below.
Year To Date Sales Continue to Drop
In between the highs and the lows real estate activity in the South Bay has been mixed for the months of August through October. While many commentators are cautiously hopeful, it must be noted that year to date comparisons continue to show significant declines in the number of homes sold, with an average drop of 18% from 2022 for the first 10 months of the year. Likewise, median prices are falling for the January through October time frame. For example, median prices on the Hill were up in October, but have fallen 4% year to date compared to last year. Similarly the Beach area median is down 3% and the Harbor area is off 2%.
Sales volume is clearly down. By this time in 2022 sales were at 6700 units versus 5500 this year. Many buyers have been “priced out of the market” and many sellers are resisting the idea of “prices going backward.” The result has been a lot of deals not being made.
Year to date, the deals that have been consummated are still generally at median prices above last year, however the most recent three months have shown at least half of sold homes required price reductions to make the sale. With winter setting in, we expect continued reductions in both the volume of sales and in the prices of sold homes.
Home Sales at the Beach Hit a Wall
Throughout the year real estate in the Beach Cities has maintained spotty growth. Sometimes median prices improved, sometimes sales volume. But, October brought a wall of red ink for the Beach. Month over month sales volume plummeted by 27%, while the median price dropped 5% from September when it was flat at $1.7M.
Year over year transaction volume dropped 19% from September of 2022. The median price fell 14% for the same period.
Looking at the year to date statistics showed more declines with sales volume for the first 10 months of 2023 coming in 16% below that of 2022. At the same time, the median price was off by 3%.
In prior downturns the Beach area has been among the last to respond to market negativity and one of the first to recover. If the pattern repeats, sales at the Beach will continue to show predominately negative numbers for the late fall and winter months. Most chroniclers project a return to positive market conditions in late 2025 or early 2026 in general.
Harbor Volume and Prices Turn Upward
Home sales in the Harbor area moved from all negative last month to mostly positive this month. Sales volume on a monthly basis jumped from 24% down in September to a 7% increase in October. Similarly, the month to month median price went from -1% to +1% in October.
Annually, the number of homes sold in the Harbor area increased by 6%, a significant change from having fallen 26% in September. The median price came in at $750K, up by 7%.
That’s only the second time this year the Harbor area median price has come up into the positive range when compared to 2022. Overall, the year to date median sits at $739K, 2% below last year’s number of $756K. Sales volume for the Harbor is off 20% year to date. The number of homes sold for the first 10 months is 2824, compared to 3535 in 2022.
Palos Verdes Homes Star in October Sales
Home sales on the Hill came in at 63 homes sold with a median price of just under $2M. Month over month that represented a 13% growth in sales volume and no measurable change in the median price.
On an annual basis October sales were up 26% over the same month in 2022. This year’s median price was up by 11% over last October.
While these numbers reflect impressive growth it’s important to remember that the number of transactions on the Palos Verdes peninsula is quite small, which results in some dramatic percentile shifts. For example, the annual percentage of change in the median price so far this year has ranged from a low of -29% to a high of 17%. By comparison, the Harbor area where monthly transactions number in the hundreds, has an annual range from a low of -11% to a high of 7%.
On a year to date basis, the Hill showed a more common face with the January through October sales volume down by 20% from 2022. During the same time frame median prices fell by 4%.
Inland Area Sales Volume Down, Prices Up
In a surprising turn of events, the Inland area has shown an increased median price for both the monthly and for the annual sales figures. The median price came in at $917K this October, which was 2% above the September median. On an annual basis, the median was up by 7% over the $860K of October 2022.
With 116 units sold for the month of October this year, the sales volume was 11% lower than it was this September. The monthly decline was even greater than the drop of 9% for the year over year comparison to last October.
Year to date, the Inland area has outperformed the balance of the South Bay on median price and on sales volume. For January through October there is no discernible change to the median price from 2022 to 2023. In the same time frame the sales dropped by 14%, the smallest decline of the local areas.
Beach=Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo Harbor=Carson, Long Beach, San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City PV Hill=Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates Inland=Torrance, Lomita, Gardena
In September, the share of homebuyers paying all cash was 34.1%. This is the highest it has been since the beginning of 2014, and an increase of 4.6% from September 2022. However, this doesn’t mean homes are more affordable; in fact, it’s the opposite.
While it’s true that a significantly higher share of buyers are paying all cash, there are much fewer sales overall. Total sales decreased by 23% over the past year. Compare this to a decrease of only 11% for all cash sales. Cash sales aren’t going up, rather sales overall are going down, and cash buyers are less affected.
The reason for this is high interest rates, since cash buyers don’t care what the interest rate is for a mortgage loan they aren’t getting. Interest rates fluctuate up and down on a daily basis, but rarely change by much at a time. But in this case, they hit a two decade high in September at 7.2 and then continued an upward trend into October, almost reaching 8%. As of last week, they had started to drop back down. Despite this decrease, with how erratic rates can be, that isn’t a sure sign that rates are now trending downward.
Certainly, one of the benefits of a home inspection is peace of mind that the property you’re buying or selling doesn’t have any major issues. However, some issues can be hidden even after an inspection. Home inspections are typically visual assessments by a single individual. Some things could be missed, particularly if the home is large, and problems that are difficult to see visually can easily escape notice.
If a mold, mildew, or pest problem is easily seen by a home inspector, it means the damage is already done. You’ll need specialists to detect these issues before they arise. The same is true of faults in the foundation or structure as well as environmental hazards such as lead and asbestos. There are also some things that records may show but that an inspector wouldn’t have any knowledge of without access to these records, such as outdated plumbing and wiring and unpermitted home renovations.
