If you’re planning to sell your home, the ideal result is to get as much from the sale as you can. This leads sellers to look for any and all features or qualities that could potentially raise the price. But the fact of the matter is that the market sets home values, not individual sellers. There are a few common mistakes sellers make that lead them to list their homes at overpriced values, which doesn’t benefit them in terms of actually getting the sale to happen.
Sometimes sellers even purposefully list their home above market value. Usually, they are thinking they can start high and drop the price if no one is buying. However, all this does is reduce overall interest and cause the sale to take longer. If the price is right to start with, multiple people will be interested and might be forced to offer over asking to compete with other prospective buyers. The other reason sellers sometimes purposefully list above market value is that they need to reach a certain price to gain profit from the sale. There’s no point to this — either the home won’t get sold at all, or the seller will be forced to drop the price anyway and take a loss.
Of course, the seller is not always intentionally overvaluing their home. You might think that the value of a home includes both its intrinsic and extrinsic value. While this is technically true, extrinsic value is highly subjective. Don’t attempt to raise the price simply because you love the paint color you chose or you have good memories living there. If those feel like a significant portion of the home’s value to you, you probably don’t actually want to move. Of course, external factors may mean you have to sell — in that case, just remember to hold your emotions at bay. But what if you actually did make tangible improvements to the home? Well, that’s great, but not all improvements have a great return on investment. Keep in mind that it’s entirely possible you aren’t making a profit from every single upgrade you made.
Ocean view corner end unit flooded with natural light in highly sought-after Palos Verdes Bay Club. Enjoy sunset views from two private, tiled decks and numerous windows and sliders in living area as well as bedrooms. Although this unit is on the first level, the building itself is significantly elevated and the corner location affords open and expansive views and lots of natural light.
This unit has the Delaware B Floor Plan. The Delaware plans are the only units in the complex with 2 view balconies as they are always end corner units facing the ocean.
Double front doors lead to a foyer and great room with living and dining areas. Remodeled kitchen and baths with high quality features. Floors are waterproof luxury vinyl planks, travertine, and tile – no carpet! (Since unit is on the first floor, HOA allows choice of flooring. Units on 2nd and 3rd floors must have carpet in all areas except entry, kitchen and baths.) Washer/dryer hookups inside unit and community laundry just down the hall. Other upgrades include electronic custom-made blinds for floor to ceiling windows in living room and custom walk-in closet (instead of wardrobe closet in original floor plan) in primary bedroom.
The unit comes with two garage spaces and two storage units. Palos Verdes Bay Club offers two oceanside pools and spas, two tennis courts, a social hall, a fitness/game room, lush, well-maintained grounds, and walking trails to the ocean and nearby Terranea.
Call 310-650-0960 for additional information or a private showing.
Sat, May 11, 2024 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM Palos Verdes Golf Club 3301 Via Campesina,, Palos Verdes Estates, CA, 90274,
The 2024 Gathering for the Grand Gala will be held Saturday, May 11, 2024, at 5 PM at the Palos Verdes Golf Club located at 3301 Vía Campesina in Palos Verdes Estates.
The guest of honor is Yolanda Valle-Perry, a San Pedro native who grew up loving the Warner Grand Theatre and Cabrillo Beach. She was an early supporter and advocate for Grand Vision, garnering the community’s support to revitalize the Warner Grand Theatre and re-energize the downtown community through the arts.
The theme, “GIDGET’S Glamorous Beach Party,” reflects Yolanda’s love of the beach with a nod to the 1959 Sandra Dee film. Dress up in your best beach-inspired gala-wear, celebrate the Warner Grand’s long-awaited $15 million renovation, enjoy tiki drinks, and party to retro surfer music!
Special appearance by Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman, the real-life inspiration for the character of Gidget from the 1957 novel that inspired the movie. Meet the legend who spread the surf craze through the nation.
Torino Plaza, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503
Super Early Bird Tickets on sale now at https://andyandrenee.com/tickets-tips-merch. Dylanfest is an 8-hour celebration of the music of Bob Dylan. The show started with our band and a few friends doing an evening of songs by Bob Dylan, and it has grown to an 8-hour event with over 50 musicians performing over 60 Dylan songs. Our band, Hard Rain, is the “house band”, and we are joined by solo artists, full bands, and instrumentalists throughout the course of the day.
In the first quarter of 2021 buyers and sellers were taking advantage of the artificially low interest rates. Sales were robust and the demand pushed prices up along with the increase in sales volume. By first quarter 2022 sales volume was waning, but sellers were still attached to the higher prices so we saw sales dropping off dramatically. The first three months of 2023 gave us even deeper cuts in the number of South Bay homes sold and brought some corresponding declines in median prices. Today, looking at the South Bay market for the first quarter of 2024, prices are still “sticky” with sellers hoping to hang onto the gains from the Covid years.
It’s not working real well. January gave sellers hope with a strong growth in sales volume and modest increases in median price. February showed returning median price increases and buyers backing off again in response. March is back to the drawing boards as buyers have balked at the price increases in the face of continuing elevated interest rates.
This is coupled with news trickling out of the Federal Reserve Board about how mortgage interest rates are probably not going to see the three rate decreases predicted at the beginning of the year. The latest announcement confirmed that if rate decreases come at all, it won’t be until late in the year and it won’t be significant.
To gain perspective on the impact to the real estate market, it must be noted that the number of South Bay homes sold during the first quarter of 2024 is nearly identical to last year, and is still 19% lower than the first quarter of 2019, the last year of normal business before the pandemic. At the same time the median price of those homes is up almost 10% over last year and is 40% higher than it was in 2019.
Somehow a 40% increase in cost within five years, with a negative demand, seems to be a violation of general economic principles. It appears the post-pandemic adjustment back to normality has digressed somewhere along the path. Of course, all this has been further impacted by the fact 2024 is a presidential election year, and simultaneously the world is in extreme turmoil both economically and physically.
Month by month performance has been unusually erratic for quite some time. So far this year the comparison of this month to the same month last year is the most stable view of the real estate market. According to that view, the number of homes sold has gradually slid into negative territory. January kicked off the year with a blanket increase in the sales volume. February flipped that showing for about half the South Bay. which slid below the sales of last February. March has furthered that negative sales volume to all areas of the South Bay.
Median prices are managing to stay above those of 2023. With sales down across the area and mortgage interest rates stubbornly increasing, that may be changing soon.
Beach: Home Sales Erratic
The Beach cities truly exemplified the erratic nature of month over month statistics during the first quarter. Compared to the prior month, sales in January were down 46%, in February up 48% and in March down 1%. Using the same metrics, monthly median prices were up 13%, down 1% and up 13%.
Looking at the same three months in a year over year method, the statistical movement is much less dramatic. Compared to the same month last year, January sales volume was up 30%, February up 33% and in a surprise drop, March was down 8%. By the same token, median prices were up 7%, up 29% and up 16%.
Disconcertingly, it’s been two years since the pandemic ended and the market is still seeing double digit movement monthly in both volume and pricing. This lack of stability results from several different influences on the real estate market. Among them the continued increase in mortgage interest rates, a corresponding relaxation of qualification requirements by lenders, a public perception of good economic conditions and a continued shortage of homes on the market.
Year to date sales volume for homes at the Beach has increased 13% while median prices have risen by 7% over 2023. Compared to 2019, sales are off by 35% with median prices 43% higher.
Harbor: Up, Then Down, Then Up
Month to month activity for the first quarter in the Harbor area has followed an equally irrational pattern to that of the Beach. January saw sales and prices drop by 13% and 4% respectively. Then February brought increases in both numbers, volume going up 8% and the median price by 6%. March came in mixed with sales volume up 16% while the median slipped by 3%.
Annually, homes in the Harbor area started the year on a positive note with 9% growth in number of homes sold and an accompanying 7% growth in median price. February saw sales decline 3% with an increase in median price of 18%. Sales volume continued to fall in March, decreasing by 8%, albeit with a 4% increase in median price.
Year to date for the first quarter shows the number of homes sold declined by 2%, while the median price increased by 10%. Compared to 2019, sales are off by 16% with median prices 43% higher.
Hill: Sales and Prices Up; Sorta
After two months of negative sales volume and falling median prices, home sales on the Hill perked up in March. Volume was up 39% with 50 properties sold and median prices took a 12% jump to $1.982M. As mentioned in the past, properties on the Palos Verdes peninsula, much like those in the Beach cities, represent a smaller segment of the marketplace and often one or two outsize transactions will create a major shift in the statistics.
Of course, that “perkiness” is relative. While the number of homes sold was 39% higher than February, it was still 19% lower than March of 2023 and 25% below March of 2019, the last year prior to the upsets of the corona virus pandemic.
The 19% drop in sales was accompanied by a 14% increase in median price, a contradiction seen around the South Bay and generally across the State. The typically accepted explanation is that many home owners took advantage of the low mortgage interest rates offered during the pandemic. Those people are now unwilling to take on a new mortgage with an interest rate two to three times higher than they are currently paying. This is leaving a much smaller selection of available homes and has created an inventory shortage which encourages competitive bidding among the few buyers active in the market.
The first quarter of the year brought a 3% decline in homes sold on the Hill and an 8% increase in median price. Compared to the first three months of 2019, sales are currently off by 11% and the median is up 36%.
Inland: One Good March
The number of homes sold in the Inland area for March jumped by 33% to 125 closed escrows. Median prices increased a more modest 7% to $925K. Like the Harbor area, there is a comparatively large number homes in the Inland area and they offer a diverse range of prices. As an example, the low sale for this March was $371K while the high was $2.525M. Mathematics is a great tool for analyzing trends in real estate, but if one is planning to buy or sell in this environment, you should call a professional rather than simply applying these statistics.
Compared to the same month last year, March sales volume was down 7%, while the median price was up 11%. Year to date, the sales volume for the Inland area was unchanged, and the median price was up 8%. Similarly, comparing to 2019, sales were down 12% and prices up 40%
As discussed earlier, there’s a tendency for buyer resistance to the combination of higher prices and higher interest rates. Three months into the year, that resistance seems to be growing. Since the most recent Federal Reserve announcement, mortgage interest rates have climbed about .375% (3/8ths of a point). Looking at the statistical trend in conjunction with the increasing interest rate, we anticipate continued slippage in volume and more declines in median price throughout the South Bay.
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
Starting an herb garden is a great way to enhance your home’s curb appeal or provide a good first impression. Even if you aren’t planning to sell, herbs are useful for cooking or simply to bring a fresh, green scent to the home. The best part is you can start small, by creating a miniature herb garden on your windowsill.
The first step to making a windowsill herb garden is to choose a window. The ideal window will probably be one that faces south or southwest. Make sure that whichever window you choose gets at least six hours of sunshine per day and is away from drafts. Once you’ve picked a spot, choose your plants. These can be either existing herb plants or seeds, but take note that starting from seeds will take several months and require more attention, while plants are more expensive. Your container should be 6-12 inches deep.
Now to keep your plants healthy as they grow. For seeds, keep the soil moist, rotate the container and ensure seedlings get plenty of vitamin D from sunlight. For plants, water sparingly, as they don’t like to sit in wet soil. A good rule of thumb is to stick your finger in the soil and, if it’s dry an inch below the surface, it’s time to water. To encourage branching, snip off the tips of your plants once your herbs are usable.
While repairing and remodeling your home before selling can certainly increase the value of your home, you don’t need to fix or update everything. Some repairs can be done quickly and cheaply, while still having a significant effect. Focusing on those repairs is a good way to get the most value out of your time and money. This is especially true if the only repairs needed are low cost, high value repairs.
Prospective home buyers care a lot about first impressions. If something is visibly broken or damaged, they’re going to assume there are more, possibly less obvious broken or damaged aspects of the home. Even if the only thing wrong with your house is a torn screen door, that’s something that will be readily apparent to a prospective buyer. Other first impression repairs include leaky faucets and toilets, cracked paint, and squeaky doors and cabinets. These are also all potentially things you can fix yourself if you have the right materials and tools. Some more high value “fixes” involve things that aren’t broken at all, but may not leave a good impression otherwise — such as cluttered floors, or weeds or bare soil in your yard.
For obvious reasons, prospective homebuyers who are expecting to have children, or already have them, might want to move to an area with a highly rated school system. What might not be so obvious is that there are benefits to this even if you aren’t directly impacted by what schools are nearby. Schools affect more than just students; they are a major driving factor in home values.
Neighborhoods with good schools are more desirable, and therefore have higher home values. And because schools don’t typically vanish unless they’re heavily underfunded — which the good schools tend not to be — this is a relatively stable factor in prices. That means homes in these neighborhoods are solid investments, even if you can’t take advantage of the good education.
Conversely, if the school system is not very good, you may think you’re getting a bargain deal with low prices. Unfortunately, your home value probably also isn’t going to go up very much. However, if you are following the trends, you may be able to take advantage of rapidly improving school systems. Maybe prices aren’t high yet, but will be as the schools continue to grow.
Living at the end of a cul-de-sac is frequently met with positive connotations. And indeed, cul-de-sac homes tend to have higher property values. But what is it that makes them more expensive and more desirable? Well, certainly not everyone wants a home on a cul-de-sac. As with any kind of location, there are both distinct advantages and drawbacks.
One of the biggest reasons that cul-de-sac homes tend to have higher property values is actually just that they’re usually on large lots. Much of the value in any property is in the land itself. This in itself can be a benefit, though. Larger lots typically means you’ll have more privacy. Cul-de-sacs also see less traffic, making them safe for children to play outside and for residents to enjoy outdoor activities, as well as quieter. Cul-de-sacs can also be the best of both worlds, in a sense. Despite the larger distance between homes due to larger lots, many people consider cul-de-sacs to foster a sense of community. This is attributed to the circular layout of the street as well as more opportunities for outdoor activities.
Not everyone considers a tight-knit community a good thing, though. If you live on a cul-de-sac, there’s a good chance everyone knows everyone else. Or if you don’t, the rest of them know you as the person who doesn’t interact with them. There’s not a great deal of anonymity. Even if the seclusion is what you’re aiming for, this can also be a negative. Residents may need to navigate through winding streets to reach main roads, potentially leading to longer commute times and increased travel distances. The roads may also be less accessible.
