I have commented many times on terrible real estate pictures, no home photos at all or multiple pictures of the exterior from virtually the same angle, but I’ve 
never really seen a description that made me laugh. I’ve changed the city to protect the innocent
“Pretty good 4 Bd North Hawthorne Townhome with 2 bedrooms up and 2 bedrooms down….”
I’ll make sure to bring my buyers that are pretty qualified…..
Although the South Bay and certainly the Beach Cities were fairly protected from
the wave of short sales and bank foreclosures that plummeted prices in other areas of California, there were opportunities out there. As Redondo Beach is both larger than neighboring Hermosa and Manhattan Beach, and typically caters to more first time home buyers, it felt the foreclosure brunt the most and it wasn’t a challenge to find “deals” on such properties. Gone may be the days of short sale deals and homes selling below market value, as the inventory of both standard sales, and distressed home sales has continued to decline while demand has grown. The influx of investors buying up short sale and foreclosures added to the pressure. As of December 2011 there were 46 active short sales and foreclosures in Redondo Beach and just a year later the inventory was down to 9 distressed sales. This will likely lead to rising prices as these short sales were the driving factor behind the declining prices over the past few years.
It wasn’t long ago that a client wanting to look at homes in the South Bay often meant a day long journey of looking at the abundance of available homes and trying to narrow down which one had the fewest objections to the buyer. As there were so many homes on the market, and every day meant new options, buyers could lose interest over the smallest details.
My how things have changed. Now when a client calls to say they want to look at all of the homes in their price range there are few, if any to see. The excitement comes now when you can say, “I found one!” and you actually have a home to show. It’s certainly never a dull moment in real estate and maybe someday there will be a more balanced market…I’ve been told they once existed.
To see the latest chart showing a good example of how there’s nothing to see visit lack of starter homes for sale in Redondo Beach post.
**Please note that this post is from 2013 and the market and home prices have changed dramatically since then**
I have a number of buyers looking in Redondo Beach for a single family home under $750,000. Normally that’s not too difficult to find and it’s more a question of specific location, or style, etc. The problem now is that single family homes in this price range, which would be considered “starter homes” in Redondo, can be difficult, if not impossible, to find. It hasn’t been easy lately to explain to buyers (many of whom start the search in Hermosa Beach but find themselves priced out) that there just are no homes to buy. The chart below paints a pretty bleak inventory picture with almost nothing to buy, and the few that are priced below $750,000 are not at all what they are looking for.
The chart below shows all single family homes for sale, pending and sold in the $750,000 and under price range in Redondo Beach. The teal line represents the active homes for sale in Redondo Beach and it’s pretty clear that there are few, if any, real opportunities. According to Redondo Beach realtor Keith Kyle, “until sellers decide that this is an optimal time to list their homes for sale, this trend of low inventory and high demand will continue.”
With the dawn of a new year, it really got me thinking about what we do as 
Realtors and why, If done with the right motives, it’s so rewarding. In the stresses of an escrow, or in the challenges of a day of showing houses, it’s easy to lose sight of what selling a home can mean and for many it’s just another “deal”. But that’s not at all what this is about. I work with many first time home buyers and it is no exaggeration to think that this decision that I’m helping them make is nothing short of life altering. The home someone chooses is more than just granite counters, 2.5 bathrooms, corner lot, fixer or turn key….it is choosing a neighborhood, choosing neighbors, choosing schools, and even choosing a lifestyle. It’s about people…the people the home buyer doesn’t even know yet that may end up being friends for life.
Have you ever checked in on past clients years later and met the neighbors or school friends, or met the son or daughters best friend from next door? These are people that may be in our clients lives forever…and it was partially due to a decision we helped them make. Yes we sell houses, but it is so much more than that. Every client we have deserves to be treated with this understanding and not only will it likely help your business, it makes real estate and selling homes one of the more rewarding jobs imaginable in my eyes.
– Keith Kyle is a residential real estate specialist with South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach, CA
If you’re like many South Bay home buyers, you’re probably experiencing the
frustration that so many others are….there are no homes to buy. With this incredibly low inventory the few homes that do come on the market don’t last more than a few days and often sell for prices that would have been a major challenge just a few months ago. It might be temporary, but back are the days of multiple offers, conditions favorable to the sellers, offers over the list price and a number of cash buyers to compete with. Inventory just keeps going down with fewer and fewer available homes to by. If it’s hard to picture just what’s happening the chart below couldn’t be clearer. The light green bar shows the number of active homes for sale in the cities of El Segundo, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, San Pedro, Torrance. The teal columns show sold homes and the red bar shows the pending home sales.
