If you are looking to purchase a home in the South Bay and want to visit open houses in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance, El Segundo and surrounding areas, you’ve come to the right place. Our South Bay open house list has weekly schedules for all South public open houses. Take advantage of our HomeFinder and have new listings emailed to you daily. Open House schedule subject to change without any notice.
Often when we look at the broader world of the real estate market it’s hard to notice just how dramatic a shift can be. It’s equally amazing just how quickly we forget the market we just left…as if we’ll never be back. I focus much of my attention in terms of marketing, selling and blogging about a small gated community in the Hollyglen known as Fusion South Bay. It’s just a pocket of newer townhomes in the South Bay but nowhere have I seen a more drastic turnaround and the implications it has had. I sold a few units at the height of the market and have struggled with the fact that values went down so dramatically and so quickly. As they were constructed in 2005-2007 almost every buyer was truly buying at the peak of the market. The result was a % of short sales and foreclosures not seen anywhere else in the area. Less than a year ago almost 75% of the closed sales were short sales and values plummeted. I showed most of them and, at the time, I almost felt as though you couldn’t give them away….no buyer motivation, no sense of urgency and most of those buyers are probably now kicking themselves. It was truly a buyers market.
Just a year later and oh how the real estate world has changed. Units that had been in the low $300,000s are now in the mid to high $400,000s and buyers are lining up for the next owner that decides to sell. At the moment the one 2 bedroom home for sale, the smallest floor plan in Fusion, is listed at the same price that a 3 bedroom sold for just a year earlier. Those clients that had bought a few years back are once again looking good and those that didn’t purchase at the bottom when they had the chance are certainly wishing they had. In one short year this micro market has gone from barely being able to give away these townhomes, to having buyers and agents eagerly searching off market for the chance to own one.
My how quickly things change and how quickly we forget where we just were.
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The Village, located on Catalina Blvd in South Redondo Beach, is a condo
complex just east of King Harbor. It offers some resort type amenities with a hotel style pool and exercise facility, and is ideally located walking distance to just about everything. What’s perhaps the best aspect may be the prices. Each building consists of primarily 619 square foot one bedroom condos and due to the angular patios almost all have some type of ocean view. Each building also offers 2 studios on the easternmost part of each floor, and 2 bedroom condos, which rarely become available, on the westernmost, ocean facing side of the buildings. The Village consists of 6 larger 3 story (they’re actually 4 or 5 levels depending on garages but 3 floors of condos) buildings and 3 buildings with townhome type units. According to Keith Kyle, one of the top Redondo Beach realtors that specializes in the area, “The Village is an ideal fit for buyers looking for a vacation type feel. Most owners use the condos as a second home or as a beach rental as demand is always high for ocean view homes.”
Parking is located below each building (parking for each unit is not necessarily in the same building) and units can either have one or two spaces. Laundry is common area located near the 1st floor garage in most cases. Click here to see a map of The Village Condominiums and Townhomes. Click here To see a video tour of some other ocean view and ocean front communities.
Hermosa Beach has long been one of the more sought after coastal communities with demand for homes in the small beach community always high. Recent market conditions have created an even greater demand as inventory of active home listings has continued to decline while the few homes available quickly go into escrow. The 31 homes in escrow or “pending” in June of 2013 is the highest number since 2007 and is helping drive prices up as demand continues to soar.
June saw 37 active MLS listings and homes for sale, 31 pending home sales and 18 closed escrows or sold homes. Visit our home sales page to see the homes sold in June 2013 and prices for the sold homes. According to long time Hermosa Beach resident and top real estate agent Keith Kyle with South Bay Brokers, “This is an almost ideal climate for sellers with the usual summer demand in full effect due to buyers looking for homes in the Hermosa Beach school district, low inventory, historically low interest rates and prices continuing to rise.
With the extremely tight inventory of homes for sale in the South Bay, many buyers approach me looking for off market, or pocket listings. Pocket listings and exclusive listings are the hot trend at the moment as eager buyers clamor for a chance to purchase a home without all of the competition. In this market knowing about it first may not ultimately make a difference, but it certainly helps. Many agents seem to be trying to keep listings private as well in the hopes that perhaps they can represent both buyer and seller, which is much easier if fewer agents know that the home is for sale. So what do the terms actually mean? A pocket listing can be anything from a realtor simply knowing about a home that a seller might consider selling and not having a listing agreement, to something coming to the market but not yet on the MLS, to the intentional withholding of the listing from the MLS.
But is it beneficial to the seller?
In terms of price, exposure, etc. the answer is generally no. The more exposure the home gets, the more potential buyers see it, and the likelihood that it will sell for a better price and with more favorable terms for the seller. Eliminate that competition and generally speaking the chances of such favorable terms decrease.
There are very legitimate reasons for exclusive or “pocket” listings and for keeping the property off the market…..work being completed, tenant issues, or simply a seller who doesn’t want the world touring their home. Seller’s just need to be sure that the reasons for keeping a home off of the South Bay MLS are beneficial to them….and not just to the listing agents.
Whether keeping a listing from the MLS is good or bad for the seller ultimately depends on the situation and whose best interest is the primary reason, but working with a top local realtor who has the network and knowledge to seek out these possible opportunities is certainly key for the buyer.
This is an absolutely ideal property for the investor or owner user, with 2 detached homes in a great North Redondo Beach neighborhood. Let your tenants help pay your mortgage! Each home has been lovingly maintained and updated with gleaming hardwood floors, recessed lights, updated kitchens and baths and so much more. The front home enjoys a very large fenced grassy front yard, rear patio, spacious kitchen, private laundry room, 2 bright bedrooms and a very bright and inviting living room. Rear home features 2 bedrooms plus a spacious bonus room that can be used as an office or 3rd bedroom.
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