Hollywood Riviera & South Bay Real Estate Blog

Hollywood Riviera’s Garden Club successfully pulled off an amazing Garden Tour!  The 8 gardens were gorgeous, the homes included on the tour were a super added bonus, the weather couldn’t have been called in better, what a day!  Thank you to all the coordination, hours of planning and pruning – it all paid off.  From what I hear, the RGC sold almost 450 tickets…that’s a lot of people!  Congratulations Riviera Garden Club and thank you for a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with so many of you.  All the houses were delightful – what a real treat!

The City of Torrance has a wonderful recycling program – and it gets better – if you like to recycle you most likely know that the current 64-gallon grey recycle cans are usually too small.    Now you can get a new 96-gallon recycling bin for FREE from the city of Torrance.  You can either exchange it or add it to your current inventory of trash bins.  It’s an easy step – just go to this link and order yours today!  Here’s more recycling information from the City of  Torrance.

The following items can be recycled in this program:

Newspaper, Cardboard and Mixed Paper
Catalogues, magazines with staples, glossy paper, junk mail, computer paper, juice boxes, pizza and bakery boxes, corrugated cardboard as well as thinner cardboard like cereal and cracker boxes are included. Do not include paper cups or plates, napkins, tissue paper, fast food wrapping or shredded paper.

Aluminum, Tin and Metal Cans
Cans from drinks, soup, pet food and vegetables as well as empty aerosol cans are included. Clean aluminum foil and trays and wire hangers can also be recycled. Do not include scrap metals from plumbing or construction materials.

Plastic Containers
Only plastic bottles, bags or containers with a number 1 through 7 on the bottom can be recycled. Examples include soda bottles, milk jugs, shampoo bottles and butter tubs. Large styrofoam pieces can be included too. Do not include small styrofoam pieces (called popcorn or peanuts), or any bottle, bag or container without a number.

Glass Bottles and Jars
Glass bottles and jars of any color can be recycled. Do not include glass dishes, light bulbs or window glass.

Other curbside recycling tips:

We encourage residents to recycle whenever possible.  Additional recycling bins are available free of charge for residents who have extra recycling that does not fit into one recycling bin.  If you have the small, 64-gallon recycling bin and wish to replace it with the larger, 96-gallon recycling bin, click here for the request form.

Here we are and it is October 11, 2008 – there are only 21 single family homes and 2 townhouses for sale here in our lovely Hollywood Riviera neighborhood.  That is very low inventory, especially when you consider that this is the “last push” of the year (best time to sell before the holidays hit.)

Of those 21 homes, 13 (including the two townhouses on lower Calle Miramar) are on the Redondo Beach side of the Hollywood Riviera – with an average sales price of $1,561,754.  Lowest price being just under $1 million and highest over $2.5 million (for new construction.)  As you can see the Redondo Beach side of the Hollywood Riviera is quite pricey right now.

The Torrance side of the Hollywood Riviera has 10 homes for sale and their average sales price is $1,015,000 with the most expensive asking a list price of $1,399,000 (it has some of the most gorgeous panoramic queen’s necklace views with no utility wires to distract) and the lowest priced home is currently $625,000 on the PCH service street.

Interesting however that the Redondo Beach side has a much greater Days on Market number – 76 vs 37 on the Torrance side.  Part of the reason for this is that the Torrance side with its lower sales prices is moving homes into sold much quicker. 

The pace of home sales here priced under $1 million is much brisker than the pace of homes sales here over $1.2 million.   Jumbo Mortgages are much harder to attain and cost quite a bit more than their Conforming Mortgage friends.  Currently, the Conforming Jumbo Mortgage, thanks to the Economic Stimulus Plan of 2008, is at $729,750.  That makes it still pretty hard to buy a million dollar home w/ only 20% down…as you can see you would actually need closer to 30% down to make this work.  Also, part of the problem….people need to come in with a lot of cash to buy the more expensive homes here.  Starting January 1, 2009, the “Conforming Jumbo Mortgage” will go down to $625,000 – which in my opinion will not serve our area well.  Hopefully, mortgage underwriting guidelines will loosen up a bit when that conforming jumbo number comes down to $625,000 – as it will really be much harder to obtain financing for the more expensive home at that point – and it will cost more.  Currently, the difference in cost between a “conforming” loan and a “conventional” loan is about 2 to 2 1/2 points…this is a big difference in your monthly payments every month.

OMG – I’m reading a “blog” today and hearing from the author/real estate agent that the new strategy for today’s market is to use “today’s new buzz words” in your marketing.  

Okay – you already know what they are?  How about what they are not  – “REO” and “Short Sale.”  Want to use them in your listings to get the most bang for the buck?   Use them like this - “NOT an REO” or “NOT a Short Sale” which gains attention to your listings from people searching these buzz words.  Never really thought that would be the best way to define a listing, but I guess in today’s market, to get the most attention from today’s buyers, it’s best to tell someone what the property is NOT.

Sellers – in today’s market you must take every offer seriously.  Today buyers are handing out what sellers refer to as “low balls.”  Especially when the house has been on the market for a while, that almost guarantees a “low ball.”  As an agent who represents both buyers and sellers – I know what both sides are saying.  The sellers want to get “their” price.  Today’s price is not at all reflective of yesterday’s price in today’s market.  Buyers, when talking about buying a house, – if they are even really thinking of buying a house today – are talking about what the loss in value may be over the next 6 mos – 1 year.  Even though they may have no plans on selling in such a short period of time, they do not want to go to sleep at night thinking about how much money they just “lost” (even if it’s on paper).  Sellers – in today’s market you must be ready to consider every offer as serious and get ready to “play ball.”  Buyers do not wait in today’s market.  Although - they do seem to wait a long time before they even make an offer.  Buyers are watching, waiting, wondering what will happen with the houses they put on their “short list.”  In most cases, those houses will be on the market next week and most likely the week after that too…so what’s the rush.  Sellers – you must respond to these offers and you must respond “seriously.”  The owness of “serious” is on the sellers today…not the buyers!!

20 Homes sold in the Hollywood Riviera during the 3rd Quarter of 2008 – July 1st through September 30th – that is a 35% drop from the 3rd quarter last year.  We also have a much greater time on market for these properties – quarter over quarter.  48 Days for 3rd quarter ‘07 vs. 80 Days this quarter – in other words, it takes 40% longer to sell in today€™s market.  Due to both of these factors it is not a surprise that our average SOLD price is down 22% over the 3rd quarter of last year.  It was the 3rd quarter last year (September) that the mortgage markets started to falter; a year has gone by and the effects are being felt here in our €œinsulated€ marketplace.  The effects aren€™t as bad as some other areas are facing, so for now we are still very lucky.  From everything we hear though, the worst is not over.  Confirmation of this theory is found in the Daily Breeze who published an article on Sept 25th regarding the South Bay’s Economic Forecast being publicized at the Torrance Marriott.  As per the new study:

Thankfully, even as the U.S. and California economies continue to stumble badly, a new economic forecast suggests the South Bay will “get off relatively easily.”  “The South Bay is going to be hit, but not as hard as most areas,” Jon Havemancq, the author of the South Bay Economic Development Partnership’s Annual Economic Forecast. 

And for homeowners who have been watching their property values drop, the slide is likely to continue. South Bay home prices have fallen 15 percent since the market peak in 2006. Local home prices will drop another 11 percent by the end of 2009, with a cumulative decline of 38 percent by 2012, the report says. 

“All in all, the region will get off relatively easily,” the report says. “These declines are very small relative to those likely for broader Los Angeles, the state as a whole or the nation.”