We had the good fortune of going on a private behind the scenes tour of the new Lowes resort, La Terranea, in its completion phase of building here in Rancho Palos Verdes last week! What a jewel of a place to be added to the already beautiful Palos Verdes coastline – and just 20 miles south of Los Angeles Airport! For those of us who live here it is a real treat to see all the public spaces the Lowes Resort owners have created – hiking trails, a sandy beach, restaurtants with outdoor fireplaces and firepits all on the rugged coastline with some of the most amazing ocean, Catalina/Channel Islands & coastline views ever! Pelican Rock sits right below the La Terranea peninsula….it’s magical. Featuring the Point Bar and Signature Restaurant – can’t wait for the next special event!
(photo care of the La Terranea Website – Point Bar)
102 acres make up this magnificent place – brand new construction – gorgeous landscaping – coastline, ocean and sunset views rivaled by few! They are scheduled to open in June 2009 and will offer meeting spaces for corporate events as well as regal weddings and amazing family reunions. The grounds include include rolling lawns and gardens all designed to bring the magical ocean views into every event.
(photo care of La Terranea Website – wedding concept photo)
The pools – yes pools with an “s.” There are some amazing spots to enjoy while at La Terranea – the pool at the “Spa” as well as the amazing slide pool, several hot tubs, a fun kids play area with the water dancing – you can bring the whole family to La Terranea.
Best Deal in Palos Verdes Estates Right Now!
Check out this deal on Cinco de Mayo – Tuesday May 5th, 2009 – we had our broker’s opens today in Palos Verdes Estates – as we do every Tuesday. It’s always fun to go out and see the new listings and figure out which ones are well priced and which ones “would you buy?” Well, today there was a clear cut winner (in my mind anyway.) 4049 Via Solano is on one the best loved streets in Valmonte, a quaint neighborhood in Palos Verdes Estates. This home sits right behind the walking trail and the gardens are so well tended. There are nice city lights views – if you like sparkling lights at night you would like this one. The house is small and in original, well-cared-for 1941 condition – pretty cool actually. They don’t build houses with neat cove ceilings like they used to. It’s the least expensive house for sale in Palos Verdes Estates right now to boot! Super cute. Click here to check it out! The street is so ambient with lots of mature trees and quite a nice mix of old and new. It’s truly lovely.
€œZillow€, €œRedfin€, €œTrulia€, €œEAppraisal€, €œHouse Values€, €œCyberHomes€, these are just a few of the websites out there promising to help you find your home€™s value. It€™s so confusing, isn€™t it? €˜Zillow€™ seems to be one of the top offenders if you ask us. They would be great at finding a home€™s value if all the homes here were exactly alike with exactly the same upgrades, the same views, the same everything. In the Hollywood Riviera, we all know this is far from the truth. Each and every one of these houses is different…even the €œtracks€ are all different now. So many have been added on to, or completely gutted and started over, and some have been torn down and rebuilt brand new. Zillow, and these other websites rely solely on the public tax records to place value on your home. Then they go through the tax records and find the most recent transfers within a certain proximity to your home. We€™ve seen the €œzestimates€ be off by a few hundred thousand dollars. A lot of the public tax records are inaccurate for one thing. Often tax records have the wrong number of bedrooms, square footage, etc and again take in no regard for whether the property has a view or not…which we all know can change the value of a property upwards of $100,000 or more sometimes. The bottom-line is that you need to hire a “human being” who knows the area well. Someone who has been inside these houses and knows the condition of the homes. Someone who can come inside your home and see all the upgrades and assess its true value. As Realtors we spend a lot of our time viewing homes – that’s our inventory, so we pride ourselves on knowing it. This is how value gets established – knowing what the comparables really are.
Recently, the number of sales is so low in our area, that it makes determining the value of a home very difficult. There are very few homes to compare to “yours.” Unfortunately, in today’s buyer’s market it works out that value is typically drawn by looking at the last comparable sale and taking about 10% off of that if you plan on “selling” the property and not just sitting on it.
Mid-February and we’ve got a deal on the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” Hopefully, this will get those “pent-up” buyers off their fences. It will be curious to see how quickly the mortgage lenders can employ the $729,000 which has been reinstated from the “Stimulus Act of 2008.” These are the kind of numbers we need to see here in our area so this could be good for today’s buyers if they are looking for a good deal on a mortgage!
Currently in the Hollywood Riviera there are 29 homes for sale. They range in price from $625K to $3.8K. That is a huge price differential isn’ it? There is a huge difference in these two homes as well – one is on PCH service street and is in the 1100 sq ft range and the other is right on Paseo de la Playa, overlooks the beach and is brand new beautiful construction! Let’s not forget the 27 other homes in the “middle.” There are a few really nice ones too. One is a “short sale” on Susana for only $775K – it was sold a couple of years ago for $998K, so this is a great deal for a remodeled home here in the Riviera.
There are currently 7 homes priced between $1 million and $1.3 million dollars. Several of them are very nice and have some great qualities! And for those of you in that higher price range, there really are some beautiful choices. Let’s hope those mortgage lenders can get this “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ working soon!
Enter to win Re/Max’s annual cruise giveaway. Simply click here and enter your information for your chance to win. Simply scroll down to referring agent and enter either Kelly Evans or Laura Medina and it is that simple. The drawing for a winner is in April. Good Luck!!! Maybe you will be saying… “Uno Mas Cervaza por favor!”
http://cruise.pvexecs.com/register.asp
