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Manhattan Beach, CA Homes: The Tale of a Sale

By
Real Estate Agent with Real Estate West BRE# 701315


3612 Poinsettia Manhattan Beach


In the last few months I've written posts on Starter Homes in Manhattan Beach , Prices not crashing .... no kidding and buyers and sellers Thinking Outside the Box along with a number of other posts on Manhattan Beach real estate. These posts were about the market in general and often about my listing on 3612 Poinsettia in particular. Many who commented on these posts blasted me on everything from home prices in Manhattan Beach to my general lack of knowledge about the declining real estate market. The bottom was going to fall out of the local housing market and Poinsettia was wildly overpriced at $849,000.



But a funny thing happened a month ago. Suddenly 3612 Poinsettia was not the wallflower at the prom. Poinsettia was on the short list for Prom Queen. The property was being shown many times every day. Not only did we wind up with multiple offers but it went within a matter of days and I had to turn away of number of people who wanted to make offers. I won't release the sales price until the house closes escrow in July but I will share a bit about the sale.  <<<   CONTINUE  >>>

Neal Bloom
Brokered by eXp Realty LLC - Weston, FL
Realtor CRS-Weston FL Real Estate

Hi Kaye,

It's a two way street and if the consumer doesn't figure out something that has been going on for years already then I guess you are better off without them. Let them hire an agent who has no knowledge of their local area.

Jun 23, 2008 10:14 AM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

Lenn-  Ah the voice of wisdom... consumers would rather listen to the guy at the water cooler because he reinforces what they want to believe rather then what is actually ahppening....Besides,  what do we know

Neal- Wise words from a wise man..  Sadly too man people do just that..hire someone who knows nothing about the area and then complain later when they missout..

Jun 23, 2008 10:25 AM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate

Hi Kaye, love the story of the house and your new blog's look.  At least I think it's new! 

Jun 23, 2008 11:47 AM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

Hi Irina- Thank you..  yes this is a new blog I'm working on.. still have the old one but am slowly moving things over.  This is taking up a lot of the time I used to spend on AR.. I miss everyone..

Jun 23, 2008 12:55 PM
Jeff Dowler, CRS
eXp Realty of California, Inc. - Carlsbad, CA
The Southern California Relocation Dude

Great story, Kaye (really glad to hear from you - sounds like you are busy). Just points out so eloquently the importance of knowing about the local activity and pricing. And as rates bump up a bit won't that change things? The homes where prices have not change will then cost more on a monthly basis.

Jeff

Jun 23, 2008 01:09 PM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

Jeff-It's an interesting market on the entry level.. I imagine you see similar happenings in your market.    Must be time for us to get together again..

 

Jun 23, 2008 01:35 PM
William Johnson
Retired - La Jolla, CA
Retired

Hi Kaye, Before I comment on the post, may I say how wonderful it is to see your smiling face and back posting. I have missed you. I heard you and Laurie were awesome in Arizona.

Anyway, this is a great story and glad to see that things are staying stable and that things are moving in your neck of the woods (neck of the ocean sounds silly,lol)

Jun 23, 2008 04:29 PM
Jeff Belonger
Social Media - Infinity Home Mortgage Company, Inc - Cherry Hill, NJ
The FHA Expert - FHA Loans - FHA mortgages - USDA loans - VA Loans

Kaye.... you made some great points that were continued outside of this post.  It's great to see the market start to stabilize now.  SO many just thought prices would keep dwindling.  Yes, I believe in a good buy and sometimes a steal... but they need to look at the local area and what homes are selling for, not what they want it for.  This is good information, to keep those that listen to the media, to finally listen to us experts.

jeff belonger

Jun 23, 2008 04:33 PM
Ray Saenz
Exit Realty Laredo - Laredo, TX
Homes for Sale in Laredo, TX - Texas, Realtor

Hello Kaye,
Market here in many areas is still very low, so many areas not stables, but great for buyers :) we always have too look something positive depending how the market is, right? :) Nice to see you again ! !

Jun 23, 2008 05:35 PM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

William- Thank you for visiting.. Laurie was fabulous.. you would have loved her talk.  i was adequate but had a terrific time and met lots of great people..

Jeff- Wish I could be sure the market is stabilizing.. we'll have to wait and see.  In my area the starter home market fell apart when the builders pulled out of the market.  Now we are seeing buyers not builders beginning to re-enter the market.

 

Ray-Nice to hear from you.. Many areas are still seeing uneven markets.  It will be awhile before we see most markets settling down.

Jun 23, 2008 05:58 PM
Laurie Manny
Long Beach CA Real Estate - Long Beach, CA

They should first differentiate between the true professional and the hack.  You Kaye are a true professional!

Jun 25, 2008 06:34 PM
Anonymous
wineva

If not real estate professionals - who was john Q public listening too ? wow

Jun 25, 2008 07:45 PM
#13
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

Laurie- Thank you... If they stopped listening to the hacks they couldn't talk to most of their friends and relatives who are keeping of media soundbytes

Wineva- The issue is that the media issues articles and sound bytes about housing that often have little to do with what is happening in the consumer's local real estate market.  The state of California has a huge number of foreclosures but Manhattan Beach has had less then 6 in the last 2 years.  headlines in the local paper about the declining housing market and the massive number of foreclosures has nothing to do with our local market... but you would never know it reading the papers. 

When "professionals"  point this out we are labeled as stupid and greedy REALTORS who are trying to pump up the market at the expense of buyers..

Jun 26, 2008 04:01 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

Kaye...

Just stopping by to say Howdy :)

Hope you're having a profitable summer season :)

TLW...ROAR!

Jul 07, 2008 11:08 AM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

TLW..

Nice to have you stop by.. Business is slow but  very steady.. I'll stop by your place later ad say Hi ..

K

Jul 07, 2008 11:20 AM
Michelle Pimentel
Empire Home Staging Solutions - Upland, CA
ASP, IAHSP Empire Home Staging

Congratulations on the sale of this great starter home! I'm sure you were surprised with the multiple offers coming in.  Continued success to you!

Jul 07, 2008 03:59 PM
Kaye Thomas
Real Estate West - Manhattan Beach, CA
e-PRO, Manhattan Beach CA

Michelle- What's even more interesting is that I'm still getting calls..It's a strange market.

Jul 07, 2008 05:08 PM
Aida Pinto
Independent Real Estate Broker - Los Angeles, CA
Real Estate Broker (562) 884-6196

Hi Kaye,

Congratulations on your sale!

Great Post--and great comments--you are always right--all real estate is local!!! What is happening in my neighborhood is quite different then yours! 

So--people should learn to listen to their local "honest" expert--like you! 

 

 

Aug 15, 2008 09:54 AM
Sweet Viscape
Arlington, VA

Hi Kaye:

Great property! Another great way to get exposure for your listings is by posting them on Viscape.com,a social marketplace for vacation homes where you can drive leads to your real estate business for FREE. Viscape's Web 2.0 technology will make other vacation sites obsolete: http://viscape.com/properties/wizard/start.

Thanks again for the great post.

Misty

Aug 29, 2008 08:20 AM
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel

I enjoyed reading the well written post. Congratulations on the multiple offers.

Aug 31, 2008 10:06 PM