Manhattan Beach Real Estate-Redondo Beach Townhomes: South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold July 2008

Performing Arts Center... Redondo Beach

The news this month is that inventory is down slightly in all the South Bay-Beach Cities. July home sales in the Beach Cities continue to be fairly steady and are about the same as June. Pending sales for the last few months are also fairly consistent... a dip here... a rise there... but overall no big surprises.

Most sellers have finally come to terms with the fact that prices have gone down and will not be on the upswing for a few years. This is a real blow to sellers who got into the market with 100% financing and/or those who refinanced over and over leaving little or no equity in their property.

The good news for buyers is that most sellers are responding to current market values and pricing homes at that level. The bad news is that a number of buyers now seem to be the ones out of touch with market values. Serious buyers who know market value are making some pretty good deals.

Buyers who don't know market values for a particular area are having a rough time and are very frustrated. They read in the media that prices are dropping 40% and that cash is king as few people can get loans. Sounds good... so they make offers well below market value on homes that are priced at market and can't understand why their offers continue to be rejected. They are even more frustrated to find that Bank owned properties are not accepting excessively low offers. This seems to be a phenomena found mainly in first time buyers from $400,000 to the $1,500,000 entry level buyer. Surprisingly you don't see this as much at the upper levels of the market or by those who have previously purchased a home.

If you are serious about buying a home, the smartest thing you can do is learn about values in the real estate market where you want to buy. There are a number of resources available online or ask your agent for market sales for the last 3 months. Look at current pending sales. If that home you thought was overpriced sold in a week with multiple offers then you will need to readjust your thinking about that segment of the market. You can't buy a home in Manhattan Beach for the same price found in North Redondo. Properties in South Redondo and Hermosa are more expensive then North Redondo and El Segundo but much less expensive then Manhattan Beach. Knowledge is the key to successful buying in the South Bay-Beach Cities.

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold July 2008