South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold September 2008

Real Estate Information on Listings, Pending and Sold properties in the South Bay-Beach Cities September 2008.....



Hermosa Beach Strand...


After another wild ride in the stock market last week the weeek ended with the market up slightly by the close on Friday. The good news is that the credit markets actually seem to be loosening up a bit... the bad news is that the current economic malaise is the new concern as the R word is now an accepted reality. Consumers just can't seem to catch a break.

So far the South Bay economy has held up better the other parts of the County and State but there are no guarantees this will continue. If the credit markets do loosen up then we may see a milder recession locally... if they don't things could get bad for us as well. The problem with recession numbers is that you generally don't know how bad they are until after they are over. However we can count on a general slowdown in a number of areas including home sales while the economy sorts itself out.

Interest rates appear to be coming down slowly after rising last week. The LIBOR is showing declines as the global credit market seems to be settling. Declines in the Prime and LIBOR may mean lower rates for loans that will be resetting in the next 2-4 months. Overall I think we can expect to see rates begin to increase.

The days of the 5.5% fixed rate are over. I'm guessing rates for loans under $729,750** will remain around 6.3%-6.6% for the rest of the year. Jumbo fixed rates will continue to be high although they should drop from the 8.25% level. Jumbo 5/1 ARMS will be reasonable at 6.65%-7%. As I've noted before I'm not sure banks really want to make Jumbo 30 year fixed rate loans and will continue to keep rates on these loans high and encourage buyers to move into ARMS. Who wins the election and how the markets respond will determine where rates wind up next year.

September sales held up fairly well in all the Beach Cities compared to sales over the summer. However with what has been happening in the last two weeks we can expect to see October sales remain low. If the markets finally settle we might see a slight increase in sales by the end of the year.

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold September 2008(click on graph to enlarge)










** NOTE: If you have been planning on making use of the $729,750 conforming loan ... banks will probably not fund these loans after December 1, 2008 as the loan limit goes down on January 1, 2009 to $625,000...


Dan Green from the Mortgage Reports offers information on what is and may be happening in the mortgage market over the short term. Lou Barnes also offers some insight into what has been happening in the market.



South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold August 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold July 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold June 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold May 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold April 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: SOLD March 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold February 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold January 2008

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold November 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: October SOLD 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: September SOLD 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: August SOLD 2007

South Bay- Beach Cities: July Sold 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold June 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold May 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold April 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold March 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold February 2007

South Bay-Beach Cities: Sold January 2007

Neptunian Woman's Club of Manhattan Beach.. Spring Fashion Show

This article is about the history of the Neptunian Woman's Club of Manhattan Beach and our Clubhouse located at 920 Highland in Manhattan Beach. For years I would walk by the building and had no idea what the Neptunian Woman's club was. Like others in our city, I speculated about whether it had anything to do with burials at sea. Three years ago I was invited to a meeting and have been a member ever since. This is an amazing group of women who quietly raise money for scholarships for students and fund many worthwhile philanthropy projects throughout the South Bay. Each year at Christmas the group runs the gift wrap in the Manhattan Mall with proceeds going toward scholarships for Manhattan Beach students. The Neptunian Club started the tradition of Fireworks on the Fourth of July. Our Spring Fashion show is the last fundraiser before the end of the school year.




It's impossible to talk about the history of Manhattan Beach without including the history of the Neptunian Woman's Club of Manhattan Beach. Rumor has it that if The Ladies of Manhattan Beach, as they were called by the local population, hadn't strongly whispered in their husbands ears it would have taken much longer for the city to incorporate. As it was Manhattan Beach was far behind their sister cities of Redondo and Hermosa in establishing a city. The Neptunian Woman's Club of Manhattan Beach was formed in 1909 by 10 local women. At that time the population was about 600 and there was not much in the way of social life. The women got together to promote a library , a social group to improve life in Manhattan Beach and to get the city incorporated. It wasn't until September 1912 that the city received it's charter from the State of California. Nor was it a coincidence that the new city council members were the husbands of many of the Neptunian Club members.

Real Estate has always been a major part of life in Manhattan Beach and one of the first things the ladies did was to initiate a project to name the beach cottages as this would present a nice appearance as well as be a convenience for tradesmen and guests.The Ladies' next project was to begin planting the ice plant that covers much of the beach along The Strand. The reason was that Manhattan Beach was mainly sand dunes and when the wind blew.. so did the sand.. everywhere. The original clubhouse was located in the Cleaver Building at Manhattan Beach Blvd and 12th Street which was close to the Pacific RR tracks which were located at about where The Strand is today. Unfortunately the ladies only rented that building. Eventually the ladies used the Council Chambers of the new City Hall built in 1916 at Highland and 15th. With only 20 members they didn't need more space.

By 1917 Manhattan Beach had grown and the ladies decided they needed a club house of their own. In October of 1917 they club purchased a lot at 10th and Highland at a tax sale for $239 with another $300 needed to clear the title. So for slightly more then $500 the ladies bought a prime piece of Manhattan Beach real estate. With the advent of World War I the clubhouse was not started until 1924. The contract to build the new clubhouse was $5,500. The contractor was the husband of one of the club members so the final cost was $5,000. The Ladies had about $1300 in their building fun and had to take out a loan to pay for the balance of construction. Dues were raised to 50 cents to pay off the loan.









Over the next 25 years the population of Manhattan Beach continued to grow as did the membership of the Neptunian Woman's Club. The purpose of the club was to improve the quality of life for the citizens of Manhattan Beach. The Ladies started the first library and the first school at Pacific and Manhattan Beach Blvd.The ladies organized both Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops. They raised funds to feed needy residents during the Depression. They helped fund Red Cross Blood Drives and volunteered to help with returning veterans from WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam. Today the club continues to send packages for our soldiers overseas. The ladies also started the July 4th Fireworks at the Pier. The club was very involved with the politics of the city and it is still said that you can't get elected to office unless you have participated in a forum at the Neptunian Woman's Club.


By the late 1940's the club had over 200 active members and it was time to enlarge the clubhouse. The club purchased the lot directly south of the existing building for $2,500 and called in the architects. The original club house was going to have a new addition. The cost would be $20,000. By 1953 the work was completed and that is the clubhouse you see today.










In May 2006 a mural was added to the clubhouse to incorporate the Neptunian Theme. The north part of the building is the original clubhouse. The side door goes into the old clubhouse entry. There is still the upper level room with holes where movies were shown.



Art and scholarship along with philanthropy have always been a priority of the club. Today the ladies continue to fund scholarships for students in Manhattan Beach and give donations to a number of charitable groups. The clubhouse has been used for many functions through the years and continues to be one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan Beach