Palos Verdes Source

I am seeing increased activity in our market on the Palos Verdes Peninsula which follows normal trends for this time of year. Spring is the “season” for real estate.

In the last 6 days, 20 new listings came on the market, 12 properties became Contingent, 10 properties went into Pending and 5 properties closed escrow (from sales a month or two ago). Some of the Pending sales actually were properties that sold with multiple offers and went staight into Pending (with no contingencies).

This activity gives hope that our market is acting in a normal fashion.

Always good to take a moment to take a breath, relax and appreciate.

This is a question that I am asked often. The answer is “Just fine, thank you” for several reasons.

First, if you look at recent statistics such as “California Association of Realtors – LA County Economic Profile January 2008” the median price year to year November 2006 to November 2007 for Palos Verdes Peninsula shows an increase of 20.4%. Los Angeles Times in Southland Home Prices dated 1/20/08 shows -2.4% for 2007. Daily Breeze 1/14/08 shows an overall increase of 14.3% for the South Bay. Even if you average all three different statistics, we are still showing appreciation.Second, this is a fabulous place to live with beautiful scenery, great schools, temperate weather, low crime, nearby beaches and close proximity to Los Angeles.Third, historically when there is a decline, prices generally return in a five to seven year period. And what a wonderful location to spend those years.

Many Multiple Listing Services allow the agent to cancel/withdraw a listing and then relist it (even moments later) to make it appear as a new listing. I think this is a great marketing ploy but wrong. It then gives a skewed look at buyers’ reaction to that particular property. Kelly and Laura of Remax Palos Verdes call this “Churning and Burning”.

If a property sits on the market for over 30 days, it is overpriced for market conditions. The agent would better serve the Seller if they reduced the price of the property to reflect market conditions or withdraw it from the market. That may sound harsh but the purpose of listing a property is to sell it.

As an agent, we look at sales statistics, current inventory, conditions of home, etc. and give the Seller our estimated sales price. This is not an exact science as it cannot take into consideration a buyer’s emotional connnection to a particular piece of property which can favorably change the outcome of a sales price.

This ploy to relist a property as a new listing only “fools” the public. Most agents will search the History on a property that their client is interested in and will see it as a relist/reduction of an old listing.