Palos Verdes Source

The 21st Annual Palos Verdes Street Fair and Music Festival takes place this weekend. The theme this year is “Going Green” and will feature “Green Street” with exhibitors giving away free energy-efficient light bulbs, eco-friendly shopping bags and lots of free merchandise. There will also be demonstrations and seminars.

Palos Verdes Street Fair will also feature over 150 street vendors, a Student Art Walk, Top Dogs dog show, Pony Rides and Petting Zoo, Carnival & Kiddie Rides, Jazz Festival, International Food Court and Two Days of Events and Live Music. Admission to the Fair is free. Hours are Saturday, May 31, from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm and Sunday, June 1 from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. The Fair is located on Crossfield Drive in Rolling Hills Estates between the Promenade and Peninsula Shopping Center. There is free parking at the Promenade parking structure (enter on Indian Peak Road).

And stop by the Chamber of Commerce booth where you can pick up a free Peninsula Privileges card for discounts from local merchants. This new program currently has 44 local businesses participating (listed on the Chamber website). What a good way to support our local Palos Verdes businesses and save some money, too!

Photo courtesy of PV Street Fair

Today there were 22 homes on Broker’s Tour. We currently have 258 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes. My favorites today were:

Al D’Amico’s 12 Pony Lane, Rolling Hills Estates (above top), is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2317 square foot home for $1,575,000. This is “A Horse Lover’s Dream” on a 20,000 square foot lot with a 2-stall barn and exercise ring adjacent to the riding trail. Judy Henry’s 31015 Via Rivera(above bottom), Rancho Palos Verdes, is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1861 square foot home on a 18,210 square foot lot for $1,199,000. This home needs updating but has a fabulous ocean view.

Carrie Hassanzai and LeeAnn Grant’s 1328 Granvia Altamira, Palos Verdes Estates (above left), is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2458 square foot home for $1,469,000. This remodeled Montemalaga home has a family room and pool. Raju Chhabria’s 500 Via Del Monte, Palos Verdes Estates (above right), is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 3186 square foot home for $2,399,000. This French Provincial style home has high ceilings, ocean view and pool.

Photos courtesy of MRMLS

Palos Verdes students have exceeded the prior years API scores as reported by the State of Calilfornia Department of Education. The new 2007-2008 Accountability Progress Report is available and shows the Palos Verdes Unified School District with a score of 899 with 9,127 studests included. The score for 2006 was 897. Great schools help maintain property values for Palos Verdes real estate.

The above site is easy site to navigate to check your student’s individual school. For example, I checked the Palos Verdes Intermediate School scores which was 928 with 943 students tested and a statewide rank of 10. You can even go back and check the scores from prior years.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District website has now posted the new school calendar for the 2008-2009 school year – go to District, then Calendar.

Malaga Cove School shown in photo.

It is one month past the official “Earth Day” and here is my personal scorecard. My favorite tip was checking the fruit and vegetable labels in the supermarket. Did you know that a 4 digit number means it was conventionally grown; a 5 digit number beginning with 9 indicates organically grown and a 5 digit number beginning with 8 means genetically modified. I don’t know about you, but I am not ready for genetically modified and now I have an easy way to identify them.

And yes, my husband was right, turning off lights when you leave the room actually saves energy (I thought it actually used more energy to turn off and then on again). I also give my clients an option of hard copies or emailed versions of paperwork; most actually prefer the emailed version. I learned that it’s better to keep cardboard dry in the recycle bin otherwise it clogs the sorting machines; another reason to keep the lids on the trash cans. And even if there is still food stuck in glass containers, it is okay to recycle as their equipment will take care of that.

There were additional “green” tips on Live w/Regis and Kelly(click here) which featured the editor-in-chief of Real Simple magazine.

Photo above is the wild mustard in Palos Verdes Estates.

The self-fulfilling prophecies are right again according to the LA Times article “At the luxury end, home prices are falling.” The upper end of the market is feeling some pain. It appears misery loves company. Statistics are in for the month April and indicate some exclusive neighborhoods show decreased sales prices compared to April 2007. Palos Verdes real estate had mixed reviews.

Palos Verdes Estates (zip code 90274 which includes the cities of Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills Estates and Rolling Hills real estate) showed an increase of 18% and Rancho Palos Verdes real estate (zip code 90275) showed a decrease of 18%. If you average those numbers, it shows the entire Peninsula holding. Remember, these are median prices for the month. The statistics for the past 15 months through April are available by clicking here.

Results to date for May show 262 Active listings (254 in April), 71 Pending (31 in April) and 27 Sold (39 for the month of April). Compared to last year, there are fewer number of homes sold but the prices in Palos Verdes continue to be holding (see the Average Price graph in the above link). And Days on Market for the month of April 2008 fell to 6.5% – 6% is considered to be a normal market.

This is still a buyer’s market with a great selection of homes and interest rates for a 30 year fixed jumbo loan at 6.75% and a 5 year fixed interest only loan at 6.125%. We never know when real estate prices have hit the bottom until the market is on the way back up. John Juarez, a realtor in the East Bay asks buyers, “What are you waiting for?…if you buy and hold your house for a few years (either live in it or rent it out), it is very likely that you will experience appreciation in the value of the house. It is highly likely that your real estate will go up in value if you pay attention to the basics of price, location and condition when you make the purchase”.

More good news is the LA Times ‘ article entitled, “Report finds weak economy but no recession” citing a Conference Board report released Monday showing that for the second month in a row, their leading economic indicators index rose 0.1%. “So far it seems as if the recession will be short and shallow” says Harm Bankdholz, economist with Unicredit Markets & Investment Banking in New York. I like that!

The above rates are provided courtesy of Sandy Deery at Peninsula Mortgage, email Sandra.C.Deery@Chase.com

Palos Verdes will be a little busier on Saturday, May 17th, as the 42nd Palos Verdes Marathon will begin at 7:00 a.m. at Point Fermin Park, 807 Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro. The runners follow a beautiful course along the coast to Lunada Bay and back. Click here for a course map to assist your travels around the Peninsula or if you would like to cheer on the participants.

Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Marathon

Interest rates on home loans are down one full percentage point in some categories from April 17, 2008, for example 5.5% for a 30 year fixed loan due in 10 years. Tuesdays, I attend our Office Meeting and then go on to the Palos Verdes Real Estate Broker’s Tour. Better loan rates were the pleasant surprise at our Office Meeting.

Today’s Broker’s Tour had 24 properties to view in approximately two hours. It feels like a treasure hunt and one quickly goes from one home to another, making notes and calling buyers to tell them about the properties for sale. I actually only saw 10 homes out of the 12 that I wanted to view today. As I got out of my car at one home, a woman stopped to ask me the price of the home I was about to view. She lived in the neighborhood and said her home was the first to be built on the block. I invited her to see the home and helped her get up and down some low stairs (as she was using a walker) to see her neighbor’s house. She was so appreciative and being able to help her was the gift that I received.

My favorite homes today were:

Cindy Chew’s 40 Country Meadow, Rolling Hills Estates (above top) – a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2613 square foot home with a pool, 3 car garage, newly remodeled kitchen and master bath in a the gated community known as The Ranch listed for $1,829,000. Irwin Gebroe’s 3016 Via Rivera, Palos Verdes Estates (above bottom) – a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2845 square foot home with separate guest house with an additional bedroom and bath listed for $1,850,000.

Brent Talbot’s 1605 Via Machado, Palos Verdes Estates (above top) – a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1502 square foot remodeled home on a serene street in Lunada Bay listed for $1,275,000. Rick & Kitty Edler’s 2540 Via La Selva, Palos Verdes Estates (above bottom) – a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 2436 square foot home constructed in 2002 listed for $2,200,000.

I believe home buyers of Palos Verdes real estate are finally waking up. Blanche Evans in Realty Times has written that consumers have “been getting bad information” and goes on to explain that Robert Shiller (founder of the Case-Shiller Index) might just have an ulterior motive when he says that housing prices may drop further than 30% (as experienced in the Great Depression). Shiller “makes money when people buy housing hedge funds, licensed with data obtained through his company Macromarkets LLC.” Hmmm

My favorite quote from Evan’s article is, “When Shiller says home prices are going to fall 30 percent, not one reporter who covered the story asked this simple follow-up question: ‘Bob, during the worst part of the Great Depression, one in four people were out of work. Our unemployment rate is a little over 5 percent. So what’s going to drive home prices that low?”

Evans also gives kudos to Chris Plummer of MarketWatch for his story, “Home-price data has its flaws”. Finally the statistics are being challenged – and the recommendation given to look at each local market separately.

Preliminary market data for Palos Verdes single family residences for April indicate 37 sold (closed escrow) versus 33 for March. In April, 31 homes had sales pending versus 33 for March. Today there are 73 homes with sales pending! Spring has definitely sprung in Palos Verdes. The buyers are waking up to enjoy low interest rates and a larger inventory of homes for sale.

I have been part of a lively conversation lately regarding the practice of “double ending” transactions — representing both the buyer and seller in the same real estate transaction. This is an acceptable practice in California and the Palos Verdes/South Bay area. How does this serve the buyer and seller?

My personal feeling is that I cannot fairly represent both the buyer and seller. The buyer wants to spend the least amount of money and the seller wants to gain the most amount of money. Very simply, I know too much. I know the seller’s bottom line (and they do not want to leave any money on the table). I also know the buyer’s top price they will pay for the property (and the buyer does not want to pay more than they have to).

The same is true when it comes to negotiations during escrow and inspections. Who will pay for newly discovered problems/defects in the property? Will the buyer/seller really walk away from the sale if their demands are not met? Again, I will know too much as I will know the bottom lines for both parties yet I cannot tell them to the other. I would have to negotiate with the seller without letting him know what the buyer is really willing to accept even though I am also supposed to be serving the seller getting him the most money for his home. Does this make sense?