Buyer Resources

Can you qualify for the home buyer tax credit? Maybe. Here is what we know. With the recently passed legislation, "first time" buyers who purchase a home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009 may qualify for a $8000 tax credit. What surprised me was reading that a first time home buyer is someone who has never owned a home before or hasn't owned one during the three years preceding the 2009...

The Montemalaga neighborhood is located in Palos Verdes Estates. The best thing about this neighborhood is the fabulous ocean and Queen's Necklace views (photo above) that many homes enjoy as this area is the highest elevation (up to 1380 feet) in Palos Verdes Estates. The Montemalaga neighborhood is roughly 1 square mile in area and has no ocean borders. It is located on the hill above Lunada Bay,...

Yesterday, there were only 13 homes on the Palos Verdes real estateBroker's Tour. It must be because of all the rain we have been having. We currently have 261 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $799,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $585,000). There are 49 townhomes/condos for sale priced between $229,500 and...

There were a couple of positive changes for the Palos Verdes real estate market that will be enacted with the approval of the Stimulus Package. The conforming loan limit will be increased to $729,750 for 2009 for our local market. That means you can borrow up to $729,750 at the conforming jumbo rate. Lenders have told me for amounts higher than $729,750, clients have been obtaining a second mortgage...

Statistics for single family homes for the month of January for Palos Verdes Real Estate are now available. January 2009 compared to January 2008 has the same number of sold/closed escrows, 1 additional pending escrow, and 46 more active listings/home for sale. Average price per square foot for homes that sold January 2009 is $494 compared to $545 last January. For the month of January, there...

Everyone wants to know how the Palos Verdes real estate market is doing. I am an optimist by nature so I have to check for facts before I give my opinion. Currently we have 32 properties that have sold/closed escrow since the first of the year compared to 23 properties this same time period in 2008. Additionally, there are currently 42 properties in escrow. So the Palos Verdes real estate market...

Yesterday, there were 31 homes on the Palos Verdes real estate Broker's Tour. We currently have 249 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $775,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $585,000). There are 50 townhomes condos for sale priced between $339,000 and $885,000. My favorites were: Van Barbieri's 6580 Sea...

How to get buyers off the fence and into their new homes in Palos Verdes is the question of the hour. This morning, the Los Angeles Times had two interesting articles on that very subject. "A reverse offer gets attention" by Lew Sichelman explores a unique concept - What can the Seller do to coax the Buyer to the table? Sichelman suggests that the Seller may want to make the Buyer an offer. That...

We are so lucky as homeowners of Palos Verdes real estate that Palos Verdes' 8th Graders get to choose between two fabulous high schools. At this time, there is open enrollment within the Palos Verdes Peninsula School District as to whether your child goes to Palos Verdes High School or Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. And both were named in U.S. News & World Report's Top 100 Schools in...

The Property Information Book is key for my Sellers. When I get a new listing for Palos Verdes real estate, I have my Sellers fill out all the disclosures and order all reports on the property prior to the property actually hitting the Multiple Listing Service. The Property Information Book stays at the property for potential buyers to view and packets of these reports/disclosures are available for...