Buyer Resources

After hearing from an agent in Northern California that their appraisal guidelines had been changed, I called Robert Riede from the Appraisal Connection (310-768-8700) to get the latest on our appraisals here for Palos Verdes real estate. Robert confirmed that lenders had really tightened their guidelines for appraisals with most lenders requiring at least 2 comps from the last 90 days. Some...

Statistics for single family homes for the month of November for Palos Verdes Real Estate are now available. To date, our prices have remained fairly steady with only 2.9% decrease in average price since January 1, 2008, compared to average 2007 sold price. Average price per square foot since the first of the year is down 5.8% from average 2007 square foot price. The median price has decreased 4.7%...

Today, there were 15 homes on the Palos Verdes Real Estate Broker's Tour. We currently have 242 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $709,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $599,00). There are 67 townhomes/condos for sale priced between $269,000 and $2,000,000. My favorites were: Rick and Kitty Edler's 4124...

As reported by Bloomberg, the Federal Reserve bought $5 billion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank corporate debt under a new program aimed at reducing mortgage costs. Fed Chairman Bernanke finds it "encouraging" that his plan announced last week has already spurred a drop in loan rates. Treasury Secretary Paulson is considering using purchases of home loan securities to force...

Yesterday, there were 11 homes on the Palos Verdes Real Estate Broker's Tour. We currently have 258 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $749,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $619,000). There are 69 townhomes/condos for sale priced between $249,900 and $2,000,000. My favorites were: Lisa Hawk's 43 Misty Acres,...

Statistics for single family homes for the month of October for Palos Verdes Real Estate are now available. There were 21 closed escrows (32 in September) and 16 pending sales (19 in September). Active homes for sale have been reduced a bit to 264 (276 in September) . Average price for homes that closed escrow in October declined to $1,227,000 from $1,455,000 in October. This reflects the lower...

Today, there were 16 homes on the Palos Verdes Real Estate Broker's Tour. We currently have 263 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $749,000 (see below) to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $479,000). There are 63 townhomes/condos for sale priced between $265,900 and $2,000,000. My favorites today are: Raju Chhabria's 5 Sagebrush Lane,...

The news today from the Federal Housing Finance Agency was that conforming loan limits will remain at $417,000 in the continental United States for 2009. There are higher loan amounts for certain counties. These are known as 'High Cost Areas" and we are one of them. Our conforming loan limits will be $625,000 (In 2008, we enjoyed a higher limit of $729,750). Any loans above $625,500 will be at...

I recently visited the new 55 and over community of Rolling Hills Villas located in Rolling Hills Estates on Deep Valley Drive. This is a welcome addition to Palos Verdes real estate. It is conveniently located within walking distance to the Promenade, Bristol Farms, medical buildings, the post office, library and many other shops in the area. The condominium units are beautiful with granite...

On Tuesday, I attended a presentation by Robert A. Kleinhenz, Deputy Chief Economist for the Callifornia Association of Realtors, to hear the forecast for Palos Verdes real estate. Although, Kleinhenz did not have information specific to Palos Verdes (because we need a minimum of 30 sales per month for their formulas), the Market Outlook was a good perspective on our overall economy nationally,...