February is traditionally the month that Kindergarten "Round-Up" is held for owners of Palos Verdes real estate who have children entering Kindergarten in the Fall. I should restate that because tenants in Palos Verdes may also enroll their children in Palos Verdes schools. This year Kindergarten Orientation will be held on Monday, February 2, at Vista Grande Elementary School and Tuesday, February...
I was recently asked about reduction in property taxes for areas of declining values. Although statistics show that Palos Verdes real estate has only declined 6.2% in 2008, it might be worthwhile to request a reassessment from the Los Angeles County Tax Assessor if you have purchased your home in the last few years. By the way, you really can do this yourself and do not need to hire one of the...
The numbers are in and owners of Palos Verdes Real Estate single family residences experienced a 6.2% decline in 2008 average sales price compared to 2007. That is actually not bad compared to the rest of Los Angeles County which was down about 28%. Home values on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have held fairly steady: 2008 was the first year of declines in recent memory. Palos Verdes homeowners...
Conventional wisdom tells us that we do not know if we have hit bottom until we are on the way up. Trying to "time" the bottom is a matter of luck. For buyers of Palos Verdes real estate I encourage them to consider the following: 1) Interest Rates are at historic lows. 4.75% for conforming 30-year fixed and 6.625% for jumbo 30-year fixed rate loans. 2) Many buyers are sitting on the...
There were only 7 homes on this first Palos Verdes real estate Broker's Tour for 2009. We currently have 224 active single family homes for sale in Palos Verdes ranging in price from $699,000 in Rancho Palos Verdes to $18,900,000 in Rolling Hills (the low in Eastview is $599,000). There are 53 townhomes/condos for sale priced between $269,900 and $2,000,000. My favorites were: Larissa...
I am often asked by owners of Palos Verdes real estate which remodeling projects will give them the greatest return on their investment. The answer is siding replacement, window replacement and major kitchen remodel according to the December 2008 Realtor Magazine. This article covers areas around the country and states, "Pacific Coast cities recorded the best payback on remodeling by a wide...
I thought it would be fun to go through 2008's Top Tuesday Tour Tips for Palos Verdes real estate and pick my favorites, tell you why and give you an update on those properties. My favorite listing is my own listing at 838 Rivera Place, Palos Verdes Estates; it is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 3,025 square foot home for $2,449,000 (original price was $2,499,000. This Lunada Bay home is lavishly...
Conforming interest rates are the lowest they have been in 4 years! And there has been much talk on both the network news and in print of the Federal Reserve lowering the rate to zero percent. Now, don't get too excited - this does not mean that you and I can get loans for zero percent. This Fed Rate is the rate that banks charge each other. This appears to be in step with the Federal Reserve's...
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%...