Disqus - Latest Comments for melissaf23

Re: Alaskan plane crash kills 2 from Upstate | Greenville News - WYFF Home

melissa — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 09:41:14 -0000

Do you have an editor read these before posting? "Arkansas National Transportation Safety Board" Want to try again?
I'll give you a hint, it's not the "Alaska NTSB" either.

Nice of you not to mention that Dale also lost his life. He's not less significant because he's not one of your local constituents.

Re: Are We Up Yet? | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:19:27 -0000

....

Re: Things Are Tight All Over | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:18:51 -0000

Looks like there were a ton of new listings this week. Redfin shows 99 in MB now (18 new in the last 7 days). More than last month, but less than last year. Will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

Re: Shorter by the Sea | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:55:00 -0000

A quibble with words perhaps.. the statement that I remember about large price changes is that it was a "new product." I can almost buy that, if it is a significant change, so as to drop the price into a different price range/different demographic. $4.6-$4.2, not a big diff. $4.2-$3.8 or $1.2-$990 could do it. I think any remotely savvy buyer will see the price history, etc and not be fooled. It is a silly game; these days, it's an anachronism.

Re: A Real Pig | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 01:18:04 -0000

Oh my.. Creep Carrie is going viral: http://www.thefiscaltimes.c...

Re: Can An REO Fail? | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:21:51 -0000

Have you ever noticed, the less local the agent, the more hyped the "beach" connection? For example the N. Redondo "beach cottage" was saw last year.

Re: Weekend Opens (2/5-2/6) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:08:11 -0000

Awesome video! I've been wishing for a Jim the Realtor in the south bay.

Re: These Are Cuts? | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:29:34 -0000

Well, that explains a few things. I've seen several same-day relists that went back to 1 day. Maybe just a Redfin thing. I'll have to look more closely next time.

I've been a bit surprised lately to see at least two homes (not in MB) mark their prices up. (The latest, 215 Longfellow, HB, up $50k yesterday.) I always wonder what is going through these people's minds. "New year, new price?" With all the doom and gloom RE-related reporting right now, I"m surprised anyone would try to get more and what buyer is going to offer more than the lowest price in these conditions? Am I missing something?

Speaking of the doom and gloom reporting... To apply Buffett's simple rule "Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy only when others are fearful," can we get more fearful? Mainstream media is finally getting on the "RE market is going down" bandwagon, so the end (bottom) must be near! :-)

Re: REOs East and West (WoS) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:24:37 -0000

a_non - I've seen the "favor" thing up close and personal. It is infuriating. Can I get a refund on some of my bad stock trades over the past 5 years? I've seen several investment homes trying to do short sales. Infuriating.

In my cases, I don't think that was it. The agents were quite communicative. I suspect they were exaggerating a bit to try to pull in a higher offer. Either way, as you put it, "slimy."

Then again, perhaps I am being too negative and the buyers had cold feet. Yeah, probably not. :-)

Re: REOs East and West (WoS) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:00:30 -0000

It's been interesting watching some "multiple offer" situations. I've seen two now where I was interested in making an offer. The listing agent lead my agent to believe that a fairly high offer had been made ("full list" or other BS). Low and behold, when the sale finally posted... it wasn't where the agent had said. I don't know if agents are exaggerating or people are pulling out.

Re: Tree Lots Around and Under $800k | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:06:14 -0000

MBH - when I visited Pine, the agent mentioned the shared driveway easement. (Granted agents can be wrong.) I have no idea if it's legal.

Re: Tree Lots Around and Under $800k | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:55:52 -0000

Add to that:
2610 MAPLE Ave, which probably should be closer to $800 (although they've never had an open house, so haven't seen the inside)
3613 MAPLE Ave a true lot sale (already cleared) at $800.

Re: Open Forum (12/16- ) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 01:22:51 -0000

Here's a cool site. Census data mapped... http://projects.nytimes.com...

Re: Poof! Goes $900k | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:59:41 -0000

A year and a half later, we are still waiting for the NTSB final report on the accident.

Re: Whoops, 3309 Pacific is Back | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:49:57 -0000

Lauren - I'm not sure why you thought that. I thought enough of the house that I spent a couple hours with a contractor. I even commented that the water damage that I was aware of was being repaired. For me and what I want, it just didn't pencil out.

Re: Ciao, Monticello | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:09:50 -0000

If you price a home low enough, of course there will be a bidding war. As well a home selling for more than asking with multiple offers says nothing about the status of the market. One must evaluate the price compared to the rest of the market.. blah blah blah... but you all know that and this argument is silly because you are all smarter than that.

Interesting that the median is up yoy, but the price per square foot hasn't really changed. Sort of makes one think it might be the mix. :-)

Re: Frequent Star in the Gallery of Cuts | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 15:06:59 -0000

Oh there's an even funnier one down in RB... http://www.redfin.com/CA/Redondo-Beach/423-N-Prospect-Ave-90277/home/7700314

They've been all over the map. There was an announcement of an auction at one point. I guess that didn't go or didn't go well.

I've seen some others that every few days lop off $1000. I'm sure this tactic does get them more hits. Without a significant whack, I don't think people who have written off the house will reconsider, so not sure what good it does.

Re: 1st Curse Broken | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:45:49 -0000

Totally agree with LWH. I am here almost daily. I don't miss the bane banter. Yes, the comments are slower, but that's just because Huggy and RBD are not accosting each other and anyone else in the vicinity.

CG - You're seem pretty demanding of this free "service." Most of the info for those reports is available for free elsewhere.. you could do your own report. You don't have to harass Dave. I imagine Dave is probably still sleeping off the elections. :-) Given that most other RE blogs are thinly veiled advertising for their own listings, this is a treasure.

Re: Open Forum (8/30– ) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 06:54:00 -0000

This weekend is the Chevron open house. You can tour the property. Information found here: http://www.chevron.com/prod...

Saturday, November 7, 2009
9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Administration Building
324 W. El Segundo Blvd.

The Chevron El Segundo Refinery will be offering free one-hour bus tours of our facility to our neighbors.

Tour reservations are required! Please e-mail tours@chevron.com or call (310) 615-3747 to make your reservations. Please include the names of everyone in your party, your time preference, city of residence and phone number. Photo ID required for all adults. No cameras or camera-phones please.

Re: Weekend Opens (7/31-8/1)

melissa — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 09:22:34 -0000

Dave - "Polished Concrete" is a spammer... might want to delete those posts. Unless you think your readers want to fly in a flooring contractor from Florida. (The profile goes to their website.)

Re: Creepy Carrie Hawks an HB Listing | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 15:25:04 -0000

Carrie aside, my frustration is that this is yet another example of a seller showcasing their furniture instead of the space. I don't want to see a picture of a dining room table, armoire, etc. I want to see as much of the room as you can get in the photo.

Re: What's Moving These Days | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:16:22 -0000

LMB, you can look at foreclosureradar.com and get a little bit of an indication of the foreclosure happenings in MB, not specific to WoS.
http://www.foreclosureradar...

Re: Whoops, 3309 Pacific is Back | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:53:22 -0000

I liked this house. It’s a bit funky, but I kinda like that sort of thing. I liked it enough to send my contractor to look at it.

I'm not sure what is not permitted. The agent said that they checked with the city records and the bedroom and bath downstairs are permitted. I was surprised, they look seriously bootleg.

The agent said that there was water intrusion from outside (not bathrooms to my knowledge) with the front patios and minor termite damage. (both seem minor to my untrained eye) Both of these are currently being repaired by the owner. There did seem to be slight/possible signs of water intrusion on the outside wall of the mother-in-law suite downstairs, but that should be a garage anyway.

The "mother-in-law suite” is a bit of a joke. Sadly, the little loft room is really cute and cool and I love the view... but I’m hard pressed to find it useful. A kids’ play room is about the best I could figure. Office/studio/exercise room? With the low ceiling and since you can only get to it from the 2nd/3rd bedroom, it's limited. The new roof is a bit chintzy for the caliber the house was in its hay-day and could be again.

The retaining wall in the back yard is probably not to code, not sure if you could get away without fixing that if you redo the house. The non-working spa and sauna in the back yard are not to current code, but the owner will be removing them (unless the buyer wants them).

So, my conclusion – it would cost $300k or more to bring the house to a modern standard. Although it would be a cool house; it would not be a $1.5mm house. It would not have the openness or high ceilings that most modern houses of that ilk have. To do that kind of work, I want to have a nice chunk of equity when I’m done.

It’s probably livable as it is; for me, not at that price. I would want to gut all the bathrooms, re-apportion the space upstairs a bit to create a better/bigger second bath, remove the platform in the bedroom, ditch the wet bars, turn the second bath in the master into a walk-in closet, remove all the marble (fireplaces, trim, etc), all new flooring, gut and open up the kitchen, replace all the windows and sliding glass doors, and gut all of the junk in the basement/garage level. I think that’s the major list. All those changes would most likely require pretty much all new plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Depending on finishes, we're talking 300-400k.

Re: Open Forum (8/30– ) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:56:17 -0000

Obviously to you it is nothing; perhaps not to others. I live in MB. I am home shopping in MB. I found the information interesting in my evaluation of MB real estate. You are welcome to keep your head in the sand if that suits you. Nice thing about this world is that no everyone is exactly like you.

Re: Open Forum (8/30– ) | Manhattan Beach Confidential

melissa — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 18:09:36 -0000

H4M - that was a side comment. The meat of that comment was about 1508 Oak. I was rather surprised to find that situation going on in MB.

The "slight" (11%) increase in 30 or so days doesn't really seem slight to me.. maybe Leo is growing his business faster than foreclosures are happening. Why did I include the ancillary information - I feel this is an indicator that others might consider when evaluating the local (So Cal/LA) economy, which factors into a housing evaluation. Today only one on that list of 93 is in MB, but not that long ago there were none, which would be an infinite increase.