The Malibu Real Estate Blog

Is there anything affordable in Malibu you ask? Yes. You want to roll big because….well,  that’s how you roll, right? You just want to say “I live in Malibu..right above the beach”. Not much cash? OK! Here’s your answer…Mobile homes. Big ones with ocean views, the sound of waves to put you to sleep, and a tricked out golf cart with surfboard racks and a 2 inch lift.

 The price may sound high but you’ll be watching the same sunset over the water that several celebs watch from their $15,000,000 homes on the same bluff just a block away. 

Malibu has two mobile home parks. One at Paradise Cove and the other, known as The Point Dume Club, on Point Dume. Between the two parks there are currently 5 mobile homes for sale above $1,000,000! The highest comes in at $1,395,000 and you will still need to pay space rent once you buy the mobile home. Space rents run from $1000 to $3000 depending on location, size of the lot, and views. Since the mobile homes might only be worth a few hundred thousand what you are really paying for is the right to be there on the rented land. That right gives you ocean views, an affordable alternative to the high priced mansions in Malibu, and your own beach to use within a few minutes walk away.

  Here are the Top 5 with descriptions from the MLS.

  1) $1,395,000 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath in Paradise Cove

LOCATION! LOCATION! THIS UNIT SITS ON THE BLUFF TOP OF THE PARK OFFERING SWEEPING OCEAN VIEWS. IT FEATURES A BEAUTIFUL WRAP AROUND DECK WITH A GRASSY BACKYARD THAT IS PERFECT FOR ENTERTAINING. THE HOME IS IN PRISTINE CONDITION AND HAS BEEN NEWLY PAINTED, HARDWOOD FLOORS THROUGHOUT AND NEW GRANITE COUNTERS IN KITCHEN AND BATHROOMS. THE UNIT IS LOCATED IN ONE OF THE BEST SPOTS IN THE PARK.

Listed with Shirley Sherman of Westside Estate Agency

2) $1,395,000 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath in Paradise Cove

  PARADISE COVE BLUFF LOCATION. OUTSTANDING SANTA MONICA BAY OCEAN VIEWS. BEAUTIFUL, CUSTOM ” MEXICAN HACIENDA” STYLE HOME. UPGRADED WITH THE UTMOST QUALITY AND STYLE; AS ‘ FEATURED ON THE TRAVEL CHANNEL, CBS NEWS AND LA TIMES ‘. LEADED GLASS WINDOWS, CENTER ISLAND TILE KITCHEN, TILE BATHROOMS, SKYLIGHTS, FIREPLACE, AND RECESSED LIGHTING. FRENCH DOORS OPEN FROM EVERY ROOM ONTO LARGE STONE DECK. ENTER A TROPICAL PARADISE OF LUSH LANDSCAPING, PRIVACY AND SPA TUB. BONUS ROOM CAN BE 3RD BEDROOM.

 Listed with David Carter of Pritchett-Rapf Malibu

3) $1,385,000 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath in Paradise Cove

UNOBSTRUCTED, AWESOME, WHITE WATER OCEAN VIEWS OF PARADISE COVE AND SANTA MONICA BAY. COMPLETE UPSCALE REMODEL WITH WALNUT HARDWOOD FLOORS, BUILT-IN BANQUETTE, STONE FIREPLACE, CUSTOM CABINETS, TILE BATHROOMS WITH GRANITE COUNTERS, AND STUNNING KITCHEN WITH CENTER ISLAND. GREAT FLOOR PLAN, HUGE CUSTOM SLIDERS TO LARGE WRAP AROUND ENTERTAINMENT DECK, WITH TILED OUTSIDE BBQ & FRIDGE. HILLSIDE BLUFF LOCATION, QUIET STREET, GOOD PARKING.

 Listed with David Carter of Pritchett-Rapf Malibu

4)$1,250,000 for a 4 bedroom 3 bath in the Point Dume Club

JOIN THE ENTERTAINMENT ELITE IN THIS EXCLUSIVE GUARD GATED MALIBU BEACH-SIDE COMMUNITY WHERE THE HOLLYWOOD HIP HIDE OUT FROM THE PAPARAZZI AND HANG OUT IN FABULOUS HOMES FOR A STEAL – LIKE THIS ONE AT ONLY $1.25 MILLION. THIS FANTASY HOME HAS BREEZY OCEAN VIEWS, 4 BEDROOMS, 3 LUXE BATHS, ANTIQUE CABINETRY, CHEF’

S KITCHEN & PVT PATH TO LEGENDARY ZUMA BEACH. THE NEIGHBORS ALONE ARE WORTH THE PRICE!

Listed with Carol Bird of of Westside Estate Agency

5) $1,149,000 for a 3 bedroom 2 bath in Paradise Cove

BEACH PARADISE IN THE OCEANFRONT COMMUNITY OF PARADISE COVE. GREAT UPPER LEVEL LOCATION WITH OCEAN VIEW.OPEN FLOOR PLAN AND UNIQUE PROPERTY WITH GREAT POTENTIAL. SURROUNDED BY BEAUTIFULLY RENOVATED HOMES. OPEN AND SECLUDED OUTDOOR DECK WITH UNOBSTRUCTED VIEW OF THE OCEAN, SURF, MOUNTAIN AND SUNSET. WALK TO SURF AND BEACH FROM YOUR FRONT DOOR. KIDS PLAYGROUND, REC ROOM, TENNIS AND BASKETBALL COURTS.

Listed with Chelsea Bulte of Coldwell Banker Malibu 

The gilded age continues! For $150,000 per month, with a two month minimum, you can rent the ultimate get away house. The home, located on Cliffside Drive on Point Dume, has 4 bedrooms and 8 baths with enough interior space to park a few Gulf Stream V’s. There is a  direct trail to the beach and you can run around the property naked if you please because you will have total privacy. You are going to have to cough up a nice security deposit of $300,000 which means you’d better be ready  to cut a check for $450,000 to move in for the first month.  Let’s work with smaller numbers ya’ll can grasp. It’s only $200 per hour or $5000 per day. Considering that the Presidential Suite at Shutters in Santa Monica is $3500 per night, renting this for a mere $1500 more  makes sense, right?. Why rent a room in a hotel when you can rent a Mansion? The only downside to staying here is that you can’t walk outside and buy fake sunglasses or watch guys in Dolphin shorts skating on the Venice Boardwalk. Oh well. 

 The home is listed with Chris Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker

A house on La Costa Beach goes up for sale in Nov. for $17,500,000. The house offers numerous bedrooms on 81 feet of frontage and is an original 1964 beach house in good shape. The house sells 42 days later for $11,300,000! Keep in mind that two blocks up the coast is Carbon Beach where 81 feet of frontage will run almost $20,000,000. Either the listing was drastically overpriced to begin with or someone stepped to the plate and swung with the greatest low ball offer in history.

The rule of thumb in this market is don’t be afraid to write a low offer. You do not know if the sellers must move or just are thinking about it.

To get a low offer accepted you MUST have an agent that is willing do a few things. First, the agent needs to present the offer in person. Faxes are easy to reject. An agent standing in your living room who says that he has buyers that are well qualified and are ready to close speaks volumes. Next, show the owners sale prices that are considerably lower than the original asking price. Lastly, show them the average days on market and let them think about sitting on that adjustable rate mortgage for the next 192 days. One last thing. If your original offer is rejected. Let the clients have a few days to think about the offer. 3 or 4 days later, send a Rejection Of Offer Letter and ask them to sign it making it official that they don’t want to counter. They’ll think twice before signing the rejection letter and may reconsider the offer, especially if that phone hasn’t rang in a few days.

If a buyer can knock $6m off a beach house in Malibu it should give you hope going after that vintage craftsman bungalow in Venice that’s asking $1.9m but you can only afford $1.5m. Heck! Print this out and and use it as ammo to get that deal done!

Over the weekend, several blogs and newspapers were reporting that Nancy Daly Riordan sold her home on Carbon Beach for a price in the vicinity of $62 million dollars.  This would be a record sale for Malibu shattering last year’s record sale of Johnny Carson’s home on Point Dume at $35 million.   The Real Estalker is reporting that the deal may have fallen through and the original Canadian buyers, may possibly be Russian.  The 12,785 sq.ft. house sits on a triple lot on “Billionaires Beach”, aka Carbon Beach, in the heart of Malibu. It may have been in escrow, but even with high end transactions, you might as well translate the word “escrow” to mean “a big maybe.”Even if the deal fails to happen, you can bet everyone else on the beach will assume their beach houses just became worth $10,000,000 more overnight. The very fact that someone even thought of paying that amount sent the smell of money into the salt air and along PCH. I imagine several conversations like this occurred last week. House seller to agent,      ”Yeah……how much did the business manager say to list our house for?”Agent    ”$17,000,000″Seller   “Well, let’s raise it to $27,000,000.” Agent (while calculating the commission)     “Good idea! Sign the fax and I’ll make the changes.”