The Malibu Real Estate Blog

“I know you’re sitting pretty in the Hampty Hamps, Posing like you’re rolling with that camp.”-Beastie Boys song Shazam.

If you too would like to sit pretty on the West Coast then stop posing and come have a look at this home on Broad Beach. Forget the real estate in the Hamptons where snow, not sand, is what you’ll see in the all winter. Move to Malibu, where sunny winters days can reach 80 degrees.

The authentic east coast style home was built in 1946 making it one of the first homes on Broad Beach. I must say that this home had some of the nicest construction details I had ever seen for a home of the this age. The home has numerous details that give it a feel of being on an enormous luxury yacht. There are large, round, wood-framed window that look like port holes. Some of these windows are even located on walls between two rooms. The main living room has large ceiling beams that are curved and give you the feeling of being inside an ark. In this room you will find a large fire place constructed out of hand gathered stones off the beach.

The actual price of the home is $22,000,000 and the basket ball court next door will run you the extra $14,000,000. You actually get more than a basket ball court, you get an additional APN so you’ll have one less neighbor, an investment property, or a place to build a spare beach house.

The homes website is here Hamptons in Malibu
Qualified buyers can request a showing by calling the number below.

Mike Gardner

310 699 8428

Maybe Carbon Beach should change it’s name to Diamond Beach? A $65,000,000 beach home has become Malibu real estate’s most expensive beach listing. Here is the description…
THE “CROWN” OF CARBON BEACH. THE ULTIMATE BEACH ESTATE ON 150′ OF BEACH-FRONT. THIS HOME HAS IT ALL – THEATER, PANELED OFFICE, MASTER W/ HIS & HERS, GYM, FAMILY ROOM, PUB, 75′ BEACH-FRONT POOL & SPA. IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE FINEST HOME ON THE PREMIER BEACH IN MALIBU, THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. ALL CLIENTS MUST BE PREQUALIFIED AND APPROVED BY SELLER. NEED 24-HOUR NOTICE TO SHOW.
Can’t afford $65,000,000? Call me for info on the “lower tier”, $20,000,000-$40,000,000 unlisted homes on other beaches. 310 699 8428

The Crown is listed with Stephen Shapiro/WEA

Most agents go into a listing appointment hoping for a 6% commission but will often get the contract signed at 5%. In areas like Malibu and other expensive communities, it’s not unusual for the commission to be 4% on homes that are $6,000,000 or more. This beautiful home on Broad Beach not only offers an exclusive address right on the sand,  but a whopping 7.5% total commission with the buyer’s agent receiving 5%! If the house closes at the asking price the agent who brings the buyer will walk away with close to $250,000 AFTER the split (based on a 50/50 split) with their brokerage! This is one motivated seller!  Here is the MLS description-  A CLASSIC MID-CENTURY “WALLACE NEFF” BEACH HOUSE, COMPLETELY AND TASTEFULLY UPDATED! CAPE COD HOME ON ONE OF MALIBU’S MOST EXCLUSIVE BEACHES. LIGHT, BRIGHT AND COMFORTABLE WITH PRIVATE BEACH SIDE PATIO. SHOWN BY APPT ONLY TO QUALIFIED BUYERS. This Broad Beach home is listed for $10,495,000 and has 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, with approx. 2340 sq.ft.

To any sellers out there wondering how to motivate agents to bring buyers….. raise the commission!

Call me to view the property. Mike Gardner  310 699 8428

Click here to go to the website.

The home is listed with Tony and Alan Mark of Prudential Malibu Realty

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.”

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If you thought Malibu real estate prices were sky high how about a 18000 Sq. Ft. town house on the Upper East Side for $64 million! The pricey abode has 30 rooms, 15 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, 17-foot ceilings, and a rooftop garden with grand views.  If it sells it will break the previous record high sales price set  by the sale of the $53 million dollar Harkness Mansion on East 75th Street. Malibu’s highest price listing comes in at $75 million. The recent sale of a Carbon Beach home in the $55 million dollar range sets a new beach-side sales record.There are two large projects being built now that could turn in to Malibu’s first $100 million dollar listings if the gilded age continues. New York real estate companies are claiming that they haven’t seen this kind of sales frenzy since the dot-com days of 2000.  The number of apartments the sold above $10 million have more than tripled since 2006.  What could this mean for Malibu? Well my guess is that if you can afford a  Manhattan condo for $10 million, then a Malibu Road beach house for the same price might be pretty tempting, especially during a 70 degree California “winter”.   

While the under $3,000,000 luxury market for homes seems to be slowing down, the growing demand for high-end finished products within the Malibu real estate market continues to be met with new homes such as this one with a listing price of $25,000,000.  This stunning East Coast traditional is situated on the cliffs of Point Dume with a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean.  The home sets a new record asking price for this section of ocean view bluff located on Birdview Street and will most likely elevate the value of all the neighboring properties when a sale is finalized. Competing for high-end buyers are two other listings: 7049 Birdview at $19,950,000 and 7307 Birdview at$11,250,000.  The highest sales price achieved on Birdview closed around $13,000,000.
The home was built by Albino Construction, known for building the highest quality homes that are frequently purchased by buyers from the entertainment industry.  It features 7 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms with 8756 Sq. Ft. on little over one acre of prime Malibu soil. There is an infinity edge pool, expansive ocean views, and direct beach access via a private gate with your own path to the sand. If you love the homes in the Hamptons, the weather in Southern California, and can afford to buy a small, private island, then you’ve found your perfect home in highly sought after Malibu. 

 Listed with  Chris Cortazzo of Coldwell Banker Malibu

If the answer is less than 20, you may want to consider someone who takes the marketing of your home more seriously. One agent recently studied 268 listings in the MLS and found that homes with more photos sold much faster than those with just a few. Here is the relationship between the number of photos and Days on Market:

• 1 Photo = 70 Days on Market (DOM)
• 6 Photos = 40 DOM
• 16-19 = 36 DOM
• 20 or more = 32 DOM                  

Let’s now talk about the how it affects the sales price. Guess what? Listings with fewer pictures sold for less. 

• 1 Photo = 91.2% of the original price
• 6 Photos or more = 95% of the original price

Here’s what Realtor.com has to say about the importance of photos: 84% of home buyers said that photos and detailed property descriptions are the most important features when searching for homes online. Homes with 6 photos or more are viewed in detail 299% more often. So here’s how to use this to your advantage. If you are selling make sure you agent uses at least 12 or more high quality photos in the MLS. If you are buying and looking for “deals” don’t overlook listings that just have a few photos. Chances are you’ll nab it at a discount price. Why? Because if the listing agent didn’t care much about a simple thing like having multiple good photos, they’ll probably not care much about fighting for a higher price for their client.  Here is one example where I personally shot the photos (23) and built the website for my own listing. www.hollisterranch130.com   
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