The Malibu Real Estate Blog

Being a Malibu real estate agent is a lot like being a stock broker. Everyday there are bits of activity that affect every other home for sale within the market and it’s my job to monitor and analyze it’s affects. A foreclosure in a condo complex can cause an over night crash in values. The short sale of estate can lop $1m bucks off the value of the neighbors listing and cause them to withdraw the listing. Sometimes it goes the other way too with a beach home getting snapped up for millions more than expected. Then everyone thinks their homes jumped a million overnight and chances are you’ll see a few new listings in the immediate vacinity. I often even refer to homes “trading” in a certain price range rather than being “sold”. When someone asks about homes for sale on Malibu Road, I’ll say, “yeah, those have been trading at about $6-7mm for a small, but clean place”.

Now when I see a home heading to half of what it once was asking, again, like a stock broker, I’m looking at it like it might be a great opportunity to buy in low. Here is one such home that fits the bill that was originally listed for $7.5mm and now is asking $4.85mm
Call 310-699-8428 for showings

From the MLS…”THE PERFECT SOPHISTICATED MALIBU BEACH HOUSE DONE IN THE BEST OF TASTE. LOCATED ON MALIBU COLONY BEACH THIS TRI-LEVEL HOME HAS IT ALL. FIRST FLOOR HAS A DECK, GOURMET KITCHEN, FULL BATHROOM, FIREPLACE. SECOND FLOOR HAS A BEAUTIFUL MASTER BEDROOM SUITE WITH FIREPLACE, DECK, BEAUTIFUL SHOWER, AND A LARGE WALK IN CLOSET, A DEN AREA, ANOTHER LOVELY BEDROOM AND A FULL BATHROOM, THIRD FLOOR HAS AN ART STUDIO/OFFICE/BDRM – AN AMAZING ROOF TOP DECK WITH VIEWS OF THE COASTLINE, SURF, AND DOLPHINS. HOUSE CAN NEVER BE DUPLICATED. A LARGE CLIMATE CONTROLLED STORAGE ROOM. THERE IS A/C THROUGHOUT. THE BEST AT THE BEACH!”

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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”.   

If you are going to live in a trailer you might as well do it here in Malibu, home of the worlds most expensive trailer park. Chew on this…….There are currently 6 mobile homes for sale in Malibu that are asking over $1,000,000. The highest price coach goes for $1.8m and during the last 3 years there have been almost a dozen sales over $1m! The HOA’s or “space rent” will run almost $2000 per month and you might need to get tags each year with the DMV! What gives you ask! Your green buys blue…………ocean views that is. In these price ranges you are paying for big  180 degree ocean views.

We have two mobile home parks in Malibu that are both located on hundreds of acres of prime real estate nestled up to the beach. Both Paradise Cove and The Point Dume Club sit on bluffs directly over the Pacific Ocean. Many of these mobile homes have ocean views that rival the $20m homes along PCH and both have roads or trails right down to the sand. Neither parks have been hit by tornados and there are rules against “changing the tranny” or “swapping an engine” in your driveway.  What would you pay for a home with  2500 sq.ft., high end appliances, the best finishes, a huge ocean view, and a few steps away from a  stroll in the beach?

Here’s what you get for $1.8m    ” Inspirational ocean views from this architecturally dramatic Malibu Hideaway – Private location overlooking Zuma Beach and Broad Beach coastline – Soaring ceilings and arches – Granite and Marble throughout. Two fireplaces – The finest amenities – Quality construction – office – sun room – sauna – workshop – Steps to beach – Chic, Stunning and Sophisticated for the discriminating client who wants only the BEST!”

Malibu Mobile Home

Malibu Mobile Home

This deluxe coach is  listed with Chris Cortazzo at Coldwell Banker Malibu.

Yes, there are a lot of foreclosures going on in many parts of California, but the Westside and Malibu seem to be a shelter in the storm. Check out these stats from the  

FORECLOSURES – June 1-Dec. 31, 2007

Valley areas not doing so well

• Woodland Hills (91364, 91367) – 
• Tarzana (91356) – 69 foreclosures
• Encino (91316, 91436) – 54 foreclosures
• Sherman Oaks (91403, 91423) – 43 foreclosures
• Studio City (91604, 91602) – 32 foreclosures
• West Hollywood (90046, 90069) – 27 foreclosures

Areas doing well

• Miracle Mile (90036, 90048) – 7 foreclosures
• Beverly Hills (90210, 90211, 90212) – 3 foreclosures
• Brentwood (90049) – 6 foreclosures
• Bel Air/Holmby Hills (90077) – 11 foreclosures

Prime areas

• Sawtelle/West L.A. (90025) – 6 foreclosures
• Westwood (90024) – 11 foreclosures
• Cheviot Hills/Rancho Park (90064) – 3 foreclosures
• Pacific Palisades (90272) – 4 foreclosures
• Venice (90291) – 1 foreclosure
• Santa Monica (90401, 90403, 90404, 90405) – 10 foreclosures
• Santa Monica (90402) – not available (north of Montana where there were likely few)

And Malibu (90265) 1 FORECLOSURE So where are you going to invest in real estate?Here’s a chart where you’d better hope you didn’t buy something recently. Source:  realtytrac

Here are the top ten sites for December.  Realtor.com is leading the pack with Trulia recently passing up Zillow and looking to gain ground. Why is this important? Because everybody starts online when it comes to finding a home. 85% this year will and I estimate that the number will rise to 95% in next few years. Realtor.com gets 5 million hits alone each month.

One advantage Prudential Malibu has is that we have signed a deal with Yahoo, as you may have seen the recent ads, and  we exclusively get all real estate leads generated online. If someone does a real estate search in Malibu and needs more information our office at Cross Creek gets the call, even if the home is listed at another brokerage. Try it out by doing  a Malibu search at Yahoo Real Estate.

 Years ago a client might ask their agent “How many showings are we getting each week?” or “How many calls”? The new question will be “How many hits did we get?” Good agents will monitor their web traffic and keep you up to date by sending the graphs and data to you. If you are getting a ton of hits but no showings, then maybe the listing price is too high. If you are getting hits and showings, then keep the price as is. There is another site that is not mentioned but has tremendous power in selling a home.Craigslist.com has a real estate section and I always put an add online. That simple add generates over 500 page views and 5000 hits per month. See example below.

Bottom line. Times are a changing! If you are going to list your home you better have an agent who has a foot in the internet arena. I personally have my listings at 4 of the sites mentioned above. Try asking your current agent how many hits you are getting each month. If he or she looks confused and can’t answer,  then it’s time for a new agent. Here’s a number to one that can answer it, confidently! See the proof below for my beach house listing at 4300 PCH…. 1 310 699 8428. Ask for me, Mike G.