The Malibu Real Estate Blog

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

If you love doll houses, miss the Victorian Era, or are just plain ol’ looking for a distressed “good deal” within the Malibu real estate market, then this Point Dume house might be for you. The home is located on Grasswood near Point Dume Marine Science elementary school, has a beach key, an ocean view, over 7000 sq.ft. (apprx.), and a large yard. It originally came on the market at $8,500,000 but due to a divorce, and a need to sell, the owners have lowered the price to $5,495,000 with this description from the MLS…

“DIVORCE SALE! SELLERS EXTREMELY MOTIVATED. PHENOMENAL OPPORTUNITY. REDUCED OVER $3.0 MIL SINCE FIRST ON MARKET. OVER $1.25 MIL IN RECENT RENOVATIONS. EXQUISITE VICTORIAN W/DETACHED GUEST HOUSE ON GREAT PT. DUME STREET . BEAUTIFUL OCEAN AND CITY LIGHT VUS. VERY PRIVATE ON 1 ACRE OF LUSHLY LANDSCAPED GROUNDS. TRUE ESTATE PROPERTY OF UNCOMPROMISING QUALITY: INCL. GOURMET KITCHEN W/ LACORNEU STOVE, GRAND SECOND STORY MASTER, LUXURIOUS DINING/LIVING/BATH RMS, AND EXCEPTIONALLY APPOINTED GUEST SUITES!”
Call for other “deals” in Malibu 310 699 8428

The home is listed with Chris Cortazzo/Coldwell Banker

What was this seller thinking? A condo goes up for sale in Malibu and starts with a listing price of $1,098,000. Many agents that saw it thought it was overpriced. 5 days later the seller drops it to $999,999. A drop of around 10%.  14 days later the seller raises it $1,150,000. An increase of 15%. 3 days after that the seller drops it over 20% and lists it at $899,999 with the following description. 

SHORT SALE!!!!!!!BRING ALL OFFERS SPECTACULAR MALIBU TOWNHOUSE WITH OCEAN VIEWS AND BALCONIES FROM EVERY ROOM! ENTER INTO AN ELEGANT LIVING SPACE WITH ROMANTIC FIREPLACE, SPACIOUS DINING AREA AND A MAGNIFICENT GOURMET KITCHEN. 2 BEDROOM SUITES UPSTAIRS EACH WITH PRIVATE BATH AND OCEAN VIEW PATIO. CONVENIENTLY LOCATED TO CROSS CREEK COUNTRY MART, MINUTES FROM SANTA MONICA BUT FEELS LIKE YOUR IN ANOTHER WORLD. COME HOME TO MALIBU!

It is now in escrow.

Sellers who “need to sell”  should take note that in this market you really have to price your home at realistic price. Don’t play with numbers. Analyze the market and set a realistic asking price. If you don’t have offers after 30, or most 60 days, you need to reduce the price before it’s too late. 

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 

For $375,000 you can buy a deluxe-Crayola-brown-tornado-proof-double-wide mobile home in Paradise Cove where you can do a surf check from your living room and walk to the beach in under a minute. This is the lowest price I’ve seen in the Cove for many years and what makes it a great deal is the ocean view. 

Think about the benefits….

No property taxes, no gardener to pay, you can take it with you, and there’s a couple of spare tires underneath. 

Where else can you live at the beach in Malibu for such a low price?

The mobile home is listed with David Carter of Pritchett- Rapf

It’s not often that you see a house like this for under $3,000,000 on Point Dume in Malibu. 2 years ago this price got you a tear down ranch house. Here’s the low down. The house is completely remodeled, has a good size yard with a large lawn, an nice ocean view, is close to Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School, and best of all …..a beach key to a private beach. At $2,495,000 It’s a smoking deal! Call me for more information about “Malibu Real Estate”. 310 699 8428 

UPDATE>>>>IN ESCROW! There are other deals on the Point, including a few unlisted places!

 The house is listed with Lily Harfouche of Coldwell banker

Currently Malibu has 78 condos on the market and roughly half of them have had a price reduction since being listed. Only one has sold in the last 90 days and many agents are claiming the phone just ain’t ringing for condo’s right now. That’s a serious flat spell! The highest price unit on the market is $3.6m for a swanky new pad across the street from Billionaires Beach. Yes, it’s on the land side of PCH at that price, not on the beach. You’ll need another $20m to live on the other side of PCH 50 feet closer towards the sand. The lowest price condo is something many realtors thought they wouldn’t see….a unit under $500k. The complex, which is known as Malibu Gardens, lies between Kanan and Cavalleri on PCH and  has a new listing at $499,000 for a 2 bedroom unit. A few weeks ago it was $559,000…a drop of more than 10 percent. It wasn’t long ago that the lowest price condo in this complex was closer to $575,000. With this many condos being on the market sellers are having to fiercely compete with other sellers to get their untis sold.  I would venture to say than in the $1.5m and under category prices are down 10-15 percent off last years prices and could be heading to a 20 percent  or more price drop. 

Condo Search

Click this link to be taken to an MLS search for all condos in Malibu. The user id is x55032 and the password is condo 

This unit is listed with Terry Lucoff of Coldwell Banker and you can find  the sushi at Nobu

I’ve only been at this “blogging” thing for a few months but I finally can say I feel like I’m making some progress. I’m just about to hit 15,000 page views with my best day being 548 views. For weeks I was landing on the second page on Google when you typed in the words “Malibu Real Estate”. These are coveted words with many agents paying thousands each month to get hits when searches are run with those exact words. Today I was surprised to see my blog coming up in the number 4 spot in the unpaid search results. It seems to change daily as a few days ago I was at 6 and then this morning back on the second page. I’m still learning about what Google likes but know that content is important. Watch out number one!

I recently had an opportunity to photograph a condo for a fellow agent in Malibu. She explained that it was an incredible unit that had been remodeled to the studs and had an amazing view. WOW! I had know idea it was this nice! When I arrived I was blown away with how well done it was. The view was one of the best I’ve seen… EVER! If you are in the market for a condo, forget the overpriced and rapidly depreciating in town units. Invest in the rarest of commodities, a huge ocean view, that will knock your socks off! Come see this Malibu condo before it’s too late! Check the website out here www.23914deville.com Give me a ring to find out more about other condos available in Malibu. 1 310 699 8428  

On March 8th I posted an article on my free Wordpress.com blog about a new record price being set for a monthly rental in Malibu. (click here to read it)

The L.A. Times read it and called me to do an article on leases in Malibu and ran it on March 24th on the front page. (article)

On May 7 Le Figaro, a major French newspaper, ran an article about Malibu being the St. Tropez of California and quoted me again! The funny part was I never said any of that! I did say that Malibu was resilient to economic downturns in the real estate market but the rest is creative writting!

 (article)