Palos Verdes Real Estate

November 2024 Newsletter

Dear Neighbor:

Real estate prices have flattened out in the past 6 months.  There is never any shortage of explanations for whatever the market does, so I won’t indulge in that here.  There is, however, a shortage of homes for sale, which is supporting the prices.  Interest rates have eased a bit, into the 5’s if you know where to go (I do), but there are a lot of folks who don’t want to give up their current sub-3% mortgage by relocating, which is helping to create the shortage.

This may be a bit of ‘inside baseball”, but if you’re thinking of selling you should know about this.  There has been a lot of news this year about real estate commissions and how they are paid.  Traditionally the seller has paid the commissions for both the buyer’s and seller’s agents, obviously making it part of the sale price.  In that sense, you could think of it as being split between buyer and seller.  Been that way for at least decades.  Well, someone decided this was unfair or deceptive, and there was a big lawsuit that resulted in a out-of-court settlement.  Apart from aggrandizing the attorneys involved, it provided that the buyer had to pay his own agent, sign a new 13 page “Buyer-Broker Agreement” prior to being shown any property, and offers of commission to the buyers’ agent could not be promulgated in property promotions, such as in the Multiple Listing Service.  Since the buyer may often be scraping to come up with the downpayment, this put a big, new burden on him and may put his agent in a squeeze.  The counter-argument was that the buyer could now shop around for the cheapest agent to represent him.  As a buyer knowing all the things an experienced agent can do for you, is that really what you want?

I’m not going to get any deeper into this here, so give me a call (310 613-1076) if you want to discuss it.  Agents are under the microscope on this at the moment, and I don’t want to say anything that, while true, might get me called up before a committee.

On a legal front of a different kind, the application of the local developer who thinks he is going to build 482 units of high density, low-income housing in 4 high-rise buildings near Silver Spur School (I wrote about this in my last newsletter), was denied by the RPV Planning Commission.  He will now appeal to the City Council, where I am confident he will get a similar reception.  Given the State’s misguided attempt to shove high-density housing down the throats of cities statewide, this will not end until there are changes in Sacramento.

OK, enough of that.  I’ve got a lovely new listing in Los Verdes (off Hawthorne where Eddinghill crosses).  This is an original one level 4 bedroom 2 bath mid-‘60’s home in a quiet location, and is a prime candidate for you to remodel and make your own.  I’ve got a few more in the pipeline, so call me for more.

Feel free to give me a call any time at 310 613-1076 (I’m generally in the office by 6 am) or email me at [email protected].  Also visit my website:  www.DanaGraham.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 8th, 2024 at 9:37 am and is filed under Buyers, Everything I've Written, History & Current Events, Newsletters, Palos Verdes Information, Real Estate General Info, Sellers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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