Dana Graham

Real Estate General Info Category

November, 2011

I’ve been doing this a long time, and one of the things I am noticing in the current market is that quite a few unsold listings are coming up cancelled, withdrawn, or expired, only to be re-listed shortly thereafter by another Realtor.  While I’m sure there are occasionally other reasons, I suspect the majority are due to the notion that another Realtor might be able to sell the house where the first one didn’t. There is a fundamental misconception behind this...Continue Reading!

September, 2011

I’ve been in this business since the early 1980’s.  Never in that time have I seen a market where the agent you have makes a bigger potential difference in the outcome.  The world is in seeming turmoil with the Arabs rioting, the national debt rising, money markets in a constant state of flux, buyers aren’t sure they should be buying, sellers aren’t getting the prices they imagined their homes were worth a few years ago, the gnomes in Sacramento gleefully...Continue Reading!

July, 2011

While prices in Palos Verdes have held up reasonably well throughout the current financial "crisis", sales since the first of the year have slowed compared to the same period last year.  In Valmonte, whereas we had 25 sales between January and July 2010, this year we have had 16.  On the entire Peninsula there were 241 sales first half of 2010, with 196 during the first half of 2011.  By "sales" I mean properties going into escrow, not those that...Continue Reading!

All Is Not What It Seems

Apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan.  Real estate price declines have been all over the news during the past few months, with stomach-churning numbers up to 41% decline fairly common. There is no doubt that, overall, prices have declined from their 2007 peaks, but there is an interesting phenomenon afoot below the surface that is fooling those coming up with these numbers: The lower end of the market (under about $750,000) is currently hotter than a 1951 Crosley with a bad thermostat.  One...Continue Reading!

Stuff You Won’t Hear From the Media

I could write a book, but here's what's pertinent to real estate at the moment:  we've all heard the constant reports in the media that the "median price" of real estate is down 36% or some other dire number, right?  You might think that prices are headed south faster than Lee after Gettysburg, but it's not true.  This stuff makes me crazy, but I'm sufficiently medicated to get thru this. There has been an interesting dichotomy in the market for the...Continue Reading!

January 2009 Update

This is my periodic newsletter to my mailing list. This is January, 2009's: I tried to write this as an explanation of why we're in the economic mess we're in, but somewhere on the 6th page I reconsidered.  Suffice to say (and I'm sure you've gotten explanations from all directions), this is the accumulation of 70+ years of government meddling.  Beginning during the Great Depression, people increasingly began to look to the Federal Government to make their lives better, and the host...Continue Reading!

Websites, Websites

and more websites. Seems like everyone's got one, you can get one for almost nothing, which is what some are worth. On the subject at hand (that would be real estate), there are websites whose ostensible purpose is to give you the value of your house on-line. Neat, huh? The most prominent are Zillow and Truila, but I'm sure others have jumped on the bandwagon. Zillow and Truila, if you're reading this, you know what I'm about to say is...Continue Reading!

Elvis, Kennedy, and Pearl Harbor

After Elvis, the Kennedy assassination, and the Pearl Harbor attack, real estate has got to be next on the list for containing the most myths and misinformation.  Even in a hot market like we’ve been having, there are still some fundamental truths, prominent among them being that somewhere out there is a buyer who will pay the most for your home which, all else being equal, is the buyer you want.  The way to find him is NOT to a)...Continue Reading!

Dana Graham’s Palos Verdes Sales

HOMES SOLD BY DANA GRAHAM PRUDENTIAL CALIFORNIA REALTY PALOS VERDES PENINSULA ONLY ZIP CODES 90274 & 90275                     Not necessarily in chronological order           Properties listed more than once were sold more than once 1812 DALTON RD, PVE                                                                                5627 SEASIDE HTS DR, RPV 5331 MANITOWAC DR, RPV                                                                     25918 CHALMETTE LN, RHE 66 SILVER SADDLE LN, RHE                                                                    2316 VIA ACALONES, PVE 28604 COVECREST DR, RPV                                                                     4024 VIA PICAPOSTE, PVE 26712 HAWKHURST DR, RPV                                                                  26842 EASTVALE DR, PVP 27916 ALVAREZ DR, RPV                                                                         10 PEARTREE LN, RHE 27902 ALVAREZ DR, RPV                                                                         3400 P V DRIVE...Continue Reading!

Fannie and Freddie

September 9, 2008 By the time you read this, the crisis with Fannie and Freddie will be at least a few weeks old but, since we taxpayers are now the guarantors of last resort for a whole bunch of questionable loans, it is important to understand the situation. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two quasi-governmental agencies that buy real estate loans that meet certain criteria, on what is known as the "secondary market".  Your lender makes you a loan to buy a house...Continue Reading!