Real Estate in the Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach Areas

Open house today…May 8th. not tomorrow because its Mothers Day!

216 N Franklin…is unique. 2 detached large rooms and bathroom. What could that mean for your family. Peace, Work at home, a room of one’s own, TV or game room. The two car garage also has a large workspace- home gym? Workshop? what do you need extra space for?

All that and a wonderful home with entry,Wood stairs and floors, molding details on an original turn of century home that grew…into a new 2005 addition- of the rest of the house. The original was 1 Br 1 Ba and now its a large open plan kitchen with skylights next to separate laundry room. The bath and bedroom were completely remodeled, with high grade insulation . The addition was the living room, master bedroom and bath plus garage and separate rooms above. It has a side and front grassy yard plus patio for BBQ. Come see us today. Come see how many GREEN features it has. Lynne Pope is GREEN certified by the National Association of Realtors.

Why not go to Home Depot- Lowes- online- anywhere and buy the the detector? Start now..Carbon Monoxide detectors required July 2011.

That Poison-is an odorless gas that can set off your new alarm if you have one! Cost is only about 30 dollars in a single family home. Who needs it?
Do you have an attached garage?
Do you have a fossil-fuel (wood) burning fireplace? (or appliance)
There you have it.
If you have a detached garage and no fireplace… then you don’t need one.
For thirty dollars you can give your family a safer home.

Find out what each local city is doing Today! Saturday April 24.
Thanks to the LA Times I found out….that we have a place called Manhattan Beach.patch.com. It gave me a place to blog about all the activities today in our wonderful South Bay Cities along the BEACH.
This is what I listed that I personally knew about. I hope people google their city websites to know more in detail.

El Segundo is having a shredding collection today.

City of Redondo Beach Department of Public Works and the SEA Lab
is hosting big event from 10 am to 2 am- at SEA Lab1021 N Harbor Dr RB. “Give back to our community, give back to the Earth.” www.redondo .org or call 310-378-7458 the flyer has 12 plus ways listed to make a difference. Donating Hair-bicycles -plastic bags-shoes-clothes-beach clean up- composting at 1- Yoga- girl scout troop 3735-DVD game cubes to Torrance Memorial Hosp and homeless animals (you go girls) and mulch to save water at 600 Flagler Lane RB 7 to 6 every day in April.

Awareness- involvement its a day to celebrate our community. High 5 to Patch for making a place to shout out the good news.

www.teamatthebeach.com founder is getting GREEN by this April by completing the NAR certification- Realtors with education in GREEN bringing awareness to community.

Discover what GREEN is doing in your City. April GREEN meeting in Hermosa Beach focus on new garbage contract. It is awesome what our cities are working towards.

New listings in El Segundo invite new homeowners into warm charming Cape Cod styled homes.  Note 324 Whiting the most famous street in town. Recent sales of 904,000 for a 2 br original Spanish styled home and 1,150,000 for another home without a garage show clear indication that the dirt on a lot in this town is well near 1 million dollars. It has held its value over the years. The town spirit is one of value. They value the children, the small town feeling that they treasure. They shop in the local stores and support the wonderful food locations all over town. The indoor pool has the kid shallow place to swim and the bigger one for bigger swimmers. Butterfly imprints on the sidewalk honoring the famous Blue Butterfly local population. Miss Christys dance The Studio on Main is a favorite of serious students as well as first steps in ballet.

The library, historic society, the food and flower market day, the brick high school all keep the locals grounded in what is important…Family. See the 2 new listings 324 Whiting and 216 Franklin. Both built by top local builder. Call to see.

What if all the South Bay City leaders spoke to the Real Estate community to get the word out about its progress? It happens every year when the  (MLS) Multiple Listing Service provides a breakfast with local South Bay City Managers as Speakers. David Kissinger and Jacki Bacharach spoke to represent the Government affairs in our area.

Carson- Jerome G. Groomes
Gardena-Mitchell G. Lansdell
Hermosa Beach- Steve Burrell
Lawndale- Keith M Breskin
Lomita- Interim City Mgr. John Jalili
Torrance-LeRoy Jackson

The topic of the day was GREEN,  Have you heard “Follow the money?”  Grant Money that is. Some say Earmarked money, whatever you call it the keyword has GREEN in there somewhere. Each city will work to to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save energy. The talk is not just chatter…it is here to stay. REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE is being an active part of education in our schools and coming forward in businesses.  American Buildings use 78% of all the energy consumed. The place to begin is there-Lighting, Windows, Insulation, waterless urinals are the first fixes coming out with Solar coming along when it can. AV811 Residential Whole house retrofit – energy savings- look in the fall for opportunities being rolled out- for ways to put improvements into the home using property tax and pay over time.
City leaders missing were Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. It was a small turnout of Realtors compared to years past. Here are some facts- Loans are at 4.75 for 30 year fixed. FHA at 4.875.
Here is the news from the city managers- It is so inspiring. I have so much community pride in these cities and the leadership they have. I am saving you the time to go and the calories from the great bacon with breakfast.I have been to these meetings over the years and been educated on the effect of so many things. The roads carry the bulk of the traffic after offloading the containers from the PORT of Long Beach. Storm drains built in the 1950s are all needing attention at once in Palos Verdes and the South Bay. This is where the education from the leaders comes to the Real Estate community in one amazing morning meeting a year. This is 2010: my notes of what they had to say.
Parks are being developed.

Lawndale-New Library, first Park in 25 years 2/3 acre and a new Community Center coming together a 5 year process.
Hermosa Beach- Seniors don’t want to use that Senior word. They have a community center and recreation area that wanted a Wii System and more beach volleyball.  3 new restroom facilities are being updated at 2nd, 14th and 22nd streets.Look for state of the art waterless urinals. Sidewalks and trees have needs after 50 years. Storm drain systems filtration system water is being drained into 700 feet of sand to complete by end of July. Pier Avenue construction funded by Federal Stimulus money.
Carson- think “Carson Green Team” 100K people in 22 sq mile area. Developing Brownfields (google that if you don’t know what it means) into 18th month of remediation with 150Million dollars and another 900Million for the project overall. Developers are coming- with a Multiplex, Big Box users to open Jan 1012 by end of first quarter. His 12 years of city manager has been busy. Two big freeway interchanges are starting construction, 405 at Avalon with a 30 Million dollar upgrade of access and egress, 405 and Wilmington. “Progress has pain” said the mayor regarding the busy freeway work with the 110 and the 405 convergence.
Senior Centers developing in first phase with family area in 2nd phase. 100 Town-homes being built with federal Stimulus funds. 1M dollar grant from the dept of energy to put in solar. The Senior tech lab. Neighborhood stabilization program with 10-15 Foreclosed homes rehabbed and sold. 1st time home buyers with down-payment assistance. Neighbored pride improvement assistance. Several mobile home parks are trying to condo-mize. Carson has great leadership and as a result has some money to spend to improve its city.
Torrance- has a 10 year plan to look at the community. They surveyed the community and found the measure of progress toward the goal with environment as #1 safety #2. Construction projects, Single Family Homes, Multi use and Commercial construction projects are being developed. They have a general plan over 5 years for land use, traffic and environment. This is available online( google Torrance city)There is a downturn in sales tax, utility tax which restricts some things. TWO hospitals Little Company of Mary and Torrance Memorial are continuing to get updated. The boom in business is Medical, the environmental impact, empty space behind Costco is going to be a Medical complex in first stage of planning. Federal, State and Local money will connect areas in city hall for a one stop center right in front to create a simple easy access system to get permits planning, hillside, and zoning, They are refurbishing the library. Public works has a reconstructed Class 1 fire station, Safety in the community has always been a priority. The community respect for the fire and police in Torrance is awesome!
Lomita- 20K people in 2 sq. miles. The goal is to protect and stabilize the residential neighbored. 12.5 Million dollar project to purchase all the water closet reservoir with 50% local well water. (This is awesome – I have learned some things about private vs city ownership- I have seen the disaster of the private ownership and lack of community concern in observing the rate hikes on energy it is a state and local issue and a sore spot) Hooray for Lomita in taking the reigns of water for its community. The streets need help here too with 4 main water breaks. The staff is successful in its 2nd year of making a friendly, readable, understandable way, to teach  how to save on  utility bills with changing toilets, shower heads, landscape water saving plants.
Gardena -New 5 inch street signs, repairing rubberized asphalt. 55 homes to be built. Gardena bus lines, a 57 Billion dollar facility, added to 5th route to El Segundo Blvd. 400 residents came to hear the Chief of Police on Feb 18th. 89 cameras are coming into the city and monitored right at the police station. 10 acre parcel of land.1.2 Million dollars of federal money to enhance public safety with incentives for businesses. Two Casinos, and California car clubs are down 17% in revenue. In 25 years the only 2 downturns were last year and this.
To conclude- the city leadership has a huge job and they are doing loyal work to improve in every way possible. They are learning and helping each other. Even in meetings like this..education is key to inform us and work together with great respect. Here is more good local news.

My husband Robert Pope of Pope and Associates Interior Planning and Design, Inc. reported after being at the Building Department in Downtown LA that, they are guardedly optimistic. Wow activity- There were a lot of people there getting permits for Buildings, for Businesses developing, this past week.

Real Estate related industies from  Realtors, to Builders-and  all connections to that indstry have a deep concern for the future. In my circle of connections we share good news as we learn it. Our local MLS  www.SouthBayAOR.com  in the South Bay of Los Angeles, is creating a “Guide for Greening our home.” It is located in Torrance California. It serves Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Lawndale, Lomita . 

This Christmas let us be mindful of the energy savings we can do. Small steps…energy saving front porch light is a great start. When you order new appliances did you know to take advantage of the money you can save both initially and over time? (It’s usually posted online or on the appliance)

These are som e web links on Rebates Discounts and Special offers available TODAY.

South Bay Environmental Services Center http://www.sbesc.com

Southern California Edison www.sce.com

The Gas Company www.socalgas. com 

West Basin Municipal Water District www.westbasin.org

Merropolitan Water District of Southern California www.bewaterwise.org

www.epa.gov

www.energystar.gov

www.epa.gov/watersense

Follow the guidelines on tree removal in your local city.

Drive slower and save gas with a soft petal

Bless people in your thought as you move through the holidays. Malls, roads, bring the spirit of joy and don’t fallinto the rush.

Look into a simple thing…insurance from  the department of water and power. for a small fee you can insure the line from  your home to the main city connection, several dollars per month on your water bill.  and possibly save thousands if there is a break in between. Without it…its your property and your bill.  How did I hear about that….I read the little paper the put in the bill one day…its usually a good suggestion before you toss it away.  They usually have a tip.

Otherwise: Clean out those roof gutters, weatherstrip the doors, caulk the tub shower and sink and you are on your way to homeowners pride and JOY.

The pricier areas will likely have more short sales show up soon. Keep several things in mind…LENDERS- Investors are bidding up the lower income properties and this may be harder for the lenders who have to get people qualified for the conforming and Jumbo loans.

Redondo Beach may have some affordable properties show up in the short sale arena.

 NEW INFORMATION:

Short Sales have been difficult to close, and these new measures are a huge step in the right direction. One major highlight: A lender must give a yes or no answer to an offer within 10 days. Also included: a moving allowance, incentives for sellers and lenders, commission rules, and a stipulation that releases sellers from debt liabilities.

This is a very HOT topic. Stay tuned to know how this can help you buy or sell a home. As a CDPE specialist- (Certified Distressed Property Expert) expect to keep up on the latest breaking news.

Hermosa Beach has 3 MLS areas Sand is area 148 from the water to the Valley Ardmore section

149 from there to PCH 

 150 from PCH to border of Redondo Beach

53 properties are for sale in the sand section #148

31 are Single family homes and only 6 are under 1 million dollars.

107 have sold, or in backup and pending to sate

1820 Palm is my listing. It is the closest to the water, it has a garage unlike two of the other properties in that price range. Its a fanstastic opportunity to get into a property.

  Open Invitation!

Please come to my open house today!

Facebook is the place to check out 69 photos of this property and 2 virtual tours. join in at facebook/lynnepope
click on “local schools” right from this website, get the mortgage calculated, and see a map of the whole area.
“Realtor.com” is one place that a lot of people start to search. For that reason I did purchase the real estate package they offer. From there you can see the  youtube video of this home. just type in the address 4511 Toucan, Torrance 90503
Virtual tour, 360 is now enhanced by a walking youtube video! Want the West High school area? Bert Lynn? and Towers?
I bought a website for this address too..http;//www.4511toucan.com