Lynne Pope is your Realtor in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach

Water hydrants sometimes leak. Valuable water is fixed right away. The truck pulls up and they change the valves, the caps, or the entire unit. Redondo Beach is known to have excellent city services. Along with the mayor, the city planners, the police and fire, our city is full of vital active civil activities. South Bay is proud of our cities.

Our local neighbors are active in speaking to each other and looking out for each others properties. We enjoy sharing many local restaruants and often meeting at Hennesy’s (offers 2 for one) Tuesday hambergers. We value each other, our beaches and our city.

REO Bank Owned open houses attract buyers. People who stop by are doing it as First time home buyers, investments,  to help a family member or friend. March 2009 sales were 41% first time home buyers. Banks are lending. South Bay properties in Redondo Beach, Torrance, Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach actually have some REO listings and…they sell quickly. At my open  houses I post a list of the sold foreclosed properties in each area over the past year. I post all the REO active listings in the local cities. People want to be on the list to receive emails of every bank owned property and they also want to know what is comparable.

I was at a Tom Ferry Focus training event in Long Beach this week and we talked about the growing numbers of regular homes sold, selling and pending sales. One thousand agents all over the countryin the room were selling. Last year out of 50 Thousand California licenced real estate agents only 578 sold over 6 homes.  We talked about working harder and working smarter.  It means getting people qualified by a lender to buy. Most people stopping at the open houses have to get qualified. That is why this website has a wholesale mortgage page. Check it out. When buyers know what their price range is they are ready to shop.  Buyers they need to know they have competition too. Be ready to lose one or more if you see a good value and expect to pay less than asking. Local surrounding areas under 400K are getting multiple offers. Spring 2009 has people out there shopping. Buyers are informed and ready.

Magic,  is a local famous cat in Redondo Beach. He has a natural lightning bolt stripe on his forehead. Look “our he who shall not be named. ” His food is from the local Redondo Beach Store or Torrance branch of Centinella Feed. One evening recently a black and white walked by our window and passed right by Magic, it was a local skunk! Neither paid the other any attention.

Book Book night at Barnes and Noble had a great event with the principal reading several stori es to the families, students and customers.The books sold received a portion of funds for the library. The event followed a book signing by an author.

Early in the morning the few came to stake out the volleyball spots. One lone fellow on one and a team came to unwind the ropes to create the in bound locations.

Later on the walk back we see the rows of umbrellas and audience of locals cheering on their players. Such is beach life. Row after row of dogs of all sizes walk the path above with an owner in tow. People stopping to view the ocean including two firetrucks. Everyone wants the lift of eyes, ears and spirit.

The sunny day brouught out all the open house signs.

 crowded in the left over campaign signs at our corners.at Martha’s in Hermosa and a view of the Strand house for sale on the corner. Wow. what a day at the beach.

Feeding the birds- the people delight and the captured audience is in awe of the eye level site of the seagulls. The road is high above the sand level in the Avenues area of Redondo Beach. It makes a beautiful place to watch the sunset or the dolpins( 5 went by today) Most surfers had on wetsuits and booties but there was  was one bareback (surfer without a full suit). I love the moments of birds in flight.

Sunny Redondo Beach Saturday and a yellow surfboard against a blue sky. What better antidote for the gloom and doom of the news? I spoke to a friend in Oklahoma and the snow is on the ground. Texas I am told is already too hot and its not even spring. So here is why we walk on the beach, play vollyboll, raise our children here and retire here.

They are good. They were amazing week before last. It was like riding in a small boat. The up and down makes me a little seasick. Its also like a car you inch a bit and move ahead of the traffic or get stuck in the red lights over and over. Thats the borrower saga.

Buy now…but what if you lose your job or your spouse does.

Over 1/2 of all the sales were Bank Owned last year in California. Of course you know that if you breathe or know what a white Bronco means.

I think the interest rate is going to bob up and down and your lender needs to snag it right when it drops. Its possible. Also there are all kinds of little things like the floating rate, the one time switch.

I went to Circuit City today. The sign said, they no longer guarantee the lowest price.

That makes sense. I didn’t buy anything. Like a true shopper, the 10% off things did not lure me to buy. It had a twilight zone feeling creeping in. I went to Mervyns the last day and it really was the twilight zone. We bought a garment rack for 15 dollars. (They sell anywhere else for 200.) We didn’t need new and pretty purely industrial.

I have people still try and offer 1/2 of the listing price on a bank owned. It’s not in the cards people!  They will find a buyer who is savvy on buying and they will get the house.

Actually I fell for that and wrote an offer like that only to get educated squarely by the mega listing agent. I learned. I went to Bank owned classes. I paid the price of street smarts too. I am getting my REO Bank Owned Certified status next week.  We do know something everyone doesn’t.  How to handle the Bank owned properties, the open houses, the offer, the escrow and the close. Long Beach, Irvine, Redondo Beach and up to the valley- we have bank trained ready agents hitting the streets with the black and yellow signs…bank owned.

But back to what we don’t know…the hairline trigger of the mystery of the interest rate. I am still impressed by the statement of a Chase agent who said 3 weeks ago..The rate now gives your clients 40K more buying power than the interest of last week. Now thats a deal!

Two on a lot, back to back. North and South, Huntington Lane and Perkins. This week I held a brokers open house. It is so new the landscapers were putting in plants as I put up signs. Neighbors came first. They had been waiting for this day. They came in pairs usually. Today was no exception. I love to know their thoughts to take back to the Builders. Two friends came before they left for work. They carefully walked through each unit. They wondered if one of the bedrooms would be too small for a Kingsize bed since it had an unusual shape. I told them yes but they couldn’t see it. So I stepped it off with my feet and they still could not be convinced. I lay down on the floor to show the length and they were absolutely amazed. I left lots of headroom for pillows and headboard and still there was way more room than they thought. It really proved that empty rooms can be misleading as to the final size of furniture and space.

We had a good laugh as they helped pull me up and I dusted off my clothing. They loved the fact that the downstairs bath had a shower. So often it’s just toilet and sink. This would be great for the downstairs bedroom when guests visit. So we went to the rooftop deck. They loved the views. After all was searched toured and examined they decided which was best and convinced me. The Perkins side of the property faced Palos Verdes hills, it got the most afternoon sunshine and it just glowed as we stook there at 2 pm. We knew the other got the morning sun and had lots of great points. Yet we loved that Perkins sunshine. Come see it. 2620 Huntington Lane Redondo Beach. It is south of Artesia and West of Inglewood Ave. Only a mile from the Inglewood Bl exit at the 405 freeway. It is so fun to see. Balconies off each bedroom, patios and decks. The builder brought the outside in for a true California Sunny Home! Open House tours this weekend!