People like to ask, “What do you think of the price?” There are easier questions to answer. Today’s real estate market features new price levels we are all adjusting to. Added to the mix is a forecast of total uncertainty.
It is true that very few homes are on the market, relatively speaking. That bodes well for prices. But there are also hints that buyers are more resistant and the market, like the overall economy, may slow down. Some homes are selling quickly at impressive prices. Other homes? The owners wonder if they missed out on the best time to sell.
It is hard to know what the right price is.
Nevertheless, since the year began, Malibu homes described below found a buyer that agreed with their seller on price. Featuring a variety of neighborhoods, here are many of the most recent sales:
A fixer home along the bluffs across from Zuma Beach sold for a little under $2 million. The main feature of the property was about two full acres of usable land with great views. The property also had a guesthouse.
A home near the headlands of Point Dume sold for just more than $2 million, about 60 percent higher than its going price in 1996. The home is large, on an acre with a pool.
Far out in the western hills of Malibu, a contemporary two-bedroom home sold for $525,000, a little more than its last asking price. The home, near Boney Ridge, had some ocean view and views of Ventura County lights at night, as well as three-plus acres.
A small rebuilt home at the end of a cul-de-sac in La Costa Hills sold for about $800,000. It sits on a hillside overlooking the community tennis courts on Rambla Pacifico, and most of the Santa Monica Bay and coastline.
One of the older homes in the Malibu Knolls area sold for more than $900,000, featuring three bedrooms and a peek of ocean view.
The Malibu Cove Colony continues to do booming business. A home at the east end of the street recently closed for about $2.75 million. It has four bedrooms. Cove Colony has had at least 15 sales since the year 2000 began, though some were the same house selling twice and for much more the second time.
Meanwhile, in 2001 very few beach homes in the rest of Malibu have been reported sold so far. There are certainly fewer sales overall this year compared to the hectic pace of recent years.
An exception to the beach slow down, however, was a sale near Big Rock Beach of a home that sits with no immediate neighbors on a partially wet beach. The sale price was reported at $1,350,000.
And, this month, a house on Las Tunas Beach sold for $1,060,000, with two bedrooms, about 50 percent higher than its ’97 sale price.
A home in the hills of Big Rock sold for just under $1.6 million. Though that was one of the highest prices ever for Big Rock, the property was a full estate: it had a pool and tennis court and terrific views on a full acre of land.
A very large home on the beach side of PCH along Encinal Bluffs sold for $1,275,000. It has six bedrooms. The home sold for $300,000 less in 1997 as the market was taking off. The property also includes beach access a short walk away.
In the new development of homes on Sea Star, a new home has sold for $3 million. The Sea Star Estates, similar to the Sea View Lane homes of large Mediterranean flavor just up the hill, are beginning to market in that price range. Typically, the homes on both gated streets are more than 5000 square feet in size, with five bedrooms, pool and view on about an acre.
An ocean-view estate in lower Rambla Pacifico has had three sales in four years. Following sales of about $1 million in 1997 and $1.4 in 1999, it sold for nearly $1.9 million with closing escrow in February. With about an acre and a half and a newer home, the back area had a nice patio and pool with the view.
In Corral Canyon, a three bedroom house with a little guest unit in El Nido sold quickly for $650,000.
The latest sale in Latigo Canyon is a home about three miles up that also sold last year. It did better this time, of course, registering at $650,000 with three bedrooms and some ocean view.
Rick Wallace of the Coldwell Banker company has been a Realtor in Malibu for 13 years. He can be reached at RICKMALIBUrealestate.com