Back and Ready to Lose $

Turns out it wasn't time to close the books yet, but we're nearing the final installment of the saga of the dueling townhomes on MBB.

(For background, in order of most recent first, click here, here and here.)

This week, 714 MBB returned to the market.

Sellers paid $1.355m in April '06, and listed for $1.399m just 7 months later. It lingered and quit the market in May.

Now it's back at $1.220m.

Neighboring 710 MBB sold for $1.206m on July 27.

710 was fully upgraded; 714 is dated. But 714 has some big ocean views going for it, which are now being teased properly in the listing. And 714 has direct access to the underground garage, which not all the others do.

So right now the sellers are saying 714 is, on balance, superior to the upgraded unit that sold for less. What will buyers say?

A full price purchase, assuming 6% cost of sale, will leave the owners down $208k. That's a blow. Bringing cash to closing?

A Tale of Two Townhomes

Neighbors can go to war over lots of things. Real estate pricing is increasingly the proximate cause of harsh words, and worse.

Curses are now being tossed around inside the townhome at 714 Manhattan Beach Blvd. (MBB). It's for sale, asking $1.349m, but today the neighboring townhome at 710 MBB dropped its list price to $1.249m – undercutting 714 MBB pretty badly.

The two townhomes are practically identical – same building, same beds/baths (3/3) and square footage (1675).

Actually, 710 MBB is the superior unit in the better location (714 is on busy MBB, 710 is interior). For two months, 710 MBB held its price a notch above 714 MBB at $1.379m, reflecting the location and the added value of its remodeled interior. (These pics show how an upgraded kitchen at 710 compares to the 1991 original you'll find at 714.)

But 710 MBB has gotta sell. The new listing language explains that this is a relocation sale. A third party with some smarts is now driving the pricing. Hence the aggressive, 10% move that also, not incidentally, destroys the price of the neighboring listing.

Here's where it gets worse for the sellers at 714 MBB...

They bought their TH in April 2006 for $1.355m. They put it up for sale 7 months later. Now, the neighbor has guaranteed them they will lose at least $100k if they sell.

If you're Mr. or Mrs. 710 MBB, you're glad to be somewhere else right about now.

Bringing Cash to Closing?

Here at MBC we don't wish anyone ill will. If you want to, or have to, sell your house, we hope for the best for you in your situation.

We might mock the dreamers, those who seek excess fortunes for nothing, but then, dreamers are always mocked.

Sometimes people have to sell and it just doesn't work. Take this house on 17th St. for example.


This was a large, somewhat typical East Manhattan mega-mansion. 5br/3.5ba, 3,500 sq. feet, flowing kitchen w/ granite, smooth stucco, OK, by now you know the drill.

Purchased in April 2005 for $1,675,000.

Put up for sale in April 2006 for $2,075,000.

Who sells a house a year after moving in? Let's assume this was not a flip, but someone who got transferred. Taking that new job meant leaving home, but a $400,000 profit would have been nice, eh? (Taxable because it was < 2 yrs.)

This one really did not work out.

The list price dropped over and over throughout last summer and fall. The house was vacant shortly after it went on the market. The agents re-listed it fresh and new a few times (an annoying new convention in the market) and brought the price down to $1.699m.

It finally sold, closing Jan. 2007 for $1,650,000.

That's $25k less on the face of it than the purchase price in April '05. Now deduct commissions (near $100k) plus carrying costs for 9+ months after the owners moved out. The sellers lost a lot of money on this house, and might well have needed to bring a check to escrow.

We wish you well in your new job. Back in your old hometown, your experience is a cautionary tale.