Long Beach Real Estate-Long Beach Condos

Downtown Long Beach Home Sales 2008 Statistical Analysis for Sellers

 

October 11, 2008

 

 

A must read for Sellers of Downtown Long Beach Homes

If you are a Downtown Long Beach Homeowner and are thinking about selling your home these statistics should interest you greatly.  So far this year only 7 Downtown Long Beach Homes have closed escrow; 5 of those were bank owned foreclosures and 2 were conventional sales. These sales ranged in price from $118,000 to $400,000; 3 of them were under $200,000.  

 

Dismal, huh?

There are 5 homes in Downtown currently in escrow; 2 of these are short sales which may or may not actually close escrow and 3 are bank owned foreclosures.   These range in price from $144,900 to $381,800, 2 of these are under $200,000. 

Of the 21 Downtown Long Beach Homes currently on the market 14 are conventional sales, 6 are short sales and 1 is bank owned. Several of these homes are landmark historic beauties, a few either already qualify or will qualify for Mills Act Tax savings once the temporarily suspended Mills Act programs are reinstated.  These timeless and distinctive homes have always been in high demand and would command top dollar.  Today, they are not moving. 

The Long Beach Office of Historic Preservation has temporarily suspended granting Mills Act status until sometime in late 2009 while they re-organize; at which time a small non-refundable fee will be implemented to assist in covering costs.  For further information contact:  Jan Ostashay at the Long Beach Historic Preservation Services (562) 570-6864

 

Pretty depressing numbers, huh?  

By now you are wondering if it is even possible to sell your Downtown Long Beach home and if it is worth the hassle of putting it on the market.  If you are currently in trouble these numbers have probably left you feeling helpless and terrified.  Well, Bank of America who recently took over Countrywide just announced an $8.5 billion dollar Homeowner Retention Program designed to assist 400,000 nationwide customers.  If your loan is through Countrywide you should read the press releases I have linked to here and contact your bank in an attempt to work out a program that could help you keep your home.  Hopefully other banks will follow suit shortly and get us all out of this mess. 

 

Read:

• Bank of America Announces Nationwide Homeownership Retention Program for Countrywide Customers-Long Beach Real Estate

I looked closely at the Downtown Long Beach homes currently available on the market.  Several of them have been on the market for some time now and still don't have photos on the MLS.  The MLS pushes the listings out online to other sites.  Photos sell listings.  When buyers search for homes on the Internet, they are looking for photos, slide shows, virtual tours and video of these homes.  When photos are missing they just assume the place is a disaster and don't even consider it, we Realtors make the same assumption and usually don't even consider the home when picking out homes to show to our buyers.  Others are just not priced correctly for today's market; some are just overpriced based on their condition and location. Most are nowhere to be found online; others have photos but are not easily found on the Internet where the buyer is shopping. 

We have to be realistic about what a home is actually worth on today's real estate market, what a buyer will pay for it, the value an appraiser will attribute to it and the value an underwriter will accept on behalf of the lending bank. Buyers are looking for deals, many are finding them too.  Banks are releasing foreclosed homes onto the active market from their inventory on a regular basis and more are coming.  Conventional sales do have to compete with these sales regarding price and appraisers are using these sales to attribute value to your home sale. 

 

Appraisers are working with sets of guidelines issued to them by the lendors they represent.  Prices are changing so rapidly they usually will not accept comparable sales older than 2 months when determining value on your home.  If you priced your home 4, 5 or 6 months ago and have not aggressively reduced your price in time with the market then there is a strong possibility that you could have an appraisal problem if you do receive an offer.

 

Read: 

• Chasing the Market Down - Are You Guilty?
• My Long Beach Home Won't Sell-Are YOU Chasing the Market Down?

So what is it going to take to sell your Downtown Long Beach Homes if you have to sell? 

 

It's going to take a comprehensive online marketing package designed to place your beautiful historic home in front of buyers eyes where they are shopping - on the search engines, by a Realtor® who has the sites and the ability to achieve that on your behalf.  It's going to take a marketing expert to weave the right mix to place your home front and center where it needs to be. There is more to this than meets the eye, it takes expertise, knowledge of SEO (search engine optimization) and it takes several powerful sites. 

I have been selling Downtown Long Beach historic homes for many years, many of them several times, often representing both the seller and the buyer in the transaction.  I know Downtown Long Beach and I know these homes.  Many of you will remember the glossy postcards with the blue ocean that you used to receive from me several times a month, i'll bet that some of you still have a stack of them somewhere.  That was an intense marketing program that moved a lot of Downtown homes, condos and income properties at a time when few others were selling.  The cards were very expensive to send out and they stopped working when the consumer moved to the Internet.  I moved there with them. 

 

The last 2 years have been spent building an incredible online presence, the sites that were built are at the top of the search engines, outranking even the largest of sites in most cases.  These sites provide an opportunity to place your Downtown Long Beach homes directly in the path of buyers shopping online.  Today's buyers are technologically adept, they are not interested in newspapers, magazine ads or postcards; they don't go to open houses on somebody else's schedule.  They shop online, locate homes they are interested in viewing then call their agent to make an appointment to view the home on their time schedule. 

 

Newspapers, magazine ads and postcards were very limiting, they would only reach small targeted niche areas; the Internet has an unlimited reach.  On the Internet, we have the ability to reach Long Beach buyers from a wide geographic area including the buyer who is relocating to Long Beach from across the country. They are researching the area they are moving to or are being relocated to online for area information as well as homes. A buyer who is looking for a Long Beach home or a high rise waterfront condo, with an endless ocean view to use as a vacation home, can search online and arrange a series of appointments prior to flying in to view them, already possessing a very good idea of what they look like because they were able to view them clearly from the photos, slide-shows and videos provided online. 

 

This is a priceless opportunity to place your Downtown Long Beach homes where they need to be to provide yourselves with the highest possibility of selling.  Over 80% of all home buyers are shopping and finding their homes online.

 

If you are considering selling your Long Beach Home and are reading this then you too found me online; something to think about, isn't it?  If you would like to know more contact me at your convenience, it would be my pleasure to show you how this is accomplished.  

Nothing will sell your home if you are overpriced, in Long Beach or anywhere else. 

 

 

Read also:

• Selling YOUR Long Beach California Homes and Condos
• The 7 Dangers of Overpricing Your Long Beach Homes and Condos
• Long Beach Real Estate Sales - Market Report - Statistics - 2008
• Long Beach - Best Neighborhood for Walking
• Parking Solutions for Downtown Long Beach
• Downtown Long Beach-Belmont Shore-Parking Solutions-Long Beach California
• Buying Your Long Beach Homes - Long Beach Real Estate
• Buying Fixer Upper Homes in Long Beach - Long Beach Real Estate

 

Downtown Long Beach CA Homes - All Sales Activity

January 1, 2008 through October 10, 2008

RES	Status	Address	Status	Bd	B t/f	Sty	Gar	Sq Ft	Yr Blt	Price	DOM	CDOM
1	A	542 Magnolia Ave	Short Sale	1	1/0	1	0	492	1906	$198,000	342	342
2	A	636 E 7th St	Conventional Sale	3	1/	1	0	1,050	1913	$215,000	248	494
3	A	817 E 10th St	Short Sale	2	1/1	1	1	1,128	1913	$230,000	234	234
4	A	1130 Lewis Ave	Conventional Sale	4	2/1	1	1	1,282	1921	$259,900	45	45
5	A	912 CHESTNUT	Approved Short Sale	2	1/1	1	0	952	1912	$260,000	2	2
6	A	1174 N Loma Vista Dr	Short Sale	3	2/2	1	2	960	1907	$275,000	16	16
7	A	1075 Martin Luther King Jr Ave	Bank Owned	2	1/1	1	0	1,507	1923	$299,900	140	492
8	A	551 W 8th St	Conventional Sale	3	2/	2	0	1,338	1906	$299,999	315	315
9	A	235 W 12th St	Conventional Sale, No Pix, Substandard Cond	5	2/2	2	0	2,701	1905	$314,500	23	23
10	A	755 Alamitos Ave	Short Sale	3	2/2	1	0	1,130	1903	$335,000	66	66
11	A	725 W 4th St	Conventional Sale, Tenant Occ	4	1/1	1	1	1,100	1950	$339,000	57	117
12	A	320 Lime Ave	Conventional Sale	3	2/1	2	2	1,498	2000	$340,000	10	192
13	A	732 N Washington Pl	Conventional Sale	2	1/1	1	2 D	1,064	1905	$364,000	310	310
14	A	625 E E 11th St	Conventional Sale	2	1/1	1	0	788	1909	$425,000	212	212
15	A	901 Elm Ave	Short Sale	4	3/2	2	2 A	2,293	1918	$499,000	263	386
16	A	419 Daisy Ave	Conventional Sale *	4	3/1	2	2 D	2,018	1904	$595,000	68	68
17	A	453 Cedar Ave	Conventional Sale, Tenant Occ.  *	4	3/2	2	0	2,363	1905	$639,000	312	312
18	A	701 Cedar Ave	Conventional Sale, Tenan Occ.	7	3/3	2	0	2,666	1911	$650,000	127	127
19	A	419 Olive Ave	Conventional Sale	4	3/1	2	0	1,871	1914	$699,900	3	3
20	A	1163 Magnolia Ave	Conventional Sale, 2 on lot	6	6/5	2	2 D	4,083	1923	$800,000	149	149
21	A	435 Cedar Ave	Conventional Sale *	6	7/	2	2	4,414	1906	$1,300,000	259	259
22	P	1077 N Loma Vista Dr	Bank Owned	2	2/1	1	0	900	1940	$144,900	8	8
23	P	1085 N Minerva Park	Short Sale	2	1/1	1	1	997	1922	$190,000	123	123
24	P	336 Magnolia Ave	Bank Owned	3	2/2	1	0	1,350	1902	$275,500	53	53
25	P	935 E Martin Luther King Jr Ave	Approved Short Sale	4	4/3	2	2 A	2,092	2005	$350,000	318	341
26	P	347 W 7th St	Bank Owned-Major Repairs	4	3/1	2	0	1,764	1907	$381,800	97	97
27	S	718 Elm Ave	Bank Owned	2	1/1	1	0	986	1917	$118,000	6	114
28	S	712 E Alta Way	Bank Owned	1	1/	1	0	720	1906	$184,000	7	198
29	S	708 E Alta Way	Bank Owned	1	1/1	1	0	688	1914	$189,900	6	6
30	S	226 W 6th St	Bank Owned	2	1/1	1	0	772	1903	$227,000	105	363
31	S	122 W 8th St	Bank Owned	3	3/2	2	2 A	1,338	2000	$330,000	13	13
32	S	774 N Loma Vista Dr	Conventional Sale, Tenant Occ	2	1/	1	0	760	1918	$355,000	5	5
33	S	326 Daisy Ave	Conventional Sale-City Violations	4	5/4	1	2	3,748	1913	$400,000	110	110
			* Eligible for the Mills Act

• A = Active on the Market
• P = Pending in Escrow
• S = Closed Sale - Sold
• DOM = Days on Market
• CDOM = Combined Days on Market

 

 

Downtown Long Beach Real Estate Sales-Market Update

Homes, Condos and Income Properties - 2008 - Through September 29, 2008

 

 

Downtown Long Beach Homes For Sale

• Downtown Long Beach Homes For Sale $500000 and up
• Downtown Long Beach Homes For Sale $300000 to $500000
• Downtown Long Beach Homes For Sale Under $300,000

 

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