Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula stayed steady this week but the rate of increases is slowing. The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"Fresh economic data this week doesn't seem to have answered the open question of whether the Fed it likely to raise short-term interest rates three times or four this year; for explicit clues to that, we'll need wait for the updated Summary of Economic Projections which will accompany the close of the Fed meeting later this month.Near term, though, federal funds futures market place about a 89 percent chance that the Fed will move at the March meeting. This coming move was likely cemented by the February employment report, where an outsized 313,000 new jobs were filled d... 03/10/2018

 There are 36 homes listed for sale in the City of Palos Verdes Estates at the end of December, which is 3% more than this time a year ago. The number of homes sold over the last 3 months, averaging 11 sales per month, is 18% lower compared to the same period last year . This equates to a bit over 3 months of inventory, based on the average sales per month over the last 3 months. There are 11 homes in escrow at the end of December.  The following are the 32 properties sold in Palos Verdes Estates during the 4th quarter of 2017:         The average price per square foot over the last 3 months has been $733 per sq. ft. a 1% decrease over the similar period last year.   The average days on market for homes sold during last 3 months was about 1 to 2 months. The percentage of list price for ... 01/29/2018

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula moved up a bit this week . The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"Bond markets exhibited a little bit of nervousness this week, and as is often the case, mortgage rates are firming as a result. The ongoing accumulation of solid economic news both ere and abroad plus some new concerns about inflation were enough to unsettle investors who have come to enjoy the reliability of low inflation and global central bank support.There continue to be signals that the long run for extraordinary quantitative easing is coming to an end soon. The U.S. has already started down a path of undoing its programs, and in fact is accelerating the process this month. The influential yield on t... 01/14/2018

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula remained level this week . The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"Largely backing and filling for almost all of the fall so far, 30-year fixed mortgage rates turned this week again to filling, with a small rise all but taking back two small declines over the past two weeks. While shorter-term mortgages such as 15-year FRMs or 5/1 ARMs have seen their rates leg higher during that period (to eight-month and more than six-year highs, respectively) 30-year FRMs have largely tread water, wobbling in a very narrow range, and haven't topped the 4 percent mark since a one-week flare back in July.With the economy solid, the Fed reducing its balance sheet and poised to raise shor... 12/09/2017

Palos Verdes’ Neighborhood Church is one of the most historic buildings located here on the Peninsula. With it’s beautiful Mediterranean charm, it’s history extends through decades. It originally was built by businessman JJ Haggarity in 1927, as a summer residence since he owned homes in Los Angeles and New york. He hired an Italian architect who was inspired by Villas along the Mediterranean, and the property was built at a cost of $750,000. The original property consisted of formal gardens (where west side parking lot sits) green house behind the cottage, a reflecting pool, swimming pool, bath house and a 30 foot thick sea wall. He also brought in fully grown olive and palm trees. However, later Haggarty had to sell the property because of hard times. It was at that time that financie... 12/02/2017

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula remained level this week . The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"In the aftermath of a very noisy week for financial markets came a rather quieter period, at least in terms of fresh data and changes atop the Federal Reserve are concerned. At the moment, its potential changes to the U.S. tax code that are garnering the most attention. As seems to regularly be the case in politics these days, there's not much by way of consensus, and so the coming days and weeks are sure to see some battles in Congress. There is a hoped-for goal to get a deal in place by the end of the year, but with many differences to reconcile that may not come to pass.The prospects of economy-boostin... 11/13/2017

 There are 56 homes listed for sale in the City of Palos Verdes Estates at the end of September, which is 3% less than this time a year ago. The number of homes sold over the last 3 months, averaging 17 sales per month, is 18% higher compared to the same period last year . This equates to a bit over 3 months of inventory, based on the average sales per month over the last 3 months. There are 11 homes in escrow at the end of September showing weakening sales activity.  The following are the 52 properties sold in Palos Verdes Estates during the 3rd quarter of 2017:     The average price per square foot over the last 3 months has been $726 per sq. ft. a 4% decrease over the similar period last year.   The average days on market for homes sold during last 3 months was about 1 to 2 months. T... 10/25/2017

 There are 78 homes listed for sale in the City of Palos Verdes Estates at the end of June, which is 10% higher than this time a year ago. The number of homes sold over the last 3 months, averaging 18 sales per month, is 25% higher compared to the same period last year . This equates to about 4 months of inventory, based on the average sales per month over the last 3 months. There are 14 homes in escrow at the end of June showing weakening sales activity.  The following are the 55 properties sold in Palos Verdes Estates during the 2nd quarter of 2017:       The average price per square foot over the last 3 months has been $706 per sq. ft. a 8% decrease over the similar period last year.   The average days on market for homes sold during last 3 months was about 1 to 2 months. The percent... 07/17/2017

New Construction Luxury Homes in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA One of my clients has a Palos Verdes luxury home in escrow.  He is one of the fortunate, as there are 66 Palos Verdes luxury homes currently for sale.  Eleven Palos Verdes high-end homes are in escrow with accepted offers, and 15 Palos Verdes homes priced over $3MM have sold year-to-date on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.The Palos Verdes luxury home market remains in a neutral market favoring neither the seller nor the buyer. However, the snapshot above shows a steady progression toward a luxury market favoring buyers. Gated Luxury View Bluff-Front Residence Currently For Sale in Palos Verdes Estates. The breakdown of 2017 Palos Verdes luxury home sales as of May 2017 by the city:Palos Verdes Estates:  12Rolling Hills:  2Rancho Palos... 06/16/2017

Palos Verdes Neighborhood Church Summer Sunday Sounds will begin their 2017 season on Sunday, June 25, 2017, with additional concerts on July 16 and August 20, 2017.  This is a great time for Palos Verdes homes owners to sit on the seaside terrace of this beautiful church, enjoy the ocean view and bring a picnic at 6:00 p.m.  The concerts actually begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall and are presented free of charge.On June 25, 2017, Elena Degl’Innoceti an Italian award winning singer-songwriter-guitarist, will perform as a solo artist mixing her Italian roots with her Jazz and Latin background.  She sings in Italian, English, Portuguese and Spanish.On July 16, 2017, Richard Smith, an English guitarist who is now residing in the U.S., performs  in the finger-style tradition of Merl... 06/14/2017

I am proud to announce that I was the top producing agent in my office for the month of April 2017 !!! 05/27/2017

We have gotten so spoiled by the current level of interest rates,  I thought it might be instructive to post the interest rates from May 2006  LOAN TYPE   TODAY +/-   LAST WEEK       30 yr fixed mtg   6.21%   6.20%       15 yr fixed mtg   5.88%   5.86%       5/1 ARM   5.82%   5.84%       30 yr fixed jumbo mtg   6.42%   6.41%       5/1 jumbo ARM   5.92%   5.95%     Source: bankrate.com  Rates include 1 point fee 05/27/2017

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula eased this week . The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"Late last year and earlier in this one, it was pretty easy to find concerns being expressed that higher mortgage rates and rising prices would make it a tough spring for potential homebuyers. As it has turned out, rates have been fairly steady for a while, and even sported a dip this week that pushed them to about six month lows. Prices of course have continued to rise, crimping affordability, but for the most part, over housing market conditions are about as good as they get.Except there's little for wanna-be buyers to buy, and what inventory does become available is disappearing from the market at the fastest pa... 05/27/2017

 There are 52 homes listed for sale in the City of Palos Verdes Estates at the end of March, which is 12% lower than this time a year ago. The number of homes sold over the last 3 months, averaging 17 sales per month, is 34% higher compared to the same period last year . This equates to between 3 months of inventory, based on the average sales per month over the last 3 months. There are 22 homes in escrow at the end of March, showing strong recent sales.  The following are the 51 properties sold in Palos Verdes Estates during the 1st quarter of 2017:         The average price per square foot over the last 3 months has been $729 per sq. ft. a 3% increase over the similar period last year.   The average days on market for homes sold during last 3 months was about 2 to 3 months. The percen... 04/11/2017

The inventory of unsold condos and townhomes on the Palos Verdes Peninsula of 32 units at the end of March is down approx. 22% compared to this time a year ago. The average number of sales per month over the last 3 months of 12 units per month is the same as compared to a year ago however. There are 24 units in escrow at the end of  March, however showing strong recent sale activity.   The average price per square foot of condos and townhomes sold on the Palos Verdes Peninsula over the last 3 months of $442 per sq. ft. is up about 3% over the similar period last year.     The average days on market to sell a condo or townhome on the Palos Verdes Peninsula has been approx. 1 to 2 months recently. Condos and townhomes are currently selling at an average of 97% of list price.   With 32 uni... 04/11/2017

Summary: The number of homes listed for sale on the Palos Verdes Peninsula has increased to seasonal levels, but the number of homes sold during the last three months is up 1% compared to the prior year, leading unsold inventory to over 3 months supply. Prices per square foot are essentially unchanged compared to the prior year's quarterly average. Lower priced homes are also moving faster than the upper end of the market. Houses have also been taking approx. 2 to 3 months to sell.The number of properties listed for sale for the overall Palos Verdes Peninsula at the end of March of 159 properties is 9% higher than the same time last year, and the average number of homes sold per month of 44 over the last 3 months is 1% higher than the comparable period last year. There are 68 homes in e... 04/11/2017

Palos Verdes Estates’ Malaga Cove Plaza was built in 1925, and is the home of the famous Neptune’s Statue. The plaza consists of several buildings mimicking the old rustic Spanish Renaissance style with arches that stretch out along it’s walkways.It is located at the base of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and is a welcome stop when you are driving up the hill from the South Bay beach area. The plaza today consists of small retail stores, several banks, office buildings, Yellow Vase & Mama Terrano’s restaurants and the Malaga Cove Rancho Market which also includes a restaurant.The fountain is a replica of one found in Bologna, Italy which is of the Roman god Neptune known as King of the Sea.  It was dedicated in 1930 and is the central point of the plaza. From here you can even walk down the... 03/24/2017

A list of the best 100 public high schools was just released by website Niche based on criteria such as academics and outcomes.Palos Verdes Peninsula High was ranked #6 out of 1,753 schools while Palos Verdes High ranked #53.  See the following link: Best California public schools.Niche, a website for researching schools, used a variety of factors including SAT/ACT scores, student-teacher ratio, the quality of colleges students consider and reviews from students and parents for its ranking.         02/21/2017

Interest rates for buying a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula remained steady this week . The following are excerpts from the newsletter on interest rates published by HSH Associates :"Mortgage rates continue to meander about, largely rangebound, as financial markets try to figure out where we go from here in terms of both fiscal and monetary policy. On the one side are hoped-for or expected changes in tax and regulatory structure that may help boost business profits and the promise of new fiscal outlays that may further goose growth; On the other side is the Federal Reserve, who is looking out over the landscape and is beginning to judge that their policies of keeping interest rates at rock-bottom levels for years is finally having the desired effect on employment and inflation.In thi... 02/18/2017

 There are 35 homes listed for sale in the City of Palos Verdes Estates at the end of December, which is 21% lower than this time a year ago. The number of homes sold over the last 3 months, averaging 13 sales per month, is unchanged compared to the same period last year . This equates to between 2 and 3 months of inventory, based on the average sales per month over the last 3 months. There are 14 homes in escrow at the end of December.     The following is a list of the 16 homes sold in the City of Palos Verdes Estates during the month of December 2016:     The average price per square foot over the last 3 months has been $737 per sq. ft. a 7% increase over the similar period last year.   The average days on market for homes sold during last 3 months was about 2 to 3 months. The percen... 01/13/2017