If you read my blog post Fearless 2017 Predictions: South Bay Real Estate from January, my first and most confident prediction was that mortgage rates would barely rise. Regardless of rate increases, The Fed was planning to reinvest principle payments into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to keep home loan interest rates lower. In my follow-up post, Stop Worrying about Rising Home Interest Rates, I discussed how The Fed was continuing this policy with the famous clip from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Statement: The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction,
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Month: September 2017
Most blog posts, I tend to write about areas that are roaring higher or beginning to slow. It is always more fun to write about bullish and bearish markets, but that doesn’t mean the South Bay markets moving sideways don’t deserve attention. I plan to visit one of these sideways markets today to provide an opportunity for my readers to make decisions about areas that could move one way or the other or just provide the option of certainty and stability. East Hermosa Beach This brings me to East Hermosa Beach, or the Hermosa real estate market east of Highway 1 (a.k.a. PCH). This area is hard to write about as a whole because the lots
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In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey and Hurricane Irma, it got me thinking about Southern California’s greatest natural disaster risk: Earthquakes. I vividly remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake while growing up on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. My parents woke me up to get into the door jams while our home was shaking. It did not last long but I remember watching our entry way ceiling pendant sway from side-to-side for a minute or two. And that was it…no big deal. But, in Northridge and throughout parts of the San Fernando Valley, it was a much different story. What is the Risk in the South Bay? A recent L.A. Times article by Rong-Gong Lin II gave
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New construction town homes in North Redondo will not quit going up! Two-on-a-lots come to market. What happens? Gone. Three-on-a-lots come to market. What happens? Gone. There have been a whopping 56 new construction town homes to hit the market this year in NoRo (2016 builds or newer) and there is only one left on the market. By my estimates, this lone listing will be gone very soon. The NoRo new construction town home scene continues to be the one of the most affordable beach city buys in all of Los Angeles and buyers’ appetite for these new abodes seems to be unwavering. Three-on-a-lots The three-on-a-lot options have not only gone up in price but they
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Summer is coming to an end and it is time to see what is going on in Manhattan Beach west of PCH. After the traditionally busy spring season and slow summer months, we can see how the year is shaping up and what can be expected in the coming fall season. Sand Section The Sand Section represents two thirds of the available inventory west of PCH today. The theme of higher inventory levels has continued since 2016. Although inventory might be a bit concerning if you are a seller, there have actually been 73 sales to date for 2017 versus the 61 sales in same period last year. My blog (The South Bay is Crowded at
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