Just Sold: 1705 Marshallfield Ln Unit B Redondo Beach

My listing at 1705 Marshallfield Ln Unit B in Redondo Beach closed escrow. on April 6th for $1,525,000 which as far as I can tell is a new high for a resale attached 2 on a lot. Well at least a new high for today.

As with most sales these days there’s a number of useful takeaways for both Buyers and Sellers in this very unusual market we’re in.

A little bit of background before we take a deep dive into this sale.

This property is unique in a number of ways. To start with, the property is larger than most 2 on a lots (2726 Sq Ft per the tax assessor) and the floorplan offers much more space downstairs than most 2 on a lots. In addition to a large great room, there is a separate dining room and den downstairs. The great room flows out to the backyard which has a built in outdoor kitchen. Upstairs there are four bedrooms off a central landing area. And windows and lights all over. In other words, a really nice place to call home.

Even in a very low inventory environment, North Redondo Beach 90278 is one of the most extreme Seller’s markets. I don’t think I’ve seen more than 30 properties active very often in the last year. Usually the run rate of sales is around 500 closed escrow per year (+/-). So there’s no way 20 something listings at any given time can satisfy what would be needed for anywhere near a balanced market.

Short version is that a lot of properties receive multiple offers and get bid up. Often by a lot. Let’s get started.

PRICE TO SELL

I was fairly confident that this property would sell for over $1.4M. I was thinking maybe mid $1.4s and possibly high $1.4s. So, in consultation with my Seller clients, we decided to list at $1,389,000. Well actually that was my recommendation which they went along with.

Here’s why it is important to price to sell.

Many Buyers in the market today have already made offers on other listings - and lost out. So they are aware that for properties that will sell after one weekend on the market, they are likely to get bid up $50-$100K or more.

So if the listing is priced too high out of the gate, you could miss out on potential Buyers who would otherwise visit the property. They won’t show up if they feel the bidding will go over their budget. Speaking of Buyers showing up…..

LISTING AGENTS - LEAVE ENOUGH TIME FOR ADEQUATE SHOWINGS

During the Covid era, almost every showing is scheduled in advance. Maybe Open Houses come back one day and this comment won’t be relevant. But for now, if you are a listing agent, leave enough time for potential Buyers to spend a reasonable amount of time in the house.

On my last few listings, I’ve been scheduling 30 minute showings. Even for a property this size, most people were taking around 20-25 minutes to go through. That not only kept everyone on schedule but also allowed time for me to answer any questions.

Oh yeah, I was there for each one of the 30 showings. That meant over 7 hours on Sat-Sun. But well worth it to get the highest price for my clients.

BUYERS - PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD

We received 10 offers on this listing after 30 showings over 2 days. Another recent listing I had received 17 offers. As a Buyer, you can’t assume that you will always get a counter offer. For this listing, almost all of the offers started above the asking price and offered good terms. A few of them included leasebacks (some free), some waived the appraisal contingency and a few had “escalation” clauses.

What you are telling the listing agent and Buyer when you put in a really clean offer with a strong price is that you understand the market today and are willing to step up and do what it takes.

NEGOTIATING COUNTER OFFERS

There’s always a risk that in the heat of competition, Buyers can go beyond a price point they are comfortable with which just amplifies the usual Buyer’s Remorse that sets in. When we received the counters back, there were 2 offers that were almost identical and both had escalation clauses that could have pushed the selling price even higher. But we didn’t trigger the escalation for a few reasons. The first being that we wanted to make sure that whichever Buyer we went with would stick and not cancel based on Buyer’s Remorse. The second reason is that for any financed offer, it has to appraise.

The offer we accepted had no appraisal contingency. But there’s a game Buyer’s are playing these days with that. (To be clear the Buyers for Marshallfield were NOT playing the game.)

FINAL SALES PRICE AND TERMS

As it turned out, we had 3 offers at $1.5M or higher and two at $1,525,000. We went with the Buyers who waived the appraisal contingency which gave them an edge. Also the fact that they not only came to the showing during their scheduled time, they had circled back later in the day without their agent and asked if they could come in to take another look. That showed me a real commitment on their part. And because I had left enough time between showings, I could accommodate them.

Are You Thinking of Buying in Redondo Beach?