If  you are in the second group, then 11272 Grayridge Drive is my pick of this weeks new listings. Just bring you tooth brush, some furniture and you’ll be all set for decades. This has new almost everything, a nice layout, a master bedroom suite and much more. There are two drawbacks, one the rear yard is adjacent to Overland Blvd, which is a major artery through Culver City, so expect constant noise. The second drawback is the garage is only 1 car so storage is diminished.

If you can be comfortable with the two negatives, at approximately $486 per square foot, this represents a great propourtunity for the young couple (with kids or with some planned) to get a nice home in a great neighborhood.

This week there were a few more homes to see than last, as is typical for Culver City the choices were very eclectic. In the interests of full disclosure, my pick this week is my own listing at 4304 Madison Ave. There is a lot to like about this property. It has a great blend of original Spanish charm that has only been enhanced by the tastefully remodeled kitchen. The floor plan is also open, you can see from the kitchen through the dining area to the living room, which the modern buyer is very much on the look out for.

The reason I chose this as the best buy for this week is because the large lot is zoned for up to 4 units. The savvy buyer, could live here for 20 years, pay down their mortgage, send their kids off to college and then potentially build up to 4 town-homes. Imagine what the value of 4 town-homes will be in 20 years?   So if you are a buyer out looking for a home in Culver City in the 780k range, take a look at this home and consider the long term advantages verses paying the same amount for a home on a lot that is only zoned for 1 family dwelling?

This Weeks Activity:

New Listings

11326 Stevens Ave – $849,000

4082 Jackson Ave – $709,000

5323 Janisann Ave - $598,000

4231 Tuller Ave – $515,000

In Escrow

4167 Baldwin Ave – $839,000

5423 Janisann Ave – $575,000

10727 Oregon Ave – $689,000

11262 Hayter Ave - $589,000

4043 La Salle – $749,000

10955 Westwood – $899,900

Sold

5406 Selmaraine – $538,000

Priced at $749,000, considering the lot size, it could be viewed as priced a little on the high side. My guess is, that because of the quality of the work and the newness (no refurbishing to do here for decades) that this home will sell fast and probably receive competing offers.

This weeks new activity

New Listings

1. 4034 Madison Ave – $789,000
2. 4130 Motor Ave – $775,000
3. 11232 Culver Park Dr – $559,000
4. 11220 McDonald St – $699,000
5. 4333 Neosho Ave – $496,000
6. 3954 Sawtelle Blvd – $499,400

In Escrow

1. 4318 McConnell Blvd – $715,000

Sold

1. 4251 Mentone Ave – $825,000
2. 4124 Bledsoe Ave – $582,500

This week there were just 3 new listings to choose from, my pick of the three is 11262 Hayter. This home is situated right across from the famous, and much vaunted, language immersion school El Marino. It is also very close to the 405 freeway, so this is not a home for those who might be super sensitive to noise, particularly freeway noise.

If neither of those two things are of a concern for you then this represents great value. 3 bedroom and 1 bathroom and hardwood floors.This home also boasts an overly large lot for this neighborhood of 7,000 square feet, so there is plenty of room for expansion without going for a two story, so the options this affords the buyer make this a best buy.

At the time of writing there are

24 Homes for sale in Culver City at an average price of $746K

13 Homes in escrow at an average price of 612K

Culver City’s Single Family and Condominium market – a more in-depth analysis.

Single Family Homes

I can’t remember seeing the inventory of homes for sale this low in the 11 years I have been serving Culver City and the West Side. At the time of writing there are only 24 homes for sale and we have 15 in escrow in Culver City. That is less than 2 months worth of inventory.

I am also seeing a lot more buyers out seriously looking at property with a view to making an offer. As you can see from the graphics on the video, if this kind of action continues into the spring and summer selling season then we could start to see prices creeping up. The last two homes I sold were both in multiple offers.

Condominiums

Prices jumped up sharply this month, one reason is the rapidly disappearing inventory.  At the time of writing, there were 42 condos or town-homes for sale and 53 in escrow!  At this current pace we would run out of units to sell in less than a month? It seems that the number of REO and Short Sale units is finally diminishing and the level of interest from the buyers at this price and the low interest rates is starting to turn the market around.

With Culver City condo prices having dropped around 36% from the high in 2007, they have become irresistible, even to investors. With 20% down on a 295,000 condo, assuming a rent of $2,000 a month for a 2 bedroom condo, even including HOA, Taxes and Insurance, the unit would be about at break even!

Single Family Homes

As I write this, there are 20 Active (for sale) single family homes available, and we have 6 properties in “looking for back up” status and 7 that are “pending.” If we add those two numbers together we have a total of 13 homes “In Escrow”. With only 20 others available for sale and assuming we continue to put homes into escrow at the same rate, Culver City would run out of inventory in less than 6 weeks if no other new listings came on the market!

If these dynamics continue for the rest of this year it is highly conceivable that home prices in Culver City could start to rise.

The numbers you can see here on the slide is just the activity for the month of January. For a more in depth analysis you can watch the one minute (or so) video below. As the year progresses, I will be bringing you the price trend not only for this year, but the trend since 2006.

Condominiums

If you have been following these market update blogs for any length of time, you will be aware that Condos in Culver City have fared less well than Single Family. And yet, if we look at the same market dynamics as of today, there are actually more condos in escrow 52, verses 43 available for sale. Or, less than a months worth of inventory! 

I haven’t seen this in the condo market for as long as I have been selling real estate, over 11 years. This is truly a phenomenon. I have said for a while what a great deal condos are in Culver City, at these levels they are attracting investors also, they have figured out that the rents in Culver City are so good that condos are a very inexpensive way to create an asset with positive cash flow.

There are more distressed sales in the condo market, 33 short sales and 18 bank owned sales (REO’s) that make up over 50% of the active and pending properties at the time of writing. However , if the inventory continues to thin out (or almost disappear) as the distressed sale inventory starts to dry up, then this could indeed be the beginning of the end of the price slide we have seen for condos over the last few years.

There is a little more explanation of the information on this slide in the video update below.

Over the years I’ve had the honor of being on many fundraising committees for the various schools my children have attended, and I’ve attended many local events, such as the Culver City Car Show which will be held this year on Saturday May 12th.

As a real estate agent I get to talk to a lot of prospective buyers about what makes this community so attractive. I tell them about the obvious things, such as out great schools and the improvements they’ve made in their API scores. I can inform them of all the new restaurants and boutique stores that are plentiful in our wonderful downtown area. It is also a plus to be able to tell them that we have control over our own Police and Fire departments and that we have our own City Council right here. These are, of course, features that prospective tenants and buyers can “Google” on their own and find a deluge of material to satisfy their needs and decide if they would like to buy a home or rent a home here.

I have found though, over more recent years that I spend a lot of time explaining to just about anyone that is willing to listen, how great the people are and how they really care about Culver City and that residents really care about their neighbors.

My recent experience as a member of the Fiesta La Ballona organizing committee is a testament to how the life blood of a thriving community is the every day folks who live and work there. There are probably close to 30 members of this years committee charged with continuing a great Culver City tradition, the Fiesta was start in the early 1950′s (the early ones were a whole week long, according to Julie Lugo Cerra of the Culver City Historical Society), some of the members have volunteered at the Fiesta every year for literally decades!

It’s the people that make a community, or city, what it is, no amount of Google coverage can provide the inside scoop on such an important factor that makes Culver City, such a fantastic place to live, work and raise ones children. That is hard to put a price on.

I am seeing a lot more multiple offers, am currently negotiating four offers on a Culver City single family residence, I’m also working with a few buyers who are very interested in buying in the San Fernando Valley and recently we seen 12 to 13 offers, especially if it’s a bank REO, of which there are quite a lot in that area.

At the time of writing there are only 31 homes and 61 condos/townhomes for sale in Culver City! If this particular dynamic does not change, I can see buyers coming under a lot of pressure, from other buyers, who also want the great neighborhood, great schools and easy access to the downtown area; this could lead to prices starting to move up.

Of course one of the keys to continuing in this nice trend, is that sellers don’t flood the market with listings, I am sure we will see the traditional bump up when Spring approaches, at the moment, I feel the buyers will increase in numbers to match and the status quo will remain.

As we move forward through the year I will keep you posted via this blog site, but you can also access information via www.mikesoneminutemarketupdate.com this site is updated once a month, in the first week of every month so it is right up to date with all the scoop in your local Culver City Neighborhood.

I have worked the west side market now for over 11 years and know and understand all of the neighboring micro markets, such as Mar vista, Venice, Marina del Rey, Westchester, Brentwood, Santa Monica. The reason impressive, comes to mind when I think about Culver City’s results in 2011 is when I compare it to the above areas, this is the one that continually stands out. Why?

Here are a few of the key points

1. Consistently low inventory – everyone understands the relationship between the number of homes for sale and the available  pool of buyers is key to price stability. Too many homes for sale and not enough buyers, prices will inevitably drop as sellers compete to attract offers. In a city of some 5,000 residencies, the average number of homes for sale has averaged under 50!
2. Low number of distressed sales – It’s stands to reason if a local market has a high proportion of distressed sales, such as bank REO’s (real estate owned), short sales, or sellers who are close to break even and very little equity to work with, they will cause prices to drop as they all try to sell quickly and stop the further erosion of the “asset” they hold.
3. Buyer Demand – This is an area that Culver City has benefited from enormously in this real estate recession. Culver City home owners should thank all those responsible for our great schools and the development of our very own downtown area. These two factors are very much at the forefront of the buyers who want to live in Culver City

All of this augers well for our small little town as move out of this real estate “slow” period. Once the confidence returns to the overall economy, Cuvler City home prices will inevitably rise. In my opinion, we could see neighboring communities looking at Culver City with a large degree of envy!