Within the last week 13 residential properties came on the market in Pacific Palisades, bringing to 73 the number of single-family homes available in the area through the Multiple Listing Service. This sudden 20-percent increase brings local inventory closer to where it hovered most of last year, before plummeting in December to record lows. Why the sudden increase in listings? Are homeowners ready to cash out, feeling that this real estate bubble can’t last much longer? Or is it simply because it’s spring, when there is traditionally an increase in listings? ‘I think it’s a combination of things, including the fact that it’s spring,’ said Frank Langen of Mossler, Deasy and Doe, who has one of the new listings. His 2-bedroom, 2-bath California bungalow at 758 Almar is priced at $1,249,000. ‘The owners are selling because they’re ready to move up,’ Langen said. Research by the Post into the new listings indicates that at least two of them involve families ready to purchase larger homes, two are because of transfers out of the area, one is because of a divorce, and one is a probate. Coldwell Banker agent Judith Lange finds herself in the enviable position of having three new listings, all probates subject to court confirmation. Two are flat, buildable lots a block from the Asilomar bluffs, listed for $1,695,000 and $1,495,000, respectively. The third, at 510 Almar, is attached to the two lots and has a 3-bedroom, 2-bath cottage on a 9,880 sq.ft. lot It’s listed for $1,795,000 and is billed in the MLS as a ‘teardown.’ Lange told the Post that it was simply ‘a matter of timing’ that the three properties came on the market this week. ‘Although the owner, whose family I have known for some time, passed away several months ago, it has taken this long just to get the paperwork in order.’ The three lots, two of which have been vacant for years, total nearly 24,000 sq.ft., over half an acre, providing a rare opportunity for someone to build a compound ‘this close to the bluffs,’ Lange said. The properties are located at the corner of Almar Plaza where Almar and Wynola meet. The least expensive property to come on the market in the last week, and the only property in the Palisades listed for under $1 million, was a traditional 2-bedroom, 1-bath house at 811 Galloway in the Alphabet streets. Listed at $899,000 by Kate Bransfield of DBL Realtors in Santa Monica, it received multiple offers and went into escrow on Tuesday. Bransfield said the owners decided to sell because they are ‘moving away.’ Bill Kerbox’s listing at 1020 El Medio, north of Sunset, ( a 5-bedroom, 5-bath listed for $5,295,000) was also snapped up within days of coming on the market last week. He sees the current increase in inventory as a ‘turning point in the market.’ Have we reached the top? ‘Maybe. What I do know is that if enough new houses come on in the next few weeks prices are going to start leveling off. Things have been so crazy lately that buying a house has become more of a competition than a negotiation’and negotiation is really the way most of us prefer to do business around here.’ The lack of sufficient inventory in the Palisades since the beginning of the year (which often fell below 50 available homes for sale) led to a buying frenzy in recent months, which further pushed prices up and resulted in some unusual real estate practices, with some buyers waiving appraisals and others bidding anywhere from 10 to 30 percent over the asking price. Anthony Marguleas, owner of A.M. Realty on Sunset, which deals only with buyers, sees the increase in inventory as ‘a good thing for all of us. It makes it easier to do business when there is more inventory.’ Coldwell Banker agent Joan Sather, who has a new listing this week at 443 Puerta del Mar, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath contemporary listed at $1,395,000, agrees. ‘After seeing so much of the inventory snapped up in recent weeks I think it was inevitable that there would be some new inventory coming up,’ Sather said. ‘Especially after tax season.’ Michael Edlen, who has been keeping statistics on the Palisades housing market for 18 years, sees the increase in inventory as ‘normal,’ and predicts that in the months ahead it will continue to climb ‘back to the level where it should be. Except for a couple of times in the last year, the number of available houses has always hovered around 100 in the Palisades. I predict there will again be at least 100 homes on the market before the end of the year.’
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