South Bay Brokers becomes Vista Sotheby's International Realty

Grateful to be a South Bay Brokers Top Producer for my Clients

I'm excited to again have been declared a Top Producer for South Bay Brokers, this time for the month of August 2014.  -David

Shorewood Realtors Sold to Denver Investor

Here's the latest on the Shorewood Realtors sale from the Los Angeles Business Journal:

Shorewood Realtors Sold to Denver Investor

Remember, your blogger is with South Bay Brokers, not Shorewood (for some reason the names have been known to get confused).

For more info, see comments to my previous post. -David

Our Competitor, Shorewood Realtors, Has Been Sold

Shorewood Realtors, our formerely independent local market competitor, has been sold.  Shorewood is being purchased by ERA Herman Group (Roger Herman, founder).  The Herman Group consists of 600+ associates and employees with offices in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and now, apparently, the South Bay.

Meanwhile, rest assured that South Bay Brokers remains a stable, dependable, trustworthy real estate company...ready and able to serve all of your real estate needs.

Our transaction numbers have steadily increased each year from 2008, and our dollars sold/per agent continue to increase each year. Finally, we are a business family that helps each other. 

South Bay Vision - February 2014

FEBRUARY 2014 In December, 34.5% of all sales in the Southern California region were for homes priced $500,000 or more. The number of homes that sold from $300,000 to $799,000 increased by 1.7%; sales of homes priced above $800,000 increased by 5.8%.* Although inventory remains low in the Beach Cities, you will find that condo and townhome sales exploded with median sales prices increasing well over 24 percent in the cities of Hermosa Beach, South Redondo and El Segundo. ** IN THIS ISSUE

Is this the year growth takes off? Median Home Sale Figures New Residential Sales In December 2013 Americans Believe Housing Prices Will Rise, Poll Says. And They're Ready For It. California Home Sales and Median Prices Beach Cities Average Monthly Inventory 2003-2013 Shadow Inventory Lowest Since August 2008 Housing Market Update for South Bay Cities David White Office: 310-546-7611 Cell: 310-916-1533 CalBRE # 01357398 Email Me My Website

FIREWORKS IN MANHATTAN BEACH!

Don't miss the annual fireworks show from the Manhattan Beach Pier!  It's on Sunday, December 8th and South Bay Brokers is a major sponsor.  

This is really our premier community event of the year! -David

Curious about Real Estate Brokerages in the South Bay?

Study of Real Estate Firms Shows Both Optimism and Challenges | From realtor.org

Curious about the different real estate companies? Some really big names do a great deal of national advertising.  Here's the scoop:

http://www.realtor.org/news-releases/2013/09/study-of-real-estate-firms-shows-both-optimism-and-challenges

In contrast, South Bay Brokers is a local independent brokerage focusing on quality vs. quantity, but we sell the most real estate per agent in the South Bay and have done for the past 24 years. Other brokerages are franchises of companies that spend lots of money on advertising, or take a "volume of agents" approach, or both.

The difference matters!  Questions???

David Named a Top Producer for January 2012

2012 off to a good start for David White adn South Bay real estate!  Contrary to the headlines, the South Bay has stable prices, increasing sales, and a shortage of homes on the market.  Oh, and lifetime low interest rates! - David

Zillow Got You Down? Look Beyond the Averages!

Speaking with a good friend and very savvy client this morning, I happened to comment that "Zillow is directionally correct 50% of the time" for overall prices in a given local market.  Of course this is because Zillow uses mathematical algorithms that fail to address property condition, changes in sales mix, shortages in inventory, and similar qualitative and quantitative factors not available without a modicum of local expertise.

As an example, relying on Zillow, one could easily conclude that property values in Manhattan Beach have suffered to the tune of 5-8% in recent months.  This dramatic but misleading conclusion results from what I call the "tyranny of averages." By this I mean that averages of non-homogeneous groups (e.g., newer homes vs. older, desirable homes vs. teardowns, better locations vs. commercially-impacted streets, markets including builders vs. markets without significant building activity) are little more than hash totals until underlying factors are revealed.

In the Manhattan Beach Tree Section and in East Manhattan, few newer, larger, highly-desirable, well-located homes have been available in the inventory of homes for sale in recent months.  I have well-qualified buyers for both RIGHT NOW, and have yet to find suitable properties to match their needs. As a result, Tree Section statistics are skewed toward smaller, less-desirable properties that have been marching through the ranks.  Zillow interprets this as meaning Tree Section sales volumes and values are down, an uninformed conclusion.

The reality:  South Bay Brokers' sales are up 18% year-over-year from 2010.  Of course that's a composite number too, but I can give you the details!  In fact, many such details can be found at the South Bay Market Data section of this very Beach City Digs Blog!

So as frequently mentioned in this blog, watch out for averages.  You'll find them rampantly reported in the general press, which is a great place for real estate ads but seldom for actionable real estate news.

Instead, rely on a qualified real estate professional who knows and understands the micromarket, the underlying factors, the prevailing trends, and how to have peace of mind dealing with them all. -David

David Named a Top Producer for May 2011

May 2011, David again named a top producer.  Thanks South Bay Brokers!

David Named Top Producer for March 2011

David was again named a South Bay Brokers Top Producer for March of 2011

22nd CONSECUTIVE YEAR WTH THE HIGHEST RESIDENTIAL VOLUME PER AGENT

South Bay Brokers Top Producer, Nov. 2010

David is again happy to be declared a Top Producer at South Bay Brokers for November 2010!

David Recognized as Top Producer

Your blogger was recognized in the Beach Reporter as a Top Producer at South Bay Brokers for September 2010, as was his real estate partner Laura Grabher!

David Named a Top Producer at South Bay Brokers

David was again recognized in the Beach Reporter as a top producer at South Bay Brokers, Inc. for the month of October 2009.  OK, so they're a few months behind... - David