Despite woes, interest in California real estate is not waning
California home prices sank big time last year and sales numbers were made up largely of foreclosures. But the escapism of cruising around the Internet to check out the creme de la creme of the Golden State's listings remained popular — if the data from Realtor.com on "most searched for" properties is an indication.
Last year California took spots 1, 7 and 8 of the top 10 most searched for active listings nationwide. Among the 10 were these listings:
1. 2901 Broadway St., San Francisco. The seven-bedroom, 7 1/2-bathroom "Italian-inspired" hilltop mansion is listed for $48 million.
7. 40 Beverly Park Circle, Beverly Hills, a $35-million listing with 10 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms in 27,000 square feet.
8. 1143 Summit Drive, Beverly Hills. Priced at $60 million, the residence has 17 bedrooms and 30 bathrooms in 25,243 square feet.
Looking at the most popular searches within the state yields Beverly Hill's Pickfair (ranked second), listed at $60 million. Although it still bears the name given it by Hollywood couple Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Sr., the 17-bedroom home has been rebuilt. Also making the most viewed for California was an 11,000-square-foot ocean-view home in La Jolla (ranked 10th) with four bedrooms and six bathrooms, and now listed at $32 million.
There's just no accounting for what grabs people's imaginations. Now if we can just figure out how to make interest in California erase that budget deficit.
— Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: Pickfair, once owned by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, is on the market for $60 million. Much of the original house was demolished during a remodel, but the home's eminence in Hollywood's history survives. Credit: www.RealtorPhotoWorks.com
There were lots of people who looked up that listing for $5000 in Detroit last year, just for yucks. Doesn't mean any of us really *wanted* to buy it.
Posted by: Tim K. | January 12, 2009 at 08:29 AM
When you write posts like these can't you just hear the comments to come in your head. I think the phrase is "Glutton for punishment"
Posted by: D | January 12, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Lady, are you completely nuts? Nobody in LA cares about that rarefied stratosphere which is probably why you continue to beat that tired drum. How about focusing in on real estate in the 200k to a 1000k range where the majority of taxpayers breathe?
Posted by: Sam Solomon | January 12, 2009 at 01:02 PM
Great article on msnbc.com today...the "End of California Dreaming." How people are fleeing this place due to the high cost of living. It's not worth it anymore to some...including me. SUnshine or no sunshine
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28625138/
Posted by: renterinmidwil | January 12, 2009 at 04:23 PM
We'll see how popular the L.A. area is this time next year. Hopefully people will come to their senses and see that having the nation's worse pollution doesn't make up for the heat.
Posted by: Janus | January 12, 2009 at 04:24 PM
Mr. Solomon's rude comments aside, I would be much more interested in knowing which neighborhoods are becoming more affordable (i.e., $500k or less), and which ones are still out of the price ranges of the average person. Surely that number is changing every month...
Posted by: Velinadu | January 12, 2009 at 04:24 PM
If you post pictures of a bloody traffic accident, I am sure you will get a lot of gawkers too.
Posted by: MyLessThanPrimeBeef | January 12, 2009 at 04:25 PM
It would behoove both the blogger and the readers to pay close attention to the high end market even if it's "out of your reach".
Why?
Well, if you make use of Redfin and look at all the houses and condos for sale at $1,000,000+ you will see that there are well over 2,000.
You can only display up to 500 listings at a time so you have to break down your searches into $3MM+ , 2-3MM, 1.75-2MM, 1.5-1.75MM, 1.25-1.5MM and 1-1.5MM.
Then, set the default to new listings over $1,000,000 and 3 months of past sales.
WRT the past sales, don't forget to back out the listings where an apartment building sold and every unit is listed at the full sales price. For example, a 15 unit building sells for 2,000,000 and there are 15 different $2,000,000 sales listed. One for each individual unit.
So...what's the punchline?
The MOS (Months of supply) is at about 200.
Yes...200. Close to 17 years. And this doesn't even include all the shadow builder inventory of condos etc.
Enjoy!
Posted by: E | January 12, 2009 at 10:18 PM