Palos Verdes Lifestyle - Norma Toering's PV Real Estate Blog

Who doesn't enjoy a drive along the coast with great views, sea breezes caressing the skin and the nostril tingling scent of ocean air? The Amalfi Coast of Italy is a memorable drive with dramatic coastal views around every clifftop curve.  Pacific Coast Highway offers some breathtaking views as it snakes its way along the California coastline.  The rocky coastline of Maine is another favorite view-filled drive dotted with magnificent ocean views and eye-catching coastal homes. Ahh, but a drive along the coastline and through the hills of Palos Verdes offers a variety of world class views, ocean front estates and hilltop villas with panoramic views.

If you are shopping for an unforgettable view of your own, come to Palos Verdes, CA.  The Palos Verdes Peninsula is gifted with miles of coastline as the flat land of the Beach Cities (Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan) gives way to the hills, cliffs and rocky coastline of Palos Verdes.

If you want an ocean front home, you can find it in Palos Verdes.  If you want a gated estate with a panoramic view, we have that too.  Whether you prefer the security of a gated community, an enclave of similar high-end homes or a low profile equestrian estate hidden amid the hills and canyons of the gated city of Rolling Hills, they are all waiting for you on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

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This morning I read a short motivational article on the importance of daily laughter.  I immediately recalled the phone call I received on Friday that caused tears of laughter to roll down my check.  It was one of those you-had-to-be-there occasions so I won't even try to explain the real estate related incident behind the laughter.  The important thing is my friend was laughing so hard while telling the story I could barely understand her, and I was laughing so much while she was speaking I had to ask her to repeat missed conversation several times.

My end of the conversation took place in a grocery store parking lot.  I received more than one second glance as some very serious shoppers wheeled their carts to their cars.  Maybe they just spent too much money or maybe in these less than funny economic times they are not accustomed to seeing someone engaged in a full blown laughter session.  I do know I felt uplifted and joyous as I drove home.  I also felt fortunate to have a friend who wanted to take the time to share a funny incident with me.  It was wonderful to know my circle of friends includes people filled with an unabashed zest for life (including the two mutual friends involved in the hilarious misadventure).

Laughter reduces stress and recharges the happy meter of your soul.  The halls of most real estate offices I visit are rarely filled with laughter and sometimes a smile is even hard to find.  I say it's time to bring back the joy and fun and stop being so glum.  Laughter is free, easy to share and highly contagious.  Spread it around.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling Your Home in Palos Verdes - Buying a House in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - Homes with Views in Palos Verdes

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Selling a house is neither simple nor a short process.  It often requires weeks, if not months, of pre-sale preparation, and once on the market, the added task of keeping the property ready to show on short notice.  No wonder so many homeowners dread the thought of added work, losing the freedom to live as they want in their little fiefdom and perhaps worst of all, throwing their asset into a moody market.

What's a seller to do?

  Review the Past:  Failure to disclose past events, current conditions or other material facts is probably  the top cause of lawsuits.  When selling a property, there are no secrets.  You may love the foghorn that trumpets its warning in the middle of a foggy night, but your buyer may find it an annoying surprise. Ditto for that little drainage problem, plumbing issue etc.  Fill out the seller's transfer disclosure with the zeal of a budding novelist.  It's tell all time.  Ask for an addendum if needed.  Most of all don't hold back or it might come back to cost you later.

Look into the Future:  Buyers almost always want to know why the homeowner is selling a property.  It is a fair question--be honest.  If the buyer will be surprised by new construction that will block the view or create traffic or noise issues in the future, deal with it now.  Reveal what you know about the future.

Accept the Present:  The old real estate market is gone, a new one may be right around the corner, but the present one is the one we have now.  Buyers are shopping and the marketplace offers many options. Make sure your property is memorable.  Maximize its best features, minimize its flaws. Then step back and let the process begin.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling a Home in Palos Verdes - Buying a Home in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - Homes with Views in Palos Verdes

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Eastview neighborhood home sales report for Rancho Palos Verdes during August 2009.

Active listings: 10 Houses are currently for sale in Eastview priced from $565,000 to $919,000.

Pending sales: 12 Properties are currently in escrow priced from $599,000 to $799,000.

August sales: 3 Homes sold in Eastview during August 2009:

• Caddington Dr $605,500
• Noble View Dr $703,000
• Caddington Dr $765,000
  

Previous Palos Verdes and San Pedro Market Reports

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling a Home in Palos Verdes - Buying a Home in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - Homes with Views in Palos Verdes

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Silver Spur neighborhood home sales report for Rancho Palos Verdes CA in August 2009.

Active listings: 6 Homes are currently for sale in the Silver Spur area priced from $750,000 to $1.295,000.

Pending sales: 6 Properties are currently in escrow priced from $829,000 to $1,022,000.

August sales: 1 Home sold in August 2009:

• Elmdale Dr $1,050,000
  

Previous Palos Verdes and San Pedro Market Reports

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling a House in Palos Verdes - Buying a House in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - View Houses in Palos Verdes

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Peninsula Center neighborhood home sales report for Rancho Palos Verdes CA in August 2009.

Active listings: 6 Homes are currently for sale in the Pen. Center area priced from $869,000 to $1,149,000.

Pending sales: 10 Houses are currently in escrow in Peninsula Center priced from $915,000 to $1,290,000.

August sales: 2 Homes sold in August 2009:

• Fawnskin Dr $863,000
• Hawkhurst Dr $1,100,000
  

Previous Palos Verdes and San Pedro Market Reports

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling a Home in Palos Verdes - Buying a Home in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - View Houses in Palos Verdes

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Crest neighborhood home sales report for Rancho Palos Verdes CA in August 2009.

Active listings: 3 Homes are currently for sale in the Crest neighborhood priced from $1,125,000 to $1,250,000.

Pending sales: 8 Properties are currently in escrow priced from $949,000 to $1,459,000.

August sales: 3 Homes sold in the Crest area in August 2009:

• Stonecrest Road $910,000
• Quailhill Dr $1,080,000
• Oceanport Rd $1,280,000
  

Previous Palos Verdes and San Pedro Market Reports

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

Selling a Home in Palos Verdes - Buying a Home in Palos Verdes
Palm Desert Area Lots for Sale - View Houses in Palos Verdes

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Los Verdes neighborhood home sales report for Rancho Palos Verdes CA in August 2009.

Active listings: 12 Homes are currently for sale in the Los Verdes area priced from $865,000 to $1,399,000.

Pending sales: 7 Properties are in escrow priced from $859,000 to $1,499,000.

August sales: No homes sold in Los Verdes during August 2009.

Previous Palos Verdes and San Pedro Market Reports

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

RPV CA Homes for Sale Blog - Palos Verdes Real Estate
La Quinta Area Lots for Sale - View Homes in Palos Verdes

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So far my local market (Palos Verdes Peninsula) has evaded the onslaught of short sales and bank owned properties.  We currently have 224 single family homes for sale and of that number only 11 are short sales per the MLS, and REOs are rare.  The distressed property market is a small one in Palos Verdes.

28 Condos are listed for sale and six are short sales.   Townhouse statistics are 16 for sale and one is a short sale. 

Posting those relatively healthy numbers should be reason to celebrate Palos Verdes appears to be dodging the short sale bullet and blitz of bank-owned properties for now.  It will be interesting to see what develops over the next few months.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

RPV CA Homes for Sale Blog - Palos Verdes Real Estate
La Quinta Area Lots for Sale - View Homes in Palos Verdes

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Often a fortuitous event will have an inauspicious moment or two involved.  It is easy to ignore the overall achievement and focus on the angst, the problems, the wrangling and the hindsight of shoulda, woulda, coulda.  The dark moments can overshadow the accomplishment if the spotlight is focused on what went wrong instead of what went right.  I often remind myself to concentrate on the lemonade not the lemons. Such is real estate and such is life.

As participants in the buying and selling of real estate it is important to resolve the issues, settle the disputes and not let the quibbles and personalities cloud the larger success of achieving a sizable accomplishment.  Despair and delight come from within and are shaded by attitude, experiences and individual perception.  It is a choice whether we recognize the success of the event by celebrating the hurdles we cleared and lessons learned, or lessen the achievement with continued self-sabotage by maintaining a narrow focus on the negative.

A few months ago I encountered an agent I had not seen for years.  We chatted briefly and she said she remembered there were some big challenges in the transaction we worked together on, but in the end we closed the deal and everyone was happy.  The buyer recently called to thank me for helping them make a savvy real estate purchase, and asked me to watch their neighborhood of choice for a fabulous view home.  The dicey issues of raw sewage under the house and a faulty septic tank were resolved long ago.

It does not require a miracle to resolve real estate issues.  Often a change in perspective and attitude will bring about understanding, compassion and resolution.

Norma Toering & Team RE/MAX Palos Verdes Realty
(310) 493-8333 / Office Phone: (310) 831-0800

PalosVerdesLifestyle - Nominated by Relocation.com as one of the top ten Los Angeles area real estate blogs. Ranked by Technorati in the top 1% of all blogs. As seen in the Daily Breeze newspaper.

South Bay Los Angeles cities I sell real estate, property, houses and homes in: Palos Verdes Estates, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach.

Find Norma on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn - Email Norma

RPV CA Homes for Sale Blog - Palos Verdes Real Estate
La Quinta Area Lots for Sale - View Homes in Palos Verdes

Subscribe via ActiveRain - Subscribe via Email - Start your own blog on activerain!