Information is critical in real estate and the right information can help you determine where the market has been and where the market is heading. See the various charts below to view some important real estate statistics such as average sales price in Torrance, number of active v pending listings, etc.
EstateWhether you’re buying an older home or new construction in the South Bay, a home inspection is an absolute necessity. A home inspection will assess the building code conformity as well as all the systems and structural components that make up the building, such as:
When you’ve decided upon the South Bay home you want to buy and you’re about to sign the Offer To Purchase real estate contract, make sure there is an inspection contingency in that contract allowing you to get your own professional Home Inspection. “Pre-Selling” or “Pre-Listing” inspections are not common, however, in some cases, a savvy seller may have had their own structural inspection done which they usually will provide to a prospective home buyer. If they are wise, they will have arranged to have any discovered problems corrected.
However, I still insist that my buyer clients have his or her own independent inspection done. Normally, upon acceptance of the Offer To Purchase, you will have 17 days to have the inspection completed, analyze the report and respond to the seller. We will be your eyes and ears at the structural inspection should it not be possible for you to be present yourself.
In the event that hidden problems are revealed through the structural inspection process, you may do one of two things:
The Inspection Report
When you interview a home inspector, ask him what type of report format he provides. There are several types of reports used by inspectors, such as computer generated reports, the checklist format and the narrative style report. Some reports are completed and generated on site and some may take up to a week to complete. There are good and bad points to all of these formats.
Make sure that the inspector will take pictures that explain their descriptions and potential problems.
Hire an inspector that gives detailed descriptions of the home and potential problems instead of vauge and easily missinterpreted descriptions.
“Bathroom Shower Enclosure: Condition – Minor wear, heavy wear, damaged, rust stains, or chips in enamel finish. Recommend sealing drain and pan at base of tile.”
As you can see, this narrative description includes a recommendation for repair. Narrative reports without recommendations for repairing deficient items may be difficult to interpret, should your knowledge of construction be limited.
Make sure, if you do not understand something, that you ask questions. Items in the inspection report that are not serious quite often can be interpreted by a nonprofessional to be a major factor. A good home inspector should be able to put things into perspective and answer all your questions. If for some reason a question cannot be answered at the time of the inspection, the inspector should research the question and obtain the answer for you.
Take the time to become familiar with your home inspection report. If the report has a legend, key, symbols or icons, read and understand them thoroughly. The more information provided to you about the property, the easier it will be to understand the overall condition. If possible, try to be present when the inspector is doing the inspection. You do not have to be there during the entire process, but if you can walk through with the inspector at the end so he can show you the findings of the structural inspection, you will learn a great deal about the home you are about to purchase.
Information is key to making sound real estate decisions. The information below should help you keep up with the market and provide valuable insight into where the market currently is and where it’s going in the future. See below for updated information such as number of active homes, pending sale, recent closed home sales and home prices for Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach
September was another busy month in South Bay Real estate with a strong number of home sales along with some 
impressve prices. Torrance recorded 126 property sales with a median home price of just under $730,000. The lowest sale of the month was a sharp 1 bedroom condo on Sepulveda for $269,900 with the high sale of the month being a beautiful 4600 foot single family home in the Seaside Ranchos/Christmas Lights area which sold at $2,400,000. To see all of the homes sold in the South Bay in September visit our recent home sales page.
| City | Homes Sold | September 2017 Median | September 2016 Median | Year over Year % Change% |
| Carson | 55 | $511,000 | $462,000 | 10.5% |
| El Segundo | 9 | $1,130,000 | $840,000 | 34.5% |
| Gardena | 48 | $475,000 | $444,000 | 7.1% |
| Harbor City | 22 | $553,000 | $465,000 | 19% |
| Hawthorne | 46 | $595,000 | $558,000 | 6.6% |
| HermosaBeach | 12 | $2,150,000 | $1,449,000 | 48.4% |
| Lawndale | 15 | $490,000 | $479,000 | 2.3% |
| Lomita | 12 | $576,000 | $593,000 | -2.9% |
| Long Beach | 326 | $520,000 | $478,000 | 8.8% |
| Manhattan Beach | 38 | $1,877,000 | $2,200,000 | -14.7% |
| Marina Del Rey | 24 | $933,000 | $900,000 | 3.7% |
| Palos Verdes Estates | 43 | $1,600,000 | $1,4023,000 | 14.1% |
| Playa Del Rey | 17 | $753,000 | $538,000 | 39.9% |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | 52 | $1,250,000 | $1,035,000 | 20.8% |
| Redondo Beach | 86 | $1,021,000 | $1,035,000 | 20.8% |
| San Pedro | 71 | $558,000 | $534,000 | 4.7% |
| Torrance | 126 | $728,000 | $648,000 | 12.4% |
| Westchester | 25 | $1,140,000 | $890,000 | 15.2% |
From all of us at Torrancerealestatehomes.com, Keith Kyle Homes and Vista Sotheby’s International we wish you and yours a very happy and safe Halloween. There are so many great areas throughout the South Bay to enjoy Halloween an we hope you have a great one.
**Propositions 60 and 90 are Constitutional initiatives passed by California voters. They provide property tax relief 
by preventing reassessment when a senior citizen sells his/her existing residence and purchases or constructs a replacement residence worth the same or less than the original. They were enacted to encourage a person, age 55 or older to “move down” to a smaller residence. When a senior citizen acquires a replacement property worth less than the original property, he/she will continue to pay approximately the same amount of annual property taxes as before.
When the senior citizen purchases or constructs a new residence, it is not reassessed, if he/she qualifies. The Assessor transfers the factored base value of the original residence to the replacement residence. Proposition 60 originallyrequired that the replacement and the original be located in the same county. Later, Proposition 90 enabled this to be modified by local ordinance. Los Angeles County enacted an ordinance to provide that when the replacement is located in Los Angeles County, the original property may be located in any other California county.
Who Qualifies?If you or your spouse that resides with you are age 55 or older, you may buy or construct a new home of equal or lesser value than your existing home and transfer the trended base value to your new property. This is a one-time only benefit. You must buy or complete construction of your replacement home within two years of the sale of the original property. Both the original home and the new home must be your principal place of residence. A claim must be filed within three years of purchasing or completing new construction of the replacement property. If a claim is filed after the three-year period, relief will be granted beginning with the calendar year in which the claim was filed.
Once you have filed and received this tax relief, neither you nor your spouse who resides with you can ever file again.
The replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 5, 1986 if the original was located in Los Angeles County. The replacement residence must have been purchased or constructed on or after November 9, 1988 if the ongmal was located in any other California county. Claims must be filed within three years following the purchase of the replacement residence.
They are distributed at Assessor’s public counters, in Room 225 of the
Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, and in district offices. If you need additional information, call (213) 893-1239.
Counties Accepting Prop 90 Transfers:
**much of the information above and some additional information can be found at the County Assessor flyer at https://assessor.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/E-20.pdf
