All Forum Posts by: Laura Kastner

Hi,

I’ve been making lots of phone calls regarding strs/abnbs in Redondo Beach & am having a really hard time getting any answers. Manhattan Beach just overturned their ban on strs & Hermosa Beach is pretty clear on their policies. 

I can’t for the life of me find anything or even talk to a real person in Redondo beach. Airbnb has plenty of listings in Redondo Beach and helped as much as they could, but even they didn’t know much.

Does anyone have beach city strs and or know what the deal with Redondo beach is in particular???

TIA,

Lk

 Hi Caroline,

Just texted you.

Thanks!

L

Hi All,

I’m in escrow on a place in the desert near JT. The sellers asked 40K over ask on a newly renovated house in a beautiful location. The inspection came back with some electrical & plumbing issues. I called a local plumber, but they won’t estimate or even look at a place in escrow. One main issue for me is that the water heater is 5 years past it’s lifespan. My realtor is saying these issues are 1k and to ask for 2k credit, but I’m looking at these issues and they seem beyond 1k. 

Any suggestions?

TIA

Hi Alexandra,

Sorry I missed this before! 

I decided to skip DHS as it is not as desirable “yet” as other desert areas that you could still get into. Appraisal gap was super high too. 

Given those things, if you found a property that you could turn into a “destination” with a great “wow factor”, you could fo well and wait for some of the plans for the area to catch up and make the city more desirable. 

I personally love the desert cities even year round.  

I have been looking at all of these areas (except for the parks) since September 21. I must be good at picking places as I have put in offers 10s of thousands over ask, huge appraisal gaps, etc, and they have always had multiple offers. I track the solds and some of them have gone 100-200k over ask.

It is EXTREMELY competitive. Also, really really bad flips are showing up in the bought & sold in the time ive started searching. Also, places have gone up some 100k in this short time, effectively pricing me out of some areas.

As always, due diligence is key to analyzing the properties. Some places dont make sense with the work you will need to put in vs the price.

As others have mentioned, Lake Arrowhead access is non transferrable. The drive between Snow Valley (the nearest slope) is quite treacherous. As is that area of the mountains and the drive to Big Bear, beautiful, but scary.

If you can afford PS, that would be my first choice. I even go in the summer over 110, I like that heat & the nightly deals you can get. Old Las Palmas. 

My second choice is in the mountains it would be the moonridge area. 

These two areas are the areas I would put my money into if it was feasible as I don’t see them going anywhere but up. 

Good luck! I’ll be folllowing along and hope you find a great place!