Torrance real estate and homes for sale
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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.
Please note that these propositions are no longer in effect and have been replaced by the information in Prop 19 in 
Calfornia
**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
Torrance saw a nice jump in home sales with a 154 recorded property sales for August of 2017. Overall the South Bay 
trended up from the previous year in terms of median home prices with only a few local cities seeing a decrease in y over year prices.
Torrance saw a median home price of just under $700,000 and the numbers continue to trend upward. To see all of the home sales in Torrance and the cities below visit our recent home sales page.
| City | Homes Sold |
August 2017 Median |
August 2016 Median |
Year over Year % Change% |
| Carson | 52 | $470,000 | $450,000 | 4.3% |
| El Segundo | 15 | $1,235,000 | $1,075,000 | 14.9% |
| Gardena | 53 | $495,000 | $472,000 | 4.9% |
| Harbor City | 20 | $521,000 | $522,000 | -.2% |
| Hawthorne | 45 | $583,000 | $575,000 | 1.4% |
| Hermosa Beach | 22 | $1,358,000 | $1,723,000 | 21.2% |
| Lawndale | 17 | $460,000 | $498,000 | -7.5% |
| Lomita | 19 | $610,000 | $619,000 | -1.5% |
| Long Beach | 404 | $490,000 | $463,000 | 5.9% |
| Manhattan Beach | 36 | $2,230,000 | $1,815,000 | 22.9% |
| Marina Del Rey | 37 | $940,000 | $1,059,000 | -11.2% |
| Palos Verdes Estates | 37 | $1,545,000 | $1,413,000 | 9.4% |
| Playa Del Rey | 27 | $625,000 | $623,000 | .3% |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | 60 | $1,088,000 | $1,065,000 | 2.2% |
| Redondo Beach | 118 | $975,000 | $969,000 | .6% |
| San Pedro | 78 | $572,000 | $481,000 | 19% |
| Torrance | 154 | $698,000 | $645,000 | 8.2% |
| Westchester | 50 | $1,180,000 | $1,093,000 | 8% |
Selling your home in Torrance can be a stressful process. Making the decision to sell, preparing the home for sale, keeping it clean, dealing
with showings and open house, search for the right buyer, negotiating offers, and going through the escrow and inspection process…all of these steps can be challenging, stressful and inconvenient. Selling a home both a huge financial transaction but also a very emotional process.
With the help of the right realtor you can get it done, and it may even be easier than you anticipate. Keep in mind that you’re not alone. An experienced, professional real estate agent can guide you through the process, help resolve any issues that come up, and ensure that your home sells for the optimal price in a timely manner. It’s critical to find a realtor that you trust as it will make the process far less stressful. Here are some of the steps:
Like choosing any service professional it’s important to do your homework before deciding on a real estate agent. Your home purchase or sale likely represents one of the most significant financial transactions of your life, and you definitely want to find the right person for you. Not all sellers are the same and not all realtors are the same….find the right match is important.
Abilities, production and knowledge matter. You want someone with experience, knowledge of your home, neighborhood and market, and a Realtor with a proven track record of successful closings. Keep in mind that you pay most agents the same commission so do your homework and find out which agents do more, sell more, and have a record of success. Also read online reviews and ask around. See our reviews and testimonials on Zillow and Yelp
When you want to sell your home, one of the most important steps is setting a price. To best determine what your home is really worth, you’ll need to put aside your personal feelings about the home and ask yourself what homebuyers may actually be willing to pay. It is usually detrimental to base your asking price on emotion and can actually cost you in the long run. Although the home means a great deal to you, homebuyers aren’t likely to take that into account. Unfortunately what are upgrades to some, may mean some remodeling to others. Let your realtor give you their honest and professional opinion based on homes they’ve seen, market conditions and a realistic understanding of how potential buyers will see the home.
Market conditions are likely to have the most significant impact on the sale price of your home, so take note of whether the homes in your area are priced high or low and if they’re selling quickly. Successful realtors will know how your home compares with other homes on the market and recent sales. This unbiased opinion is critical in coming up with the market value of your home
Feel free to contact me for an opinion of your Torrance home’s proper selling price. I can provide you with a marketing consultation and information about property values in your area. I have been one of the top agents in the Redondo area for over a decade and can use that experience and knowledge to help guide you successfully through the process from start to finish.
Once you decide to sell your home, you want the process to go quickly. But what do buyers want? It varies with the needs of each individual, but typically buyers are looking for a good neighborhood, good schools, a clean home that is priced appropriately.
You can’t control all of these factors, but there are some things you can do to make your home sell faster. Start by realizing that you’re competing with other sellers, so your price must be competitive. If it’s not, potential buyers are likely to take their business elsewhere. Ask your realtor to show you some competing homes and get a sense of why some homes sell quickly and others don’t.
You can also increase the perceived value of your home by adding a few welcoming touches and cleaning it up – both inside and out. Although you can’t do much to change your neighborhood, you can focus on the positive aspects of the area when speaking with potential buyers.
Find out more about Keith Kyle with Vista Sotheby’s International Real Estate or contact me via email, phone or text.
In this incredibly competitive real estate environment many homes are not even making it to the market. So how do you find out about these homes? First it’s important to understand just what we’re talking about.
What does off market or a pocket listing mean?
It can actually mean a few different things but in general, when we refer to homes sold off market or pocket listings these are homes that are never put on the MLS and therefore unknown to most buyers and many realtors. That means that searching the Redfins and Zillows of the world may mean that you’re not aware of these types of opportunities.
Why would a Torrance homeseller want to sell the home off market?
In general it’s not a great idea. Fewer buyers that know about the home usually means less competition and ultimately a lower sales price. That’s certainly not always the case but usually accurate to some extent. Sellers have many reasons for not wanting to put their home on the market. It may be due to privacy reasons such as not wanting the neighbor or even the tenant know that the home is for sale. It may be that they don’t want to deal with some of the hassles that come along with listing a home…..buyer’s and agents that want to show the home at all hours, open houses on the weekends and more people simply curious with few legitimate buyers. Whatever the reason it does limit the exposure and again usually limits the price.
That’s why it can be a good opportunity for buyers….less competition, fewer bidding wars which generally leads to a lower sales price.
How do I find out about these homes?
Unlike the MLS listings, off market, upcoming and pocket listings are much more elusive. The key is to work with an agent that has deep connections in the Torrance real estate market and community. Some of the top realtors in certain areas may share information on these hard to find opportunities and the larger or more numerous the seller and agent networks, the more information the agent can obtain.
We are happy to help you find off market homes in Torrance but this requires a good deal of work, considerable communication with sellers and agents and a readiness to act should the right home come available. If you would like us to help find off market opportunities and are not currently working with a realtor please feel free to text us at 310-251-2344 or email us with the details of your home search.
What a month it was for home sales in Torrance and the South Bay. Double digit year over year changes were the 
norm but there was really no sense to it with some cities seeing major increases over June of 2016 and some seeing just as major drops in home prices.
Real estate in Torrance CA was no different with another double digit jump for the median home prices compared with July of 2016. Torrance was actually a bit more moderate than other areas but still saw 113 homes close escrow in July with a median home price of just under $687,000 Click here to see the recent home sales in Torrance and the South Bay.
| City | Homes Sold | July 2017 Median | July 2016 Median | Year over Year % Change% |
| Carson | 60 | $480,000 | $445,000 | 8% |
| El Segundo | 20 | $1,055,000 | $1,310,000 | -19.5% |
| Gardena | 65 | $549,000 | $454,000 | 21% |
| Harbor City | 15 | $439,000 | $550,000 | -20.2% |
| Hawthorne | 35 | $730,000 | $562,000 | 30% |
| Hermosa Beach | 19 | $2,025,000 | $1,410,000 | 43.6% |
| Lawndale | 15 | $515,000 | $430,000 | 19.8% |
| Lomita | 21 | $598,000 | $585,000 | 2.1% |
| Long Beach | 331 | $520,000 | $471,500 | 10.3% |
| Manhattan Beach | 48 | $2,449,000 | $2,200,000 | 11.3% |
| Marina Del Rey | 36 | $921,000 | $974,000 | -5.4% |
| Palos Verdes Estates | 28 | $1558,000 | $1,800,000 | -13.4% |
| Playa Del Rey | 20 | $613,000 | $629,000 | -2.5% |
| Rancho Palos Verdes | 63 | $1,345,000 | $1,160,000 | 15.9% |
| Redondo Beach | 95 | $975,000 | $920,000 | 6% |
| San Pedro | 63 | $542,000 | $542,000 | 0% |
| Torrance | 113 | $687,000 | $617,000 | 11.4% |
| Westchester | 33 | $1,185,000 | $1,116,000 | 6.2% |