As I have been saying in my last few letters, after a few turbulent years, the real estate market is settling back to some form of normalcy (thank you Warren Harding).  Interest rates are down to just north of 6% for a 30-year fixed rate, and even better for a shorter fixed rate term.  This, and the number of homeowners reluctant to give up their 2.9% refinance obtained a few years ago, has resulted in the number of single family homes on the Peninsula remaining unchanged from a year ago at about 145 . . . which is still low by historic standards.  All of this has tended to support prices.  Average time on the market is statistically 103 days tho that number is squishy, as it depends on agent reporting habits and MLS rules.  If you have questions about it, call me. 

Overall prices have been on a very slight downward trend – so slight that you can’t prove it with statistics.  The problem with statistics is that they are subject to distortion due to a) every house being different, b) dollars-per-square-foot being notoriously inaccurate for reasons I’ve discussed before, and c) depending on the length of time or size of the area in the sample, too few transactions to counter-act one anomaly.

One of the most common beliefs in real estate (apart from the notion that a room has to have a closet to be called a bedroom, which it doesn’t) is that Fall is a bad time to sell, while Springtime is the best.  Here’s the deal: those promoting Spring as the best time are generally reacting to the statistics which show (correctly) that the most sales happen in the Spring, ergo (hey, I’m trying to get some benefit out of years of college Latin) that’s the time to sell.  But think of it from the point of view of you, the seller: there are lots of houses on the market in the Spring.  Would you rather sell at a time when the market is flooded with houses competing with yours, or when there are few houses on the market, and plenty of buyers competing for them?  All else being equal, for you the seller, clearly the latter is a better environment.  And buyers shopping during the holidays generally have a reason and are more motivated.  But many sellers simply don’t want to deal with their house being on the market as the holidays approach and that, combined with the myth that it’s a bad time to sell, creates a sort of self-fulfilling result; ie, more houses for sale (and more buyers looking) equals more sales, while fewer of each equals fewer sales.  You the seller don’t (or shouldn’t) care about how many other houses are selling; you care about your house, and selling at a time when there aren’t 18 similar houses for buyers to choose from will, all else being equal, yield a better result.  I understand that there are many factors that influence your timing, but this should be one of them.

Give me a call if you’d like to discuss anything from real estate to Renaissance polyphony to military history – 310 613-1076 or email at DanaHGraham@cs.com.  My website (DanaGraham.com) is currently experiencing a technical glitch which will hopefully be solved by the time you get this.

The post November 2025 Newsletter appeared first on Dana Graham.

In my last letter I briefly discussed the change in the market that began in Spring with a boatload of new listings hitting the market – far in excess of any I can recall in the last 40 years.  As a result of that and other factors, and after a few years of what is commonly referred to as a “buyer’s market”, the things have settled back into balance.  If you’re a seller, you can no longer put your house up for sale at any price and expect action.  As has historically been the case, you now have to be in the 25% or so of the listings that offer the best value – and I know this is subjective and includes a lot of variables.  You should rely on your agent’s recommendation on price.

On that subject, among the sellers I have interviewed in the last 5 or so months were two inheritors of their family homes, both of which needed work.  They did not take my recommendation (to do minimal fix-up get the house on the market while it was hot), but rather fell for the pitch of spending lots of money and months fixing it up.  Meanwhile, of course, the market has gotten softer, which is what I was concerned about.  Neither has sold and they are unlikely to come out as well, after deducting what they spent, as they would have had they just followed my advice.  Just sayin’.

I’m sure you’ve seen all the designations that Realtors attach to their names – Senior Specialist, Residential Specialist, Probate, Trust, or this, that, or the other “Specialist”.  Selling a house for a “senior”, “trust”, or most of the rest of them is not enough different from a standard sale for you to make that a factor in your selection of an agent.  A Probate is a little different, but an experienced agent (the kind you want) should be prepared for that, and choose wisely.

The designation that bugs me the most is “Palos Verdes Specialist”.  In order to acquire this label, the agent must attend a 3-day class on Palos Verdes history, geography, etc.  3 DAYS!  I’m sorry, but to those of us who have lived and worked  here for decades this is, to say the least, inadequate.  This came about around 15 years ago when the PV Multiple Listing Service merged with others in the South Bay, to give those agents who actually needed a map to find their way around in PV, easy access to your home.  This was clearly a mistake, as I pointed out at the time, and we were inundated with outside agents, map in hand.  To give these agents the veneer of Palos Verdes credibility, this designation was offered.  I’m sorry, but unless an agent has this (or anywhere) as his primary area of focus, no 3 day class is going to help.

I’ve got a new one coming up at 5118 Willow Wood in Rolling Hills Estates – 3062 square foot 5 bedroom 3 bath home on a 13,508 square foot mostly usable lot, and a lovely view, being sold by the long-time owner.  If you’re looking for a home with good bones to remodel to your taste, don’t miss this one.  Priced at only $1,895,000, so don’t wait.

Thank you again for your loyalty over the last 40 years.  Feel free to call or text me at 310 613-1076, email at DanaHGraham@cs.com, and visit my website (www.DanaGraham.com) for first-hand Palos Verdes history, real estate article I’ve written, and my latest listings.

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I know the real estate market isn’t the first thing you think about, but don’t worry because it is for me.  For the last few years, really starting with covid in early 2021, the market has favored sellers to one degree or another.  I have discussed that in previous newsletters.  That pendulum (at least in PV) has now swung back to about an even balance between buyers and sellers, receiving a big shove this past Spring when the largest number of new listings that I can recall in my 40 years in the business hit the market.  This gave buyers many more choices.

Whether you’re a buyer or seller, and as mundane as this may sound, one of the newer developments we’ll have to deal with is insurance, which has been increasingly hard to get in recent years.  The first thing that happened a few years ago was that the California Insurance Commissioner, apparently wanting to be a hero, put severe limits on premium increases and rates in general.  I’m sure it came as a shock to him when many insurance companies, in business to make money, simply stopped doing business in California, thereby reducing competition.  Then there were the fires, making some areas of California less attractive to insurers, and causing steep premium increases among those carriers still operating in California.  If you are selling or buying a house with a wood roof, it’s just tons of fun for the buyer to get insurance.  I can remember when the PV Art Jury would only allow wood or Spanish tile roofs because they didn’t like the look of some of the early synthetic roof material.  We used to joke that they didn’t care if the house burned down as long as it looked good in the process.  Well, no joke now – wood roofs are anathema to the insurance companies, and since the lenders require insurance to make the buyer’s loan, unless the buyer is paying cash, no insurance, no sale.  I’ve got a couple of work-arounds.  Buying or selling, it’s important to have a Realtor who’s been thru this and pretty much anything else you can think of which, in 40 years, I have.

And speaking of the Art Jury, I know people have liked to bad-mouth them for as long as I can remember, but I have to say that their interface with the public has never been as lousy as it is now.  Used to be that you could just walk in during business hours and take care of whatever business you had with them, but not now – you either stand in line between 9 and 10 am or you make an appointment.  One of the services I always provided my clients was to look at the plans for your house so we know what to expect.  They now charge $350 for that – not to take them, not to get them copied, but just to stand at the counter and look at them!  There used to be a report called Completion and Compliance, where they would visit the property and note any discrepancies between the plans and what they observed, so the buyer would know.  Took about 10 days and local agents nearly always included it (out of area agents rarely knew about it).  It can now take 6 months and is almost never obtained — by the time it’s received your escrow has closed and the thing is moot.  From here, it appears that the Bean Counters have taken over and have retreated to the Ivory Tower.  If you own property in PVE, remember this next time there are elections for the PV Homes Association.

So onward and upward.  Give me a call at 310 613-1076 and/or visit my website (DanaGraham.com) for the latest.

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