The market has settled into something more balanced. Buyers finally have room to think before they decide, and sellers who price carefully and present their homes well are still finding smooth, fast sales.
Mortgage rates are sitting around 6.5 to 7 percent, though buyers often have more room to negotiate a lower effective rate than the headline number suggests. A 3-2-1 buydown, or a permanent rate buydown funded by the seller, can change the monthly math considerably.
If you're sitting on a rate from a few years ago, you're not alone in wondering what to do with it. A number of my clients have chosen to keep their current home as a rental while buying the next one, holding onto that rate and building equity in two places instead of one.
Altadena's Historic Highlands has just become the first historic district Los Angeles County has designated for an unincorporated community, a meaningful step for a neighborhood working to preserve its architectural character in the aftermath of the Eaton Fire.
In Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village is set to reopen on August 15, bringing back longtime tenants alongside a handful of new restaurants and shops. It's a real marker of how far the recovery has come since last year's wildfire.
In no particular order, and not all of them mine, a few properties worth knowing about right now: 13943 Margate Street in Sherman Oaks, 12085 Valleyheart Drive in Studio City, 4017 Nogales Drive in Tarzana, 23740 Killion Street in Woodland Hills, 12035 Navy Street in Mar Vista, 11237 Braddock Drive in Culver City's Park West, and 859 South Gretna Green Way in Brentwood.
A property on Duquesne Avenue in Culver City that I represented for the seller closed over asking and off market, a reminder that the right presentation still moves a house quickly, even in a slower market.
If you're curious about off-market opportunities anywhere from the Valley to the coast, reach out. That kind of access is exactly what I'm here for.