Editor's Note: Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, California real estate expert Cindy Shearin updates us on the areas' market in this exclusive Q&A.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Shearin Group
Haute Residence: What do you ask clients to not have displayed when showing their home for sale?
Cindy Shearin: It’s become fairly common knowledge to remove personal items like family photos and those adorable macaroni sculptures your kids make at school when you are preparing your home for market. This is so the potential buyers can visualize themselves living in your home. Likewise, an overall decluttering of knickknack items, books, and papers are top of the list before your first showing. However, for the best return, a great agent will truly set the stage for buyers by actually ‘staging’ your home. The Shearin Group goes the extra mile in this department. We can rearrange furniture, repurpose your special pieces, and add little touches by selecting new accessories, throw pillows, and flowers to maximize space and flow all while making your home more updated and stylish. We can also organize one's space to be painted, complete or minor remodels, or we can completely remove existing furniture for a full professional staging in the latest trends to fit your home’s style. We also stage the outdoor areas of one’s home because outdoor living is so important to South Bay residents.
Staged properly, a home will bring top dollar when it is at it’s best.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Shearin Group
HR: How did the second quarter of 2020 real estate perform in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach's market?
CS: Our second quarter of 2020 has been a great success with multiple properties sold including a Hermosa Beach Strand property, a Manhattan Beach Hill Section home, and we have numerous homes currently in escrow now. We are also seeing rapid growth in our Interior Design & Development department with six custom builds currently under construction and several more on the horizon to start later this year. We are so grateful for this growth as we love to help our clients create their dream homes.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Shearin Group
HR: Is it currently a buyer or seller’s market in your market?
CS: Right now, it is a seller’s market. In Manhattan Beach, we currently have a 1.9 month supply of inventory. Likewise, we are seeing multiple offers on just about every home below the mid-price point in Manhattan Beach, which is presently $3.5-$4 million.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Shearin Group
HR: What do you love about the housing market in your area?
CS: The South Bay is a market that is perpetually hot making it a great area to represent. Manhattan Beach specifically was recently rated the #1 city in which to live in the USA by 24/7 Wall Street and for good reason. Our year-round perfect weather, gorgeous beaches, great schools, fun downtown area & pier, plus the village-like shopping area which is full of great boutiques and some of the best restaurants in LA County.
Being an agent in the South Bay for the past thirty years has earned me the title as a ‘generational agent’. I have developed many relationships with clients who purchased with me multiple times, and now their children and often their grandchildren also work with me. The South Bay is a community where families desire to ultimately make home. Multi-generations will settle here together in this special place and tend to move around the South Bay vs. relocating. Over the years, I have only had a short list of clients relocate to other states, with numerous ones relocating back to our area. Likewise, many young adults will move to the East Coast for college and stay for a while, but eventually, they return.
The South Bay is truly a multi-generational community and therefore has something for everyone.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of The Shearin Group
