Real estate 2016: What to watch for
Flexible, multipurpose, bonus: Whatever these rooms may be called, they can help sell a house.
That’s what Michael Johnson, a Villa Real Estate agent specializing in coastal market listings, found to be popular with today’s homebuyers in Laguna Beach.
Johnson, the newly chosen president of the Laguna Board of Realtors, offered to give his views on real estate trends in the city. The association provides services and resources to Laguna Beach real estate agents.
He said flexibility in how a buyer can use a home has become a big demand in the Laguna Beach real estate market over the past five years, because of aging baby boomers and others seeking versatile living space.
A flex room might be described as an interior configuration that can change to adapt to the needs of the homeowner. This may mean space that can be transformed into a guest room, play room, office or media room at any particular time.
Retirees and young single adults may opt to live with family but in a home that has segregated space that allows for privacy. The separate space could also be rented out at another time if need be.
And consumers don’t mind sacrificing square footage for a house that has or can be designed to have spaces that serve the buyer’s intentions, he said.
Although a trend in the 1980s and ‘90s was to buy a bigger home in the then-growing Moreno Valley in Riverside County, Johnson said the trade-off for coastal buyers is a smaller house that looks like a conventional dwelling on the exterior but has interior spaces that can serve multiple uses like an office and bedroom.
Johnson cited just such an example: a 2,200-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms on Catalina Street, just blocks from city beaches and coves. It’s currently listed for $2.795 million.
The sellers of the three-story home, which was built in 1983, had reapportioned the space to suit their needs. They expanded the kitchen, turned the dining room into a media loft and used the living room as an extended dining room.
The third-story room functioned as hang-out space with a television and couch, though it could do double duty as a sleeping area, Johnson noted.
High-vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, a dry bar and two staircases were all upgrades intended not only to beautify the home but to make it “more conducive to human interaction,” Johnson said. The exterior’s patio and concrete driveway — made of pavers with artificial grass joints — offers outdoor party space.
Current Laguna Beach homebuyers typically work in Irvine, a driver of jobs in the technology, health and finance industries, Johnson said. They are interested in moving out of the hills to Laguna Beach because of the city’s charm and the ability to walk most places while being near the beach and top schools.
He said he has seen an increase in sales since 2011 and has good feelings about the coming year.
“It’s people with money who could afford to be anywhere and they choose to be here,” said Johnson. “There’s a strong desire to return to the villages here in Laguna Beach, and people want to go smaller and get that community vibe.”
Johnson, who was installed as president earlier this month, will serve a one-year term. Each year, a president is nominated by the outgoing president and faces approval by the Laguna Board of Realtors’ Board of Directors.
Frank Hufnagel, the 2015 president of the Laguna Board of Realtors and a real estate agent for Surterre Properties, said that during his tenure, the city’s residential real estate market was “interesting, dramatic and eventful.”
The year started with the lowest number of properties for sale in more than 24 months, prompting buyers to continue to drive up home prices. Prices approached the peak levels of 2007, but that shifted in late spring when buyers became cautious in light of the three-year increase in prices. He said there was less traffic at open houses, fewer showing requests and fewer offers.
“The new year, especially the spring time, brings a renewed sense of optimism to the real estate market,” Hufnagel said. “I would expect home prices to remain stable or slightly increase next year. All in all, if a property is in good condition, is correctly marketed and is priced fairly based on current market conditions, a homeowner can expect to find a buyer.”
According to online residential real estate site Trulia.com, the median sales price for homes in Laguna Beach for Sept. 15 to Dec. 15 was $1.825 million. The figures represent an increase of 22.7%, or $337,500, compared with the previous quarter and an increase of 14.1% compared with last year, Trulia said.
“This all sprouts out of valuing the location and what’s available,” Johnson said. “This city has such a sense of community, and that draws a lot of people in.”
