In this article we continue our monthly reporting on completed sales of residential real estate in West Orange County. Unlike some other sources, we don’t use zip codes to combine Rossmoor and Los Alamitos, and we use our neighborhood level detail to separately report Leisure World and the other areas of Seal Beach. The City of Seal Beach is divided into College Park East, College Park West, Leisure World, Old Town, and the rest of Seal Beach, sometimes referred to by realtors as Seal Beach North of PCH.

In this article we report sales completed during July 2010. One important aspect of real estate reporting at OC180NEWS is that we consider price per square foot, sf, and not just total price. See other Real Estate articles below for our biweekly report on countywide trends in supply and demand for OC residential real estate.

Los Alamitos – Not Including Rossmoor
The average selling price for homes in Los Alamitos fell by 22% year over year for July. It’s true – in July 2009 the average selling price was a whopping $804,000, verses only $630,000 for July 2010. But, the sky is not falling; the homes sold last year were much larger. The average selling price per sf increased 28% during the same period.

Only two homes closed in Los Alamitos during both July 2009 and 2010. The 2010 sales were the homes located at 12091 Paseo Bonita and 11852 Cherry St. The Paseo Bonita home, with 3 bedrooms and 1 ¾ baths, sold for $540,000 after being on the market for 155 days. The Cherry St. home also has 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, but this house is considerably larger and sold for $720,000. It was on the market for 193 days.

As a very rough rule of thumb, the larger the home, the lower the price per sf. The two homes sold in Los Al last July were both much larger than the two sold this year. The average selling price per sf in July 2009 was only $300.17, compared to $384.34 this year. That represents a 28% increase.

Rossmoor
The number of sales closed in July for Rossmoor fell by 33% July over July, but both average selling price per sf and total selling price increased. The average selling price per sf in July 2010 was $346.16, an increase of 4% over last year. The average total selling price was $865 012 for July 2010, verses $754,583 for July 2009, an increase of 15%. There were 10 sales closed this year, verses 15 last July.

The Rossmoor home with the highest selling price per sf in July 2010 is the property at 3242 Bradbury Road which sold for $433.79 per sf. This home seems to be a classic original Rossmoor home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,448 sf, and a lot of 7,210 sf. This property sold for $628,125 after being on the market for only 39 days.

By way of contrast, the home at 2921 Aceca Dr was the most expensive July sale in terms of total selling price, and it was also the sale with the lowest price per sf. This 4 bedroom home has a grand total of 4,142 sf – almost triple the original sizes - on an average 7,854 sf lot. This property was first listed at $1,390,000 and sold for $1,350,000 after only 71 days on the market. This is a very quick sale for a home in this price range. The selling price per sf was $325.93.

Seal Beach College Park East
The average selling price per sf for July 2010 shot up to $319.06, an increase of 30% over the 2009 price of 246.09. There were 3 sales in 2010 and 5 last year. Both years had one low priced sale which brought down the averages. The average total selling price for July 2010 was $727,000, 12% higher than the 2009 average of $650,980.

The College Park East July 2010 selling prices ranged from $693,000 for the house at 3851 Daisy Cir, to $750,000 for the property at 3880 Wisteria. The Daisy Cir, home actually sold for more than the listing price of $689,000. This home sold for the lowest price per sf - 265.01 - and was on the market for only 47 days.

Seal Beach College Park West
There was only one house sold in July 2010 in College Park West and no sales closed last July. The sale this year was the property at 189 Stanford Ln, which sold for $670,000. This 5 bedroom 2 baths home has 1976 sf and sits on a typical 5,200 sf lot. The selling price per sf was $339.07 after being on the market for 60 days.

Seal Beach Old Town
Only one home closed in both July 2010 and July 2009 in Old Town. The July 2010 sale was the small house at 255 5th St, which has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and 1,106 total sf and sits on a 2937 sf lot. This property sold for $725,000 after being on the market for 70 days. It was first listed for $875,000. The selling price per sf was $655.52.

The property at 1701 Electric Ave closed in July 2009 for a total selling price of $1,090,000 after being on the market for 74 days. This large home has 4 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths, total sf of 2,864, and a lot size of 3,049 sf. The selling price was $380.59 per sf.
Leisure World
Although there were about half the number of units sold in Leisure World in July 2010 verses one year ago, the prices were pretty stable. The average selling price per sf increased to $155.52, up 7% from $145.92 of July 2009. The average total selling price barely changed - $130,941 this year, compared to $130,603 last year.

Other Seal Beach aka North of PCH
You might get a real shock if you looked at average total selling prices for Seal Beach North of PCH – they fell by a jaw dropping 63%, July over July. Not to worry, the house sold in July 2009 was very large and is located on one of the largest lots in West OC. The two homes sold this July are closer to average size. Even though there were huge differences between both the house sizes and the lot sizes, the selling prices per sf were very comparable.

One of the two homes sold this July is located at 1600 Emerald Cove Way. It has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, total sf of 1,246, and a lot size of 5,000. The lot size is about average, while the total house size is a little on the small side. It sold for $590,000 after being on the market for almost six months. It was first listed for $649,999. The selling price per sf was $473.52,

The other home sold this July is at 633 Sandpiper Dr. It sold for $705,000 after being listed for $685,000. With 1,416 sf, the selling price per sf was $497.88.

The average selling price per sf of these two homes was $485.70, 11% higher than the same number for the one home which sold in July 2009. The property which sold last year is located at 901 Blue Heron. This 6 bedroom home has 4,000 sf and a lot size of 11,465 sf, more than double the typical lot size. This property sold last year for a total of $1,750,000, or $437.5 per sf.

All of the real estate data in this article was supplied by Glenn Gaspar, REALTOR® with First American Team Realty, Inc. OC180NEWS thanks Glenn for providing the data and his expertise without which this article would not be possible.

Glenn may be reached at:
Glenn Gaspar
First American Team Realty
DRE License #01048604
(714) 612-0995
(562) 427-7765 ext: 144
http://www.glenngaspar.com/

Return to www.OC180NEWS.com next Monday for our continuing biweekly series on countywide residential real estate supply and demand trends.