This past week, a new listing came on the market on the Peninsula in Long Beach for $249,900.
At 396 square feet, it's a stand alone garage on a 773 sq. ft lot. And it always will be simply a garage. There is no possibility of adding living space, a second story or a bathroom.
In some parts of the country, you could buy a beautiful house for $250,000. In Long Beach, you could buy a small condo for this price or even a fixer of a house in areas far removed from the Peninsula.
When I saw the listing, I pictured potential buyers from other parts of the country looking online to see what kind of a house they could find in 90803 for under $250,000.
Unaware that our perfect weather and location commands a price premium, what must they think when they are expecting to find a house only to see that their budget will only allow a home for their cars?
I've been selling real estate in and around the Long Beach area for about 15 years and occasionally I get calls from people who dream of paying midwestern prices for a home by the sea."I'd like to be right by the beach," they tell me, "but I don't want to pay more than X." (The number changes but it often seems to be a bit below prevailing prices.)
Perhaps a little condo, I suggest. But no, typically these dreamers want a house.
A while back, a retired minister asked me to please give him a call if I came across a house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms under $400,000 within a couple blocks of the beach.
I told him it would take either a miracle or a time machine for me to find what he's seeking and he told me that God always provides.
I'm still looking.