A home at 1604 S. Bay Front in Newport Beach was snapped up quickly and closed within six weeks of its listing.
The nearly 5,000-square-foot home was listed for $12.5 million in September and sold for $11 million.
The father-and-son team of Bing and David Girling—agents with Newport Beach HÔM Sotheby’s International Realty—represented the seller. The buyer’s agent was unlisted.
“The people that bought it were local, and they understood the market,” David Girling said.
The buyer owns other area properties and was familiar with the property, he added.
The property had a number of interested buyers, and the seller received multiple offers.
The home is on Little Balboa Island, a smaller island connected to Balboa Island by a two-lane bridge on Park Avenue. The home has 80 feet of waterfront, a rare find on the island.
The property had been owned by three generations of the same family since it was built in 1924, around the time when man-made Balboa Island was starting to fill out with homes. The most recent owners’ parents passed away within the past two years, prompting the out-of-state sellers to put the home up for sale.
The house saw only modest remodeling over the years. The front of the house was built in 1945. The back of the house is much the same as when it was built.
Balboa Sales
Sales on Balboa Island this year are set to surpass last year’s sales, said David Girling, who with his father, Bing, specializes in sales there.
Their Girling Real Estate Investment Group tracks home sale prices in Newport Beach with quarterly indexes.
“We use that to price our property,” David Girling said.
Through Sept. 30, 38 homes have sold on the island—which has 1,250 homes in total—compared to 42 homes sales last year. That puts this year within five home sales of topping last year’s total.
The biggest year of the past 11 was 2004, when 51 homes were sold on the island.
Last year was the second highest with 42 sales; the worst year was 2007, which saw 15 sales, followed by 2009 with 22 sales.
An average 33 Balboa homes per year were sold between 2000 and 2011.
About a dozen Balboa Island homes are for sale at present. There are usually 20 to 25 homes for sale on the island.
The supply of homes is low throughout Orange County, with 1,159 fewer homes for sale today, 24% lower than the prior record low set in March 2005, according to Steven Thomas’ Reports on Housing online tracking service.
David Girling reports that sellers have seen a noticeable improvement in the market, with prices rising a bit. But homeowners with the ability to wait still think they may be able get more for their homes if they wait, he added.
“I don’t think people are in a hurry to list their homes,” Girling said.
Girling began working together with his father about four years ago.
“I’d like to think we like to think we complement each other real well,” the younger Girling said.
Bing Girling retired as an Air Force pilot in 1978. That’s when David’s mother, who’s from Pasadena, insisted they settle on Balboa Island. The couple still lives there today.
Recent Transactions
Through Nov. 12, four homes priced $4 million and up have sold, according to Redfin.com. Fourteen homes were sold in October.
Recent transactions include:
• 40 Deep Sea in Newport Coast, which sold for $14.2 million, down from $17 million in February.
Rex McKown, an agent with Newport Beach-based Surterre Properties Inc., represented the seller. John Cain, an agent with HÔM Sotheby’s International Realty, represented the buyer.
The 13,542-square-foot ocean-view home has six bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.
• 31941 Monarch Crest in Laguna Niguel, which sold for $4.9 million—its listing price in September.
Ron Vasquez, an agent with First Team Real Estate, represented the seller. Jerry LaMott, an agent with Surterre Properties, represented the buyer.
The 7,875-square-foot ocean-view home in Pinnacles of Monarch Beach has five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
