Contents
A Map of Malibu’s Beaches: 16 Treasures Along PCH
Introduction
Welcome to Malibu
Chapter One
Brokers and Agents: Malibu’s Real Estate Scene
Chapter Two
Good Seller’s Agents Guard Your Privacy
Chapter Three
Finding the Best Seller’s Agent: Nine Important Questions to Ask
Chapter Four
A Beachfront Specialist Can Make You Millions
Chapter Five
Finding the Right Buyer’s Agent: The Top Four Questions to Ask
Chapter Six
Escrow: The Home Stretch
Chapter Seven
Getting the Most From Your Beachfront Lease
Chapter Eight
Malibu’s Beachfront: 27 Miles of World Famous Real Estate
Chapter Nine
Malibu’s Agents Have Seen it All
Excerpt
Welcome to Malibu
An Italian supermodel struts into a La Costa home. The celebrity is accompanied by her entourage: her real estate agent, business manager, and a friend. The seller’s agent introduces himself, his greeting is heard above the sound of waves that crash against the coast just a few feet away. The four gather in the living room as the sun’s rays reflect off of the Pacific Ocean and flood the interior space with Southern California light. Suddenly, a bird flies in from the deck. Its wings flutter back and forth feverishly, struggling to find its way to freedom. Unfortunately, any attempt to ascend to the sky is blocked by the plaster ceiling above. The agent panics, fearing that this regrettable event will spoil the celebrity’s experience.
Everyone tries to do something—one person runs around in circles, another waves his arms back and forth, and another jumps up to the ceiling—everyone except for the supermodel. On this day, her statuesque height is not only a gift to the runways of Paris, Milan, and Tokyo but also provides a blessing to the suffering bird. She stands still, reaches up to a corner, cups her hand, and gathers the animal in her palm. Then, in an act that would cause Mother Nature to watch with envy, she holds the bird near her bosom, walks to the deck, spreads her arms, and frees the feathered creature. Its wings spread as it makes its way toward the heavens.
Welcome to the world of Malibu beachfront real estate. As you’ll read throughout this book, Malibu’s beachfront definitely lives up to its reputation as being home to the rich and famous. Within these pages, you’ll get a look into what it’s like to buy and sell homes for Hollywood actors, heirs to multi-million dollar fortunes, and the foreign elite. By reading about what they do, you’ll learn how to make millions investing by the beach.
As a Malibu resident for 25 years and a beachfront real estate agent for over 15 years, I’m delighted to share my experience with you. Like most of you, my career journey has had many ups and downs and memorable experiences along the way.
My life in Malibu began in 1980 when my family moved to Malibu from Lake Tahoe, California. When I first arrived, I was a little lost. Malibu is known to be a tight knit community, and when my family and I began our lives here, I felt like an outsider. Fortunately, because of my interest in horses and my status as a stay-at-home mom, I quickly met others who shared the same lifestyle.
While living in Pointe Dume, I acquainted myself with my neighborhood. I recall talking with local horse owners and hearing them express their frustration about the new construction that threatened their trails. Many of these residents believed that they were being pushed out of their communities. Others would complain about their real estate transactions. They told me that their agents were not available when they needed them and weren’t acting aggressively enough to sell their homes.
After hearing the concerns of locals and witnessing changes within my neighborhood, I became interested in Malibu real estate. Over the course of eight years, as I raised my children, I knew my community well. I spent time learning about the real estate around me and met the residents who lived in my neighborhood. Then in 1989, I decided to become a real estate agent.
At that time, real estate agents were not as numerous as they are today. This is mainly because there wasn’t the lure of making lots of money that is currently bringing so many into this profession today. To be hired by a real estate broker at that time, you had to have something to offer—which, in real estate, meant that you had to have a home to sell.
When I started, my desire to get into real estate was certainly there, but all the wishing in the world did little to get me a listing to sell. So I found myself in a difficult situation: I wanted to get my career rolling, but without a home to sell, I couldn’t get a job as an agent.
I arranged to interview with a broker in Malibu. When he asked me the inevitable, whether I had a listing to sell, I had to come up with a creative answer. I told him yes—the home my family and I were currently living in. Immediately, I had an expensive Malibu listing, and I got hired.
Now that I was an agent with a home to sell, I needed clients. To generate leads, I began hosting open houses in my home. Every Sunday I would bake chocolate chip cookies, open my door to the Malibu community, and hope for the best. Some Sundays, I would have a plate full of cookies left over because only one person would visit. Other times, I would be glad that I had no visitors because of the strange people who seemed to gravitate into my home that day. Looking back, I recall that on frustrating days, when I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing and sat in my home alone, a visitor would walk in, say something kind and leave. That one person would make the effort worthwhile and would motivate me to continue.
Chapter 8
Malibu's Beachfront: 27 Miles of World-Famous Real Estate
From mudslides, storms, and floods to the occasional closure of Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu’s residents tolerate more than their share of unfavorable conditions. In fact, Malibu’s beachfront has a reputation the world over for not only its beauty but also its famous and resilient residents who call this place home. What surprises both residents and non-residents alike is that along this 27-mile stretch of PCH, there are almost 20 communities. In this chapter, I’ll describe each area’s key features.
Before I describe what each section is known for, there are three terms that you need to know: wet beach, dry beach, and partially dry beach. If these terms are new to you, they may sound odd. After all, isn’t a beach always wet? But as you’ll read, the difference between wet, dry, and partially dry is significant in terms of the value of a beachfront home.
In addition, an understanding of tides is essential when buying or selling beachfront property. When most people use the word tide, they are referring to the rise and fall of the sea level with respect to the land. There are two types of tides—high and low—and they usually occur twice a day. High tide is the maximum water level, and low tide is the minimum water level. Therefore, the word tide refers to the vertical change in the sea surface’s height during high and low tides.
The tides you see when you are at the beach mainly occur for two reasons. First, the gravitational pull of heavenly bodies, such as the moon and sun, make the tides change. The second cause of tides is not related to astronomical factors. The shape of the coastline, the depth of the water, the topography of the ocean floor, and the weather all work together to affect the tide.
What Are the Differences Between Wet, Partially Dry, and Dry Beaches?
Some of Malibu’s beach homes will not have dry sand to walk on unless the tides are extremely low; these beaches I’ll refer to as wet beaches.
Homes on partially dry beaches will be dry until the high tides come. These high-low tides will occur usually, but not always, twice a day.
The homes located on dry beaches are typically more expensive because they have more useable land and beachfront.
From East to West
Malibu’s beachfront runs along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). This main highway runs from east to west. This may seem strange, because most think that in Malibu, PCH runs south to north. When you look on a map, however, you’ll see that Malibu’s beachfront runs east to west. This is a big bonus for its beachfront residents. In fact, in commercial property, the most desirable place an employee would want her office is in the southwest corner of the building. Similarly, homes along Malibu’s coast can face the ocean and have sunlight all day without being directly hit by the sun’s rays in the morning or afternoon.
The major communities along Malibu’s beachfront are as follows:
1. Las Tunas
2. Big Rock
3. Las Flores
4. La Costa
5. Carbon Beach
6. Malibu Colony
7. Malibu Road
8. Latigo Shore Drive
9. Malibu Cove Colony
10. Escondido Beach
11. Paradise Cove
12. Pointe Dume Bluffs
13. Broad Beach
14. El Matador Beach
15. Encinal Bluffs
16. County Line
