2440 Via Sonoma, Palos Verdes Estates: a remodeled Valmonte single-level that sold $170,250 over asking in three days

Sold

Via Sonoma is the street the rest of Valmonte is measured against, the one with the olive trees down both sides, and a finished single-level house on it does not stay on the market. 2440 Via Sonoma is a 1956 house of 2,427 square feet that Knightsbridge Development took down to the studs in 2014 and rebuilt with quarter-sawn oak floors, new plumbing and electrical, and a kitchen and bathrooms finished to a standard the street expects, on a wide 12,013 square foot lot with a pool, a spa and a rose garden. We listed it at $2,999,000 in the fall of 2023. It was in contract in three days and closed at $3,169,250 on November 8, $170,250 over the asking price, at $1,306 per square foot.

What was the house?

A single-level plan organized east to west. The wide lot allowed a new circular driveway at the front, and the front door opens to a formal living room with a view straight through Kolbe and Kolbe sliding doors to the yard and the pool. The west side of the house holds the kitchen, the family room, the dining area, a breakfast nook, the laundry and the garage; the east side holds three en suite bedrooms with garden views. The primary suite looks onto the yard and the fountain in the rose garden, and its bath has a separate walk-in shower and a soaking tub set in marble. Outside, a path of Palos Verdes stone and decomposed granite leads through the roses to a seating area, the pool and spa, a patio, an outdoor dining area and boxed gardens. Central air, a new epoxy garage floor and window treatments were in place, and the 2014 remodel had replaced the plumbing and electrical throughout.

What was the goal?

The full value of a finished house on the best-known street in Valmonte, and a fast sale. The stakes were the price: a remodel of this quality on Via Sonoma has few comparables, and the temptation is to price above the last sale and wait. The strategy was the opposite, to price at $2,999,000, a number the recent sales supported and one that would draw every buyer who had been waiting for a finished single-level on this street, and to open on one weekend so that they arrived together.

They did. The house was in contract in three days and closed at $3,169,250 on November 8, 2023, 5.7 percent over asking. The margin over the list price is the market’s own measure of what the remodel and the street were worth beyond the comparables.

What does the sale say about Valmonte?

That a turnkey single-level house on a wide lot in Valmonte, on the streets nearest the golf course, clears its asking price when it is priced to the record rather than above it, and that the buyer pool for finished houses here is deeper than the number of finished houses that come to market in a year. See Valmonte for the neighborhood, Palos Verdes Estates for the city, and our guide to the Art Jury for what a remodel of this scope involves in Palos Verdes Estates.

Update: sold

If you own a remodeled house in Valmonte, the question is not whether it will sell but what the record supports on day one, since that number is what produces the competition. Send Neil the address and we will tell you. The Sellers page describes how we launch a listing.

Sources

• California Regional MLS listing record, SB23183122; closing figures as reported to the MLS
• Valmonte; The Palos Verdes Art Jury: a buyer’s guide

Written October 2023; updated November 8, 2023. Property facts, list price and days on market are from the California Regional MLS listing record (SB23183122); the sale price and closing date are public record. Represented by Neil Chhabria, Chhabria Real Estate Company. This article is general real estate information about one sale, not tax, legal, lending or investment advice, and not a statement about the value of any other property.

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