Carol Gilles Realtor
Beach Cities Online — Your Trusted South Bay Real Estate Resource Led by award-winning Realtor® Carol Gilles, Beach Cities Online is your one-stop destination for buying or selling homes across Torrance, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Palos Verdes, and the greater South Bay area of Los Angeles.
With decades of local expertise, Carol helps buyers find their dream homes and sellers maximize their property value through personalized service, deep neighborhood knowledge, and proven results. Explore the latest MLS listings, discover detailed community guides, and get expert insights into the dynamic South Bay real estate market.
Whether you’re searching for a beachfront property in Redondo Beach, a family home in Central Torrance, or downsizing in Palos Verdes Estates, Carol Gilles and her team are here to guide you every step of the way.
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Testimonials
Don & Sherri Wright
Carol Gilles is the most amazing realtor we have ever met in our lifetime! She has been helping us buy and sell property for many years. Whether you’re looking for an investment, A forever home or just curious about the market Carol should be your first go to! Carol is a knowledgeable, intelligent, professional, caring, understanding and kind hearted! She will fight for you! We bought our Forever home when the market was extremely competitive and there were at least 12 offers per home. The market for homes by the beach are always very competitive, but at the time we were buying it was more competitive then usual! We got our home because she was quick, efficient and made it happen.Carol Is Dedicated to Helping You Check All The Boxes
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Real Estate Articles
Hawthorne Hits a Home Run With 360 Court Homes Completion
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Can an older city in the heart of the south bay hit a home run with a new style standard of living and lifestyle? Yes, you can and Hawthorne has done it with the completion of the Lyons Homes complex called 'The Court', located on...
In Torrance it is Out With the Old – in With the New
This December another South Bay landmark will go the way of Marineland, Torrance and Vermont Dirve Ins and the infamous Ascot Raceway. El Camino’s Murdock Stadium is scheduled to be demolished. This local stadium opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1949.
The new facility with a price tag of $37.2 mil will be completed by 2014. The project is paid for by your school bond money.
HAWTHORNE’S OWN “SPACE X” CAPSULE RETURNS AFTER SUCCESSFUL FIRST TRIP
Hawthorne has been a forward looking community, heavily involved in the Defense and Aerospace business since way before World War II and continues to get headlines with it's newest Aerospace success story. Space-X, a fairly new company located in Hawthorne is destined...
COMMUNITY OF HOLLY GLEN, A HIDDEN JEWEL IN HAWTHORNE
Holly Glen is a somewhat hidden jewel within the city of Hawthorne. Holly Glen is located east of Aviation Blvd. and north of Rosecrans. It has it’s own school district (Wiseburn School District) and is almost a little town all to itself.
There are some beautiful single family homes here, many have been remodeled and renovated in recent years. Property here is highly sought after and few of the original single family homes are ever for sale.
The beautiful new Fusion Town Homes near 149th street, east of Aviation, has several plans available and are formidably priced. The location is just minutes away from the famous South Bay beaches, great shopping, entertainment, employment centers and close to all freeways.
A FEW SIMPLE WAYS TO SAVE ENERGY
Here are some surprising ways to save energy around your South Bay home:
1 If you place lamps in the corners of your rooms, the walls help to reflect light out into the room.
2 Use a laptop computer instead of a desktop. A laptop uses 1/3 less energy.
3 Dont switch to a plasma flat screen it uses much more energy than an LCD.
4 Put a blanket on your water heater and turn down the temperature a little. A water heater blanket can save anywhere from 4% to almost 10% on the average water heating bill.
5 Using an electric stove? Turn off the burner before your finished cooking as the burner stays hot for awhile after you shut it off.
6 Spin laundry more. Let your washer spin the water out of the laundry, even if you have to spin it twice, it will save energy use in the dryer. Some new washers can cut energy in half by eliminating the time required for the dryer to run.
7 Shut off your refrigerators ice maker and use an ice tray or two. A refrigerator ice maker increases your energy consumption up to 20%. When you use ice trays, there is no increase in energy use or costs.
8 Use your dishwasher, it uses 1/3 of the hot water that you would use if you washed your dishes by hand.
TREES ADD UP TO 10% TO YOUR PROPERTY VALUE
TREE SAFETY
Does the severe weather of the past several years have you looking up at your trees in fear? It’s an understandable concern. A big storm could destroy the plants’ majesty in a flash — and send a quarter-ton branch crashing down onto your roof. Still, before you preemptively chip a favorite tree into mulch, consider this: It may be contributing 8% to 10% to your home’s value, according to Scott Cullen of the Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers.
Here’s how to keep your leafy assets from becoming a liability.
Schedule regular upkeep
Have your trees inspected every five years or so — a free service offered by tree-care companies. An arborist will look for branches that are weak or hanging within 10 feet of a building, and send workers to remove them.
If necessary, they’ll also buttress the tree against high winds by cabling limbs together. All this work costs about $200 to $400 a tree and is typically needed only once a decade.
Related: Tips on homeowners insurance
In many cases the tree will more than cover the cost of its maintenance over a few years; a big shade tree will knock nearly $70 off annual air conditioning bills, says David Nowak of the U.S. Forest Service, and a large evergreen that blocks winter winds will reduce heating costs by around $60 a year.
Bonus: Trees also provide protection from road noise and basement flooding.
Get removal right
When a tree becomes diseased or dangerously overgrown given its proximity to a house, your arborist will recommend taking it down.
Removing a substantial tree could cost $2,000 to $5,000, depending on its size and whether it is accessible by truck or requires climbing — and what’s underneath that the crew must protect.
Related: 4 ways to save on landscaping
You can have the stump ground down to just below grass or mulch height for $50 to $200 more. Or carve a trough in the top, drill some drainage holes, and use it as a planter.
Invest in new growth
To replace an unsafe tree or propagate a bare lot, look for varieties that grow quickly and have compact spreads to minimize pruning headaches, says Charlotte, N.C., landscape architect J’Nell Bryson.
A local nursery can suggest good options and plant eight-footers for $250 to $500 each. In about a decade they could add tens of thousands to your property value, probably the best investment return you’ll ever make.
