Home Sweet (Guest) Home

One can find a home with a guest unit in Montecito for less than those featured here, but the focus with this group of homes is to ferret out estate-level properties with substantial homes (more than 5,000 sq ft), along with other amenities such as a swimming pool or tennis court, privacy, and most specific to this text: considerable guest accommodations. Additionally, all the following properties are within the Montecito Union School District. 

1417 East Mountain Drive: $4,000,000

Nestled on a private drive, this is one of the larger homes on the market in this price range. Worthy of note is the property’s neighborhood: a prime upper village location, surrounded by many more expensive homes, near the intersection of Picacho Lane and East Mountain Drive. 

The 5,100+ sq-ft main home was built in 1996 and features 5 bedrooms and 5+ bathrooms, mountain views, and a peek of the ocean. The guesthouse is adjacent to the 40-ft swimming pool and is private with a separate entrance. The property also includes an oversized 4-car garage, multi-car motor court, outdoor fireplace lounge, orchard and open yard with options for additional landscaping or hardscape to suit a new owner.

1167 Summit Road: $6,350,000

This estate home is on a level, nearly one-acre lot, just a few short blocks from Butterfly Beach and Montecito’s lower village. This historic home recently emerged from an elaborate restoration and offers modern spaces and desirable amenities. 

Enter the motor court and be impressed by the scale and style of the home’s façade. Inside, find more than 5,700 sq ft of living space, where the oversized kitchen-great room opens to the pool, grounds, and outdoor barbecue to create indoor-outdoor experiences. 

The open floor plan connects the spacious dining room to the living room and gardens beyond. Upstairs, the master suite enjoys peeks of the ocean. An attached guesthouse offers long-term potential accommodations for family and friends or to use as extra space for your own purposes. 

Throughout the grounds, delightful garden areas provide beautiful spaces to enjoy year-round blooms.

1570 East Valley Road: $7,495,000

Montecito’s Somerset Estate combines early 20th-century design with 21st-century conveniences. Much of the landscaping on the approximately 1.55-acre grounds is believed to be attributed to prominent landscape architect Lockwood de Forest, and alterations to the home were designed by iconic architect Lutah Maria Riggs at an earlier point in the home’s history. 

As one enters the 5,100+ sq-ft home, the foyer is complemented by a stately staircase leading to the second-floor master suite. The living room features a vaulted ceiling and large multi-pane and clerestory windows. Multiple French doors open to a terrace, spa, pool, gazebo, and gardens. The chef’s kitchen features a butler’s pantry. 

The upper-level master suite includes a sitting room, walk-in closet, dual bathrooms, and a bedroom with French doors to a balcony and expansive mountain views. 

The attached guest apartment offers privacy and features its own separate pool. There is an additional, separate guest house as well, all of this just a half-dozen properties away from the upper village and from Oprah Winfrey’s spread, in an area where homes have sold this year for as much as $14,000,000 and $35,000,000.

909 Lilac Drive: $7,495,000

This property offers many “market positive” features and amenities, including privacy, 5,600+ sq ft of single-level construction, a pool, guesthouse, and the ever-important ocean and mountain views, all on 2.93 acres in a prime, upper Lilac Drive location.

A gated and impressive tree-lined drive leads to the main residence. Enter the home and take in the scale, the 12-ft ceilings, the view-filled gallery, spacious living room, paneled library, dining room, cozy breakfast room, kitchen with adjacent sitting room, and office. The private master suite has dual baths and dual closets. 

The guesthouse is on the lower level of the property offering privacy, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with a living room that opens onto a trellised patio overlooking the sprawling lawn, rose garden, and citrus trees. There is a lap pool, a motor court, and a 4-car garage. Adding to the value, there is a well, plus a 15,000-gallon holding tank, and a generator.

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Please feel free to contact me regarding any Real Estate needs or to set up a showing with the listing agents of any properties featured here: Mark@Villagesite.com or call/text (805) 698-2174. Please view my website, www.MontecitoBestBuys.com, from which this article is based.