Tag archives: real estate
“Los Angeles in Three Great Houses” continues from last week. This final installment looks at the futuristic house of the city’s most colorful octogenarian: The Sheats-Goldstein House It’s the most famous bachelor pad in Los Angeles, a futuristic man cave of concrete and glass tucked into a slope above Beverly Hills. At the push of […]
“Los Angeles in Three Great Houses” continues from last week. This week’s installment looks at the house of a man for whom the California dream came true: The Doheny Mansion He had been a drifter, mule driver, fruit packer, and failed prospector – not the résumé you’d expect for the future richest man in America. […]
Cities and civilizations leave enduring footprints. Think of Egypt’s Pyramids, the rows of statues on Easter Island, the white columns of the Parthenon in Athens. But Los Angeles has an unhappy habit of knocking down its past, its iconic buildings and houses – paving paradise to put up a parking lot and leaving no trace […]
This week it’s all about the Montecito market, and I don’t mean the Upper Village grocery store. I’m talking about the Montecito real estate market. After months of low-housing inventory and lower, post-pandemic sales volume (OK, make that a year or so), we are finally seeing a restocking of the available homes for sale in […]
The rain has stopped and the sun has been shining for several days in a row now – which is a relief. Creeks are relaxing, as are residents. Montecito and her flood and debris flow prevention steps clearly worked during the larger storms that presented themselves this first quarter of 2023. What a wet and […]
If you are looking for a significant estate in Montecito and are willing and comfortable paying over $10,000,000 to get it, I would in normal years have 25 or 30 homes to show you, most of them in the $10 to $20 range… million that is. However, in the aftermath of the estate rush that […]
It’s 2023 and it already feels like a different world. So much steady rain filling reservoirs, cleaning streets (into the ocean sadly), giving us something to really celebrate in the new year. They say that when it is raining is actually a great time to see a home you are considering buying. Watching how the […]
The Montecito real estate market is still defined by high prices and low inventory. By the time this article hits the newsstands or your screen, it may indeed be Winter already, technically by the calendar anyway. However, it’s been cold like winter for a while now. Glad to have rain and weather. Local residents (and […]
Santa Barbara Choral Society, under veteran conductor Jo Anne Wasserman, was in fine form with its eighth annual Hallelujah Project at the Lobero, which also included Sing! program choral students from the Music Academy and pajama-clad president Scott Reed in a rocking chair reciting ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Accompanied by an orchestra, the enthusiastic […]
There’s a saying in the Real Estate business that, in considering the value of a property, only three things really matter: Location, Location, and Location. But, if that means where a place actually is, many factors enter into play – such as what it’s near, and not near. We are often reminded that “it’s a […]
We are experiencing a home remodel and new building renaissance in Montecito that I have not seen in my 20 years living here, nor in the 20 years prior when I would visit family in the area. Very few blocks are without construction of some sort. One thousand (give or take) new homeowners have bought […]
In Mark Hunt’s article “Ins and Outs: Montecito and Her Many Special Neighborhoods” (Real Estate Issue, August 4, 2022), he correctly states not all homes in 93108 are within Montecito, or either of its two school or special districts. Many Eucalyptus Hill homes are in the City of Santa Barbara. Eucalyptus Hill Improvement Association (EHIA) […]
The calendar may say that we are heading into fall, but the Montecito Real Estate market is not falling at all, not here in the 93108. It seems like full steam ahead for buyers looking to become part of this community. Taking a quick look back at August, there were only 12 sales reported in […]
As it enters its 26th year of business, Village Properties is celebrating an astounding $20 billion in gross sales volume. But the Santa Barbara County-based firm’s leaders say an even more meaningful number is 12,900, which reflects how many times they have paired people with a perfect space and represented sellers in maximizing property value. […]
January through June statistics are in, and the Santa Barbara South Coast real estate market is showing a stabilization, marked by increased inventory, fewer sales, a higher number of days on market, and fewer multiple offer situations. Median sales price remains high: $2.2M for the month of June, which is a slight bump from May’s […]
Montecito is a small town with a big presence, and it’s not just our famous residents… it’s this place. Just a mile or few from the ocean to the highest home on the hill. Nature all around. Creeks and hiking trails, small chic shops, and amazing restaurants, a reputation warranted and earned over the last […]
In response to this constantly swift-moving and uncertain real estate market – a statement that for most buyers and sellers sounds dramatic but is rather consistent for those of us who in work in the real estate industry – more and more we are seeing buyers get creative with the type of loans they use […]
As a broker and real estate attorney of nearly 30 years, one of the most common questions I face is how clients can best maximize their capital gains tax exclusions. Capital gains taxes are a tax on profits realized from the sale of highly appreciated real estate property, art, businesses, stocks, or other such assets. […]
Montecito has long had its eye on style and recently Summerland is becoming a hotbed for finding the design, décor, and items that adorn your bed and interior spaces. Here is a roundup of the designers and stores in the area that help make our homes feel like home. Marc Normand Gelinas Interior Design Marc […]
New to the area? Experiencing an ongoing issue at your home or in your neighborhood? There are people for that. The County of Santa Barbara has more than 4,000 employees that can help with everything from behavioral wellness to tax collection to County Fire and Sheriff’s operations. But knowing who to call for what can […]
