Dear Faithful Reader, I do hope you have enjoyed a joyous summer and are ready for the fall, as we head into this next season in our lovely enclave of Montecito. Although it is still summer on the tail end, the on-again, off-again love affair our area has with coastal low clouds and fog seems […]
Writing for a publication is a new adventure for me. I appreciate the opportunity from the Montecito Journal to share our recent and future activities and goals. The Birth of the Community Benefit Improvement District (CBID) In 2023, the Coast Village Association (CVA) and I reflected on a year of renewed focus on Santa Barbara’s […]
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“Estate Management.” You just know this is one of those deceptively tidy terms that contains worlds. Surely one approach to grasping the Estate Management space would be to put the question to an actual Estate Manager. “What constitutes a typical day?” Or maybe not. “Every single day is different,” says Kelly Warner with something like […]
A realtor friend of mine has a card on his desk from years ago. It’s an ad for a mortgage lender, long since out of business. On it there is a reflective sticker next to the words, “If you can fog this mirror, I can get you a loan.” Banks have failed, guidelines fluctuate frequently, […]
Climate change has accelerated the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. Insurers were on the hook for $108 billion in damages from catastrophes in 2023, down from $125 billion in 2022 but above the 10-year average of $89 billion. The long-term trend of increased catastrophes from climate change will show up in rising insurance rates. […]
Larry Wall sagely advised “Don’t wear roller skates to a tug of war.” Apparently, the United States Department of Justice and the National Association of REALTORS® did not listen. For decades, these two behemoths have played tug-of-war with the DOJ, asserting that the NAR’s commission-splitting agreements between its 1.4 million real estate agents, despite the […]
Village Properties, the largest independent real estate company in the Santa Barbara area, has launched a new division focused on commercial properties, the company recently announced. The Village Properties Commercial Group will provide specialized representation to clients looking to buy or sell multi-family dwellings, retail spaces, mixed-use buildings, and land for development or agriculture. “The […]
Jacob Guthrie, an incoming junior communication studies student, is not waiting for his Westmont degree to launch his own business. The young, tech-savvy entrepreneur, who turns 20 later this summer, founded 805MediaWorks, a marketing agency focused on Southern California’s thriving real estate market. The agency offers realtors, as well as other businesses, a wide range […]
In 2024, sales are up in Montecito – in both volume and prices. What a whopping start to 2024 for the high-end real estate market here in Montecito’s 93108. As I type, just 40 days into the new year, we have seen a total of 17 sales in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), with two […]
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Here is a deep dive into the state of the housing market in Montecito, Santa Barbara, and the Santa Ynez Valley, along with my predictions for 2024. Let’s look at the numbers. South Santa Barbara County Stats South Santa Barbara County (Goleta to Carpinteria) saw the sale of 1,011 homes and condos in 2023; this […]
Cheers to you all and Happy New Year, 2024! Thank you to the Montecito Journal team for providing me this forum, and to the readers who keep me on my toes to bring you the most up-to-date activity and trends month to month in our Montecito, 93108 Real Estate market. Throughout 2023 (much like at […]
Month after month, year after year I keep pinching myself when I realize we live in Montecito. Though we work hard and sometimes struggle to stay here, it is by no means an accident. We thought of all the places in the world (ok the southern West Coast) where we could raise our daughter and […]
Fewer sales, higher prices, steady as she goes… or is there a sales slowdown ahead? From this summer’s highest prices, yet slower than recent year’s summer sales volume, to now fall peaks and valleys and Ellen’s new fantasy listing, our market is one thing one month and another the next. What is consistent though, is […]
It was nice to wake up to sun this morning. We have had our share of ‘Faugust’ mornings and I’m still not sure summer fully happened. The long days of light are dimming yet it’s still lovely and soon will be less crowded on Coast Village Road on the weekends. Locals, get ready for September […]
