Falling into Fall
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   November 9, 2021

As the weather teases us between hot and cold, and as the first rain falls and the clocks prepare to turn back time, we start looking ahead to the holidays, a new year, and we say hello to a lot of new neighbors. By my estimate, in the past 18 months we have seen approximately […]

The Eight-Figure Market Slows, Leaving More Options for Prospective Buyers
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   August 12, 2021

As we kick summer into high gear and the fog fights with the sun for control of the day, the real estate market in Montecito remains robust, yet leveling off to a more normal number we are used to seeing in past years. Additionally, we are seeing fewer sales recently in the over $10 million […]

 

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Nothing More Important than Home
By Nick Masuda   |   August 12, 2021

Over the past 18 months, the world has been put on its axis, not knowing which way it would spin due to a health crisis that is not only deadly, but unpredictable. But it has done one thing — it’s emphasized the importance of having a place to call home. Whether it be a studio […]

Mid-Year Montecito Market Update
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   August 12, 2021

The real estate market in Montecito continues to exceed any and all expectations, creating records in both prices and number of sales. The first six months of the year have been incredibly active, with 140 homes* closing since January 1. This is nearly double the amount we saw last year, when 79 homes traded hands […]

Real Estate 2021: A Record-Breaking Year
By Nick Masuda   |   August 5, 2021

A deep dive into real estate’s incredible first half of 2021, and the trends it has kickstarted in Montecito

Montecito Market Movement and a Few Best Buys to Boot
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   July 22, 2021

In pre-COVID times, one could buy a very nice home with 2,000 – 3,000 square feet of living space on a larger lot (over half-acre) or in a prime spot or beach area, for around $2 to $2.5 million. I can point to dozens of closed comps just two years ago, that illustrate how these […]

Let the Shows Begin!
By Richard Mineards   |   July 15, 2021

Santa Barbara’s venerable Granada Theatre is back in business! The eight-story icon that towers over State Street, originally built in 1873 and rebuilt in 1924, has been eerily silent for the past 15 months, other than intermittent audience-free video filming by the Santa Barbara Symphony under maestro Nir Kabaretti. But it will finally be all […]

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  • Montecito Best Buys: The $20s… Million, That Is
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   July 1, 2021

    In addition to more than double normal sales volume for the past 15 months, there have been more sales over $20 million in the past year or so than at any other time in history. Sales in the $20s have happened in the past, and a very few have sold at more than $20,000,000 in […]

    Market Mayhem: ‘Migration Movement’ to Our Paradise Continues
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   April 29, 2021

    At this point I am unsure of whether we will see enough new listings hit the market in Montecito before the last house goes up for sale and is sold. That won’t happen — will it? — but if you follow the numbers, it’s not impossible.  As of right now we only have about 47 […]

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    Montecito Has Been Discovered
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   April 8, 2021

    Something tells me that times they are a-changing in Montecito… Whether it’s the 50-plus cars I saw at both the Hot Springs and San Ysidro Trailheads on the same day recently, or that I could not find a parking spot at sunset near Butterfly Beach on a weekday in March, or the fact that booking […]

    Montecito Heat
    By Michael Phillips   |   April 5, 2021

    The Montecito Heat Index measures demand for Montecito single-family homes in five price sectors. By identifying demand, (contracts to purchase), rather than sales, (closed escrows) we create a forward-looking indicator of market strength. And since real estate activity fluctuates seasonally, today’s Heat score is compared to this date last year. All data are from the […]

    Needles in a Haystack
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   March 11, 2021

    Considering there are fewer homes in the Multiple Listing Service (the MLS, which feeds Realtor.com, Zillow, and others) than at any other time in the past 20 years, I feel it’s an interesting time to pause and ask (as others often ask me), what’s next in our real estate market?  Will the buyers who find […]

    Four Homes Looking for Their New Owner
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   February 18, 2021

    The desire of so many to purchase a home in Montecito, along with the phenomenal number of homes sold and sales over ten million dollars this past year, has been covered at length in many local and national publications. This rush to buy has left Montecito’s Real Estate market with very few homes for sale, […]

    A New Year, but Not a Lot of New Listings
    By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   February 4, 2021

    We will likely start February off much as we started January, with very few homes available for sale in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in Montecito. As of January 23, there were only 76 homes and condos on the market in all of Montecito and the entire 93108 zip code, when normally there would be […]

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