I was very excited to see the article in the Wall Street Journal titled, ‘How Green is My Realtor’. So were a lot of other people I know, seeing that 4 people e-mailed it to me and 3 copies were placed on my desk at Village Properties. I am so proud that the EcoBroker program is getting press and more and more agents are signing up for it across the country.

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An opportunity to walk to Miramar beach from your own home and it is under $3,000,000! That’s right, our company’s listing at 43 Humphrey is now priced at $2,850,000 and just ready for the buyer who is looking for easy access to the beach. Some people may not be familiar with Humphrey Road which is a one lane “hamlet” with majestic trees in Montecito. The home is a beautifully remodeled vintage Craftsman with wood floors, two master suites, a charming living room and dining room and an updated kitchen just waiting for you and your friends to enjoy. You can live in it when you are here and rent it out for extra income when you are away. Take a look – you are in for a treat!

Think you can’t live in Santa Barbara for under under $650,000?  … Think again.

Let’s face it, who wouldn’t want to live or retire in Santa Barbara?  For many people, Real Estate prices in Santa Barbara seem so prohibitive, they are content to rent just to be here. Some are spending thousands of dollars on rent and receiving no equity in a property. There IS another way to have it all!!
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I don’t know if you have had a chance to see our Company’s listing on Glen Albyn above the Mission. If you haven’t, you should consider it.  The current price reduction as of today makes this house incredibly attractive at $1,395,000.  Some of the things that I really like about the home are; it has easily accessible flat parking – no small consideration in the Mission Canyon area; also the living room, dining room, kitchen and patio flow nicely together for good entertaining, but what really makes this home special is the additional living space that they have created for working out and guest space/media space. On top of all of that the house feels fresh, pretty and nicely presented. A lot for your money!

Yes – South Coast properties are still receiving multiple offers, even in today’s market!  And they aren’t located just in Montecito.  Santa Barbara is faring equally well in attracting Buyers looking for value and upside potential.

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Two of the old ranches, formally known as The Bargo Ranch and Corrales Ranch, sold last June in the prestigious Santa Ynez Valley as one. The over 3200 acres which was comprised of 18 legal parcels and sold for approximately $25 million with each parcel being recorded under separate LLC’s. This was reportedly the largest single real estate transaction ever for the area. There was a $24 million sale in 2006 and previous to that was Michael Jackson’s purchase of his 2800 acre Neverland Ranch, in the late 1980’s, which is believed to have been purchased for a sum closer to $20 million.

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Dr. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors recently said that “Commenting on the National Housing Market is like discussing the National Temperature…like the weather, all real estate is local.” This couldn’t be truer than in Santa Barbara where both our climate and real estate market are different than most parts of the country.

The news media paints a very bleak picture of the housing market with headlines talking about slumping sales, decreasing values, and a rampant escalation of foreclosures. However, it is important to consider the source of these headlines. The majority of television news media is targeted to a national audience and therefore is summarizing countrywide housing trends. Even local newspapers are primarily printing articles from wire services which again tout national statistics. Other media sources focus on California, but don’t generally provide relevance to the Santa Barbara real estate market which is behaving very differently than most other communities across the state. Sometimes you will hear or read reports about Santa Barbara County which can still be misleading because they include statistics that lump together Southern Santa Barbara County (Carpinteria through Goleta) with North County (Lompoc and Santa Maria). Even these two neighboring communities are currently experiencing very different real estate markets.

Here’s my take on the recent headlines as to how they apply to the Southern Santa Barbara County real estate market:

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