Laguna Beach Real Estate Blog

We get a lot of inquiries from Laguna Beach buyers wanting to know where the most expensive streets are located in Laguna Beach, California.  There are two ways to look at this, one is the actual highest price sales that have occurred on any given street in Laguna Beach.  The second way would be to look at the currently available homes for sale and determine the most expensive street currently for sale in Laguna Beach.  Historically, if you look at sales for the past 10 years there is a true winner for the most expensive street in Laguna Beach, namely "Emerald Bay."  Emerald Bay street in the gated community of Emerald Bay has the highest reported sold home in Laguna Beach for $19,00,000 located at 168 Emerald Bay.  There have been reported an even higher…

The real estate market in Laguna Beach has changed and we are starting to see more and more Laguna Beach home owners that are now open to carry back part of the note when purchasing a home in Laguna Beach.  Seller carry backs are not a new idea but have taken a back seat with the market was red hot.  Now with the market cool down, the idea of a seller doing a seller carry back has come back into fashion.  Keep in mind, each property is different and the amount that the seller is willing to carry back depends on a variety of things.  First, how much does the owner owe on the property?  If the property is owed free and clear then the seller has the potential to carry back the entire purchase amount if so desired.  If the sellers owes a certain amount on his

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One of the earliest communities built here in Laguna Beach was the luxury gated community of Emerald Bay.  Like Three Arch Bay, Emerald Bay located in North Laguna has a rich and long history of having some of the early homes built in Laguna Beach, California.  Back then, a lot of these homes were used as second residences as vacation homes.  A good example of these historic homes is a recent hometo come on the market in Emerald Bay with all the charm and personality you would expect from a historic home built in Southern California during the 1920's.  We specialize in the historic homes here in Laguna Beach and understand the nuances of these older homes.  Many of these homes are eligible for the Mills Act which gives historic homeowners tax breaks for…

If you are thinking about buying a luxury home in the Three Arch Bay community it's important to know what has sold in recent months.  For those not familiar with Laguna Beach Real Estate, Three Arch Bay is a upper end 24 hour guard gated community on the south side of Laguna Beach with oceanfront, ocean and coastline view homes.  Currently there are 20 listings on the market in Three Arch Bay ranging from $750,000 to $19,500,000.   Three of these homes are currently in escrow for the properties listed for $750.000, $2,395,000 and $8,988,000.  The two properties listed at $750,000 and $2,395,000 are ocean view properties located in the Upper Three Arch Bay community.  Finding a home in Three Arch Bay in the mid $700,000 range is a tremendous value for the

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Finding the most expensive gated communities in Laguna Beach, CA is easy if you know where to look.  Our Laguna Beach Real Estate agents work daily with Laguna Beach buyers wanting information on the most exclusive places to live.  One easy way to find the most expensive communities is to do a home search and see where the most expensive homes for sale are located.  An easier way is to talk with a local real estate expert who knows the inside story on the different communities to live in.  Here are the 5 most expensive communities.  1)  Emerald Bay, 2) Smithcliffs, 3) Three Arch Bay, 4) Irvine Cove, 5) Montage Residences.  It's not uncommon in any of these five communities to have homes for sale in the $5 million dollar range and up.  Montage Residences

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If you have lived in the Laguna Beach for any length of time you are familiar with the local designer Greg Abel.  The Abel name carries a lot of weight here in Southern California with wonderfully designed beach homes all throughout Orange County.  A newly listed home has come on the market that was designed by Greg Able in 1988 and features classic lines that take in the wonderful ocean views, now listed for $6,500,000.  The South Laguna Bluffs area is none for it's wonderful ocean view homes.  A birdseye view shows you the close proximity to the Secret Cove beach and situated just north of the Laguna Lido and south of the Montage Resort & Spa Residences in South Laguna Beach.  From this location there are many local shops and restaurants and some of the…

If you are very familiar with Laguna Beach, California you still may not know about the hidden Thousand Steps Beach area.  Thousand Steps Beach is the beach located just north of the Three Arch Bay beach in Laguna Beach, California.  Thousand Steps Beach is known for it's beach access off 9th Street & South Pacific Coast Highway that has many steep steps down to the beach.  The homes surrounding this area are prime oceanfront & beachfront properties in the South Laguna Beach area just south of the Montage Resort & Spa and typically sell for a just under $2 million for an ocean view property that is currently listed as a short sale to over $5 million for a stunning oceanfront home.  There are home located directly on the sand which makes this area very

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If you have ever dreamed of buying an oceanfront condo located directly above the sand then you will be happy to learn that prices have adjusted down.  Currently, there is one oceanfront condo for sale under the $900,000 range in Laguna Beach, California.  The property is located in the "Laguna Sands" oceanfront complex which was built in 1962 and offers great values for those looking to live by the beach.  One of the great features if this complex is the underground parking and direct elevator access to the units.  Laguna Sands is located in the South Laguna area just north of the Montage Resort & Spa Residences.   We are starting to see more and more distressed properties coming on the market in Laguna Beach and the affordability level for oceanfront…

In June 2011 we saw 25 properties close escrow from the periods of June 1, 2001 to June 30, 2011.  The lower Price homes ranged from $500,000 for a two bedroom/two bath condo located on Cliff Drive and $659,000 detached one bedroom single family home located on "Glenneyre" street.  The biggest sale we saw in June 2011 was an ocean view home located at 114 La Senda Drive in the gated community of Three Arch Bay in Laguna Beach.  The home featured four bedrooms, seven baths and over 4,200 square feet of living space according to the MLS Listing.  It was built in the Italian Villa style in 2006 and featured a large pool and great use of stone throughout the house.  Currently there are 406 homes on the market in Laguna Beach with 72 homes currently in backup…

From time to time we see properties come on the market in the Laguna Canyon area of Laguna Beach that had various kind of zoning regulations.  The normal regulations in most parts of Laguna Beach you will find is R1 which stands for a one family residential home.  R2, R3 & R4 housing can also be found in Laguna Beach which allows for duplex, triplex and fourplex properties respectively.  A newly listed homein the Laguna Canyon area has been listed with a M1A Zoning which allows for light industrial and some commercial uses of the property.  Listed as a short sale, these homes are sold "as-is" where the seller is not obligated to fix any problems that may exist with the property.  If you are looking for a property in Laguna Beach that allows you to do more…