Alta Vista Laguna Beach

The Laguna Beach market has really changed in the last 12 months with it being one of the hottest real estate markets as seen in the last 10 years.  There is currently a huge shortage of real estate inventory and a strong buyer demand which typically results in higher real estate prices with multiple buyers bidding on the same property.  The condo market in Laguna Beach is no exception to this with currently only 13 condos listed for sale that range from $664,900 for a two bedroom condo in the Terraces community up to $7,499,000 for a three bedroom condo in the upscale Montage Beach Villas community.  If you are new to Laguna Beach there are a couple things to consider when buying a condo here.

First, the most affordable condos are often found in the

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One of the newest features added to our MLS is being able to view coming soon listings.  These properties are technically not active on the market and are in the pre-marketing stage of being put on the market.  The coming soon feature was added so agents can get there home available to other real estate agents and potential clients while they are getting their professional photos and other marketing materials together.  The advantage of doing it this way for agents is that the days on the market will not start counting until it's officially switches to active.  If you have been familiar with real estate for awhile these were commonly known as pocket listings where real estate agents would only share these potential properties to clients they are currently

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One of the hottest trends right now are 3D virtual home tours.  Since most showings are very limited agents in Laguna Beach are now making sure they every listing they have on the market comes with a virtual tour.  We checked all of the recent listings in Laguna Beach that have come on the market in the last week and every single one had a virtual tour.  The most popular virtual tour company by far is by Matterport which shows a 3D image of the property as if you were looking above the house and allows the consumer to walk through every single room as if they were at the house.  This makes a lot of sense since we have been getting a lot of calls lately of potential buyers asking for the virtual tour links of any given property.

One of the additional

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We were just contacted by a client who is looking for off market condos in the Laguna Beach area.  Her main criteria is that she wanted a condo with spectacular views with a lot of building amenities.  Right now is considered our off season as many owners have decided to take their home off the market for the holidays.  Our typical selling season starts right after the first of the year and continues through the end of September.  The months of October, November and December are normally slower even through homes continue to sell just at a slower pace.  Even though a lot of owners take their home off the market for the holidays doesn't mean that they don't want to sell anymore.  A good real estate agent will have access to these properties and be able to

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Buying a home in Laguna Beach can be tricky when deciding on which neighborhood to live and the best time to buy.  There are pros and cons to buying at different times of the year in Laguna Beach and often depends on how the current real estate market is doing.  It's first important to establish if the market is a buyers or a seller's market.  A buyers market means that homes will sit on the market longer than usual.  Buyers don't have to rush into buying a home and can often negotiate with the seller off the listing price.  In a seller's market properties are selling very fast and the owners are in control on who they sell it and the price they think the market will bear.  

Most of the homes in Laguna Beach will come on the market between January

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When Real Estate agents take a listing it is usually for a 6 or 12 month period.  Of course, this can be any length of time that the owner wants as we have seen it as short as one month when the owner really wants to get it sold right away.  After this set amount of time when the property does not sell it goes off the market and is considered an "expired listing."  Be prepared when this happens as dozens of real estate agents who's sole job is to call on expired listings will start calling you non-stop the morning after the home expires.  

These agents make a living trying to convince owners why their home didn't sell and to use them the next time around.  What most seller's don't realize is that these types of agents have very good phone skills but

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Laguna Beach is well known for having the highest concentration of contemporary homes than any other beach town in Southern California.  With a current inventory of 74 contemporary homes on the open market for sale, Laguna Beach is the ideal spot for those who love this architectural design.  The word "contemporary" conjures up images of sleek lines and walls of glass for some people while other consider contemporary as wide open spaces with lots of curves and angels to the walls.  In Laguna Beach you will find three different types of contemporary homes known as soft contemporary, ultra contemporary and your classic contemporary homes with many of these offering ocean views.

Ultra contemporary homes are to the extreme with hard angels and sleek

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Everyone from real estate agents to home buyers are talking about the low inventory of housing in Southern California and how frustrating it is to find a suitable property at a reasonable price in today's real estate market.  A lot of times these hidden gems may be out there but not visible on the open real estate market and hidden from being seen anywhere on the Internet.  Sometimes the best deals are those that are on "hold" status for one reason or another.

A real estate agent will put a home "on hold" for a wide range of reasons.  Sometimes seller's will have some kind of an emergency come up and still want to sell the home but are unable to cooperate with showings during a short period of times.  In other cases we see a lot of short sale and bank

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A wonderful contemporary ocean view home has come on the market in Laguna Beach and is located at 420 Alta Vista Way.   The stunning contemporary home is surrounded by unobstructed Ocean and Catalina views with no wires in sight. A true one of a kind architecturally designed property that features the finest wood, glass and slate finishes. If you love contemporary design then you will absolutely love this home.

As you enter the home you are greeted with a private courtyard with water features that leads to the double glass entry doors. I love this part of the property as you feel like you are in a private retreat with nobody around you.

The double glass door and walls of glass great you with a lot of light and let you know you are entering a home

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The Laguna Beach Real Estate market has seen some incredible deals in the past 30 days.  If you are a Laguna Beach home buyer wanting to get into the Laguna marketplace you are missing some really great deals!  In the past 30 days, we have seen 5 single family detached homes come on the market for under $490,000!  This is something we haven't seen in a long time and we are very excited for the change.  Of course, like anything else there is a huge numbers of buyers looking for homes in this price range so it's not surprising that all of these homes have already got accepted offers on them and have been acquired within a matter of days by savvy Laguna Beach homes buyers.  Unlike other parts of the country, there is a very active buyer pool for new listings…