Irvine Cove Laguna Beach

The Emerald Terrace neighborhood is filled with many contemporary home that over look the Pacific Ocean and offer stunning Catalina Island and sunset views.  The location is really ideal as it's situated in the upscale North Laguna area that is well regarded as one of the most desirable sections of town to live.  Because of this it is also features some of the most expensive homes for sale with top gated communities like Irvine Cove and Emerald Bay where homes listed over $20 million dollars is not uncommon.  The Emerald Terrace neighborhood dates back to the 1950's and early 60's when many of these houses were built.  During this period many considered these beach vacation properties and were often residents from the greater Los Angeles area.  Over the

North Laguna offers several locations where you can find beach front homes located directly on the sand.  This area offers some of the most expensive homes in all of Orange County with beach front homes offered for as high as $49.5 million dollars.  The two communities where you can find these beachfront homes is the Irvine Cove and Emerald Bay neighborhoods.  Irvine Cove is home to the Irvine Family who own a small section of the neighborhood and have a private beach for themselves.  The rest of the community is a mixture of homes located on the sand and in the hills offering wonderful views of the ocean.  The Irvine Cove community is one of the most private neighborhoods in Laguna Beach with it's own secluded cove beach and guard gated entrance.  There

The Laguna Beach Real Estate market was in full swing in 2014 as home sales continued to rise and the luxury home market saw some really big sales this year.  The most expensive sale was located at 2675 Riviera Dr which is located in the plush Irvine Cove gated community.  The oceanfront estate located on the bluff front on Abalone Point sold for a record $23.6 million on 6/16/2014.  The home featured four bedrooms, five baths and 11,722 square feet of three different levels.  This was one of many homes that came on the market in the Abalone Point area with one neighboring home marketed for as high as $65 million.

The second highest price home sale was located at 176 Emerald Bay which sold for $15,075,000 on 9/22/2014.  This is just shy of last years

Irvine Cove in Laguna Beach is the premier gated community and Laguna Beach, California that currently features 3 homes priced over $36,000 with two homes over $49 million dollars. What draws in these huge price points? First, it's all about location. Irvine Cove is ideally located at the very edge of Laguna Beach and has breathtakingly large cliffs near Abalone Point that cascade down to the Pacific Ocean as pictured below. Homes are built as the top of these bluffs and have 180 degree panoramic views.  The community wraps around the two cliffs on both the north and south side of the neighborhood forming a small bay area which creates it's own private beach. 

There is a small section on the south side of the community that offers 5 beach front homes

Another $50 million dollar plus home has come on the market in the exclusive Irvine Cove community in North Laguna Beach. 2431 Riviera Drive has just hit the market for $55 million dollars and is listed by Hilton & Hyland.  What makes this home unique is the location. Laguna Beach has very few beach front homes that sit directly on the beach and are located in a gated community. 2431 Riviera Dr features 180 feet of water frontage, arguably in one of the best communities in Laguna Beach and is one of only 5 beach front homes in the entire Irvine Cove community.

The home features six bedrooms with 10,000 square feet of living space with vaulted wood beam ceilings, sliding glass doors that open to the pool & spa. Some of the highlights of the home

As recently reported by the Wall Street Journal, Laguna Beach has seen one of the largest homes sales in 2013 located at the exclusive gated community known as "Irvine Cove."  The property located at 2495 Riviera Dr in Laguna Beach has sold for a record $33 million on 10/25/13 according to our Realist tax records.  The property was one of the few homes that opens directly on to the sand in the Irvine Cove community and located just south of the beach trail that Irvine Cove residents use to get down to the beach.

The home featured five bedroom with a total of 7,200 square feet of living space and was newly constructed in 2012.  The home blended the use of glass and wood with direct views of the ocean and sandy beach.  A central courtyard pool

The Abalone Community is a luxury neighborhood behind the gates of the Irvine Cove community in Laguna Beach, California.  The land contains 13 large luxury properties that were hand picked by the Irvine company many years ago.  They have remained within the family until several years ago when several of the homes started coming up for sale.  Today, 4 of the 13 homes are currently available for sale between $14.5 to $65 million dollars.

Today, an open house was held at 2620 Riviera Drive in the Abalone Point neighborhood.  The home is very large with 9,000 square feet of living space on 3 separate levels and currently listed for sale for $14,500,000.  The home is very grand in the Mediterranean style and features wonderful ocean views from various rooms

Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach is a large community of over 300 homes with a large majority of them offering views of the ocean and the Emerald Bay beach.  There is a small selection of homes in the Emerald Bay community that offer views of the Irvine Cove community looking north.   These homes are located on the north side (left hand side) of the ridge as pictured below.

When the the Emerald Bay community was first developed the homes located on the north ridge of the community had homes located on both sides of the ridge.  The Emerald Bay street raps around the ridge so depending on which side of the street you live on will determine if you have views of Emerald Bay or Irvine Cove.  Approximately 17 homes offer such a view of the Irvine Cove

A lot has changed in the real estate market in Laguna Beach with inventory going down and home prices going up.  This is especially true for ocean front properties in Laguna Beach that never seems to loose it's allure to luxury home buyers.  In the past 12 months we have seen record sales but high and low for these kind of properties. 

On the low side, a Three Arch Bay ocean front home sold for $4,460,000.  I showed this house to a client of mine from Minnesota and he was shocked to learn that this 1,886 square foot 3 bedroom home had sold for this price point.  I explained that most ocean front home prices typically start around $4.5 million and up and this is a perfect example of this irregardless of the size of the home. 

On the high side, an ocean

Laguna Beach has many homes that are located near the Crystal Cove nature preserve that is protected land between the homes in Laguna Beach and the Crystal Cove housing development in Newport Beach, California.  These homes are located in the upper section of the Irvine Cove gated community and commonly known as "Upper Irvine Cove."  One of the nice benefits for these homes that boarder the preserve area is the instant privacy these homes get to enjoy.  Homes can never be built on the preseve so there is no worries about another party building a home that would block your view.

One of the benefits of living in this community is the direct access to the beach.  Homes located on the upper side of Irvine Cove can conveniently go under Coast Highway