Tag archives: housing market

The Santa Barbara County real estate market continues to be a strong seller’s market, with 823 homes sold in the South County (which includes Carpinteria to Goleta, and includes Montecito and Hope Ranch) the first half of the year, which is a 54% increase over last year. In a pre-pandemic year, that number would hover […]

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 […]

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 […]

In Montecito, spring basically brought us no rain, and summer is just around the corner. I can tell because the weekends are teeming with people on Coast Village Road and the mix of overcast and sun is keeping me dressing in layers still. But I’m working on my summer feet, when we walk barefoot more […]

This is it, a run-up in the market the likes we have never seen. I’m not talking about Wall Street or the stock market, which is also up, so maybe that’s what is funding and fueling this buying craze here in Montecito, where we are seeing a phenomenon, of sorts.  I am talking again about […]

The real estate market in Santa Barbara and surrounding areas continues to be stronger than ever, with the first quarter statistics confirming that sellers currently have the advantage over buyers. With staggeringly low inventory, and an influx of out-of-town buyers adding to our already strong local buyer pool, home prices are at an all-time high.  […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

Well, let me just say, “whew, what a year that was,” to 2020. Let’s see what 2021 has in store for us, and what we will make of it collectively as a community here in lovely Montecito. As usual, we are having lovely weather and the rain this past week was welcome for sure. More […]

As we begin to slow the ride on this incredible rollercoaster of a year, it is important to consider all that has changed in the past 11-plus months. The pandemic, the political and social climate of uncertainty, the business and day-to-day implications of these circumstances that make it feel like a lifetime of adjustment all […]

To say that Montecito real estate was “hot” in the third quarter of 2020 is a gross understatement; in fact, the market activity in late summer/early fall broke records across the board in both sales price and number of transactions, in both the 93108 and beyond.  Q3 sales in 2020 were up a whopping 156% […]

An interesting article in last week’s The Wall Street Journal by Amanda Eberstein about the charming red-hot tapestry of real estate ownership in Montecito. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in mid-March has only bolstered our rarefied enclave’s desirability, she concludes. Marsha Kotlyar, a local realtor at Berkshire Hathaway, says: “I’ve been […]

When people think of Montecito, they usually envision mountain and ocean views, homes of substantial size with lovely landscaping, privacy – and a swimming pool. While not everyone wants a pool, it is rare to find a buyer who will turn away from a home just because it has a pool.  For most buyers, a […]

Inventor Ron Popeil, who brought us the Chop-O-Matic, the Veg-O-Matic, and the Showtime Rotisseries and BBQ, among many other creative TV infomercial inventions, is selling his Santa Barbara ranch for $4.9 million. The bucolic property sprawls across 150 acres in the hills above our Eden by the Beach, centering on an 1800s home with a […]

The real estate market in Montecito and Santa Barbara remains strong, despite major changes to the way properties are marketed and viewed. Sales in Montecito are up from last year in May; as of press time 16 homes have sold in May, with five full days still left in the month. This is compared to […]

Here’s an update on the state of the real estate market, as our community continues to adhere to the statewide shelter-at-home order. Like most other industries, the real estate industry has slowed significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of press time, there are currently 109 properties on the market in Montecito, with nine of […]