Tag archives: housing

Spring arrived a month or so ago, along with a bounty of home sales in the Montecito 93108 area, completely confirming my comment from last month’s article; that our often static and yet ever dynamic market can truly fit both descriptions from one month to the next. If the first quarter of 2026 (Jan 1 […]

Five years ago I wrote “Property vs. Humanity?” to highlight American prioritizing of property rights over human rights. My wife and I had been evicted from my home of 31 years. The law protected the right of the new property owner to maximize profits above the human right to housing. I was asked to revisit […]

“Newspeak” is a term from George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 by which a word means something other than what it says. For example, in newspeak “ungood” was substituted for “bad.” In 1984 it was a means of thought control. Our bureaucrats often use newspeak words like “revenue enhancement” instead of tax increase. People hate tax […]

In this, the last part of the series, I wanted to focus on certain hopeful, albeit early, steps that the Council, our award-winning city Housing Authority, and downtown property owners have taken to build affordable housing and improve the downtown corridor. Together these folks believe in a soaring State Street future and are spending real […]

Those of us with even a modicum of “context” know that Santa Barbara is not unique. Prices continue to rise – as they do around the globe – and new housing stock, at least in SB-land, is as rare as shared martinis between Trump and Newsom. So, yes, I thought I would venture onto the […]

The saying, “Its complicated” or should we say, “it’s apartment-complexed”, suits the ongoing debate over the Mission LLC group owners Craig and Stephanie Smith’s project to construct an 8 story, two building, 270-unit housing complex at, wait for it, 505 East Los Olivos Street, Santa Barbara, the private residential property behind the SB Mission and […]

Greetings and Happy June Gloom. Hopefully by the time this is published we will be seeing the sun before the late afternoon, but I suppose any sun in June is cause for celebration. Cheers to it being almost Solstice and time for the busy Montecito Summer. For my stat happy audience, I’m delighted to report […]

The Santa Barbara South Coast real estate market continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience in early 2025, with significant price appreciation in most areas and a persistent shortage of available inventory driving competitive bidding situations despite rising interest rates. Montecito, in particular, maintains its position as one of the nation’s most exclusive real estate markets, though […]

Well, my fellow Montecitans, the Montecito Real Estate market started 2025 off with a bang, as January brought the largest number of sold homes in one month in well over a year. January!!! A month that is normally one of the slower of the year is now the benchmark for months to come. With 25 […]

Thank you for writing this brilliant piece, Robert Bernstein. It speaks to something in the current zeitgeist (malaise?) of our times.  It’s not merely limited to printer software. Best word I’ve never heard of, before seeing it in your piece.  It made my day, and I’m still laughing at how it can apply to almost […]

Without attempting to be a statistical tower of stats and figures, I have attempted here to give an overall look at Montecito’s Real Estate market – and her nuances – through an analysis of homes sales thus far, January 1 to November 30, 2024. To summarize some thoughts about the Montecito and 93108 Real Estate […]

Montecito’s Episcopal Parish, All Saints by-the-Sea, has donated $50,000 to help provide temporary shelter to Santa Barbara County’s homeless community. The grant will go to San Francisco-based Interim Housing, a nonprofit that touts an innovative model to end homelessness by taking underutilized or vacant land to build temporary communities using prefabricated materials for mobile housing […]

Greetings neighbors and visitors to Montecito. Sending a hearty wish for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and holiday season ahead for us all. The holidays are a busy time in Montecito like anywhere else; shopping, dining, gathering with family and friends… and all the recent work on the freeway and various streets around town is […]

On October 9, the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission (CPC) heard the Rosewood Miramar’s Mixed-Use Housing Development plan, which includes affordable housing for Miramar staff, new retail shops, a cafe, and luxury housing split between the existing East and West parking lots. The hearing emerged after Caruso’s team sent a letter to the CPC citing […]

This week, I’d like to show you how using data can help us make smart, informed decisions when it comes to urban planning and the future of our city. Using the new tool close.city, we can visualize where the most walkable and bikeable areas in the city already are. Depending on which layers are selected, […]

I often feel as if today’s Montecito real estate market is something of a bubble. Not that it is a bubble about to burst, rather the bubble we live in, where the outside world does not seem to exist. We have everything we need right here it feels. And as for home prices, we have […]

By the time you read this, it might already be spring, (at least by the calendar). The jasmine is in bloom, and if you look up on the hills you can see the ceanothus blooming, creating pockets of bright color amongst the green. Additionally, we are still enjoying the clear skies and the lovely winter […]

You may know her name from her time on The Girls Next Door or perhaps from her show Kendra Sells Hollywood. But there’s much more to Kendra Wilkinson than meets the eye. Beyond the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Kendra’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and compassion. As a single hands-on mother of two, […]

Santa Barbara’s Turner Foundation, which since its founding 65 years ago has provided 3.3 million nights of accommodation for low-income individuals and families, has opened its latest outpost, Dunamis House – Greek for strength – at De La Guerra Street and Marilla Avenue. It’s the fifth property the organization has purchased with the first in […]