Tag archives: real estate
With sales in Montecito seeming to be back on track when compared with last year, (for the past six weeks anyway), with summer crowds making their way into Santa Barbara, and the re-opening of the Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel, it’s prime home shopping season again. Open houses are more frequent as the weather improves, sales […]
I am pleased to report there were 15 Montecito homes that closed escrow in May (sold/changed owners), according to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This is up considerably from just four that sold in April, though the number is down about 30% from the 22 homes that sold in the same month (in the MLS) […]
The Montecito Heat Index illustrates demand for Montecito single-family homes in five price sectors. By identifying buyer demand, (signed contracts) rather than sales (closed escrows), we create a forward-looking indicator of market strength rather than sold data often more than a month old. And since real estate activity fluctuates seasonally, today’s Heat Score is compared […]
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a major impact on Janet Adderley’s Santa Barbara Youth Ensemble Theatre’s production of Les Misérables at the Lobero last week. Max Corden, 7, was due to play the pivotal role of Gavroche, the young street urchin shot on the barricades, but at the last minute his […]
As the local climate starts to shift into something resembling a mid-season, pre-summer pattern (both with the weather and with real estate sales), we can feel it in the air… the upcoming graduations in local schools, college students coming back to visit families and reconnect with their friends in town, residents preparing to head out […]
Montecito continues to move forward in repairing and rebuilding after the damage caused by the debris flows of January 9. As an example, as I write this, a local couple I know is having their severely damaged home demolished in preparation for building a new home. These friends had mud, boulders, huge trees, and a […]
The question being asked of real estate agents in Montecito is simply, “How is the Montecito real estate market doing?” This question comes, of course, in the wake of the recent deadly debris flow that shut down the 101 freeway for weeks, took the lives of 23 of our friends and neighbors, and damaged or […]
It was a double celebration for multi Grammy-winning record producer Allen Sides and his wife, Anne, when their 18,150-sq.-ft., 7.5-acre Montecito estate Graholm celebrated not only its centenary, but also, after seven years of residing there, its sale to dynamic duo Bruce Heavin and his wife, Lynda Weinman. The 8-bedroom, 12-bathroom property, the former Brooks […]
More people every day are foregoing life in suburbia for a more connected, varied, and mobile urban lifestyle. And it is small, sophisticated cities that are getting most of the attention. Santa Barbara, with extraordinary cultural and entertainment options, offers a sophisticated, small-city lifestyle second to none. There are, of course, official city boundaries, yet, […]
While attempting to get a grasp of what is happening in the real estate market in Montecito following the debris flow event, it has been difficult to move past the fact that these are not only homes, properties, and assets, they are places where families and friends live, or lived. That said, it is not […]
To mark its 43rd anniversary, Montecito Bank & Trust hosted a grants reception at its magestic State Street headquarters when president and CEO Janet Garufis handed out checks worth $20,000 to 10 local charities. Along with the checks, the nonprofits also received a short video professionally produced by cable giant Cox to promote their work. […]
I am enjoying the sound of rain dancing on the roof of my home in the upper village, and for the first time this winter, I am not concerned nor have I been ordered to evacuate. I attribute my current comfort level to the teams of experts, engineers, truckers, and laborers who are helping bring […]
Rather than decomposing, the four musicians featured in Camerata Pacifica’s latest concert at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall were very much alive and well. Normally, the classical music troupe’s monthly repertoire includes one or more famous past composers, but Irish founder Adrian Spence decided a more contemporary program was needed with a […]
For most residents of Montecito, a large portion of their investment portfolio and net worth is tied up in the value of their home. What will be the long- and short-term impact of the twin tragedies of the Thomas Fire – the largest in California history – and the destructive 1/9 debris flow on real […]
I must say that the events of the past few months sort of slid right past me, both emotionally and literally. I remained stoic as we got past the fires; the flames stopped six houses up the hill from me. We moved back in, sort of. And then the evacuation warning on January 7, which […]
The Montecito Heat Index is a measurement of signed real estate purchase contracts, which are pending final closing for Montecito single-family homes in five distinct price sectors. This data, rather than closed sales, more closely measure present demand or Heat. And since real estate activity fluctuates, monthly and seasonally, today’s Heat score is compared to […]
It was difficult to approach writing a year-in-review article, when faced with the recent calamitous episodes in Montecito. Then the hills I hiked every week came down onto our fair town the morning of January 9, many of us lost – or know someone who lost –family, friends, co-workers, even their homes and property. My […]
All of us have been damaged by the fires and mudflows that have left our community reeling over the past month. As we grieve for the loss of too many of our neighbors, and the destruction of so much of our community, we all share the burden of getting the insurance coverage we paid for […]
It was a challenging holiday season Montecito residents experienced under the cloud of smoke and ash created by the recent Thomas Fire, the largest such wildfire in California history; many of us were forced to spend weeks miles away, having been evacuated for a substantial part of December. Our hearts go out to those who […]
If you follow this column, you have likely heard me mention the lack of new listings in Montecito over the past six months or so. This lack of new housing inventory is never more evident than it is on the Montecito broker-agent open house tours on Wednesdays. Many real estate agents look forward to broker […]
