Tag archives: realty

Hello, Montecito residents and visitors… I hope you are enjoying springtime in paradise. For our regular MJ readers, you might have noticed this article’s absence from the publication for these past few months after 13 years of regular reporting… my apologies. However, after some time off and letting the market settle into 2026, I’m back […]

Montecito’s luxury real estate market demonstrated exceptional strength in October 2025, recording 23 residential sales with a remarkable median sale price of $7,780,000 for House/PUD (Planned Unit Development) properties. The average sales price for these House/PUD properties reached an extraordinary $13,158,298, underscoring Montecito’s position as one of California’s most prestigious real estate markets. The month’s […]

When we say Montecito, people in L.A. and from other areas respond differently than they did five years ago or even one year ago, when I first wrote these same words. The secret is out and the perception of Montecito as a “hot spot” is at an all-time high. If you are new to town, […]

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 […]

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 […]

Dear Faithful Reader, I do hope you have enjoyed a joyous summer and are ready for the fall, as we head into this next season in our lovely enclave of Montecito. Although it is still summer on the tail end, the on-again, off-again love affair our area has with coastal low clouds and fog seems […]

As we approach the middle of 2024 and the end of Q2, it’s notable that as of this writing there are currently 192 homes and PUDs (planned unit developments, i.e. single-family homes within an HOA) on the market in the South Coast of Santa Barbara, which spans from Goleta to Carpinteria. We have not seen […]

When we say “Montecito” nowadays, that word carries a lot more weight to those outside our realm than it did five years ago. Before the Rosewood at Miramar caught the eye of L.A., and before we all knew the term “working remotely.” More than the perception of Montecito as it has long been, a land […]

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 […]

Here is a deep dive into the state of the housing market in Montecito, Santa Barbara, and the Santa Ynez Valley, along with my predictions for 2024. Let’s look at the numbers.  South Santa Barbara County Stats  South Santa Barbara County (Goleta to Carpinteria) saw the sale of 1,011 homes and condos in 2023; this […]

Cheers to you all and Happy New Year, 2024! Thank you to the Montecito Journal team for providing me this forum, and to the readers who keep me on my toes to bring you the most up-to-date activity and trends month to month in our Montecito, 93108 Real Estate market.  Throughout 2023 (much like at […]

Month after month, year after year I keep pinching myself when I realize we live in Montecito. Though we work hard and sometimes struggle to stay here, it is by no means an accident. We thought of all the places in the world (ok the southern West Coast) where we could raise our daughter and […]

Fewer sales, higher prices, steady as she goes… or is there a sales slowdown ahead? From this summer’s highest prices, yet slower than recent year’s summer sales volume, to now fall peaks and valleys and Ellen’s new fantasy listing, our market is one thing one month and another the next. What is consistent though, is […]

It was nice to wake up to sun this morning. We have had our share of ‘Faugust’ mornings and I’m still not sure summer fully happened. The long days of light are dimming yet it’s still lovely and soon will be less crowded on Coast Village Road on the weekends. Locals, get ready for September […]

Many Santa Barbarians, Montecitans, and Los Angelenos have caught on to what Santa Ynez Valley locals have known for decades: livin’ is good in the SYV. With several unique areas from which to choose, each with their own culture, lifestyle, and merits, it’s no wonder that residency in the Valley has exploded over the past […]

The numbers are in for the first half of 2023, and the Santa Barbara South Coast real estate market remains tight in terms of inventory and well in favor of sellers, as there is simply more buyer demand than homes available for sale. Accordingly, the number of sales is down 32% over last year, with […]

Well, it’s just about the start of summer, or almost. Solstice is next week and don’t even get me started about the May gray and the June gloom, oops, too late. But on a sunnier note, let’s start with Montecito Real Estate stats, about as good a place to start as any. As I reported […]

This week it’s all about the Montecito market, and I don’t mean the Upper Village grocery store. I’m talking about the Montecito real estate market.  After months of low-housing inventory and lower, post-pandemic sales volume (OK, make that a year or so), we are finally seeing a restocking of the available homes for sale in […]