Dwindling Inventory and High Demand
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   May 20, 2021

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 […]

Montecito Heat
By Michael Phillips   |   April 5, 2021

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 […]

 

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Needles in a Haystack
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   March 11, 2021

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 […]

Four Homes Looking for Their New Owner
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   February 18, 2021

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, […]

A New Year, but Not a Lot of New Listings
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   February 4, 2021

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 […]

The Wall Street Bump
By Richard Mineards   |   January 21, 2021

Retired high tech executive Jan Wesemann is getting priceless publicity in the Wall Street Journal this week as she puts her 20-acre French country-style Montecito estate on the market for $12 million. Jan moved into the 7,600-square-foot, five-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom house, built in 2001, 10 years ago and brought up her four daughters on the Park […]

Hello 2021, and a Quick Look Back at Home Sales in Montecito in 2020
By Mark Ashton Hunt   |   January 14, 2021

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 […]

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  • Loading Up on Real Estate
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 31, 2020

    Montecito actor Rob Lowe who sold his 10,000 sq. ft. Picacho Road estate for $46 million has lost no time in spending the money, having purchased three new residential properties in Southern California since the sale just three months ago. Having spent $13 million on a new 6,000 sq, ft. five-bedroom, six-bath estate, Stonehedge, on […]

    Homes805: Putting Your Home in Good Hands
    By Zach Rosen   |   December 24, 2020

    With over fifty percent of the homes in the area being rentals, and many of the owners living outside of the region, property management plays a vital role in maintaining the range of real estate found throughout Santa Barbara and Montecito. Many houses have just mom and pop homeowners who may not have the time […]

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    Welcome to the Neighborhood: Montecito is experiencing a once-in-a-generation real estate boom that is reshaping the once sleepy, bucolic town
    By Peter Kiefer   |   December 24, 2020

    Signs that a community is in the throes of an historic transformation are rarely overt and almost never seismic. They’re small yet perceptible shifts that, in aggregate, tell a story of where a town or a city is coming from and where it’s most likely headed. In the case of Montecito those signs – at […]

    Real Estate Snapshot
    By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   December 24, 2020

    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% […]

    Number One Stunner
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 24, 2020

    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 […]

    A New Role for Roling
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 17, 2020

    Santa Barbara Symphony has appointed Rebecca Roling as vice president of patron and community engagement. A lifelong classical music fan, patron of the arts, and musician, Roling will build upon and leverage the popular organization’s impact and momentum, and be responsible for the growth of donation and ticket revenue through patron connection and loyalty. Five […]

    Old Friends Over Eggs Benedict
    By Richard Mineards   |   December 17, 2020

    To the Rosewood Miramar for breakfast at the Malibu Farm with London Sunday Times travel writer Jonathan Thompson. The meeting was organized by my former News-Press colleague Karna Hughes, now an executive with Visit Santa Barbara, who thought my 13 years of experience living in our rarefied enclave might be of some use to the […]

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