May 2013

The market is on the upswing in the Ocean Hills community as a recent sale of a 2 bedroom condo that sold for $600,000 after being on the market for 4 days. This is a dramatic change from what we saw last summer when homes prices dipped down in the low $300,000 range. I personally represented the buyer in Ocean Hills home at 724 Calle Casita that sold as a short sale for $315,000 in September of 2012. Since then inventory of homes dropped significantly until the property at 3709 Calle La Quinta came on the market and sold in 4 short days for $1,000 above the $599,000 asking price. The home was a highly upgraded residence that resembled a $2 million dollar home with extensive use of Travertine and Granite in the Kitchen and Baths. The renovation continued

If you bought a condo in the Vista Pacifica condo complex in the last 6 years then you have seen a lot of ups and downs with real estate prices.  At one time these one bedroom condos were selling for over $300,000 and then took a dip down to $150,000 during the downturn of the real estate market.  This is also true for condos located on the front row that offers great ocean views.  At the height of the market these were easily selling in the mid $400,000 range and came down to the low $200,000 range just several years ago.

The good news is that the San Clemente condo market is coming back and so are the prices at Vista Pacifica!  Vista Pacific is located in the Rancho San Clemente area and is known for an ideal place to find affordable condos for sale. 

Mid-Century Modern homes are very popular throughout the country but finding these unique architectural styles homes in the beach communities in Southern California is more difficult than other parts of the United States.  Mid-Century homes usually reflect homes that were built in the 1950's and gained popularity by Eichler who created entire communities based on this single level design.  The city of Orange in the north part of Orange County, California has an entire neighborhood that was built by Eichler as the area has now been designated as an historic area of the city.  In San Clemente, you won't find any Eichler homes but you will find Eichler inspired Mid-Century homes in the Vista Pacific Del Gado community.

A lot of local residents are not

The North Side of San Clemente has a small strip of bluff front properties located near the Dana Point and San Clemente border. Many residents are not aware of this area of San Clemente since it is commonly considered to be in the Dana Point city limits. Bluff front homes in this area rarely come on the market due to the small number of these San Clemente homes.  The street known as "La Ventana" is where you will find these bluff front homes and are often similar to the ocean front homes located on Camino Capistrano street in Dana Point.  The one major difference is the privacy from the street level.  Homes located on Camino Capistrano back to a busy street where many cars come and go.  The nice advantage to homes located on La Ventana is the street is