All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

We see some agents advertise homes as "below market" here in San Clemente.  Whenever we see a listing like this we always wonder if it's truly priced below market, and if it is what is wrong with the property?  Some real estate agents will price a home very aggressively that is slighting below recent sales comps to generate a lot of interest.  This results in multiple people interested in the property which causes the price to get bid up.  For example, if the home is worth $1 million but the agent prices it at $850,000 to lure buyers into the property while hoping that several people will place bids on the home driving the price above the $1 million price point.  Sometimes this does work and sometimes this backfires causing the home to sell less than what

There are always seems to be a limited number of historic homes for sale in San Clemente at any given time but this is often not the case when looking to rent one of these older homes.  The main concentration of these historic homes can be found near the city center which is commonly referred to as downtown San Clemente. This is the main area that leads down to the San Clemente Pier where many great restaurants and shopping can be found.  The downtown area offers a good mixture of apartments, condos and residential homes with a huge number of rentals available at any given time.

What to expect for rental prices for historic properties?  The most affordable rentals with be studio apartments located in a historic property.  These can often be found

We have many clients who are looking for a highly upgraded home with modern finishes in a turnkey condition.  While there are many homes that have been completely renovated there is nothing like a brand new home that offers everything that a client is looking for.  Model homes tend to offer these amenities and one of the best places to look is the brand new Sea Summit community in San Clemente which offers 4 unique neighborhoods that typically have 3 model homes to display various floor plans that each specific neighborhood has to offer.

A perfect example of a model home that is offered for sale in Sea Summit is the home located at 123 Via San Sebastian in San Clemente.  It's located in the most expensive Indigo neighborhood and was the "Residence 2"

San Clemente is a small beach town filled with many great neighborhoods and homes.  For the most part real estate tends to be less expensive the neighboring cities to the north like Dana Point & Laguna Beach.  In years past we have seen some pretty big sales that have sold for over $7.5 million dollars with home located in upscale ocean front communities like Cotton Point Estates, the former neighborhood of the Western Nixon White House.  In 2018, real estate sales have gone up to $4.1 million dollars as the highest sale this year here in San Clemente.  The sale occurred 4008 Calle Marlena which closed escrow on 08/19/2018 and located in the guard gated Cyprus Shore community in the Southwest San Clemente.  

The home was situated on Calle Marlena

If you are in the market for finding a nice ocean view condo on the ocean side of the 5 freeway then the Florencia condos may offer the perfect property for you.  Situated on the north side of town and west of El Camino Real and the 5 freeway is a small condo complex built in 2007 located at 1503 Calle Mirador that is referred as "Florencia Condos."  There are two residential condos located at this address with unit #A featuring a total of 3 bedrooms, 3 baths with 1,500 square feet of living space.  Unit #B is a 2 bedroom, 3 bath condo with a total of 1,460 sure feet.  Both units come with a one car garage and offer nice ocean views.  

1503 Calle Mirador Unit #A is currently on the market for sale at $995,000.  It's being advertised as a Contemporary

San Clemente has several areas and neighborhoods of homes that can accommodate RV Parking.  One of the first areas that comes to mind is the Forster Ranch area of San Clemente.  One of the reasons that this is the #1 area is due to the age of these homes.  Many of the homes in the Forster Ranch area where built in the 1970's when homes were not built so close together and tend to be located on large over-sized lots.  Many of the lots have special driveways that can accommodate RV Parking directly on the home which is ideal for those who own RV homes.  There are also neighborhoods like Tocayo Canyon in Forster Ranch that have dedicated areas for RV parking.  The best part about the Forster Ranch area is that home prices tend to be much more affordable than

Located at 206 Avenida Montalvo in San Clemente is a small condo complex known as "Villa Montalvo Vista."   The location is at the beginning of the Lobeiro loop which is a one one way street that starts out as Avenida Montalvo and then loops around to the street Avenida Lobeiro.  Many of the homes located on the ocean side of both of these streets will offer nice ocean views and is within walking distance to the San Clemente Beach Park area.  Villa Montalvo Vista will have limited views since it's located at the very top of the street that has many large tree's and homes in front of it.  The builder decided to build on this lot in 1991 due to its prime location within the Southwest San Clemente neighborhood.  The builder built one, two and three bedroom

The long awaited Sea Summit community is in full production with many new constructions homes completed and the new owners happy to be living in this exciting new housing tract.  3 of the 4 neighborhoods offer detached single family homes with only one tract offering attached condos for sale.  The condo tract is commonly referred to as the "Sea Summit Aqua" neighborhood that features 5 individual condos that are attached with one or two common walls.  These condos are what we call townhouses here in California with two levels of living space.  The main living quarters like the kitchen, family room and dining area are all located on the lower level and all the bedrooms are located upstairs.  All the condos come with attached two car garages and direct

San Clemente has a wide variety of housing types that include single family homes, condos, townhouses, mobile homes and PUD homes.  What is exactly is a PUD home?  To be honest with you, most local real estate agents here in San Clemente would not have an answer to that question as well.  PUD stands for a Planned Unit Development.  These homes are often detached properties that have been give the tax classification of a PUD home instead of a traditional single family home.  This is also common in detached properties that are classified as condos even though the have the look and feel of a traditional single family home.  Often times this is done for tax reasons and the necessary permits that are required between a condo or a single family home.  When a

We currently are working with a client who is looking for a condo with no homeowners association dues.  This can be a very tough thing to find as most condo developments with have some kind of monthly maintenance fee that takes care of the common area grounds and often includes limited building insurance and trash pickup.  There are some condo communities in San Clemente that charge a very high fee for few amenities while others include many utilizes like water, gas and basic cable TV services.  We were able to find two San Clemente condos that are being offered for sale and do not have any HOA dues.

Frist, 250 W Marquita #B is located in the downtown San Clemente area and is currently on the market for sale at $1,525,000.  This is a nice ocean view

Buena Vista is an ocean front street located in the north area of San Clemente.  One of the best values along this street are the condos located at 1412 Buena Vista.  Even though the condos are not located on the bluff front side of the street many of the condos have direct ocean views as the steps leading down to the beach are located directly in front of these condos which affords direct views.  Many also love this building for it's low price point with condos often selling for under one million dollars.  There are only 10 units located here with 5 located on the upper level and 5 located down below.  Units in this complex come with a detached garage and can offer high ceilings, open floor plan, outdoor deck or patio and a custom fireplace.  There is

One of the best attractions in San Clemente is visiting the historic Casa Romantica home in San Clemente that sits majestically above the San Clemente Pier.  In recent weeks there has been a huge television campaign letting people know that the historic home built in 1927 is now open to the public.  The home belonged to the founder of San Clemente, Ole Hanson, who kept this home as his personal residence when building many of the homes built in the 1920's and 30's in San Clemente.  It's best well known for it's "key hole" entrance as pictured below and it's large interior courtyards.

The actual living quarters are modest but still large for it's time with large bathrooms and walk-in closets.  The biggest attraction is the main living room with soaring

It's hard to beat living in a private gated community by the beach in Southern California.  That's the story of the ultra-exlcusive Cyprus Shore ocean front community that offers a prime location that's within walking distance to world famous Trestle surf break.  Of course, not everyone can afford an ocean front estate home that currently starts at just under $16 million dollars.  For those buyers looking for a good deal with homes still offering a view of the Pacific Ocean are in luck as real estate prices are much lower.  Here is a quick guide on where to look at how much ocean view homes will cost in the Cyprus Shore community.

First, the neighborhood is very small with homes located on the ocean front street of Calle Ariana and Calle Alicia.  There

San Clemente is a small beach town with a nice mixture of residential homes, condo and apartment buildings.  For the most part residential lots are pretty small and feature only one single family home located on it.  There are a few exceptions to this and typically can be found in homes that were built before the 1950's in the downtown section where two homes were built one lot.  These homes were often vacation beach homes were both homes would accommodate their owners and their extended families.  Most of these older properties in San Clemente were destroyed due to builder newer homes or condo buildings so finding these type of unique properties on one lot is very rare.

One of the benefits for buying a property like this is that you have the potential

One of my favorite areas for finding cute single family homes on the north side of San Clemente is around the Max Berg Plaza Park area.  Located off El Camino Real Estate on El Portal Street is a one block park filled with large open spaces and places for children and pets to play.  What makes this area unique is the charming homes that are located on the north side of the park on Avenida De La Grulla street.  These are very cute single level homes that were built in the 1950's and have a lot of charm and character to them.  This is considered the San Clemente North area that's located on the ocean side of El Camino Real and just a few block radius to the beach.  The area was built well before the days of homeowners associations so there are no months

Living in San Clemente can be very expensive, especially the looking for a traditional single family home.  For those open to living in a manufactured or mobile home then real estate prices are much more affordable.  There is a very nice senior community called Shorecliffs Terrace that is located adjacent to the Shorecliff's Golf Course and just minutes to the beach.  What's more, home prices are often found under the $500,000 price point.  Select homes in this neighborhood will also offer nice golf course and ocean views too.

What is it like to live in Shorecliffs Terrace?  First, you need to be 55 years of age or older to live in this community.  The spouse also needs to be at least 45 years of age or older so keep that in mind when looking here.

San Clemente real estate prices over the last several years has really since an increase which is making it harder to find properties for sale under the $500,000 price point.  The days are gone where you can find a single family home in this price range leaving only residential condos.  There are just a few select places to look in order to find the best deals in San Clemente for under $500,000.

The first place to find the best deals is the Vista Pacifica complex.  It wasn't too long ago that you could find a nice one bedroom condo for under $200,000 in this complex.  Today, condos currently start $275,000 for a one bedroom unit with 560 square feet.  Two bedroom condos are even more expensive and currently start at $389,000 and go up to $409,990.  The

It's hard to find any new community in Southern California being built that doesn't have the added Mello Roos bond attached to it.  For those new to the California real estate market the word "Mello Roos" will be an unfamiliar term, as it was when I first moved here to California.  In essence, a Mello Roos bond is typically a monthly fee that is paid on top of any homeowners association fee and any individual mortgage.  For the most part this is only associated with new communities as you rarely see Mello Roos tax on older homes.  In San Clemente, the most popular area to find Mello Roos is the Talega area which features over 40 communities that all have the added Mello Roos bond fee.  Mello Roos bonds are normally around 30 years and the fee goes towards

Real Estate agents have a special day when they get to preview brand new listings that come on the market in the San Clemente real estate market place.  This is called "broker preview" since real estate agents and brokers have the ability to view a large number of listings in a short four period.  Often times, agents will spend just a couple minutes looking at a property and then drive on to the next property.  This allows them to be able to see a large number of properties so they are better able to identify properties that may work for their clients.

The dates for properties located in San Clemente, Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano is every Wednesday from 9:30am to 1:30pm. Buyers are also welcome to attend these open houses and can quickly view a

The Sea Ridge Estates community is one of the best kept secrets for finding large estate homes with wonderful ocean and canyon views.  The neighborhood is quietly located behind the gates of the ocean view street of Avenida Salvador in San Clemente.  Here you will find 44 luxury homes that have been built for the last 27 years.  The average size home in Sea Ridge Estates is about 4,500 square feet with a total of four bedrooms and four baths.  It's not uncommon to find homes up to 6,000 square feet which are some of the largest in this community.  Real Estate prices for a 4,000 square foot home is normally priced around the $2 million dollar price point with larger homes topping the $3 million dollar price point.  We did a quick search to see what has