All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

New San Clemente senior apartments are currently being built for those 62 years of age and older with an expected grand opening some time in 2014.  The apartments are located in the Southeast section of San Clemente and situated on the east side of the 5 freeway.  The building itself faces the 5 freeway and I would expect that select apartments will have some ocean views from this location.  The condos are being developed as "affordable apartments for age and income qualified adults" based on a 30% and 50% basis on the total annual income a prospective senior will have.

The building itself is being built in the classic Spanish style that it a true homage to the early 1920's construction that makes San Clemente unique.  Access to these apartments is

Harbor Estates is one of the best ocean view neighborhoods in all of San Clemente.  This is especially true when looking for a home in the low $1 million dollar range.  It's offers a unique location situated in the city limits of San Clemente and neighbors San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point.  Located on the east side of the freeway the homes have panoramic ocean views with little to no obstruction as pictured below.  View properties normally start selling in the mid $800,000 range and have sold for as much as $1,300,000 in the past year.

For those sensitive to freeway noise should taken cation as the homes located on the lower streets of Harbor Estates will have freeway noise.  This can be true of homes located on the upper levels as well but It seems

The Miraleste community is located in the Talega area of San Clemente.  Talega is one of the newest master planned communities in San Clemente that was originally started in the year 2000.  Since this time over 40 new communities have been built offering over 3,000 homes in the outlining area of San Clemente.  One of the first communities to be built was the Miraleste community which finished building homes in the 2002 -2003 time frame.  What makes this community unique is that the homes back to the natural canyon reserve and offers panoramic views of the canyon, valley with peek ocean views.  Home prices will typically be right under $1 million dollars for a 4-5 bedroom with 3,000+ square feet of living space.

As with all the communities in Talega

San Clemente has many great walking trails but one of the best is the walking trail the runs parallel with the Pacific and has some of the most beautiful and spectacular views.  The trail is a result of many years of planning and was recently opened to the public in 2008.  The trail is open for those who enjoy walking, biking and dog walking.  The trail starts at the North Beach area as pictured below.  This is right next to the Ole Hanson Beach Club and train station. 

The trail continues through North Beach and winds around the canyon area.  In parts of this section there is very little beach available so the planners had to build a man made bridge to accomdate those using the path.  The bridge (as pictured below) runs parrell with the railroad

The exclusive gated community of Cotton's Point in San Clemente has seen it's last parcel of vacant land finally under construction.  The lot at 4065 Calle Isabella is the 2nd house on the east side of the street was the last remaining piece of vacant land left in this community.  In 2012 the lot was purchased for $2,100,000 according to our title records.  The large lot is nearly an acre with 34,412 square feet.  Since 1997 these lots have been selling in this community with three residentail home sales in the last two years.  The homes that sold average between $535 to $675 per square foot with prices ranging from $3,750,000 for a bank owned property to $6,100,000 for a 10,728 square foot home that sold in 12/31/2012. The building of this home will be

The Broadmoor area of San Clemente is situated in the hill side area directly behind the San Clemente High School as pictured below.  It's a very quiet community that is home to many of the single level homes that can be found in San Clemente.  The location is ideal and situated high on a hillside that has nice views of the ocean.  As you make your way up the hill the views keep getting better with panoramic views of the ocean.  The homes were built 1974 to 1976 and normally feature three to four bedrooms with an average 2,000 square foot home with an attached 2 car garage.  These are classic ranch style homes with large living and family rooms and bedrooms located off a narrow hallway.  The backyards face the ocean and the lot sizes tend to be very

Shorecliffs area in north San Clemente is a great place to find ocean view homes in San Clemente.  In the last year many ocean view homes have come on the market in the mid $500,000 to $600,000 range.  The homes in this area were first built in the 1960's as single level homes.  Throughout the years there has been a modest mixture of two story homes in the neighborhood but for the most part the majority of homes are one level.  These are smaller beach homes that average under 2,000 square feet with some large homes that range up to 3,000 square feet of living space.  Home buyers who have a budget up to $600,000 and looking for a view property should seriously consider this community.

As a general disclosure it's important to understand that some of

Rancho San Clemente is one of my favorite area for showing clients who are looking for Ocean View homes.  When homes were first built in the mid 1980's this area was prime for hundreds of ocean view properties.  Once complete, the Rancho San Clemente area is a wonderful combination of single family home communities mixed in with condo and townhome style residences, many of them offering incredible views of the ocean as pictured below.  San Clemente is known for it's many rolling hills and Rancho San Clemente is one of the highest points in the area.  Home communities gradually go up the hill maximizing the views for all the homes.  Properties located at the top of the ridge have some of the best ocean views to be found in the San Clemente area.  Clear

Marblehead is one of the best places to find ocean view homes in San Clemente.  Often times these homes are the lowest priced ocean view properties on the market and offer a secure gated community environment.  Marblehead is a combination of several small communities located behind the man guarded gates.  The community was first built in the 1980's and the developers were smart and built homes gradually up the gentle hillside so every community will have properties that have views of the ocean.  I have personally seen nice ocean view homes sell in the mid $600,000 range in the last 12 months with great views.  These homes are typically three to four bedrooms and average 2,100 square feet of living space.  Considering association dues are just under $300 a

Southwest San Clemente Ocean View Homes are some of the more sought after real estate here in San Clemente, California due to the close proximity to the beach and surf.  San Clemente is divided into 9 different regions with only 3 sections located on the west side of Pacific Coast Hwy known as "San Clemente North" "San Clemente Central" and "Southwest San Clemente."  Imagine the main street known as "Avenida Del Mar" that takes you down to the San Clemente Pier as the middle ground.  This is known as central San Clemente and covers about 6-7 streets in both the south and north directions from Pacific Coast Highway to the Ocean.  Located just to the south of the central area and divided by the historic canyon area is the southwest area.  Ocean View homes

Cotton Point Estates is the most expenisve community in San Clemente with only 15 luxury estates homes located in a secure gated community located in the compounds of Cyprus Shore.  The neighborhood used to belong to the Nixon Estate before the additional 14 lots were subdivided and sold.  Now the community is home to 15 luxury properties which with a small handful of them located on the ocean front. 

A new home has come on the market in Cotton Point that features 8,600 square feet of living space on a near acre lot.  Built in the Spanish architectural style that blends in with many of the homes here in San Clemente the estate home is one of the largest homes on the market.  This includes an 8,000 square foot main house, 600 square foot pool cabana and

The San Onofre closure will soon have a ripple effect in the San Clemente real estate market as 600 workers just received their layoff notices. A combined total of 1,100 workers will soon be out of a job in months to come. Many of the workers live in San Clemente since the beach town is the closest city to the plant. It's terrible that so many workers are being displaced with no replaceable work to be found.

How much an impact to the local real estate market in San Clemente is not yet measured but will definitely cause families to make some tough decisions. Up until now their has been a shortage of homes for sale with some of the lowest inventory in years. Now with the plant closing down we expect families to relocate to the other areas were work can be

Vista Pacifica Villas is an oceanfront condo building located on the north side of town.  The condos were buiit in 2001 and offers direct oceanfront and side ocean views looking down the Orange County coastline.  The condos offer a unique subterranean parking with elevators to each of the levels of the condos.  Many of the units in this building have private patios with endless views.  Not all condos will have direct ocean front views so being closer to the front of the building will increase the amount of view you will get.  This is a great location as you can be down to the San Clemente Pier with an easy 5 to 10 minute walk.

The condos offer a small walkway thag goes in front of the complex as pictured below that has amazing views of the San Clemente

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

There are several new properties that have come on the market in the Forster Ranch area in San Clemente that offer tremendous value and opportunity. We consider this our best buy section as homes are selling very quickly in this price point in San Clemente.

This property is located in the secluded El Encanto area of Forster Ranch.  It's a nice home with 4 bedrooms located on a cul-de-sac street and just came on the market 7 days ago.  Listed for sale at $885,000 with 2,519 square feet, the home is priced at $351 per square foot.  The nice part about this home is the corner lot location that features 8,398 square feet.  Average size lots in San Clemente average 5,000 square feet so this is a larger than normal size lot.  The home has true pride of

The Monterey neighborhood in San Clemente is one of the most popular areas to find classic Spanish Colonial home styles in the Talega area of San Clemente, California. The homes sit adjacent to the Lake at Talega Golf Course and have some of the best golf course and lake views to be found in all of Talega. The homes are large in scale and range from four to five bedrooms and offer residents a main floor bedroom with a 2 to 3 car garage. Large and generous size bedrooms are located upstairs with a Master Suite that overlooks the great views of the 18th hole of the Talega golf course.

Home prices typically average over $1,000,000 with the Talega recreational center located just minutes away. Here you will find multiple pools, children's play area,

Southern California is home to many senior communities throughout San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles counties.  Many of these communities will offer different style amenities in all different price points.  If you are looking to live by the beach then the senior communities in San Clemente, California area hard to beat.

San Clemente is home to 3 different senior communities that area located very close to the beach.  Home prices will start as $300,000 for a small 2 bedroom cottage style home to $600,000 for a newer construction home in a gated community.  Depending on your budget and style of living will determine the best place for you.  Here is quick overview of the communities that area available in San Clemente.

The first community is called