I recently worked with a couple that lives in Europe.  Their plan was to move to Santa Barbara in 5-10 years, but they wanted to buy a house now rather than later because they felt that the timing was good.

They wanted a specific neighborhood (Montecito) and type of house so I set out to find what they wanted. When I found the house that I thought they would like I took a video of it on my smart phone and uploaded it directly to the web.  (This was a little easier than having them fly over to see the house in person!)  They decided to make an offer just based on seeing my 3 minute video!

But here’s the exciting part: They had never seen the house in person, remember?  And there was always the chance that they would come out here and decide they didn’t like the house. Driving from a nearby area is one thing but flying overseas is quite another!  I needed to be really confident that this was the right house for them because I didn’t want to waste their time with a trip from Europe for a house that wasn’t right… When they arrived and saw the house they concluded that it WAS indeed the perfect house for them. Huge relief!  :)

This type of situation doesn’t happen very often, and it isn’t easy to do.  In fact, I normally recommend seeing the house that you are planning to buy before getting into escrow!  But this was a unique situation and it required a true team effort – they needed to articulate exactly what they wanted in terms of the house, I needed to listen to those needs, and (maybe the biggest part) they needed to trust that I could accomplish the goal of finding the right place.  We all did our part and we accomplished the goal!  Seeing them happy and helping them reach their real estate goal was the best part of all.

Let me be a part of your real estate goals!

Check out this article from a colleague at Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills, Christophe Choo: As housing prices rise, consumer confidence increases

And look what Forbes has to say about Santa Barbara, aka the Rebounding Riviera

Realtor.com puts Santa Barbara Real Estate in the top 10 turnaround towns…

If you are thinking about buying a home next year, you might want to think about doing it sooner rather than later.  Interest rates are still at all time lows.  Take advantage of the low rates and the low prices before they both go back up!

Here’s an example:

• Possible purchase price of condo for sale in Santa Barbara: $300,000 (yes, there are some in this price range)
• Down payment amount with FHA loan: $10,500
• Monthly housing payment including HOA dues: $1700
• Rental rate for this condo: $2000/mo
• Savings: $300 per month!

If you want to see examples of both affordable and luxury condos for sale in the greater Santa Barbara real estate market, take a look at these properties:

San Roque Condos for Sale

Westside Affordable Condos for Sale

Montecito Luxury  Condos for Sale

Riviera Condos for Sale 

The easiest way to compare the cost of renting versus owning is by looking at the following example:
*note: the #’s below are for example, these do not necessarily reflect all Santa Barbara real estate values

Own:

Purchase Price of house:  $500,000  (3.5% down payment, $482,500 loan amount at 4%)

Monthly payment:  $2304 mortgage payment + $500 property tax +$65 Insurance = $2869

Monthly housing expense after tax deductions: $2869 – $588 = $2281

Rent:

Monthly payment: $2300

Monthly housing expense (no tax deductions): $2300

There is often a misconception that it is impossible to own property in Santa Barbara, but as you can see from the example above, that is not the case.  If you are interested in investing in a Santa Barbara home, don’t hesitate to contact us.  We’re here to answer any questions and be your Santa Barbara Real Estate Guide!

I’m completely into healthy food, but I guess I hesitated because I thought the prices were a little high for a bowl of fruit that seemed like a simple thing to make at home.

Well, I was WRONG!

I finally got to experience their delicious fruit/granola/yogurt bowls the other day when a friend suggested we go there for lunch.  I got the “green” bowl and it was SO good that I can’t wait to go back.

Here’s where I was completely wrong:

First of all, the Green Bowl is not something I would be able to make easily at home.  It had a glob of frozen green stuff in the bottom which had the consistency AND taste of ice cream – yet it was made with a blend of spinach, broccoli, banana, ginger and lime juice (plus I asked them to add hemp milk).  This was topped with some great tasting hemp granola (I’m not even sure what ”hemp” is but eating it makes me feel really healthy).  Top that off with organic strawberries, blueberries, and Goji berries – voila!  A super healthy meal that would take several trips to different stores to get all the right ingredients, and it’s all done for me.

The second place where I was wrong is with the cost.  When you look at the serving size (HUGE) two people can easily split a large bowl ($8.25) filled with healthy, local, organic fruits and vegetables.  All that organic food doesn’t come cheap.  So when you look at it that way it seems like a bargain.

And the best part?  My son will eat his veggies!

Part of my job being a Santa Barbara Realtor includes recommending great places to eat, so I wanted to share this family-friendly dining recommendation!

Doesn’t this look like a guy who likes his green bowl? 

Way to go Backyard Bowls – you ROCK!

My favorite one by far is the Realtor.com app.  It has many cool features to help consumers get tons of information about a house before ever going to see it.  And all of this can be done from where ever you are, all on your mobile device.

Here are my favorite features of this app:

Area Highlighter

Being able to draw with your finger on the map with the exact area you want to live is very cool.  It is helpful because sometimes there are neighborhoods that you might be interested in with the exception of a few streets that you want to leave out.  With the area highlighter, you can do exactly that!

Area Scout

The area scout shows all the homes near where you are in any given moment.  It continues to refresh as you drive to a different area.  So if you drive by a home for sale and want to know the asking price or how many bedrooms it has, the area scout will pin point all the listings around you, making it easy to find the one you want.

Street View

Checking out the street view is important because you might notice something about a house that you can’t otherwise tell from viewing the listing details or photos.  For example, the house is on a corner lot and you hate corner lots.  Or the house is on a busy street and sits across from a gas station.  Those things wouldn’t be advertised in the listing details.  By viewing the street view, you can save yourself a trip by finding out some details ahead of time that might change your mind about a house.

Save favorites

By signing up for a free account, it is easy to save your favorite listings and view them at a later time on a different device.  You can also email them to a friend to get someone else’s opinion of the place.  Under the “settings” button you can save your agent’s email address which makes sending listings as easy as clicking one button.

Searching for a home has never been easier!  Download the app today.

Like what you see?  Read more about Goleta North (the area that lies on the mountain side of the freeway) or Goleta South (ocean side of the freeway).  Contact Marie Sue Parsons or Stephanie Young to search homes in this area today!

The building tour was led by Michael Harris, Emergency Operations Chief, who is obviously proud of his new “home” which will serve the County for decades to come during various emergency situations.

The 11,000 square foot building contains 1,000 cubic yards of concrete and a massive steel structure and was constructed according to strict “essential services” requirements.  Not only does this new facility contain state-of-the-art communication and computer systems, it boasts incident management rooms,  a joint information center for public information in the event of an emergency, and much more!  All the while it was constructed with environmental considerations in mind.  From the 166 solar panels, recycled content flooring, low VOC paint, and low energy lighting, to the pervious concrete parking lot, drought tolerant landscaping, and retention ponds for storm run off, everything was done with the utmost thought and planning in mind.

Santa Barbara should be proud of what the County has achieved, as thanks to a sizable donation from the Orfalea Foundation, and contributions from the Department of Homeland Security, we are the recipients of a nine million dollar building, for which the County of Santa Barbara paid five million dollars!  From this visit, I believe that it was money well spent.  For more information check out the construction photos  on the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services facebook page.

A food forest is a human-designed forest, which mimics a natural forest, yet not only takes care of itself, but also takes care of us.

The one that I walked past is designed with Canopy Trees of Tipuana tipu, Understory trees and shrubs, all supported by ten yards of Santa Barbara county mulch laid out in such a way as to decrease run-off and to keep water from pooling against key areas of the house.  At the beginning of the rainy season the front yard will have additional densely planted perennial edibles which will have the entire rainy season to become established.  Other newly installed plants under the canopy include sweet potato, Okinawan Spinach, Banana Passion Fruit vines, Dragon Fruit cactus and a Jelly Bean Palm.

Stop by this home at 915 Randolph Road to take a look at the front yard, and see a food forest under “construction”…replacing what was once a 32×44 foot front lawn.

Browse Mountain View School homes for sale

Read more about Santa Barbara neighborhoods or search homes for sale in Santa Barbara.  Contact Marie Sue Parsons or Stephanie Young to start looking at homes for sale today!