All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

The Sam Smith Team understands the luxury real estate market in La Jolla and educates his clients on the many communities and choice they have when buying a luxury home.

Found 74 blog entries published by Sam Smith.

Feb 28

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We have a lot of home buyers looking for homes throughout the La Jolla area with many wishing to have some kind of an ocean view when looking for a property.  As a rule of thumb, the closer you are located near the beach the more expensive the real estate will be, especially if the property has some kind of an ocean view.  If you are open to not living right next to the beach then the Muirlands La Jolla community is considered one of the better places to look.  The one thing that makes the Muirlands community better than others is its location that is perched higher on a hillside.  Select homes in this community will offer wonderful ocean and coastline views that stretches south towards the Downtown San Diego area.

Real Estate prices for ocean view

Jan 31

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One of best kept secrets for finding a secure gated community located in the heart of the La Jolla Village area is the Montefaro neighborhood located at 1000 Genter Street.  The locations backs to the La Jolla Country Club golf course which offers it a private and very desirable location that is just blocks away from many of the retail and grocery stores as well some of the best restaurants in La Jolla.  On top of this these homes were built right around 2004 with very thought out 3 bedroom floor plans to choose from.  Finding a rental home here can be a little tough as on average we only see about 2 to 3 rental homes come on the market each year with only 2 listings in 2022 and 3 listings in the year 2021.  It's even hard to find the select properties

Dec 29

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Real Estate prices for the most expensive homes sold in La Jolla actually topped the highest priced home sold in 2021.  We all know the year 2021 was a record year that saw a huge amount of real estate activity due to the limited number of homes on the market in the La Jolla area.  As of last year the highest home sold was at $21,750,000 and this year the highest sale clocked in at $21,800,000.  Of course, there were a lot more sales last year above the $17 million dollar price point but it's encouraging to see such high prices this year with an economy that has seen record high inflation and rising mortgage rates.

1320 Muirlands Drive, La Jolla was the highest home that sold this year selling for $21,800,000 in March of 2022.  Located in the upscale

Nov 30

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Buying a home at auction is not a new idea as this concept has been around for many years.  What is different now is the kind of real estate market that we are heading into in the next upcoming year.  It was only a short 12 months ago when properties were being sold with multiple bids with a very limited number of homes coming on the market for sale.  Now, properties are staying on the market for a longer time and only the pristine and well priced properties are still seeing multiple offers.  Thus buying a home at auction seems to make sense for both the owners and buyer of a property.  The market has become a buyers market where the buyers have more time to find a property and negotiate off the asking price, something that was almost unheard of a short

Oct 31

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Rarely available are the apartment rentals that can be found a the "Ocean House" complex located at 400 Prospect in La Jolla, California.  It's hard to imagine a better location for a building that is situated high on a hill that overlooks the Pacific Ocean while being just a few block radius to the sandy beach.   We were honestly surprised to see rentals come on the market here as it's been many years since we have seen any listings for this complex come up in our multiple listing service.  There are currently three rental unfurnished rental properties that are being offered for lease that range slightly in price.

The most affordable option currently on the market is Unit #107 which features one bedroom, one bath with an approximate 746 square feet of

Sep 30

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The really great part about living in La Jolla beyond the beautiful beaches and warm coastal weather is the large variety of properties that are available for sale.  These range from smaller residential condos like those found in the Villa La Jolla complex to ocean front condos found at the 939 Coast condo complex.  When looking for a condo in the La Jolla there is nothing better than finding a penthouse unit that often times offers wonderful views and a desirable floor plans.  Over the past several years we have seen some really great penthouse condos that have come on the market and often times sell for a premium price due to it's prime location.  

As the real estate market changes due to higher interest rates and recession fears we are starting to

Aug 30

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One of the hidden gems when looking for a condo in the heart of the La Jolla Village area is the Herschel Avenue condos located at 7434 Herschel Avenue.  This is a rather small condo building with a total of 9 condos that exist here with a location that is within walking distance to a lot of the great shopping and restaurants found in the Village area.  What I love about some of the condos that are located here is that they can have soaring ceilings which give the illusion of more square footage than was is actually listed on the tax records.  Many of the owners have renovated these condos and a perfect example of this is a newly listed two bedroom, two bath condo listed at $925,000.  It features an approximate 928 square feet of living space and was

Jul 26

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One of the smaller gated communities in La Jolla is the Casabella community in La Jolla.  These are residential townhouses located on a couple small streets with approximately 108 attached homes located here.  What I love about these homes is they have the look and feel of a traditional home even though they have attached walls to them.  The community itself looks very upscale when you enter into it with beautiful water features and stunning Mediterranean architecture with lush tropical landscaping.  The homes come with attached garages that gives the look of a traditional home with absolutely stunning interiors that really feel like a very upscale home. 

There is currently one home listed for sale that I'm absolutely in love with.  From the moment you

Jun 29

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The Clinton Manor condo building in La Jolla has seen a lot of home sales in the last 6 years with real estate prices slowly climbing up.  Back in 2016 it wasn't uncommon to see a two bedroom condo selling in the high $600,000 to low $700,000 range with the number of days on the marketing ranging from 10 to 120 days.  In 2018, these numbers shifted upward and two bedroom condos begun selling in the high $700,000 to low $800,000 range.  The biggest shift happened in 2021 when these two bedroom condos for $1.1 million and higher with very short days on the market as well.  Of course, the year 2021 was probably one of the best years we have seen in Southern California in the last 20 years with very low inventory and a high demand from buyers who were looking

May 31

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If you know the La Jolla area well then you know that living anywhere on Prospect street is very desirable due to the close proximity to the approach. Often time many of these condos will offer nice ocean views with a location that is situated in the heart of La Jolla.  This is the case for a condo complex called "Prospect Five" which is located at 322 Prospect Street.  This particular condo had sold back in 2016 for $750,000 and now is back on the market for sale 6 years later for $1,500,000.  The two bedroom, two bath condo features an approximate 1,220 square feet of living space and features ocean views from this 2nd floor location.  What I love about this condo is it's open floor plan that combines the living room, kitchen, dining room and outdoor

Listing information last updated on March 29th, 2024 at 2:15am CDT.