Sunday

Sunday was a little slow for me as I had plans to show homes in Corona del Mar, and we decided to look at homes today. This is off the subject of real estate, but I have to say I was very impressed with some new construction......at Mariners Church yesterday. If you read my profile on my website.....www.PropertiesInTheOC.com.....you will know I mentor foster children. I don't have any of my own so I find this fills the void of children in my life. I was very honored this past week to have both kids request to be baptized. I was very honored that they wanted to do this on their own. I talked about it at bible school....but didn't realize I was making an impact. I met the kids at church this past weekend for the class for baptism. Their grandma brought them to church with their 16 year old uncle.....who also wants to be baptized. If you are familiar with Mariners, you know it is like a compound. There is a new student center for Jr and Sr High students. I hadn't been over since it just opened a couple of weeks ago. Usually the kids sit with me in church or the cafe to watch the sermon. We went to the student center and I was very impressed. There was a basketball court......foosball tables....and various other sports kids that age like. What was really neat is that they have sermons that mirror the "adult" sermons. We sat in on the Jr high sermon upstairs and then went downstairs to listed to the Sr high sermon. I wish they would have had something like that when I was growing up. There is also a new chapel being built. Mariners church has service in a big auditorium.....so it makes it hard to host a wedding or a funeral there and to have that intimate feeling. The new chapel will be perfect for both occasions, or if you feel like you want to sit in on an "old school" kind of sermon. They are building a little pond around the chapel to give it a serene feeling. I am pretty excited to see the whole campus complete. It was a busy day. I am ready to watch something mindless on TV. Tomorrow is a big day......showing homes again in Quail Hill and Oak Creek.....and still trying to work on my new marketing piece and website.

www.PropertiesInTheOC.com

What does a $12 million house look like?

It was another beautiful day in Newport Beach today. I started off my day by showing home in Quail Hill. This is an area over by the Irvine Spectrum.....off of the 405 and Sand Canyon. This area is very similiar to Turtle Ridge. Turtle Ridge is over by Newport Coast....on the East side of Newport Coast Drive. There is a mix of detached homes and condos. Both areas started building I believe around 2003.

After showing homes, I was excited to see what a $12 million house looks like on Kings Road. If you are not familiar with the area, Kings Road runs parallel with PCH.....right before you cross Newport Blvd as you drive North. This area is up the hill from PCH. Most of these homes have great ocean views with Balboa Island and Balboa Peninsula. This home definitely has the WOW factor. It is almost 11,000 square feet, sits on two lots....one is behind the other. There are 5 bedrooms, 7 baths, 12 seat theatre, gym, spa, pool, wine room, 6 car garage.....what else do you need? They thought of everything. I really liked the crystal door knobs. They remind me of my grandmas home in South Bend, Indiana.

I then went to Dover Shores. This area is just north on PCH as you cross the bridge to the back bay. Many of these homes are on the water on the back bay. The home I went to needed a little love. The patio on the water was really nice. It reminded me of being back home in Minnesota sitting on the deck overlooking the water. Very calming. This home is priced at $3.649.....5 bedrooms, 5 baths.

I went to a couple of places over off of 16th Street. They were both relatively newly remodeled or built. If you are looking that area....let me know, I will let you know more about them. I am rushing on this blog as I need to head over to Turtle Ridge for another showing around 6. I also need to do some additional paperwork so I will sign off for today.

Crystal Cove and Irvine Terrace

Today was a beautiful day to view homes. It was warm and clear. The ocean looked like glass. I started my tour with a home in south Corona del Mar. This home is on the 200 block of Poppy. I walked in and was surprised how much room this house has. There is a view from the back of the house....which included the family room and the master bedroom upstairs. Nice looking house....but needs upgrades. It is priced at $3,895,000......3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths and a 3 car garage. This home is one block from Little Corona Cove and Ocean Blvd.

My next stop was Crystal Cove. There is a new listing on Wharfside. This home has a large yard with great views of the ocean. Great home inside. I stopped by The Tides again as I wanted to take a couple of great pictures to possibly use for marketing pieces. I also stopped by 28 Cruisers Bluff. This is one of my favorite homes on the market. This home doesn't have the rooftops in front of your view. You also have white water view. The owner/agent decorated this place herself......very elegant. My favorite is the back yard. This is a great home for entertaining. I loved the barbeque area.

My last stop was to Irvine Terrace to see a new listing on Santanella Terrace. This home looked very shabby chic.....very girly.....white with little chandeliers. Well priced at $1.595 for something on the ocean side of PCH. I would put new carpet in this house. Otherwise it showed fairly well.

Tomorrow I will be showing homes in Quail Hill and Turtle Ridge and then previewing homes in the Newport Heights area. I am really tired tonight....it was a busy day. Survivor is on so I need to wrap up here and log off for the night.

I can't believe I still have this cold after 19 days. It is very frustrating as I try to go to the gym 3 times a week. I haven't been to the gym in almost 3 weeks. Oh well.
Today was very exciting as I met with one of the ladies from our marketing department. I believe she really understands what I want with the new piece. I want the piece to have the feeling of a Newport Coast home.......rich taupes, black, greys. I look forward to seeing the mock up in the next week. That is only the start as we will need to creat business cards, signs, and mulitple marketing pieces with this look and feel. I am hoping this piece will be the best one Prudential has ever created. This will be difficult as they have created some really neat pieces. I don't think I mentioned the name of the new website......www.CoveandCanyonHomes.com. Don't look it up yet....as we are in the very early stages. This is a combination of Crystal Cove and Shady Canyon homes names. I thought it up.....it is kind of cool. Tomorrow I am showing rentals in Laguna Beach. I will try and take some cool ocean shot pictures.

Crystal Cove and Cannery Lofts

Who else was cold this morning? Time to bring out the extra blankets for fall and winter. I miss the warm air, but also welcome the change of seasons.....as long as it doesn't include snow! :)
I have been so busy the last couple of days, I need to finally catch up today. Thursday I attended preview in Crystal Cove. I visited a new listing on Shorwalk. This home is 5 bedrooms with 6 bathrooms, around 7500 square feet, listed at $9,838,000. I would say this home has the wow factor.....amazing architecture....decore and ocean view. I looked at a home a couple of doors down on the same street and it didn't have the warm fuzzy feeling this home has. I also viewed a home in Corona del Mar on Waterfront Drive.....selling price is $2.5 for the front unit and $1.5 for the back unit. There is a front and a back home. Both of them on the market so you could buy the whole thing and have your own little compound. I was surprised to find such a large shower in the main house. I quickly figured it out that a surfer lived there as they used this large shower for surfboards. Trust me when I say it would only be used for surfboards......not warm and fuzzy bathroom. This house had many stairs.....and a very peculiar floor plan. At the end of preview we stopped by a new listing in One Ford Road. This home was very elegant. I felt like I was at a hotel. In fact they had the guest room set up as a hotel......bottled water, napkins.....I was looking for the chocolate on the pillow! :)
Friday I went to the Cannery Lofts.....over by one of my favorite restaurants, The Cannery. I have never viewed them before. They are very modern with a lot of use of raw concrete as flooring. Tjese are very unique homes as they have an office on their main floor. This would be great.....you could go to your office.....and it is down the stairs. This home is right on the water. I forgot the price but will update this blog when I load the pictures. I also visited another home in Newport Heights......absolutely gorgeous. This home was featured in Coastal Living Magazine. The architect is Mark Becker. The agent said the remodel was from 8 years ago. It looks like they just remodeled it last week. The use of white walls with dark floor. They used the casita as a pool/entertainment room. I was really impressed by the black and white surfing pictures. This house definitely has the WOW factor. I almost forgot, it has a view of the ocean and has its own in ground swimming pool. This home is listed at $4.495.
I don't want to forget my realtor friends new listing on 214 Walnut in Newport Shores. This is a cute home a block off of PCH.....east side. You are only a little over 2 blocks from the ocean. This home has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. They have done some upgrades to the home.....still need a couple more in my book. But, if you want a place close to the ocean....heck, you won't spend much time at home....so skip the additional upgrades.
I am looking forward to a busy week.

Broker Preview Shady Canyon

It was another hot day in Shady Canyon today. I went to a couple of listings. I went to a new listing on Vernal Springs. It is a great place......with an awesome view and patio area. See pictures above. I love a good area to grill. In Minnesota we call it "grilling out", in California it is referred to "barbequeing." Random facts I will post. I was also trying to chase down my friend Rob Glass. He is a builder in the Pelican Crest and Shady Canyon area. He has new construction on Needle Grass......as well as two completed projects that are close to Needle Grass. I was looking to get in to one of his houses to take pictures for new marketing pieces. Needless to say, I couldn't find him. I know he is busy so I will try him next week. His homes are truley works of art. I am looking forward to Broker Preview in Crystal Cove tomorrow. Today, I need to go to the vet, my dog Sam has had fleas all summer and I can't get rid of them. Fortunately, the vet said there is some pill he can take and then he will be fine within an hour. I feel bad for him......he doesn't look like he has fleas...but keeps on itching.

The Tides, Crystal Cove

It is official this week that I am back with Prudential in Newport Beach. I will be teaming with James Gray. He is a Newport Beach native and has been in real estate for over 20 years. We will be targeting high end homes in Crystal Cove and Shady Canyon area. Since I haven't seen anything really neat lately on the market. I was looking through some old pictures for marketing ideas. I came across my pictures from The Tides. These homes are toward the top of Crystal Cove. They had 3 model homes......my favorite one was the Tuscan feeling home. I LOVE this home. See pictures above. These homes started in the $7 million range.