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.

Wednesday and Thursday Broker Preview. First I have to apologize, I have been trying to get over a bad head cold for the last 7 days. I am finally feeling half way normal. Yesterday I went to Shady Canyon, Irvine for broker preview. It had to be around 100 degrees. I couldn't tell if I was not feeling well and still had a fever.....or it if was really that hot. I was glad to go back to Newport to cool off. Anyway, I went to a new listing on Golden Eagle. For those of you not familiar with Shady Canyon, it is a guard gated community behind the hill of Crystal Cove. Shady Canyon has a few pro athletes living in there. Shady Canyon has its own private golf course. It is a beautiful area....when it is not so hot. :) Back to Golden Eagle. This home is $12,995,000. It is about 11,000 sq ft, 6 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms......9 car garage. I was impressed with the infinity pool....and the great view of Shady Canyon. As far as the interior.....I wasn't as impressed. I really like the Tuscan look.....and they were trying to get away from the Tuscan look. They used color tiles in many of the bathrooms. If you like color....you will like this house. I also noticed they didn't use baseboards. I guess I can be a little picky. Last week I visited a home on Grey Owl. This home is currently owned by a professional baseball player. For $18,995,000, you could buy a 13,500 square foot house with 5 bedrooms and 9 baths. This house has the WOW factor. The master bedroom is amazing and I was very impressed with the 2 girls rooms......very girly. They had a separate entertaining building that was by the pool. It housed a theatre. This was connected underground to the main house. Sometimes I wonder why someone would spend almost $19 million to be in Shady Canyon, Irvine.....maybe for the great schools? For $19 million, you could be in Newport Coast with an amazing ocean view. The big difference other than the view is that it is much cooler in Newport Coast. I might complain about how hot it was....but it usually isn't that hot. If you like to use the swimming pool......Shady Canyon is probably a better pick.

Today for Broker Preview I visited a couple new listing in Crystal Cove (area between Laguna Beach and Newport Beach).....one on Sidney Bay and one on Sidra Cove. The home on Sidra Cove was interesting as the master bedroom was on the lower level. The bedroom still has a view, but where I come from......Minnesota...it felt like a walk out basement. The agent told me that the builder originally sold the floor plan this way until many people complained so he switched the 2 bedrooms on the upper level with the lower level master bedroom. It makes much more sense to me to have the master bedroom on the upper level with the better view. I viewed a couple of other homes in Corona del Mar. The two that stand out was one on Marguerite and another one on Heliotrope. The home on Marguerite was new construction ($4.9 million)....on the 200 block. You are really close to the ocean.....but there is a lot in front of you that is under construction. This home was neat as it has a mother-in-law quaters in the back of the unit. I love my mom, but after 3 days.....it would be nice if she had her own area. Maybe that is why I really like this other home on Heliotrope. This home also has a mother-in-law quarters. In-between the two areas there is a really cute garden area. I have a picture of it posted above. This home is a little older, but it was very charming and had character. It is a 5 bedroom/5 bathroom home and is priced at $2,490,000.

The big news that I thought I would announce on Monday actually happened today. I am going back to work for Prudential in Newport Beach. I left Prudential a year ago. I am going back to Prudential to work with James Gray. He is a Newport Beach native.....and has been in real estate for over 20 years. I am looking forward to the partnership. We met today to discuss what our marketing pieces will look like. I am excited to see my ideas in print. More later.