Noteworthy new listings….
I wouldn’t have thought the area around the big curve where East Valley Road turns into Toro Canyon Road would be hilly enough to support a drop-down house, but here’s 2985 East Valley Road ($4 million), where only the garage is at street level, and the rest sits below. Built in 2023, it fully embraces semi-industrial contemporary finishes like a chilly kitchen and concrete walls and floors, while also making room for a Santa Barbara sandstone fireplace in the primary bedroom. I haven’t seen the property in person, but I think it could work, although—and I say this as someone who likes concrete floors—you’re going to need bigger rugs. And there’s not one photo of the three bathrooms, which causes some concern that idiosyncratic choices were made.
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Once you get past the mousy facade of 1125 High Road ($5.75 million), there are intriguing midcentury moments throughout the 1956 house. There are also enough stairs and levels that I’d reconsider the toe-stubber of a hearth, and the kitchen and baths place this firmly in the spiffer-upper category. The Lower Village location remains white hot, with new listings extremely rare.
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Even though four years have passed since 765 Via Airosa ($7.995 million) sold for $4.65 million, I think we can go out on a limb and assume it’s a spec reno. The house looks good, probably as good as its 1976 bones allow; a few before photos can be seen here. The property is in the northwest corner of Hope Ranch, far from the prestige zones but with amazing mountain views. P.S. Note the thinspiration out by the hot tub. P.P.S. Did the photographer smear vaseline on the lens?
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The good news about 2795 East Valley Road ($3.8 million), by Ladera Lane, is that it’s a mini compound—two-bedroom house and a guest cottage—on .9 acre, with plenty of open space. The bad news is twofold: the house is close to the road, and that’s someone else’s tennis court.
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Another week, another spec reno on the Mesa…. 357 Oliver Road ($2.395 million) was purchased a year ago for $1.4 million and “meticulously rebuilt from the studs up with permits [and] new electrical, plumbing, roofing, interior layout, landscaping and driveway.” The finishes are pleasant in a 2025 Airbnb way—and the recessed shelves in the living room are a nice touch—although it’ll all look less fresh and clean after you install window treatments. Also, is under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen too much to ask? The lamp is unconvincing.
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Elsewhere on the Mesa, 222 Las Ondas ($2.275 million) is a floops—the seller paid $2.1 million in February 2024 for the two-bedroom, one-bath, 806-square-foot fixer-teardown; it now comes with “approved plans and permits […] for an approximately 2,900-square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom, four-bath custom home.”
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And there’s another fixer at 1428 Shoreline Drive ($1.999 million), over near Thousand Steps Beach. It also has two bedrooms and one bath, but it’s bigger (1,387 square feet), likely due to the “garage [that] was converted decades ago; used mainly for hobbies and storage.”
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Besides its impressive size of 2,522 acres, with six legal parcels, the cattle ranch northwest of Buellton at 1701 W. Highway 246 ($9 million) has two other characteristics of note: “the rare Palmer Oak, one of the world’s oldest living organisms,” and “the abandoned homestead (occupied by two barn owls).”
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Also worth checking out:
••• 1144 Portesuello Avenue ($3.095 million): Floops of a handsome Bel Air Knolls four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath (below); the seller paid $3.1 million in May 2024.
••• 2937 Glen Albyn Drive ($2.775 million): 1977 Mission Canyon four-bedroom with ADU.
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