Noteworthy new listings…. (Full disclosure: I’ve been out of town, so I haven’t seen any of these in person.)
With its utilitarian shapes, corrugated-metal siding, and tan brick, the circa-2016 compound at 1066 Toro Canyon Road ($19.5 million) comes off like a bunch of outbuildings in search of a main house. There’s certainly a lot of space—11 acres, with guest house, barn, and lovely outdoor areas—and the current owner, who paid $12 million in January 2022, has redone the interiors in muted Jenni Kayne style. (Before photos, including more of the exterior, can be seen in a Wall Street Journal article from the previous time it was listed, although they’re behind a paywall.) The big question, aesthetics aside, is whether an appetite exists to spend nearly $20 million to be so far up the hill, deep in fire country and a 15-minute drive from Lucky’s.
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If 2694 Sycamore Canyon Road ($9.495 million) was built this way in 1947, as per the listing, it must have seemed far ahead of its time—the ’80s and ’90s were still decades away. The top half of the floor plan is somewhat normal, aside from the isolated living room, but the lower half is a large block carved into five rooms, and it all wants updating. The house sits at the back of the 1.3-acre lot, with maximum buffer from the street, but alongside a shared driveway.
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New construction is rare in Summerland, which explains the price of 171 Evans Avenue ($7.25 million), a four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath home on a shared driveway. With the main living areas on the second floor and the primary above, you’re going to get your steps in—but that’s true of life in the town in general.
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I’d be curious to see the comps that led to the asking price of 4652 Vintage Ranch Lane ($6.15 million), a 2002 Spanish-style five-bedroom north of More Mesa—not exactly a $6 million part of town. The structure takes up much of the lot, the interiors feel heavy, with an occasional awkward angle.
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“The location is hard to beat,” says the listing for 1147 Vallecito Road ($6.15 million) in Carpinteria—a remarkably rose-colored take on being two houses from the freeway. It has five bedrooms, which is nice, but the lot is just .32 acre, the interiors are generic, and the neighborhood is even farther from $6 million territory than Vintage Ranch Lane.
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A stone’s throw from the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2708 Puesta del Sol ($5.25 million) is a .89-acre property with a charming five-bedroom, three-bath house built in 1900 and a quartet of one-bedroom cottages. The photographs bathe the place in light as if it were a Playboy centerfold, but the outbuildings could use refreshing.
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A reader emailed to ask why 1211 East Valley Road ($4.695 million) isn’t priced higher, and I saw it so long ago, when it was a pocket listing, that I can’t remember much about the place other than the attached “guest quarters” are big enough, with a separate entrance, that the place feels a bit like a duplex. While there are plenty of areas I’d update—emphasizing the midcentury lines—and that’s a tricky stretch of East Valley Road, the price does seem right for 4,099 square feet on an acre in Montecito.
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Speaking of duplexes, 401 Calle Dia ($3.5 million) “features a unique and versatile layout with two kitchens and two living areas.” The whole property is likely to get redone, so that quirk is neither here nor there. The draw is the proximity to the beach; the drawback is the way the house is shoved into the back corner of the lot, with almost no backyard. P.S. Those towel bars should come with a trigger warning.
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And a few others worth checking out:
••• 1556 La Vista Road ($8.95 million): Floops of a 6,008-square-foot house on seven acres on a ridge above San Roque; the seller paid $3.9 million in April 2025 and cleaned up surfaces, but the architecture remains tricky.
••• 7702 Kestrel Lane ($3.749 million): 2013 three-bedroom with beach access at the western edge of Goleta.
••• 55 Alameda Padre Serra ($3.2 million): Handsome spec reno of a 1964 three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath on Eucalyptus Hill.
••• 707 Calle Palo Colorado ($2.895 million): Cute 1950 cottage in San Roque.
••• 4585 Via Maria ($4.895 million): Floops of a 1992 Park Highlands five-bedroom that doesn’t look that different from last time it was listed (below); the seller paid $3.8 million in October 2024. P.S. Anyone know where to get a square TV?
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