Noteworthy new listings….
3911 Via Laguna ($12.95 million) sticks in my memory even though I’ve never seen it in person, which I’m hoping to rectify today. The photos from when it was on the market in 2020 were that good: salmon-colored façade, trompe l’oeil windows and cherubs, and so on. Someone bought it for a song ($3.54 million) in September 2020, toned the whole thing down, and flipped it for $10.26 million not quite two years later. The current owner has made the 1992 house even better—while I still think you’d want a closetful of caftans, it feels fresh and interesting. I would like to find out how, if at all, the location—at Hope Ranch’s northern border, next to Modoc Road, the railroad tracks, and the 101—affects the situation. Also of note: “The additional 2+ acre parcel of land (3907 Via Laguna) offers additional privacy and space or the option to build a second 10,000-square-foot master estate home, with its own ADU.”
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New-build 220 Montecito Ranch Lane ($29.5 million) has stunning views from its five-acre lot in the gated community on the hill east of Summerland. The architecture is California Mediterranean on the outside and stripped-down contemporary on the inside. It’s a white-label product at this stage, ready for someone to zap it to life with a personality transplant. There are a few quirks: one of the primary bedroom’s two baths—I refuse to call them his-and-hers, and so should you—one is much plusher than the other, so good luck working that out with your couples counselor. And the outdoor kitchen, with a grill and 18 (!) drawers, is surprisingly far from the kitchen and al fresco dining area. P.S. A trail easement cuts across the north side of the property, down the hill, but the house’s orientation, with the guest house behind it, minimizes the impact. And no, you may not reroute the trail.
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The seller of 945 Arbolado Road ($10.5 million) built a beautiful contemporary house in 2020. As you’d expect, the best stuff is on the upper entry level, to capitalize on the extraordinary view; on the lower-level, the media room is a winner, but the other rooms are less welcoming. The whole thing is totally turnkey and feels like quality. As for the price, with no disrespect to my friends who live nearby, Arbolado Road has never seen eight figures, and it doesn’t have the prestige of more classic Riviera streets. Perhaps its time has come….
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You could fall in love with 790 Buena Vista Drive ($8.5 million), a 1927 house by George Washington Smith, just by looking at that stone facade. The temptation will be to do much more with the landscaping, because the house is relatively small—there’s neither a dining room nor a family room, and a fair amount of the square footage goes to the three narrow sitting/sun rooms—and right on the road. Either way, this would make a great place to ensconce a lover rather romantic weekend getaway.
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Behold the power of wainscoting: 155 Santa Isabel Lane ($6.35 million) is a 1950s ranch house, just like all the others in the Montecito Oaks neighborhood, classed way up with millwork in nearly every room. A family is the likely demo; here’s hoping the kid(s) can swim, because the pool dominates the backyard.
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Who knew? Behind the Eastside blocks off S. Salinas Street are four nicer houses pressed up against Eucalyptus Hill. 1480 Lou Dillon Lane ($4.55 million) is the third one down the lane, and it has an idiosyncratic floor plan. (It’s not online, but I don’t know that looking at it helps.) There are several levels, the top one being an office with the house’s best view. The focus is understandably on the ocean side, but the back would benefit from some attention—beyond the small terrace, it’s giving off vacant-lot vibes.
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You can’t argue with the design of the 2019 house at 315 La Marina ($4.495 million) on the Mesa: it feels as good as it looks. (I’m particularly fond of the way the fireplace separates the dining and living rooms.) The upstairs primary has an ocean view, at least till someone decides to add onto one of the single-story houses in the way. Be prepared to use Shoreline Park and Leadbetter Beach as your backyard, though, for the house takes up most of the .13-acre lot.
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Newly built 3855 Calle Cita ($3.798 million) in west San Roque also wins points for style—it’s utterly livable, with baked-in character and not a flaw in sight. As on La Marina, there’s not much in the way of outdoor space; the only truly usable area is the deck off the back of the house. The bigger wrinkle is the vacant lot next door, were 50 housing units could one day get built.
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As good as those last two new specimens are, they’re no match for the old-school panache of 2040 Mission Ridge Road ($3.15 million), built in 1923. The house needs work throughout, and the floor plan involves more levels than you’d think, but just look at it! And the half-acre lot has room to play with.
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There may be nothing more quintessentially Ojai than a hilltop labyrinth. That’s not all 2800 Hermitage Road ($5.75 million) has to offer: the 45-acre property also includes two ponds, a creek, and “a striking radial home, architecturally designed in the 1980s by Donald Hoppen, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, and updated over the years.”
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Also worth checking out:
••• 7244 Gobernador Canyon Road ($5.995 million): 1970s farmhouse on 7.59 acres with lots of avocado trees in outer Carpinteria.
••• 559 Hot Springs Road ($4.8 million): 1.15-acre lot with a 1947 house and guest house that both want to be scrapped.
••• 615 Concha Loma Drive ($4.395 million): 1957 four-bedroom, three-bath house not far from the beach in Carp.
••• 305 E. Islay Street ($3.5 million): Love the European villa exterior of the 1939 house, but the upstairs primary shares a bath with one of the two guest rooms.
••• 979 Debra Drive ($3.495 million): Midcentury energy above San Roque.
••• 98 Loma Media Road ($3.45 million): When the 1952 house was on the market in 2023, I thought it would get fixed up and flipped—I was half right. (The seller paid $2.85 million.) It’s already in escrow, so maybe this time…?
••• 2325 Edgewater Way ($3 million): 912-square-foot bungalow built in 1930 and “mostly refurbished (because perfection is boring)”; it’s two houses away from the Mesa Lane Steps and you may know it as the one with the horses.
••• 122 Skyline Circle ($2.995 million): 1949 Alta Mesa house with exterior curb appeal but the floor plan is kooky; the den is through the kitchen and the upstairs guest room uses a bathroom on the ground floor.
••• And the Roofline of the Year award goes to… 1623 Chapala Street ($2.095 million, below), on a flag lot with a two-bedroom house and a guest studio. The property “was extensively updated in 2005 by New York photographer Dean McNeil, Jr., for his wife, Marcia Tucker, who was an American art historian and founder of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.”
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