All Blog Entries by Sam Smith

We work with a lot of first time home buyers who are always trying to figure out the best places to live in Newport Beach. Real Estate prices in  Newport Beach have gone up so much in the last several years that it's been really hard for those buying a home for the first time.  We still have seen some really good investments that have come on the market this year so it's still not impossible to find a good starter home.  There are some of the places we recommend looking when first starting to think about buying a home.  We always recommend starting with what your budget will allow and then work your way up.  If that means starting with a smaller condo then that typically is the best way to go.

One of the best places we love in the Newport Beach area

When looking for a rental property it tends to be all about location and price as many Newport Beach neighborhoods can have crazy high rent prices.  One of the more affordable places to find a rental property in Newport Beach is a small condo complex called Newport Garden Villas.  First, the location is really hard to beat as it's situated in the upscale Westcliff area of Newport Beach.  From this area it's just a very short driving distance to the Newport Beach back Bay Area as well as all of the retail shopping and restaurants located along Coast Highway.  It's also really ideal when commuting to work as it's just minutes to the 55 freeway onramp which connects to the 5, 73 and 405 freeways.  You are basically in the hub of things with a location that

One of the latest trends in real estate is looking at various places to find homes for sale that are currently not on the market for sale.  With the very low inventory of homes buyers are now staring to look at current rental properties as an avenue to see if those owners would consider selling their home.  We have found this an excellent way to find some properties where the owners might consider selling but it's important to keep a couple things in mind.  Owners of these rental properties may consider selling but since the home is not on the open market they often will want a premium in price to entice them to sell.  Also, if the property is already tenant occupied then the new buyer may have to assume that tenant and be in charge of renting it to them

One of the latest trends in real estate are fractional ownership properties.  Over the last year we are starting to see more and more of these listings come on the market for sale here in Newport Beach.  The very low price point is what grabs a lot of buyers attention thinking that they can get this beautiful home or condo for a fraction of what it would normally sell for until they read the property description and find out that it's only for partial ownership. What's happening is that larger companies interested in investing in real estate will purchase prime real estate that will have the most appeal to a large number of buyers.  This would include a nice view of the city or ocean views, open floor plan with high ceilings and a good number of rooms

The Newport Terrace community is an excellent place to find affordable rentals in the often expensive beach town of Newport Beach.  The location is just down the road from Hoag hospital on the nothern section of Newport Beach which is a short driving distance to the beach.  Many of the rentals have been leased in the mid $3,500 a month range or less which is a great price point for rentals in this area.  The large majority these are 3 bedroom condos that were originally built in 1974 with several of them being updated over time.  There is currently one rental on the market in Newport Terrace that features a total of three bedrooms, two baths with an approximate 1,129 square feet of living space.  It has been nicely updated and comes with vaulted ceilings

Newport Beach is one of the best places when looking for water front home.  There are a wide range of luxury estate homes and condos that sit directly on the bay front.  For those looking for a townhouse on the water those are harder to come by in Newport Beach.  The main difference between a condo and a townhouse is that a townhome will be typically located on two different levels with a condo typically just on one.  There are a few places to find waterfront townhouses in Newport Beach that include Bayside Cove, Residences at the Vue Newport, Lido Parc and Newport Marina Village.

Probably the best place to look for two story townhouses in Newport Beach on the water is the Bayside Cove community.  This is a premier complex that offers wonderful water

The Westcliff Capri Condos complex is one of the older condo buildings in the Newport Beach area that was built between 1959 to 1960.  This historically have offered a great value with a location that is right in the heart of the Westcliff area and within walking distance to the Newport Harbor high school and the Dover Shores area.  Condo sales have been very limited in this complex since they rarely come on the market for sale.  On average, we will only see one listing come on the market and sell with some years having no condo sales at all.  What you can find here are really great real estate prices for one and two bedroom condos that are under 1,00 square feet of living space.  The last sale that occurred in Westcliff Captri was a one bedroom condo

One of the most impressive gated communities by the beach in Newport Beach is arguably the Pelican Point community.  If you have never been inside this community you are not alone as it boasts one of the toughest neighborhoods to enter with 24 hour around the clock security gate that secures the small collection of homes that exist here.  Getting to to this entrance of this community is rather easy as it's right on the edge of the Corona Del Mar and Newport Coast border and the only gated community along the beach in this area.  Pelican Point is a sister neighborhood to the upscale tracts like Pelican Hill which is named after the 5 star Pelican Hill hotel that resides in this area.  What you can expect are some of the nicest Spanish & Mediterranean style

One of my favorite places to look for a rental home is the Baycrest gated community in Newport Beach.  If you have ever visited the Mercedes dealership off Jamboree and the 73 freeway then you have been very close to this community.  Baycrest Is located just a couple blocks off Jamboree and shares a very private location while still being in the middle of everything in Newport Beach.  One thing to keep in mind is that this community is rather small so rental properties rarely come on the market for lease.  I pulled the previous rentals going back approximately eight years back and only 10 rental properties were leased in our multiple listing service.  Prices in the last year have range between $6,500 to $7,500 for three and four bedroom homes that range

One of the top gated communities in Southern California is arguably the Pelican Hill and Pelican Crest neighborhoods.  Living in either of these communities really makes a statement as they feature so of the most expensive homes found in Orange County, California.  Real Estate prices currently range from $12,500,000 to $45,000,000 with a large number of sales in the last several years and there are several reasons for the popularity of this community.  One of the biggest selling points is it's location that arguably has some of the best ocean views in all of Orange County.  The views can be truly breathtaking with a combination of both ocean and golf course views.  Some of my favorite views from this location is actually the view of the Newport Bay