Below is a brief list of all Montecito homes for sale in the Montecito Union School District. The graphic is linked to a page with photos and details of all 103 single family homes available in the Montecito Union School area. The Montecito Union School District homes for sale currently offer greater diversity and more total homes for sale as compared to Montecito’s Cold Spring School District. Overall, the Montecito real estate market has maintained a very strong performance since what is considered the real estate market peak in 2005. Montecito properties median pricing has sustained a positive price growth throughout an overall National real estate market downturn. This bode quite well moving forward as traditionally stronger real estate markets are the quickest to return to even more positive appreciation performance. Montecito real estate has proven to be a true "blue chip" real estate market performer while other markets have become relatively soft.

Here is a link to all 103 Montecito properties now available in the Montecito Union School District.

Santa Barbara properties, privately offered Santa Barbara estates, Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, Montecito estates, and the signature property Santa Barbara properties market, is one which requires well informed local expertise and knowledge, crucial to successful acquisition and sale of these rare estates. Custom searches of Santa Barbara properties on the beach, Santa Barbara estates, Montecito properties for sale, Hope Ranch real estate, Carpinteria beach estates information and anaylsis of Santa Barbara CA homes for sale, is available at this site and http://www.RareEstates.com, a fine home sale transaction network, with specialized resources and knowledge of unadvertised Santa Barbara properties and qualified Santa Barbara estates property investors. For exclusive comprehensive analysis and information about Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, privately offered Montecito estates, Santa Barbara estates, or the Hope Ranch properties, inquire here.

Here is a list of 11 current Montecito homes for sale in Oprah’s neighborhood. These Montecito properties offer great values and are in close proxmity to Oprah’s $90 million Montecito estate property. Follow this link to a page of property details for each.

Santa Barbara properties, privately offered Santa Barbara estates, Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, Montecito estates, and the signature property Santa Barbara properties market is one which requires well informed local expertise and knowledge, crucial to successful acquisition and sale of rare estates. Custom searches of Santa Barbara properties on the beach, Santa Barbara estates, Montecito properties for sale, Hope Ranch real estate, Carpinteria beach estates information and anaylsis of Santa Barbara CA homes for sale, is available at this site and http://www.RareEstates.com, a fine home sale transaction network, with specialized resources and knowledge of unadvertised Santa Barbara properties and qualified Santa Barbara estates property investors. For exclusive comprehensive analysis and information about Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, privately offered Montecito estates, Santa Barbara estates, or the Hope Ranch properties, inquire here.

If your looking for gloom and doom about the real estate market, you best exit this posting quickly. Here are the stats tor Montrecito real estate market sales year to date for 2008 compared to the same period for 2007. You will see some pretty incredible statistics and trends. The average price is up 34% and the median is up 29% for the Montecito properties market thus far for 2008. The number sold is off 20% from last year with the average and median prices up, indicatng a lack of inventory of "better" homes to choose from. However when those "better" homes are found by the Montecito real estate buyer, they are receiving a premium price. Turn key values are what is moving in this unique Montecito properties market place. Gone are the days of a fix and flip. The Montecito value buyer wants no question marks left as to remodeling or upgradeing costs and doesn’t want to wait for the work to be completed. They are willing to pay for the turn key value that is move in ready and so that is what is currently moving this amazing Montecito real estate market place. Here is the chart for Montecito properties sold to date for 2008 over 2007.

Santa Barbara properties, privately offered Santa Barbara estates, Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, Montecito estates, and the signature property Santa Barbara properties market is one which requires well informed local expertise and knowledge, crucial to successful acquisition and sale of rare estates. Custom searches of Santa Barbara properties on the beach, Santa Barbara estates, Montecito properties for sale, Hope Ranch real estate, Carpinteria beach estates information and anaylsis of Santa Barbara CA homes for sale, is available at this site and http://www.RareEstates.com, a fine home sale transaction network, with specialized resources and knowledge of unadvertised Santa Barbara properties and qualified Santa Barbara estates property investors. For exclusive comprehensive analysis and information about Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, privately offered Montecito estates, Santa Barbara estates, or the Hope Ranch properties, inquire here. 

The following is a email we received from Don Dishion, senior loan consultant, and long time mortgage advisor which we wanted to post as it provides insight into the current home mortgage market here in the Santa Barbara real estate market place.  To search current Santa Barbara properties available, use this customizable search to fit you needs.

To my friends and business partners, I am sure you have heard that the merger between Bank of America and Countrywide has been finalized. This is great news for our industry as two powerhouses in real estate loans with a combined nationwide market share of 18% have gotten together with the goal of obtaining a 25% market share!  The only way that will be accomplished is to provide highly competitive programs and underwriting in the future and let the loan consultants do their job. What we do have now is the Countrywide management team in place keeping the same loan origination system that has made us number one in the South Coast Santa Barbara real estate market.

As you know underwriting guidelines have changed considerably. The most recent news in this regard is that Ben Bernanke did not outlaw the origination of stated income loans as we feared from the rumors we had heard in Washington and in the press. He did forbid the use of stated income loans for sub prime borrowers which was good, but fortunately did not mentioned anything along those lines regarding prime mortgage borrowers. This is fantastic as we all know that in the Santa Barbara real estate market, we would have a very tough time fully documenting all borrowers in this high priced community of entrepreneurs. Now we just need to get the secondary mortgage market to start purchasing these loans again now that home prices are stabilizing. Therefore the few lenders that are originating stated income loans have got to hedge their bets and price them high enough to insure that they will not be under water when the market loosens up. For loans to $417,000 the pricing for reduced documentation is still excellent. With home prices softened, buyers for these loans are getting easier to find. More good news is that jumbo and super jumbo loans are definitely available with Countrywide and most of the major lenders. Well qualified borrowers with a good down payment have these loans available. Also with in house processing the ability to close transactions in two weeks from start to finish if needed is available. This may help if a buyer’s first choice for a loan has not worked out.

In the early eighties, buyers were finding other ways to finance purchases besides going directly to the lenders as rates were as high as 16%.  Things are definitely better than that era but due to tight money I think other options should be considered in addition to borrowing directly from conventional lenders. An obvious idea that has probably been ignored over the last few years is to explore the availability of seller financing. Other ways that deals were put together were through contract sales, wrap around mortgages (most of these if presented to the lenders would not be approved however), and making higher offers with sellers paying as much as 3 points to buy down the borrower’s rate making the payment more affordable.  I am sure all of you know about these methods so for the short term it might be good to explore them again and find other creative ways to save your transactions if conventional financing is not available. The good news is there are great buys out there and where there is a creative will there is a way. 

Don Dishion, Senior Loan Consultant, Countrywide Bank, FSB

Thank you Don

While the Santa Barbara real estate market has been one of the least effected in the US market, this Barron’s report shows the bottom may very well be in and short lived on a national basis.

Barrons: 

• Recent data suggest real estate market pessimism may be overblown. Even economist Karl Case, father of the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Index, admits many industry pundits and members of the media are ignoring key facts – as demonstrated by their focus on negative year-over-year price figures rather than more recent monthly data. An example: Home prices actually increased slightly in eight of 20 Case Shiller markets between March and April. Instead, the focus of most media reports was on year-over-year figures, which continue to support the notion that the market may not have hit bottom, let alone begun to improve.

 • Transaction-related indices may be skewed at present by a far larger than normal share of subprime-derived default and distress sales. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, more expensive homes (those priced over $721,548) have dropped in price by only about 10.7 percent from their peak, compared with homes priced under $473,711, which have tumbled by 40.9 percent.

• Even new housing construction numbers suggest an improvement, according to Case. He notes that housing starts, which fell to 975,000 in April from 2.27 million in January 2006, have fallen by similar percentages three times during the last 35 years. Case observes that each previous time this has occurred the market has staged a surprising upturn within a quarter. Only a slide into a recession would temper his optimism about the potential for a similar recurrence of this trend.

This Santa Barbara 4 bedroom 3 bath home in Vintage Ranch, defines the Santa Barbara estates for sale market. In the Santa Barbara properties for sale market from $2 million up, the strength of home sales defy what has happened nationally. Monday, this property recently listed for sale recieved 4 offers and of course the property has now entered escrow. It was on the market for 4 days. With constant press of how soft the real estate market is and how cautious buyers are today, this Santa Barara property listed for sale for 4 days at $1,997,000 is now in a solid escrow and we are very certain its selling price will be over $2 million. And this is not an isolated case. There have been numerous reports of properties in the $2 million range recieving multiple offers and selling at or over asking price. We know first ahnd that this Montecito home for sale on Arcady Road recently sold with multiple offers.

 It is very interesting how jaded the press is to negative news. While this bullish activity inside the Santa Barbara real estate market is not the national norm, it is and indication of encouragement and hope for areas less fortunate. The "smart" money it would seem is actally buying. They are buying things percieved as good values in stronger markets but they are buying. We definitely feel this is a leading indication that the bottom of this market is in and the general public will not realize if until the press has had a couple of quarters to analyze the statictics which won’t  be reported until probably just in time for the presidential election. Being in the market place everyday we see are the first to see and report on this activity. Right now truely is the best time to buy.

Santa Barbara properties, privately offered Santa Barbara estates, Santa Barbara water front for sale, Montecito estates, and the signature property Santa Barbara properties market is one which requires well informed local experticse and knowledge, crucial to successful acquisition and sale of rare estates. Custom searches of Santa Barbara properties on the beach, Santa Barbara estates, Montecito properties for sale, Hope Ranch real estate, Carpinteria beach estates information and anaylsis of Santa Barbara CA homes for sale, is available at this site and http://www.RareEstates.com, a fine home sale transaction network, with specialized resources and knowledge of unadvertised Santa Barbara properties and qualified Santa Barbara estates property investors. For exclusive comprehensive analysis and information about Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, privately offered Montecito estates, Santa Barbara estates, or the Hope Ranch properties, inquire here.

Santa Barbara properties for sale and Montecito properties for sale for 2008 year to date appear below. The statistical totals are for Santa Barbara and Montecito YTD, just under 6 months for 2008, over the same period in 2007, for single family homes from $1.5 million. The Median price columns included are global stats for the area so do not filter out lower priced homes which were the softest market segment here as well as nationally. Even with that, the Median is off a negligible -2 percent for the year in the city of SB, and up an amazing 27% for the Montecito real estate market. While Montecito properties for sale offer less home for the money, the Montecito properties sement most definitely has a stabilizing and buoying effect on all of Santa Barbara homes for sale in the upper end market.

The "West of State" Street segment, includes all properties sold West of State Street, including half of downtown, the West side, the Mesa, Braemar, Hidden Valley, and areas immediateyl surrounding those.

East of State Street is the other half of Santa Barbara including the Riviera, but also the East Side, which is the geographic area of Santa Barbara properties for sale  that has seen the most softening. Average price is down -8% YTD East of State.

We think what is most intriguing is that average and median prices are generally doing quite well on a somewhat lower overall sales volume. That lower sales volume indicates to us that there is not any panic selling here. It also suggests that when sales volumes increase again, the effect on median and average home prices should be stimulating. One effect on sales volume this year was the Sub-Prime mortgage market scare. 1st quarter sale totals were effected everywhere as a result. With the bulk of that now behind us, volume is steadily increasing.

Statistics provided by Santa Barbara MLS

In summary we see the Santa Barbara real estate market stabilized from a minimal softening and showing improving appreciation moving forward. Our anecdotal evidence is our experience thus far this year over last, regarding sales and listings. in the past 2 months we have been involved in multiple offer situations for a $2 million home and a $2.2 million home. Additionally, 2 lower end condos we have in the $600,000 range, (yes that is lower end in Santa Barbara) which saw almost no activity in the fall, have both received highly increased activity of late, and both have had solid offers submitted on them. It just "feels" to us that we are through the low point of this market, with increased buyer activity, Those buyers definitely want value, and when they find it, they are acting on it, as oppposed to the fence sitting we saw last fall.

Santa Barbara properties, privately offered Santa Barbara estates, Santa Barbara water front for sale, Montecito estates, and the signature property Santa Barbara properties market is one which requires well informed local experticse and knowledge, crucial to successful acquisition and sale of rare estates. Custom searches of Santa Barbara properties on the beach, Santa Barbara estates, Montecito properties for sale, Hope Ranch real estate, Carpinteria beach estates information and anaylsis of Santa Barbara CA homes for sale, is available at this site and http://www.RareEstates.com, a fine home sale transaction network, with specialized resources and knowledge of unadvertised Santa Barbara properties and qualified Santa Barbara estates property investors. For exclusive comprehensive analysis and information with seasoned expert advise about Santa Barbara ocean front for sale, privately offered Montecito estates, Santa Barbara estates, or the Hope Ranch properties, inquire here.