All Blog Entries by Sam Smith Team

The Sam Smith Team is a collection of luxury Huntington Beach Real Estate agents that understand the local marketplace and provide the upmost in professional real estate services.

Found 221 blog entries published by Sam Smith Team.

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The Huntington Harbour neighborhood in Huntington Beach is the very best place to find homes that come with a boat dock.  These water front homes can be truly spectacular with homes over 5,000 square feet with panoramic views.  The Harbour itself has many fingers that go around many man made islands with a good mixture of residential single family homes, condos and townhouses.  One of the most expensive neighborhoods found here is the Crystal Cay community which offers it's own private gated entrance and extra security for the homes located here.  

The boat slips in the Huntington Harbour will vary a lot depending on where the home is located.  Some homes with very large frontage can accommodate a private boat dock for a 85 foot yacht.  The canals tend

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Whalers Cove is a small neighborhood located off Beach Blvd near Adams Avenue.  The homes were built in the early 1980's and built as detached single family homes.  The most common floor plan is the three bedroom, two and a half bath model that features an attached two car garage and all bedrooms located on the upper level.  The location is approximately less than two miles to the beach with great restaurants and shopping located nearby on Beach Blvd.  From the exterior these homes look like traditional style homes while the interiors can be very open with vaulted ceilings and lots of windows to let in the natural light.

Lot sizes in this community will average around 5,000 square feet which is good size for a beach home.  The equates to a good size

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The large majority of residential homes on the market for sale in Huntington Beach can be found on R1 lots.  R1 is a building designation that is for the purpose on one residential structure that can be found or built on the residential lot.  This is a common theme throughout many of the beach towns here in California as only one home can be designated to be built on a lot.  There is another designation that is commonly referred to as an "R2 lot" which does allow for more than one structure to be built on a lot.  This a very common designation for duplex properties as the R2 lot allows for two structures to be found on one lot.

Finding this type of R2 designation in a traditional single family neighborhood is very rare but will have some upside

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Huntington Beach is one of the most diverse beach towns in all of Southern California with a variety of basic single level starter homes, luxury townhouses, beach front estates and water front homes for sale.  Within the Huntington Harbour area is a select number of condo communities that offer condos located next to the water that can come with it's own private boat dock.  That's the case with this new brand new listing located at 16148 Mariner Drive in the Huntington Marina community.  The condos sits on the downstairs level of the building and offers a total of two bedrooms, one and a half baths with an approximate 1,236 square feet of living space.  It was originally built in 1964 and comes with a one car attached garage.

16148 Mariner Drive is all

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Two Huntington Beach homes have been featured on the new Bravo TV show "Real Estate Wars."  The developer Michael Alladawi has over 10 brand new homes being built in the Huntington Beach area and is interviewing two agents, John McMonigle and JoJo Wilson for the listing.  At the end of Episode 2 of Season 1 the develop decides to give each agent one property each to see how well they can sell the property before committing to his other listings.

The properties are both located on California street in the downtown area of Huntington Beach which has become one of the most desirable places to live due to it's large number of newer construction homes, close proximity to the downtown area, beach and the Huntington Beach Pier.  We did a quick search on our

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A brand new listing has come on the market in the Azurene neighborhood that has many prospective buyers saying that it shows better than when the model homes were first built.  The owner of this beautiful home has spent a lot of time and money renovating this 4,400+ square foot home that's located close to the Huntington Harbor, Bolsa Chica Westlands and the beach.  The exterior architecture is a mix between a Tuscan and Spanish architectural style with smooth stucco accented with exterior bricks.  As you approach the home there is a small gated courtyard entrance combined with a soothing water feature and mosaic tile floors.  Once inside it's hard not to be impressed with the beautiful hardwood flooring accented by the white walls, arched doorways and

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Homes surrounding the Marine View Park area are also commonly referred to as "Wetlands Homes" due to the close proximity to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands preserve area.  The Wetlands are a huge part of the Northwest Huntington Beach landscape with miles of open and protected land.  Residents love living in this area for it's wide open views and close proximity to the beach.  There is even an upscale Meadowlark golf course that offers quality golf by the beach.

One of the most popular neighborhoods in this area is the California Classics, community which offers traditional style single family homes . Real Estate prices for California Classics homes will run in the mid $750,000 to $900,000 for a four bedroom, three bath home with around 2,000 sure feet of

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It seems like everyone wants to live near the beach and that means finding a place on Pacific Coast Highway or better known as "PCH."  The main concentration of condos located here are by the Huntington Beach Pier which is considered the downtown area.  The area is filled with great shopping, restaurants and night life which is all within walking distance to several condo buildings located on PCH.  We will present you with a quick guide on the best condos to find on PCH.

The Huntington Pacific condo building is located at 711 Pacific Coast and is the only condo complex located directly on the sand.  A lot of the condos will have direct ocean and Huntington Beach pier views and often priced under the $1 million dollar price point.  It's also located

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Huntington Beach offers a wide range of housing opportunities from residential homes, condos, townhouses and even manufactured homes.  Our office gets a lot of calls from renters who have the ability to buy but would like to test out the market first before making the big purchase.  They often ask about properties that are available for lease that can be purchased down the line.  This is typically called a lease option where the renter has the ability to purchase the home at a later date.  Here is a brief explanation on how this works.

First, you find a rental home in Huntington Beach where the owners are open to selling the property as well.  A lot of times owners will have their property up for sale and for rent at the same time and take whatever

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Located in the Huntington Harbor Heights area is a small condo complex called "Tiara de la Pacifica."  The community was first built in 1984 and continued to build for a two year process.  The condos are all located on one small street called "Tiara Drive" with one and two bedroom floor plans.  There is a series of two story buildings with units located on both the lower and upper levels.  Condos on the top floor will have nice vaulted ceilings, living room fireplace, private outdoor deck and interior laundry. Downstairs units are also very popular and offer outdoor fenced in patios which can be ideal for those will pets. Condos often come with one detached garage and additional assigned parking space.

The grounds of Tiara de la Pacifica are very lush

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The Galbes in Huntington Beach is a great place to find lower priced condos near the beach.  One of the reasons for these low price points is that they are located on lease land.  The lease is scheduled to become due on December 31, 2059 according to current real estate listings in the Gables.  What does this exactly mean.  Here is a quick run down of the land lease situation.

First, owners of the gables don't own the land that is underneath their home and pay a yearly fee to use the land.  This is called a land lease with is essentially a contract to use the land for a certain period of time.  The fee is paid on top of the current $316.00 a month homeowners association.  One of the current listings has the and lease fee paid annually at $8400.00 which

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Many home buyers in the Huntington Beach area often look for a neighborhood with no homeowners association dues and no Mello Roos.  The location is near the cross streets of Indianapolis Ave and Brookhurst Street which is near the city limits of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Irvine.  This is considered South Huntington Beach that is an easy 10 minute drive down to the beach with several neighborhood parks like Le Baird Park, Hawes Park and Burke Park located within walking distance.   What can you expect for homes in this neighborhood?  For starters, this is an ideal neighborhood for those looking for a one story home.  This is the typical floor plan of many of the older homes found throughout Huntington Beach with a three or four bedroom home with a

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One of the best places right now to find brand new short term rentals is located a the The Residences at Pacific City.  This is one of the hottest new communities in the heart of the downtown area with luxury rental homes available for month to month short term rentals ranging from one to three months.  There are several reasons for the high demand of these condos.  First, the location is ideally placed below the Huntington Beach Pier and a short walk to the downtown area and the beach.  Rental prices don't come cheap for this prime location with two bedroom rentals listed at $12,000 a month.  The condos feature 1,291 square feet and were newly built in 2017.  The floor plan includes a large living room with an outdoor balcony, plenty of closet space and

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Huntington Beach has hundreds of different neighborhoods that offer a variety of housing.  One of the very small communities where homes rarely come on the market for sale is the Villas at Huntington Beach community.  The Villas is a collection of two bedroom, two bath townhouses located near the cross streets of Atlanta Ave and Beach Blvd, just a short 5 minute drive to the beach.  The floor plans are unique and offer a split level living spaces that come with a two car attached garage.  The three levels include a living room on the lower level, mid level kitchen, dining room and bedroom while the Master suite occupies the entire penthouse level.  The master bedroom typically offers lots of square footage with a large master bath, walk-in closet and an

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The City of Huntington Beach spans over miles of flat land with a large variety of single family homes.  Many of these homes were used as small vacation properties and can be built on the small side.  Tiny houses in Huntington Beach are estimated to be under 1,0000 square feet with typically one to three bedrooms.  Here is a quick run down of what to expect when looking for a small house in the beach town of Huntington Beach.

As of today, there are seven properties offered for sale that have under 1,000 square feet of living space.  The smallest house checks in at 416 square feet and features one bedroom and one bath.  Before you say this is way too small you must consider the location where this is located.  The location is just over one block to

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Huntington Beach is mainly known for it's single family home and condo communities located within close proximity to the beach.  Many of these homes were built in the 1950's when Huntington Beach had it's biggest real estate boom.  Real Estate investors over the years have invested in these starter single family homes that even today can be bought in the mid $500,000 range.  For those looking to convert more income from their properties then duplex properties may be a good solution in Huntington Beach.  First of all, there are not a lot of duplex properties to be found in the city of Huntington Beach so inventory is always notoriously low.  Many prefer duplex properties with the ability to live in one side of duplex while renting out the other side.  This

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The Lake Park area is a small neighborhood in Huntington Beach that is located just blocks to the Pacific Ocean near the cross streets of Adams and Main Street.  The area gets it's name from the park located in the neighborhood commonly known as "Lake Park" which at one time used to be an actual lake back in the 1910's.  The area is filled with one story mid-century modern style homes along with brand new construction properties which share the boundaries with the Old Town area in Huntington Beach.  Many of the homes here were built in the late 1940's to early 1950's as small vacation home.  Real Estate prices currently range from $949,000 for a three bedroom, two bath home with 1,086 square feet of living space to $3,295,000 for a 3,762 square foot home.

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One of the newest communities being built in the downtown area of Huntington Beach is the Pacific City apartments.  These are luxury apartment style units that are currently under constructed and slated for occupancy in 2017.  For those not familiar with the Huntington Beach area, Pacific City is currently a luxury retail strip mall that features great stores and restaurants located right on Pacific Coast Highway with many of them offering views of the Pacific Ocean and the Huntington Beach Pier area.  The apartments will be within walking distance to the mall and the beach and just blocks to the heart of the downtown area.  

Some of the features will include gourmet kitchens with custom cabinetry and modern finishes.  The community itself will offer a

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One of the newest trends in buying real estate in the Huntington Beach area is buying a home that comes fully furnished or with select items available for sale.  The trend started several years ago as a way to for buyers to wrap the cost of buying furniture items for the house into the monthly mortgage payment.  This is a cleaver idea that saves out of pocket expenses as long as the home is furnished to your tastes.  These types of homes range from some of the most expensive water front homes in Huntington Beach to smaller homes that have been professionally stated with select items that can be purchased direct from the stager.

It's important to remember a couple of things when buying a furnished home.  First, lenders typically don't like to see

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One of the big selling points for many one story properties in Huntington Beach is offering RV Parking or RV access.  Huntington Beach is a large beach town with a wide variety of architectural homes.  One of the most popular and commonly seen property is the single level ranch home that offers three to four bedrooms with an attached two car garage.  Many of these style houses were built in the mid 1950's to 1960's and is a true staple in the Huntington Beach Real Estate market.  A few select properties will be located on large of enough land to offer RV parking as well.  This is a huge selling point since many homeowners do have multiple vehicles.

The best place to looking for homes with RV parking is the central section of Huntington Beach that is